New Developments
Community Learning Champions
The national support programme for Community Learning Champions has come to an end. You can read the final report and case studies at http://www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/CLC-Final-report-FINAL-2.pdf
Learning champions are volunteers who introduce friends, neighbours and perfect strangers to the benefits of learning, of all types. You can watch learning champions in action at http://www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk/clc-videos
By March 2011, there were almost 2000 champions registered through the website www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk who have reached out to over 100,000 people, 70% of them workless. You can read a preliminary assessment of the programme by Martin Yarnit and Liz Cousins published in Adults Learning (see attachment). Martin Yarnit Associates was a member of the consortium which ran the programme. Liz Cousins was the project manager. Funding from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service will enable key aspects of the national programme to continue including the website and the CLC register.
The national support programme - which was proposed in the White Paper on Informal Learning (The Learning Revolution) - closely follows the recommendations we made in a 2008 report for NIACE. (See Learning Champions: A Vital Link on the learning brokerage page.)
Schooling and the Good Society
Martin Yarnit and Andy Powell are writing a paper on the future of schooling for an e-book to be published soon by Compass, the left of centre pressure group. You can see preliminary papers at http://compassoneducation.org.uk/uncategorized/martin-yarnit-argues-that-we-need-a-convincing-story-about-public-education and http://compassoneducation.org.uk/uncategorized/education-%e2%80%93-there-is-an-alternative-education-for-the-good-society.
Outer City Estates
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently hosted a roundtable discussion on the future of outer city estates led by Jane Foot and Martin Yarnit. You can see a report of the discussion at http://www.cles.org.uk/yourblogs/outer-estates. One outcome to be pursued is a national learning network to enable community organisations to share experience and ideas about turning round big estates on the edge of our major cities.
Examples of work are displayed below.
Downloads
