LEARNING COMMUNITIES:Neighbourhoods, Villages, Towns, Cities & Regions Preparing for the 21st Century Knowledge-Based Economy & Society

Ron FarisOct. 3, 2007 Trurohttp://members.shaw.ca/rfaris

ANTIGONISH MOVEMENTWe want our men to look into the sun, and into the depths of the sea. We want them to explore the hearts of flowers and the hearts of their fellow men.We want them to be men, whole men eager to explore all the avenues of life and to obtain perfection in all their faculties. Life for them shall not be in terms of merchandising but in terms of all that is good and beautiful, be it economic, political, social, cultural, or spiritual. They are the heirs of all the ages and all the riches yet concealed. All the findings of science and philosophy are theirs. All the creations of art and literature are for them. If they are wise they will create the instruments to obtain them. They will usher in the new day by attending to the blessings of the old. They will use what they have to secure what they have not. Moses Coady, 1939, Masters of Their Own Destiny

KEY GLOBAL TRENDSThree inter-related drivers of changeGlobalization market ideologyTechnological changeNew knowledge and learning

From resource-based to knowledge-based economyHuman & social capitalNew literaciesLearning technologies

KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMYConstant change = Continuous learningInvestment in education/learning results in significant returns to organizations, individuals & societyHuman & social capital are intangible assetsHuman capital: Formal educational attainmentSocial capital: Trust, networking & shared valuesSocial/human capital synergy:Social capital the cradle of human capital

LEARNING COMMUNITY INITIATIVESEUROPEOECD Learning Regions - Spain, France, Denmark-Sweden & UKLearning Communities Network & Test-beds - UKLearning Villages - Finland, Portugal & ItalyAUSTRALIAVictoria State Learning TownsAustralian Learning communities NetworkCANADALearning villages, cities and regions in B.C.South Island Learning Community (SILC) project

LIFELONG LEARNING: AN ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE TWO DIMENSIONS: Life-long & Life-wide

EQUAL VALUING: Formal, Non-Formal & Informal

CIRCLE OF LEARNING: Holistic & Balanced+ Spiritual + Physical+ Emotional + Mental

SOCIAL-COMMUNITY PROCESS: Literacies & Essential Skills are FoundationsEducation & training float on a Sea of Learning

LEARNING COMMUNITIES: AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONNeighbourhoods, 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

LEARNING COMMUNITIES: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURECommunity Partners

civic economic

public education voluntaryOutcomeseconomic regeneration social inclusion increased community capacitylifelong learningInter-related Strategiesadult literacy community econ development expanded IT use at-risk youth initiativesInput

LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SOME IMPACTSHume: 50% increase in library memberships & circulation in first two years

South Island Learning Community: All 11 First Nation bands gain free access to regional public library; literacy students create own e-portfolios & learning plans

Southampton: 15% of workforce attained basic computer qualifications by year 2000; Tech park created

Lytton: Farmers market & student-run community radio station created; unique canyon-long collaboration

LEARNING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPSPARTNERSHIPSCOMMUNITY/VOLUNTARYCIVICMunicipal - BandShire - Prov-FedECONOMICPrivate - SocialPUBLIC Libraries - MuseumsSocial - Health AgenciesEDUCATIONK -20

LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SUCCESS DETERMINANTS3 Ps of successPartnership - learning to build links between all sectors and mobilize their shared resources

Participation - learning to involve the public in the policy process as well as learning opportunities Performance - learning to assess progress and benchmark good practice

GOALSSUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINEEconomicEnvironmentalSocial/culturalSOCIAL INCLUSIONBuilding First Nation & non-First Nation bridgesCOMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDINGHuman capital - Education, training & healthSocial capital - Social Infrastructure - Trust, Networks & Shared Values Built capital - Physical infrastructureNatural capital - Environment

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE OF LEARNINGPartnershipsParticipationNetworksRespect for Land &Interdependence of LifeSocial & HumanCapitalECONOMICLIFELONGLEARNINGSOCIAL/CULTURALENVIRONMENTAL

SUSTAINABLE TRIPLEBOTTOM LINEECO-JUSTICEIKEASOCIAL ENTERPRISESUSTAINABILITY

EARLY LEARNINGPerry pre-school study 40+ year study of 129 Michigan pre-schoolers

Return on Investment (Approx. savings for every dollar invested)

Year 10 - 5 dollars Year 20 - 7 dollars Year 30 - 10 dollarsYear 40 - 16 dollars

EARLY LEARNING: ROIPre-school group had almost 50% lower rates of:high school drop-outsteenage pregnanciesdrug abuse/alcoholismwelfare dependencyimprisonmentunemployment than the control group without quality pre-schools

ADULT LITERACY: AN INVESTMENTA 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

