Transcript THE WEB OF LIFE & LEARNING - Canadian Literacy and

LEARNING
COMMUNITIES:
Webs of Life, Literacy &
Learning
Ron Faris
Oct. 4, 2007 Truro
http://members.shaw.ca/rfaris
THIS WE KNOW,
ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE
THE BLOOD WHICH UNITES ONE
FAMILY .
WHATEVER BEFALLS THE EARTH,
BEFALLS THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS
OF THE EARTH.
MAN DID NOT WEAVE THE WEB OF LIFE;
HE IS MERELY A STRAND IN IT.
WHATEVER HE DOES TO THE WEB,
HE DOES TO HIMSELF.
Ted Perry, inspired by
Chief Seattle
KEY GLOBAL TRENDS
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Three inter-related drivers of change
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Globalization – market ideology
Technological change
New knowledge and learning
From resource-based to knowledge-based
economy
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Human & social capital
New literacies
Learning technologies
KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY

Constant change = Continuous learning
 Investment in education/learning results in
significant returns to organizations, individuals
& society
 Human & social capital are “intangible assets”
 Human capital: Formal educational attainment
 Social capital: Trust, networking & shared values
 Social/human capital synergy:
– Social capital the cradle of human capital
LEARNING COMMUNITY
INITIATIVES
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EUROPE
 OECD Learning Regions - Spain, France, Denmark-Sweden &
UK
 Learning Communities Network & Test-beds - UK
 Learning Villages - Finland, Portugal & Italy
AUSTRALIA
 Learning Communities Network
 Victoria State Learning Towns
CANADA
 Community Learning Network projects in B.C.
 South Island Learning Community (SILC) project
A LEARNING REGION MODEL
INDIVIDUAL
LEARNING
ECONOMIC
COMPETITIVENESS
ORGANIZATIONAL
LEARNING
SOCIAL
INCLUSION
SOCIAL
CAPITAL
Source: OECD, 2001
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
Neighbourhoods, villages, towns, cities or
regions that explicitly use lifelong learning as
an organizing principle and social/cultural goal
in order to promote collaboration of their civic,
economic, public, voluntary and education
sectors to enhance social, economic and
environmental conditions on a sustainable,
inclusive basis
“communities of place”
R.Faris
2006
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
A NESTED CONCEPT

LEARNING COMMUNITIES OF PLACE
 Learning Organizations
– Peter Senge
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Academic Learning Communities
– Alexander Meiklejohn
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Communities of Practice
– Etienne Wenger
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Learning Circles
– Miles Horton & Kurt Lewin
PURPOSES
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SUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
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SOCIAL INCLUSION
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Economic
Environmental
Social/cultural
Building First Nation & non-First Nation bridges
COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING
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Human capital - Individual attainment
Social capital - Trust, Networks, Shared Values
Built capital - Infrastructure
Natural capital - Ecology
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Input
Community Inter-related
Partners Strategies
adult literacy
economic
regeneration
economic
community econ
development
social
inclusion
public
expanded IT use
increased
community
capacity
civic
LEARNING
Outcomes
education
voluntary
at-risk youth
initiatives
lifelong
learning
LEARNING COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS
CIVIC
ECONOMIC
Municipal - Band
Shire - Prov-Fed
PUBLIC
Private - Social
PARTNERSHIPS
Libraries - Museums
Social - Health Agencies
EDUCATION
K -20
COMMUNITY/
VOLUNTARY
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
SUCCESS DETERMINANTS

3 P’s of success
– Partnership - learning to build links among
all sectors and mobilize their shared
resources
– Participation - learning to foster
participation of all learners and involve the
public in the policy process
– Performance - learning to assess progress
and benchmark good practice
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
THE 3 P’S
Assessment &
Benchmarking
Civic, Economic,
Public (e.g. libraries, health &
social services), Education,
& Voluntary/Community
Learners, Organizations,
Ethnic & Aboriginal
communities
Media, Public forums,
Website/Listservs & Eportfolios
ADULT LITERACY:
AN INVESTMENT
A one percent rise in adult literacy scores is
associated with an eventual 2.5 percent relative
rise in labour productivity and a 1.5 percent
rise
in GDP per head (C$18 billion)
Three times greater effect than investment in
physical capital
“…more important to economic growth than
producing highly skilled graduates”
SUSTAINABLE TRIPLE
BOTTOM LINE
ECONOMIC
SOCIAL
ENTERPRISE
IKEA
SUSTAINABILITY
ECOJUSTICE
SOCIAL/CULTURAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
SOUTH ISLAND LEARNING
COMMUNITY (SILC) PROJECT
GOALS
– Bridging First Nation & non-FN
Communities
– Building Community & Organizational
Capacity
– Testing Innovative Literacy Approaches:
 Open Source Technologies
 Learner E-Portfolio & Learning Plans
– Developing Service-Learning
Opportunities
SILC: FORMATIVE
EVALUATION
 From Awareness
to Involvement
 From
Involvement to Understanding
 From
Understanding to Commitment
COMMUNITY VALUES

