Social Value of Adult Learning for Community Empowerment
| Title | Social Value of Adult Learning for Community Empowerment |
| Author(s) | NIACE |
| Organisation | NIACE |
| Date | September 2011 |
| No. of pages | 14 |
| Theme | social value; community empowerment; community learning; adult education; adult learning; social return on investment; citizens; local democratic structures; social isolation; well-being; local partnerships; widening participation; employment; anti-social behaviour; volunteering; poverty; progression; safer neighbourhoods; public spending cuts |
| Description | This briefing paper shows a brief overview on how adult learning provides outcomes that support and add value to community empowerment. |
| Select quotations | “When local authorities and communities work in partnership to improve services in their area the relationship between citizens and local democratic structures is strengthened.” “The range of outcomes reported by learners themselves includes new skills, less social isolation and better mental wellbeing. Some have gained paid work or gone on to vocational training as a direct result of their participation in the project.” “There are fewer incident of anti-social behaviour and less tension between groups of young people on the estate, leading to a safer and more pleasant environment.” “For Liverpool Council, the project enhanced partnership working. The range of adult learning opportunities offered in the city has broadened, and new communities are being attracted into learning.” “Under the twin pressures of localism and squeezed public spending, volunteering has moved to centre stage where it is promoted as an approach to addressing local needs from within communities at lower coast to the public purse.” “For instance, in many urban areas a Neighbourhood Management approach has been adopted as a way of aligning resources, co-ordinating activities and involving residents in service delivery, often with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.” “Local authorities are in a unique position to put learning at the centre of sustainable initiatives which support voluntary activity to flourish and strengthen partnerships between public bodies, community groups and local people.” “The evidence from this research illustrates we are talking about much more than just delivering courses: adult learning provides wider outcomes that are fundamental blocks to working with communities and enabling them to access other services and build autonomy, resilience and self reliance – a starting place for further learning, gaining new skills, routes out of poverty and creating a culture of learning in communities.” |
| Link | http://shop.niace.org.uk/media/catalog/product/s/o/social_value_for_community_empowerment.pdf |
