Valuing Learning Strengthening Communities

1
Valuing Learning Strengthening Communities

• Equal Development Partnership for Lifelong
  Learning
• Margaret McLaughlin VAC

2
Sabaah al-khayr

• Shubho shokal Achhchha Sawayra
• Zan san Shubha prabhaat
• Dobré jitro Dzien dobry Bonjour
• Shubh prabhaat Subax wanaagsan

3
A Voluntary Sector DP

• NIACE Dysgu Cymru
• Fairbridge Cymru
• The Womens Workshop Cardiff
• Workers Educational Association
• Voluntary Action Cardiff
• South Riverside Community Development Centre
• 
  

4
What is the Voluntary Sector?

• Notoriously difficult to define clearly -
• A loose and baggy monster (Kendall and Knapp
  1995)
• Different terms are used interchangeably
  voluntary sector, not for profit sector, non
  governmental organisations, charitable sector,
  The Third Sector, Voluntary and Community Sector

5
The Voluntary Sector Includes WCVA
Voluntary Sector Almanac 2003

• Community groups - formal and informal
• Most charities
• Self-help and mutual aid groups
• Credit unions
• Community enterprises

• Sport and recreation groups with community
  benefit
• Religious groups with social benefit
• Campaigning non-political groups
• Housing associations

6
Voluntary Sector in Wales Some Statistics

• Estimated 30,000 voluntary organisations in Wales
  today with an estimated income of over 1 billion
• Estimated that 48 of the adult population in
  Wales volunteers, at a value of 1.1 billion to
  the economy (3.6 of Welsh GDP)

7
More Statistics

• Employs at least 30,000 people in Wales
• Estimated 2,500 voluntary organisations in
  Cardiff
• One of the largest employers in Cardiff

8
Origins of VL-SC

• Cardiff Voluntary Sector Training Providers Forum

9
Time of Change

• Further Education Funding Council Wales and the
  Training and Education Councils were merged, to
  become
• Education and Learning for Wales (ELWa)
• Community Consortia for Education and Training
  established
• New Partnership Approach to post-16 education and
  training
• Focus on learners not institutions
• A big role for the voluntary sector predicted

10
The Reality

• Loss of funding to the voluntary sector
• Little progress on Community Learning lots of
  consultation!
• Voluntary sector contribution to research in some
  areas
• Really making an impact?

11
A Consortium Approach

• In Cardiff-
• A group of learning providers emerged with a
  particular interest in engaging communities in
  informal learning
• Wanted to be more proactive
• Wanted to work together in order to be more
  effective and to make more of an impact

12
Contribute to current debates

• Engaging communities that are easy to overlook
• Validating Informal Learning
• Funding Informal Learning

13
Why?
14
Access to Marginalised Communities

• Community settings should be the venue for
  informal learning wherever possible
• The voluntary sector often has the best access
  to hard-to-reach groups in the community
  (Valuing Informal Learning Swansea CCET)
• Voluntary and community sector organisations are
  often based in the community and are from the
  community

15
Volunteering and Learning

• Strong correlation between them
• Volunteers receive formal training and informal
  learning
• High proportion of volunteers report having
  learned a new skill 60
• Overwhelming majority report a boost in
  confidence, sense of achievement and increased
  interpersonal skills

16
Distinctive Values from Living Values, Community
Links

• Empowering people
• Pursuing equality
• Making voices heard
• Transforming lives
• Being responsible (inspired by accountability)
• Finding fulfilment (as part of a moral
  community)
• Doing a good job (bringing dreams to life)
• Generating public wealth (not profit for a few)

17
Equal

• Workers Educational Association
• Fairbridge Cymru
• The Womens Workshop
• Voluntary Action Cardiff
• South Riverside Community Development Centre
• NIACE Dysgu Cymru

18
Implications of Equal

• Focus on the Voluntary and Community Sector as an
  employment provider
• Focus on one aspect of informal learning
• Planned and Structured Learning such as short
  courses organised in response to identified
  interests and needs but delivered in flexible and
  informal ways and in informal community settings
  (McGivenny 1999)

19
Who has VL-SC focussed on?

• Women with mental health issues
• Disaffected young people
• Women and men from Black and Minority Ethnic
  Communities
• People over 50 years
• Men and women on low incomes

20
What?- Breaking down barriers

• Engaging easy to overlook people
• 2. Demonstrating an informal learner centred
  approach
• 3. Supporting the voluntary and community sector
  in Cardiff to engage with learning
• 4. Developing self-sustaining learner groups

21
Breaking down barriers

• Exploring recognition and valuing of informal
  learning
• Identifying and capturing the wider benefits of
  learning
• 7. Developing an information, advice and guidance
  network
• Evaluating the project

22
Achievements

• Successful outreach
• Delivery accredited and non-accredited learning
  to 240 direct beneficiaries
• New information on learning available
• 400 people from the voluntary and community
  sector have attended awareness raising and
  training events
• Curriculum developments of benefit to the
  voluntary sector
• Working with BME groups WEA BME Branch

23
Achievements Recognition and Valuing of
Informal Learning

• Used existing approaches in new contexts RARPA,
  Rickter Scale, Spirit Level
• Developed new frameworks
• How Far?
• Tailored interviews with learners
• Individual action plans Learner Checklists
• Learner Passport, informed by work with the
  Napoleon Revised DP

24
Partnership Working

• Learners have benefited from meeting other
  learners
• Organisations have worked together in new ways
  and forged strong links
• Influence on future planning
• Hard work but democratic!
• Trans-national Partnership

25
Changes to Policy and Planning Environment

• Cardiff Informal Learning Network established
  from the CCET
• Voluntary sector contribution included in 2005
  audit of informal learning in Cardiff
• ELWa and the CCET in Cardiff have come to an end

26
Lessons Learned

• How much more effective we are when working
  together
• Partnership work needs to be resourced
• Resources for learning are in the wrong place if
  we wish to achieve a citizencentred service
  for learners
• Affirmation that the voluntary sector has a lot
  to offer lifelong learning
• We are still learning

27
The Future

• Stick to our values
• Community-centred
• People-centred
• Learner-centred