I enrolled in the Sampler Arts Course, 6-9pm Mondays, designed to give beginners an understanding of different mediums and their applications and felt excited about the upcoming learning. On the first night it became apparent that half the class had different instructions on what materials to bring to first class. I was gifted materials from the kind person next to me. (that person did not turn up again) The teacher appeared tired and unenthusiastic. The information she provided was minimal and sometimes inadequate. Her voice, with strong accent, was very hard hear and this was exacerbated by clanging and banging from the adjacent room. Over the subsequent weeks, this demeanor continued and one had to work hard to understand her instructions, observe her practice and try and reproduce that at our desks in short time frame. I felt that with this level of engagement, more learning could have been acquired by googling and you tubing. I note that this teacher does most of the art classes WEA run and maybe she is overcommitted? My overall experience of WEA has been much better and comes down to the qualities and character of the teacher which is usually a good standard. read more

This is a great, much cheaper, alternative to TAFE and takes a lot less time. Basically WEA offers short courses in almost anything you can imagine (and some things you probably wouldn't believe anyway unless you read them). Not sure if there is an age minimum but as a teenager in high school I did a couple of courses there. One was a Beginner Saxophone course. My mum was sick and tired of me wanting to play an instrument, doing it for a couple of terms of a year then getting bored and choosing a different instrument. So this time she told me I had to do this course first and see if I really liked it. Well her bad luck - I loved it! Then she had to start getting me more expensive real lessons so I could progress further after the course but I still have my sax and play to this day. I also did a hair braiding course here where I learnt so many cool things for a) a female, and b) one with long hair. My friends was as glad as I was that I had done the course! Plus I've done a speed reading course here to help me get through work quicker at school. All 3 were fantastic experiences and I met some new people and learnt some new skills. A great alternative to meet some friends with similar interests - especially if you're not a pub type person. Check out their website. As well as the courses they even have educational trips, like study tours I guess, which can travel to many places in the world and be from a few days to a few weeks long. There really is something for everyone! read more

The WEA provide adults with numerous learning experiences within the Angas Street Learning Centre, and throughout Adelaide. Where possible I try to sign up in person or online, as their phone service leaves much to be desired. When you do sign up, courses are extremely inexpensive and a lot of fun. It's a good way to get started at skills you want to perfect. I myself have undertaken courses such as Portugese for fun and travel, Spanish for fun and travel, belly dancing and drama here, and then went on to pursue Spanish and belly dance further. Many of my friends have taken cooking, business skills, music, craft and sporting classes from here before getting into these heavily. Many sporting clubs will run try-out courses with the WEA, like rowing for instance. It's definitely the way to go if you aren't sure whether or not you'll be in to something. WEA also run fitness classes year round, and many have talked about their yoga classes particularly. There are hundreds of courses on offer presented in their course guide flyer released quarterly. The guide can be picked up from the centre itself, but is often provided with the Messenger newspaper. Finding a park in the street can prove difficult on some nights so fork out the $2 it costs to park on site to get to your class on time. That's of course if your course is at the Centre (which most are), there are other courses run elsewhere in the city, fencing for instance is held around the corner from my house in Hove. WEA also run learning tours in locations around the world, but also do some local tours. Check the location and details before signing up for a course or tour. I was once set to attend their Cider appreciation course when I discovered that it began in Berri some 2-3 hours out of town! read more

The building may feel a little like a '70s throwback (I half expect to see Ron Burgundy pass me in the halls), but WEA is one of the only places in Adelaide to provide a mind-boggling selection of short courses on almost everything. It's a great way to introduce yourself to new skills or interests, try it out and see if you'd like to develop them further - I've done an InDesign refresher, archeology course and psychic workshop (don't ask.. but yes I can now read your mind). All of which we're introductory, for sure, but an inexpensive, accessible way to get involved. I'm in favour of anything that gets the mind cogs in motion - highly recommended for beginners to try out a new area of interest, not so much for advanced education. Next stop: French class! read more

