Active Learning for Active Citizenship: An Overview

The project Active LearTling for Active Citktnship formed part of recent civil renewal policy and contributed to the development of ideas along with action on the ground. Whilst that practice will be explored in other chapters, this chapter will examine the underlying principles. It is written by the author of the original report submitted to the Home Office in 2004, who subsequently helped initiate work across England forming Active Learning for Active Citi4tnship. It was seen as crucial that both learning and citizenship be active, following on from praxis related to empowering community development. The Hubs Active Learningfor Active Citktnship (ALAC) formed part of the central Government civil renewal initiative 'Together We Can'. Active citizenship is about people realising and employing democratic power and active learning is about how people are encouraged to do that. Seven learning hubs were established in the community and voluntary sector as part of the national Active Learning for Active Citktnship programme. The hubs are to be found in the Black Country; Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Lincoln, the South-West, Tees Valley and London. A hub consists of a central focus with satellites and therefore each hub has a core with workers who led local developments in partnership with other voluntary and statutory groups in their locality. The ALAC hubs were recommended, as spaces promoting active learning opportunities, in 'Active Learning for Active Citizenship' published by the Civil Renewal Unit at the Home Office (Woodward, 2004). The hubs were 13 designed to indicate effective ways that a major expansion in citizenship learning opportunities for adults could be stimulated and supported by government. So as to maximise learning outcomes, each hub was very different, utilising different methods with different groups. A wide variety of possible ways forward were consequently exposed. Each hub was localised, contextually rooted, small in scale, flexible, culturally sensitive, democratic and participatory. Each embraced community development ideas through a variety of methods and settings and was chosen because good practice was already evident. Each initiated new work, on top of what they were already doing. As outlined in the ALAC report (Woodward, 2004:6), 'the first hubs will be "trailblazers" to allow the voluntary and community sector to firm up on what they can do and wish to do, but also for the Government to ascertain the best form of sustained support and involvement'. DelDocratic Citizenship At the hubs, community groups have developed learning opportunities for participants to enter an empowering process specifically targeted at increasing democratic citizenship and the capacity within everyone to actively participate in democracy. As stated by the European Commission 'democracies have to create the conditions for an active exercise of citizenship' (European Commission, 2001:7). Likewise David Blunkett, who supported the ALAC project, commented 'democracy is not just an association of individuals determined to protect the private sphere, but a realm of active freedom in which citizens come together to shape the world around them' (Blunkett, 2003). An opportunity, not a solution Despite the emphasis on sustainability, the funding for Active Learningfor Active CitiJ:tnship was short term because it was aimed primarily at providing lessons for future action. Short term funding IS a major weakness amongst government funded programmes, but participants optimistically embraced this opportunity to contribute to reflections about longer-term good policy and practice development, maximising more immediate personal and community learning at the same time. Participants in the hubs are seeking ways to continue their learning and action now that the AlACprogramme has finished and have set up a network named Take Part. Indeed, the then Junior Minister at the Home Office, Hazel Blears, acknowledged that capacity building could not be achieved overnight and that it takes commitment, time and energy by individuals on the ground as well as real investment (DfES/Home Office seminar,June 2005). Evaluation and Continual Learning Evaluation of learning outcomes arising from the ALAC programme was consequently crucial. Learning outcomes were captured through an evaluation process carried out by an external team with a remit to: • Facilitate self-assessment within each pilot learning hub • Facilitate the sharing of learning between the hubs • Consolidate the lessons learnt from the programme as a whole, so as to facilitate agreement on the terms for a framework for expansion at the end of the programme. Participants accordingly formed the core of the programme's learning outcomes. While the ALAC programme comprised a form of action research designed to inform Government policy, it crucially created valuable and valued learning outcomes for individuals and their communities. As a research project AlAC clearly met the condition laid out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (1997:1) that 'people are central to the research and are involved in, and empowered by, the experience'. But AlAC as a project also created the conditions for more than this, through the provision of high quality, educational opportunities for participants. A Government Policy Indeed, as a people centred policy and programme of action, ALAC followed a Government recognition that, 'there has been too much emphasis on regenerating the physical environment (rather) than on changing the prospects of people who live there' (SEU, 1998:39), The Civil Renewal Unit at the Home Office had a vision of a society in which citizens are inspired to make a positive difference to their communities. While the programme arose from ministerial directives to expand the education for citizenship already being provided in English schools, ALAC was designed around broader ways of approaching this issue. The programme consequently took on board much of the criticism targeted at such policies and recognised that failing to recognise a legitimate diversity of ways of thinking, being and doing can lead to subtle, but powerful blocking of dynamic alternatives (Frazer, 1999). Also, bureaucratic inertia can often stifle political willingness to engage in risky programmes. The programme was therefore a massive risk for political decisionmakers, yet was generally embraced with welcoming support. Government working in partnership with the voluntary and community sector AlAC formed a key strand in the' Together we Can' government initiative, emphasising that no one sector can create sustainable change by themselves. The steering group for the ALAC programme reflected this by comprising members from a broad range of governmental and community sector groups with a direct interest and expertise in both active learning and active citizenship. They acted as a sounding board, reflecting on action and offering advice