Summer Institute 2009: Workplace Literacy and Essential Skills
June 25 - 27, 2009

John Benseman 

John Benseman has worked in adult education and literacy for over 30 years as a practitioner and program administrator, but mainly as a researcher and evaluator. He started his working life as an elementary school teacher, but “became disillusioned with the task of constantly trying to motivate reluctant learners and became much more interested in working with adults who were much more motivated”. After studying adult education in Sweden for a year, he worked in continuing medical education, followed by seven years of running a community-based adult education organization and a similar period of self-employment as a researcher. After teaching adult education at the University of Auckland for twelve years, he moved in 2007 to the Department of Labour to run a national workplace literacy project. The aim of this project is to identify best practice in workplace literacy by evaluating 15 diverse programs throughout New Zealand. They expect to complete it in 2009 with data on about 500-600 learners when it is finished.                                                    

John did his PhD on an analysis of New Zealand as a learning society. He has written countless reports, edited a book on New Zealand adult education and, with Alison Sutton, another on New Zealand adult literacy.  He noted early in 2008 that he “mainly works from home in a study that looks out on to beautiful native bush, including a stream and lots of native birds”.  During our frigid winter, he could say, "It’s summer here, so life includes jaunts to the beach, enjoying family life, frustrated attempts to lower a very average golf handicap and riding a motorbike to beat the Auckland traffic. My current project also includes a lot of travel round the country to interview people – a duty that I am even paid to do…"