C. D. HOWE INSTITUTE, Coulombe & Tremblay, 2005

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

THE WEB OF LEARNING: LEARNING COMMUNITIESLEARNERSEducation SectorEconomic SectorVoluntary SectorCivicSectorPublic SectorUniversities InstitutesCommunityCollegesSchoolsHealth AgenciesLibrariesSocial Service AgenciesService ClubsPrivate & Social EnterpriseCommunityAssociationsLocalGovernmentMuseumsFaithCommunities

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 EducationStatement of Purposes, 1946

COMMUNITY VALUESBalance citizen rights & responsibilities

Devolve resources and power to communities with increased capacity of learning and information & communications technologies

Mobilize human/social capital to foster sustainable local economic development, social inclusion & community capacity

CANADIAN CHALLENGESIALS: 1993 & 2003 - 42% Levels 1 & 2 No change!

TD Bank efforts to improve literacy can have dramatic and far reaching effects. It can reduce poverty, improve health, lift community engagement and lead to a higher standard of living. Literacy Matters: A Call for Action, 2007

GROWING INEQUALITYIncome gap at 30-year highAverage earning of richest 10% families in 2004 was 82 times that of poorest 10% : 31 times in 1976Increasing polarizationOnly richest 20% families experiencing gains in income shareContrasting fortunesPoorest 20% families: Drop in earnings share from 4.5% in late 70s to 2.6% in early 2000sRichest 10% families: Increase from 23% to 29.5%Working more: only top 10% of families not working more, compared to 9 years ago

Source: The Rich and the Rest of Us, 2007

INEQUALITY: LITERACY & INCOMEKjell Rubenson OECD Intl Literacy Survey 2000

Kaavio1

28.5

28.2

32.4

25.5

23

34.4

30.5

32.4

21.7

22.8

25.6

Gini coefficient

Literacy inequality

Income inequality

USA

UK

IRL

AUS

CAN

BEL

CZE

GER

FIN

SWE

NLD

NOR

DNK

Data

Figure 6.1

Literacy inequalityIncome inequality

Canada1.7828.5

Germany1.5128.2

Ireland1.7132.4

Netherlands1.4825.5

Sweden1.5123.0

United States1.9034.4

Australia1.6930.5

United Kingdom1.7532.4

Denmark1.3921.7

Finland1.5422.8

Norway1.4425.6

Figure 6.1

Figure 3.Relationship between economic inequality (Gini coefficient) and the inequality in the distribution of literacy within selected counties. ( Adapted from OECD, 2000).

Figure 6.1

28.5

28.2

32.4

25.5

23

34.4

30.5

32.4

21.7

22.8

25.6

Gini coefficient

Literacy inequality

Income inequality

DNK

NOR

NLD

SWE

FIN

DEU

CZE

BEL

CAN

AUS

IRL

UKM

USA

NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS:SOME COMPARISONS

Nordic countries have significantly lower:Poverty ratesHomicide and drug abuseInfant mortality ratesNordic countries have significantly higher:Adult literacy ratesGender equalityWorld Economic Forum growth competitiveness rankingsLife expectancyEnvironmental performanceR&D and innovation measures

Source: The Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation, 2006

NORDIC MODEL: TOP 10

A PAN-CANADIAN STRATEGY2005: HRDC Towards A Fully Literate Nation report (Bradshaw)

2007: CMEC Adult Literacy Forum report (Faris-Blunt)

2007: TD Bank Literacy Matters: A Call for Action report (Alexander-McKenna)

KEY RECOMMENDATIONSGovernment(s) commitmentLifelong learningLong-termWell-resourced

Cross-sectoral partnerships including the enterprise sector

Learner involvement

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 dont 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 LEARNINGL. 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 LITERACYCoulombe, 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.

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.National Advisory Committee on Literacy and Essential Skills, 2005, Towards A Fully Literate Canada, HRDC, Ottawa.

NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELSBrooks, 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.Jordahl, H., 2007, Inequality and Trust, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Working Paper No. 715, Stockholm.Rubenson, K., 2006, The Nordic Model of Lifelong Learning, Compare: A journal of comparative education, Vol. 36, Issue 3 (Sept. 2006), pp. 327-341.

A PERMANENT UNDERCLASS?Morisette, R., & Zhang, X., 2006, Revisiting wealth inequality, PERSPECTIVES (Dec. 2006), Statistics Canada, Ottawa.Myers, K., & Lebroucker, P., 2006, Too Many Left Behind: Canadas Adult Education and Training System, Research Report W/34 Work Network, CPRN, Ottawa.Yalnizyan, A., 2007, The Rich and the Rest of Us: The Changing Face of Canadas Growing Gap, CCPA, Ottawa.