The WEA is pretty cool. It's cool that Adelaide has a place like this right in the middle of the city. I've done tafe courses before, and more often than not (especially with night courses) they are near impossible to get to if you rely on public transport to get around. And bloody annoying to get a park near. I've only done the one 10 week course, so this is mostly about that; I chose Spanish for fun and travel, as I wanted to learn some Spanish and I quite like the idea of fun and travel as well. Enrolling was dead easy, all confirmation emails done and dusted pretty quickly. Getting a park nearby was fairly easy too. The teacher was a native Spanish speaker, from Mexico which was very interesting as I've only ever met a handful of Mexicans. The course notes were fair. Nothing special. But there is a more intensive Spanish course available at the WEA, so I'm guessing that's where more thorough notes would start happening. We started very slow, real basic stuff, but within a couple of weeks we could all form decent sentences with pronunciation that should be understandable to a Spanish speaker. By the end of the course I felt I'd learned a lot, but not enough. I'm considering enrolling in the more extensive class next year. However I've obviously learned heaps, as recently I managed to order a meal entirely in Español, and was understood. Hooray for that warm fuzzy education feeling! Muy Bien! read more

The WORST Beginners Pottery short course and most insulting, abysmal service!!!! It was a short pottery course - at the very least, I hoped to have an enjoyable time or learn a skill. The teacher was 20 minutes late to the course and unprepared. She gave no guidance, and rushed in and out of the room and did not go into any detail about how or why she was asking us to do thing. The only feedback anyone received was when we asked her and even then, she gave ZERO information when asked; the most notable example of this was telling students that their walls were too thick or then without explaining what we were supposed to be looking for. The instructor also said due to the class size, it was likely that we'd get more than two turns on the wheel, maybe three which is disappointing as it is most what I was looking forward to. Perhaps she was having a bad day, however it was so unprofessional to bring that attitude into the classroom with beginners who expect guidance and a present teacher. When she was in the room, I found her to be condescending and created an unenjoyable environment. She was not helpful, and I did NOT have fun or learn. WORSE THAN THAT - when I called up the Administration office to see whether I could get a credit or partial refund, I was told that I was had not given the course or instructor a chance and since they had not had similar feedback before, I HAD to go back to the course to give it another shot. Julie in Administration was hostile in her tone, rude, had zero empathy or understand and was so ready to discredit me and tell me I was wrong, it was so clear that they do not care about their 'students' learning environment, progress, or experiences after they've received their money. After I told her I was not happy and did not feel comfortable returning to the following sessions, I was told there was no other option. I feel humiliated, judged, and belittled. I've never had such foul customer service in my life, and I very much expect to be taunted and ridiculed by the people in the office once I post this but it is more important to be that others do not have a similar experience I have never had a bad experience with the WEA before this but best believe I will not be fooled into one again if this is their reception or expectation of courses. read more

I never would've guessed that enrolling to courses would be that simple. They gave pretty simple instructions on how to sign up and then all you have to do is choose the courses you want to take. The courses they have are at a reasonable price as well. read more

Very enjoyable courses given by knowledgeable tutors. The wine courses are particularly worthwhile.

I've done lots of courses here, and am currently in the fourth year of Ancient Greek with Dr Boria. Excellent quality and value for money at all times. read more

What an absolute joke of a company, I had enrolled in a one day course but then work ran me and asked me to work that day. I could not turn down my job as I am one of the supervisors there. I emailed the WEA and did not ask for a refund, as their policy states they do no do refunds, which is a joke in itself. I simply wanted to change the course date as I had seen on the website that there were other days available. I received an email back the next day telling me that there was nothing they could do, they could not change the date and if I wanted I could enrol and pay again for the next one. What do they think money grows on trees, no it dosent! This was a $70 course, for some that may not seem like much but to people like me who work there butts off, that's a decent amount if money. This company is not worth going to. They don't believe in helping people learn. Just squeezing every cent they can out of people. I would like to rate no stars, but i have to rate at least one for some reason. But definitely a zero star rating from me. read more