Community Learning Development resource 601 – 11
WORKER ROLES IN THE DELIVERY OF COMMUNITY LEARNING
How is learning used and applied within community and neighbourhood regeneration processes?
- Workers may seek skills to bring about regeneration changes themselves and/ or support others, by equipping, encouraging and energising them to do so .
- The success of a learning-regeneration connection should be evidenced by the assessment of learning outcomes, which draws on the evaluation of changes brought about within community development, the contribution of any learning to those changes, and the impact of the contributions and changes in the life of individuals, families, neighbourhoods and communities.
The current profile of a Community Learning curriculum within community development and neighbourhood regeneration work:
- Not something that is understood? A lot needs to be explored and developed, including a practical understanding of the connections between learning and regeneration.
- In current educational and training practice, skills that enable people to engage in community development and neighbourhood regeneration are generally not understood, not pursued, not overt and not implemented.
- Developing a ‘community learning within community development’ curriculum is not currently part of most education and training provision for adults.
How to deliver Regeneration learning – some models and worker roles
|
How? |
The worker role? |
Learning experience
for the beneficiary? |
| A taught course, e.g., in Citizenship
courses – the traditional education and training provider model.
|
The worker role is
as a teacher.
|
The learning is
formal |
| The supported practical community
development/ action research model – learning success and confidence- building for learners through their success in community development activities
|
The worker role is as
an encourager and supporter (also Capacity Coaching)
|
The learning is
non-formal and informal |
| The empowerment model – individual
capacity-building, and community capacity-building through learner participation and collective contributions to community development
|
The worker role is as a
coach and enabler (Capacity Coaching)
|
The learning is
non-formal and formal |
| The provision model – community
development brought about by the worker/agency doing the work and making the changes – delivering services, providing facilities, leadership, and management, with learners involved as passive receivers.
|
The worker role is as a
provider
|
The learning is
informal? |
| The learner-directed, self-help model,
which can range in its nature from the confrontational, protest/anarchy model to the proactive model, underpinned by prior learning and empowerment.
|
The worker may not have
a role in this model.
|
The learning is
informal and non-formal? |
In seeking to develop appropriate learning models the worker needs to take account of their own strengths and weaknesses; their relationship with the learners and with the community; and the nature of the community dynamics, democracy and politics affecting the regeneration and community development activity.
The skilful worker will be concerned to understand and use appropriately principled strategies and will be able to work in a variety of ways.
PROMPTS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
- What part does learning play within your work generally?
- What part does learning play within your work if that is concerned with regeneration – community development and changing people’s lives?
- Can you analyse your role in relation to regeneration or community development and the learning for people within that sort of work?