PALLACE PROJECT Schools and the Learning Community

CREATING OUR FUTURE Building Towns and Cities as Learning CommunitiesEdmonton, CANADA3-4 June, 2004 PALLACE PROJECT Schools and the Learning Community

Education in SA • 1200 government and non-government schools • Average size of primary schools = 250-300 students • Average size of secondary schools = 600-850 students • 65% of education funding is from the State government • 35% from the Federal government • Moving towards a national curriculum and standards • Pressure on limited resources

Adelaide Partnership Aim: • Role of the school in building learning communities and regions Outcomes: • Describe contribution to the building of a learning community • Establish international links between Adelaide-Finnish schools • Develop an e-learning module for schools • Support other communities and schools to develop the concept of a learning community and region Project Managers: • CLLD, DFEEST,DECS Other State Partners: • Mawson Lakes School, St Columba College, other SA schools International Collaborative Partner: • The City of Espoo, Finland Secondary Project: • Role of local government in the development of learning communities

Methodology • Project Manager • Guidelines and timeline for schools • Reporting template for schools • Adaptation of the ‘Longworth model’ (1996) • Introductory workshop and collection of school profile data • Series of follow up workshops, seminars and meetings • Discussions with the Queensland PALLACE project officer • Email communication with City of Espoo Project Manager • Matching SA and Finnish schools

Description of PALLACE Schools • 12 participating schools • Provided a representative cross-section of the range of SA schools • Metropolitan and country schools: including remote schools • All levels of schooling: pre-schooling, junior primary, primary, secondary, single sex schools, co-educational, adult re-entry, specialist focus schools, aboriginal schools • Both sectors of education: government and non-government (Catholic and Lutheran)

Participating Schools

PALLACE JOURNEY • Mawson Lakes School Alison Hennessy Key Teacher • St Columba College Paul Coughlin Director, Community Education and VET

Highlights • Stimulated significant interest in learning communities • Schools have ongoing role in developing links with their communities • Schools could benchmark their learning community development • Schools at different stages in the learning community journey • Involved wide cross section of community in debating role of schools in creating a learning community • Case studies of a diversity of school learning community initiatives • Database of good practice • Created international links for schools to pursue in the future

Difficulties • Transfer of project management • At school level • transfer of key staff • changing school priorities • schools working to status quo • Formation of links between South Australian and Finnish schools proved to be a difficult exercise • Development of an e-learning module has not progressed very far

Characteristics of Successful Learning Communities • Access to education services for everyone • Brokerage of educational services • Social and cultural development of the community • Sustainable economic development • Critical partnerships and innovative collaboration • New resourcing models • Sale of education services • Development of educational signatures • Optimal use of ICT to generate access and connectivity • Educational services to the surrounding region and beyond • International programs • Culture of continuous improvement • Transferability and influence

Lessons for Lifelong Learning • Critical role for schools in building learning communities • Vision  commitment from stakeholders  action • Importance of a local group of stakeholders led by high level “champions” • Collaboration between (traditional) providers under a guideline of “more value from no greater input” • Ownership by the community • Establishing social environment for community capacity building • Integration and brokerage of education services for all • Importance of establishing education access portals • Flexible entry points to learning for everyone • Develop a culture that values continuous learning • Link between learning and work

LIVE, LEARN, WORK and PLAY • Creating a successful learning community is not something that is done to people • It involves creating an environment (social, physical and economic) in which the learning community itself can evolve within the context of its region • Education (learning) contributes to the economic sustainability of a community • LearningWork Wealth Sustainability

PALLACE PROJECT Schools and the Learning Community