Facilitate community learning for social and political development LEGACY
Overview
This standard is about the role that community development practitioners have in facilitating the learning of individuals and groups for collective community action. It examines community development practitioners' roles in providing learning opportunities to develop the expertise, skills, knowledge and creative ideas of people involved in community development. Its focus is learning that supports collective action and gives communities a more effective voice. This means learning activities could involve the development of critical understandings of cultural, social, political and economic processes and structures; how these are common experiences for people in general; and how they may be challenged.
This standard is relevant to community development practitioners organising and/or delivering community development learning opportunities.
The community development standards are arranged in six key areas:
• One - Understand and practise community development
• Two - Understand and engage with communities
• Three - Group work and collective action
• Four - Collaboration and cross-sectoral working
• Five - Community learning for social change
• Six - Governance and organisational development
This standard is within Key Area Five.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
1 build lasting trusting relationships with individuals from different backgrounds and experiences in the learning process
2 identify the learning needs of individuals and community groups
3 tailor learning activities to meet the expressed needs of individuals and community groups
4 use people's experiences as the starting point of participatory learning activities and methods for meeting different learning needs
5 create supportive environments for learning which explore values, perspectives, rights and responsibilities
6 use learning opportunities to promote deliberate actions for social change
7 utilise appropriate resources for community development information advice and guidance
8 utilise appropriate resources for community development learning
9 negotiate with training and learning providers to support community learning and professional development
10 monitor, review and report on the impact of different learning opportunities for individuals and communities
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
The context
1 the role of learning in promoting trust, understanding and respect within and between communities
2 barriers to learning and ways to overcome them
3 anti-discriminatory practice in the provision and delivery of learning
Approaches to learning
4 approaches and methods to support learning
5 the impact of different learning needs and learning preferences
6 different ways to support action, learning and critical analyses of the nature of power, inequality and discrimination and democratic action
Resources and support for learning
7 how to identify, adapt and create resources for community learning
8 relevant qualification frameworks
9 formal and informal learning support networks and how to access them
Evaluation of learning
10 methods of evaluating learning activities and the outcomes of learning for communities and individuals
11 how the dissemination of evaluation results improve learning provision
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Community development is underpinned by a set of values which distinguish it from other, sometimes related, activities in the community. These values are at the core of community development and underpin each of the standards. The values are;
1 Social justice and equality
2 Anti-discrimination
3 Community empowerment
4 Collective action
5 Working and learning together
The following examples illustrate how each of the community development values might inform practice in this standard. These statements are not part of assessment requirements.
1 the role of learning in changing people's social, economic and political situation is recognised and explored
2 time is taken to build trust within the learning group so that people feel confident to share experiences and learn from those of others
3 learning methods are used to enable people to develop the confidence and skills to be able to represent themselves and their interests
4 participants are involved in sharing their views and experiences of learning and contributing ideas for improving the experience for the benefit of others
5 participants are encouraged and supported to identify further opportunities for their own development