LEARNING COMMUNITIES:

1. LEARNING COMMUNITIES: Neighbourhoods, Villages, Towns, Cities & Regions Preparing for the 21st Century Knowledge-Based Economy & Society Ron Faris Oct. 3, 2007 Truro http://members.shaw.ca/rfaris

2. ANTIGONISH MOVEMENT “We 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 attendingto 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

3. KEY GLOBAL TRENDS • Three inter-related drivers of change • Globalization – market ideology • Technological change • New knowledge and learning • From resource-based to knowledge-based economy • Human & social capital • New literacies • Learning technologies

4. KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY • Constant change = Continuous learning • Investment in education/learning results in significant returns to organizations, individuals & society • Human & social capital are “intangible assets” • Human capital: Formal educational attainment • Social capital: Trust, networking & shared values • Social/human capital synergy: • Social capital the cradle of human capital

5. LEARNING COMMUNITY INITIATIVES • EUROPE • OECD Learning Regions - Spain, France, Denmark-Sweden & UK • Learning Communities Network & Test-beds - UK • Learning Villages - Finland, Portugal & Italy • AUSTRALIA • Victoria State Learning Towns • Australian Learning communities Network • CANADA • Learning villages, cities and regions in B.C. • South Island Learning Community (SILC) project

6. 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 Foundations “Education & training float on a Sea of Learning”

7. LEARNING COMMUNITIES: AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION Neighbourhoods, 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”

8. LEARNING LEARNING COMMUNITIES: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Community Partners civic economic public education voluntary Inter-related Strategies adult literacy community econ development expanded IT use at-risk youth initiatives Outcomes economic regeneration social inclusion increased community capacity lifelong learning Input

9. LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SOME IMPACTS • Hume: 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

10. LEARNING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS CIVIC Municipal - Band Shire - Prov-Fed ECONOMIC Private - Social PARTNERSHIPS PUBLIC Libraries - Museums Social - Health Agencies EDUCATION K -20 COMMUNITY/ VOLUNTARY

11. LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SUCCESS DETERMINANTS • 3 P’s of success • Partnership - 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

12. GOALS • SUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE • Economic • Environmental • Social/cultural • SOCIAL INCLUSION • Building First Nation & non-First Nation bridges • COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING • Human capital - Education, training & health • Social capital - Social Infrastructure - Trust, Networks & Shared Values • Built capital - Physical infrastructure • Natural capital - Environment

13. TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE OF LEARNING Social & Human Capital ECONOMIC LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIAL/CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL Partnerships Participation Networks Respect for Land & Interdependence of Life

14. SUSTAINABLE TRIPLEBOTTOM LINE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IKEA SUSTAINABILITY ECO-JUSTICE

15. EARLY LEARNING • Perry 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 dollars • Year 40 - 16 dollars

16. EARLY LEARNING: ROI • Pre-school group had almost 50% lower rates of: • high school drop-outs • teenage pregnancies • drug abuse/alcoholism • welfare dependency • imprisonment • unemployment than the control group without quality pre-schools

17. ADULT LITERACY: AN INVESTMENT A 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

18. THIS WE KNOW,ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE THE BLOOD WHICH UNITES ONE FAMILY .WHATEVER BEFALLS THE EARTH,BEFALLS THE SONS AND DAUGHTERSOF 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

19. THE WEB OF LEARNING: LEARNING COMMUNITIES Private & Social Enterprise Local Government Economic Sector Community Colleges Universities LEARNERS Civic Sector Education Sector Service Clubs Institutes Schools Libraries Museums Public Sector Voluntary Sector Community Associations Health Agencies Social Service Agencies Faith Communities

20. 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 Education Statement of Purposes, 1946

21. COMMUNITY VALUES • Balance 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

22. CANADIAN CHALLENGES • IALS: 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

23. GROWING INEQUALITY • Income gap at 30-year high • Average earning of richest 10% families in 2004 was 82 times that of poorest 10% : 31 times in 1976 • Increasing polarization • Only richest 20% families experiencing gains in income share • Contrasting fortunes • Poorest 20% families: Drop in earnings share from 4.5% in late ’70’s to 2.6% in early 2000’s • Richest 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

24. INEQUALITY: LITERACY & INCOMEKjell Rubenson OECD Intl Literacy Survey 2000

25. NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS:SOME COMPARISONS • Nordic countries have significantly lower: • Poverty rates • Homicide and drug abuse • Infant mortality rates • Nordic countries have significantly higher: • Adult literacy rates • Gender equality • World Economic Forum growth competitiveness rankings • Life expectancy • Environmental performance • R&D and innovation measures Source: The Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation, 2006

26. NORDIC MODEL: TOP 10

27. A PAN-CANADIAN STRATEGY • 2005: HRDC Towards A Fully Literate Nationreport(Bradshaw) • 2007: CMEC Adult Literacy Forum report (Faris-Blunt) • 2007: TD Bank Literacy Matters: A Call for Action report (Alexander-McKenna)

28. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS • Government(s’) commitment • Lifelong learning • Long-term • Well-resourced • Cross-sectoral partnerships including the enterprise sector • Learner involvement

29. 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 don’t 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.”

30. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:EARLY LEARNING • L. 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.

31. ADULT LITERACY • Coulombe, 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.

32. 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.

33. NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS • Brooks, 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.

34. 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: Canada’s 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 Canada’s Growing Gap, CCPA, Ottawa.