Community Education

Introduction

Community Education also known as community-based education or community learning & development, is an organization’s program to promote learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range of formal and informal methods. A common defining feature is that developers create programs and activities in dialogue with communities and participants. The purpose of community learning and development is to develop the capacity of individuals and groups of all ages through their actions, and the capacity of communities, to improve their quality of life. Central to this is their ability to participate in democratic processes.

The Community Learning and Development NTO:

represented all the main employers, trades unions, professional associations, and national development agencies working in this area across the four nations of the UK. This was the first time that the informal education occupations across the UK had ever come together with the common purpose of creating a publicly recognized occupational sector, in the way that school teachers or college lecturers had long been publicly and officially recognized.

National priorities

Three national priorities have been developed for community learning and development in Scotland:

Achievement through learning for adults

Raising standards of achievement in learning for adults through community-based lifelong learning opportunities incorporating the core skills of literacy, numeracy, communications, working with others, problem-solving, and information communications technology (ICT).

Achievement through learning for young people

Engaging with young people facilitates their personal, social, and educational development and enables them to gain a voice, influence, and place in society.

Achievement through building community capacity

Building community education capacity and influence by enabling people to develop the confidence, understanding, and skills required to influence decision-making and service delivery.

Wisconsin Model

A philosophical base for developing Community Education programs. Is provided through the five components of the Wisconsin Model of Community Education. The model provides a process framework for local school districts to implement or strengthen community education. A set of Community Education Principles was developed by Larry Horyna and Larry Decker for the National Coalition for Community Education in 1991  These include:

Self-determination: Local people are in the best position to identify community needs and wants. Parents, as children’s first and most important teachers, have both a right and a responsibility. 

Self-help: People are best served when their capacity to help themselves is encouraged and enhanced. When people assume ever-increasing responsibility for their own well-being, they acquire independence rather than dependence.

Leadership Development: The identification, development, and use of the leadership capacities of local citizens are prerequisites for ongoing self-help. 

Localization: Services, programs, events, and other community involvement opportunities that are brought closest to where people live have the greatest potential for a high level of public participation. 

Integrated Delivery of Services: Organizations and agencies that operate for the public good can use their limited resources. Meet their own goals, and better serve the public by establishing close working relationships with other organizations. 

Maximum Use of Resources: The physical, financial, and human resources of every community should be interconnected and used to their fullest. 

Principles and competences

Competent CLD workers will ensure that their work supports social change. And social justice and is based on the values of CLD. Their approach is collaborative, anti-discriminatory, and equalities-focused and they work with diverse individuals. Communities of place or interest when this is or is not appropriate. Central to their practice is challenging discrimination and its consequences and working with individuals and communities. To shape learning and development activities that enhance the quality of life and sphere of influence. They have good interpersonal and listening skills and their practice demonstrates. That they value and respect the knowledge, experience, and aspirations of those involved.

1. Empowerment – increasing the ability of individuals and groups to influence issues that affect them and their communities;
2. Participation – supporting people to take part in decision-making;
3. Inclusion, equality of opportunity, and anti-discrimination – recognizing that some people may need additional support to overcome the barriers they face;
4. Self-determination – supporting the right of people to make their own choices; and
5. Partnership – recognizing that various agencies can contribute to CLD, ensuring the effective use of resources.