Could I ask for some help, re adult education

I use to tutor in adult education so I may be able to help.

The WEA (Workers Educational Association) offer courses and are advertised in libraries. They charge by a 10 week term but I am not sure what their fees are now.

Many Adult Education classes run by local authorities have had major cuts in their funding so fewer classes are run, but again the library is where you will find details and prices.

The problem as I see it is that many retired people are members of the U3A University of the Third Age who are self organising and teach each other a variety of subjects for free.

I would say word of mouth, cafés and shops are the place to advertise, but you will need to keep in mind how much say a newsagent would charge for you to advertise and you need accommodation.

Personally I would concentrate on perhaps helping children prepare for their history exams, if you can get hold of the syllabus. Maybe tutor your friends' children.

You could of course offer yourself to your local WEA and suggest a course you could run for them. They like outgoing tutors who will inspire their older students.

Hope that helps Funtenements

I think libraries would be your best bet. Are you committed to 60+ membership of your groups? Mixed age-groups can contribute different viewpoints which make for richer discussion. I would enjoy being part of a mixed group rather than just 60+.
The local library - if you still have one - would be able to give you information about organisations run by and for older people. The U3A runs interest groups but generally find expertise among their own membership.
Good luck with your enterprise.

I must admit, apart from some activity classes, the idea of 60+ classes is a new concept to me and I am not sure that I would be attracted to a course that was age restricted.

I do extra-mural courses at my local university and day time courses do tend to be predominantly retired people, while evening classes have a wider age range, but in looking for classes, the subject is everything, age of attendees irrelevant.

However, I am sure some people would be interested and I would you suggest you talk to your local branch of Age UK. My local one organises a lot of activity and IT courses for older people and could probably advertise any courses you run at the various groups they run.

I think you will struggle to make a business out of this. Can you not continue in your current role or would the OU possibly be able to employ you as a lecturer?
I suppose you'd have to think about why a 60+ age group would want to join your class. What would be your USP? What would you offer that isn't currently available locally? Could you focus more specifically eg focus on WW1 and tie it in to genealogy -helping people to find out what their family member did in that war? or similar. Or helping people to research and write about their family? -sessions in archives looking for real source materials etc

I agree with all the comments about age restricted courses I would not be interested at all and I am big attender of courses. Also because there is so much now that is free on line (see Future Learn) you may as has been suggested struggle to make a business of this. Sorry.

I'm not sure about a business, I do have a friend who runs a history course, but it isn't her only source of income. She doesn't restrict the age (although most are 60+). She concentrates on local history, runs on a weekday afternoon in a church hall, breaks for the school holidays and arranges a summer day trip and Christmas lunch out somewhere. It has been running successfully for sometime. I would suggest that you are going abut things the wrong way. You need to find a venue, calculate costs, work out how many will attend and price accordingly, not start with the charge.

The local college to me hold adult classes, I dont attend as on my pension I cant afford to, I do however do the odd free course on line.
A good place to advertise would be on the age uk site.

Can any of you who have done free courses online give me an idea of the subject matter, as I might like to have a go, thanks ?

I enjoyed the 6 week Italian Future Learn Course (free) quite tempted to go to Sienna to do the real life course. I wouldn't go to an age limited course- certainly not in history , where there are U3A courses for next to nothing. I go to adult ed college one day a week, and it's a mixed age group , doing couture dressmaking, it's great to bounce ideas off a mixed bunch of people. It's quite expensive , at about £200 a term, but well worth it to learn a skill with all the industrial equipment etc.

I did a Creative Writing Course which was a potted version of a longer OU one I had done previously and that was very good. DH has just done one about Weather and Climate Change. I have signed up for one about how to run a Social Enterprise and another on Medical Humanities for the Autumn. They are all developed by various universities around the world - there is a huge number of courses and great variety.

There are the MOOC courses. I don't know the link but they are free online courses run by a huge number of big universities.

Its Future Learn Jane10 the ones I'm referring to.

A course in tracing family history might be popular. I did a weekend one year's ago. Through local adult ed. Costs have gone up a lot over recent years. Could advertise in library and local family history sites?

Nankate Your question is rather like "I am thinking of eating. Can you tell me the name of a food?"

www.futurelearn.com/
www.coursera.org/
www.hotcourses.com/online-courses/

www.mooc-list.com/ (A combined list of Massive Open Online Courses from all kinds of sources. Don't be put off by the serious sound of some of them, there are lighter ones too.)

Thank you , Elegran. I had no idea such courses existed. Have already picked out two from future learn as a possibility. Will I have any time for Gransnet?

Like some others have said, the idea of a purely over 60 group doesn't appeal to me; I prefer a mixed age group.
I go to our local History Group, which is probably aged 40+ for most members.
Have you thought about 2hr talks for groups, such as U3A and other societies, although I don't think these will pay much?

Thanks for all your advice. I'm looking to run courses for small groups and for a
A level tuition. It just happened that I taught a cohort of retired people, but would love to get a mix of people, I agree no one likes to be segregated by age!
If nothing else, this has perhaps given people a steer on some free courses on the thread!
Thanks again

Thanks Elegran and Teetime plus others, I shall investigate the free courses.