Balance citizen rights & responsibilities
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Devolve resources and power to
communities with increased capacity of
learning and information &
communications technologies
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Mobilize human/social capital to foster
sustainable local economic development,
social inclusion & community capacity
Men and women have within
themselves and their communities the
spiritual and intellectual resources
adequate to the solution of their own
problems.
Canadian Association for Adult Education
Statement of Purposes, 1946
THE WEB OF LEARNING:
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Private & Social Enterprise
Local
Government
Civic
Sector
Libraries
Public
Sector
Economic
Sector
Community
Colleges
LEARNERS
Museums
Health
Agencies
Social Service Agencies
Service
Clubs
Community
Associations
Universities
Education
Sector
Schools
Voluntary
Sector
Faith
Communities
Institutes
SENGE: Creating Quality Communities
“Building learning organizations is not an individual task. It
demands a shift that goes all the way to the core of our culture.
We have drifted into a culture that fragments our thoughts, that
detaches the world from the self and the self from the community.
We are so focused on our security that we don’t see the price we
pay: living in bureaucratic organizations where the wonder and joy
of learning have no place. Thus, we are losing the spaces to
dance with the ever-changing patterns of life. We need to invent a
new learning model for business, education, health care,
government and the family. This invention will come from the
patient, concerted efforts of communities of people invoking
aspiration and wonder. As these communities manage to produce
fundamental changes, we will regain our memory – the memory of
the community nature of the self and the poetic nature of
language and the world – the memory of the whole.”
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EARLY LEARNING
– Keating, D. & C. Hertzman, 1999, Developmental
Health and the Wealth of Nations: Social, Biological
and Educational Dynamics, The Guilford Press, New
York.
– L. Irwin et al, 2007, Early Child Development: A
Powerful Equalizer, WHO Commission on the Social
Determinants of Health, Geneva.
– Schweinhart, L., 2006, The High/Scope Perry
Preschool Study Through Age 40: Summary,
Conclusions, and Frequently Asked Questions,
High/Scope Educational Research Foundation,
Ypsilanti, Michigan.
ADULT LITERACY ROI
– Coulombe, S. & J. Tremblay, 2005, Public Investment
in Skills: Are Canadian Governments Doing Enough?,
C. D. Howe Institute Commentary, No.217, Toronto.
– Hartley, R., & J. Horne, 2006, Social and economic
benefits of improved adult literacy, National Centre for
Vocational Education Research, Adelaide.
– Sticht, T., 1999, Adult Basic Education: Strategies to
Increase Returns on Investment (ROI), Applied
Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc.
A PERMANENT UNDERCLASS?
-
Butterwick, S. & C. White, 2006, A Path Out of Poverty:
Helping BC Income Assistance Recipients Upgrade Their
Education, CCPA, Vancouver.
-
Institute for COMPETITIVENESS & PROSPERITY,
2007, Prosperity, inequality, and poverty, Working Paper
10, (September 2007), Toronto.
- Morisette, R., & Zhang, X., 2006, “Revisiting wealth
inequality”, PERSPECTIVES (Dec. 2006), Statistics
Canada, Ottawa.
- Myers, K., & Lebroucker, P., 2006, Too Many Left Behind:
Canada’s Adult Education and Training System, Research
Report W/34 Work Network, CPRN, Ottawa.
HUMAN & SOCIAL CAPITAL
- Duke,C. et al, 2006, Making knowledge work:
Sustaining learning communities and regions,
NIACE, Leicester.
- Mowbray, M., 2005, “Community, the State and
social capital impact assessment”, Rebalancing the
social and economic: Learning, partnership and
place, NIACE, Leicester. Pp. 47-61.
- OECD, 2001, The Wellbeing of Nations: the Role
of Human and Social Capital, Centre for
Educational Research and Innovation, Paris.
NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS
- Brooks, J. & Hwong, T., 2006, The Social Benefits
and Economic Costs of Taxation: A Comparison of
High- and Low- Tax Countries, Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa.
- Rubenson, K., 2006, “The Nordic Model of
Lifelong Learning”, Compare: A journal of
comparative education, Vol. 36, Issue 3 (Sept.
2006), pp. 327-341.
- Veeman, A. N., 2004, Adult Learning in Canada
and Sweden: A Comparative Study of Four Sites,
unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
PAN-CANADIAN LITERACY
STRATEGY
– Alexander, C., 2007, Literacy Matters: A Call for
Action, T D Bank Financial Group, Toronto.
– Faris, R., & Blunt, A., 2007, Report on the CMEC
Forum on Adult Literacy, Prince George, British
Columbia (June 19-20, 2006), Council of Ministers
of Education Canada, Toronto.
– HRDC, 2005, Towards A Fully Literate Canada,
National Advisory Committee on Literacy and
Essential Skills (Bradshaw Cmtee), Ottawa.