What Is Community Education

1. Lifelong Learning
Community
Involvement
Efficient Use of
Resources
Self-Determination
Self-Help
NCEA Principles of
Community Education
Leadership
Development
Institutional
Responsiveness
Integrated Delivery
of Services
Decentralization

2. Community Education
advocates and supports the
creation of innovative
programs and collaboration
between all members of
communities for the purposes
of advancing community
learning and sustainability.

3. The strength of community
education is also its
weakness. Community
education’s strength is that it
deals with many different
and varied components of
education within the
community. It’s weakness is
that this makes it very hard
to describe what we do.
Tony Townsend

4. The aim of 'Community Education' is to equip communities
with the skills they need to undertake the activities they wish
to undertake; it is essentially about educating communities
or groups, not just individuals.
England
Defining Community Education

5. Adult and Community Education (ACE) is a response to the
lifelong learning needs of the community. Key features are:
 it is learner-centered.
 it is for everyone.
 it covers a wide variety of learning.
 it responds to the community.
Australia
Defining Community Education

6. A process whereby learning is used for both
individual and community betterment. It is
characterized by:
Involvement of people of all ages.
The use of community learning, resources and
research to bring about community change.
The recognition that people can learn through,
with and for each other to create a better world.
CanadaCanada
Defining Community Education

8. The field of Community Education is about providing the knowledge and
skills for people to not only be self-sufficient and independent, but to
create and utilize the interdependencies that must also exist in civil
society. It is about creating a participatory learning culture that
incorporates principles and practices of respect, mutual aid,
inclusiveness, lifelong learning, skill building, self appreciation,
entrepreneurship, and leadership development – the puzzle pieces that
make up community life and learning.

9. Who are Community Educators?

10. We are the learning strands of communities.

We are the youth workers and the youth leaders.
We are the preschool and out-of-school time instructors and
supporters who work with children and their care-givers.
\We are the adult education counselors, teachers
and volunteers
in continuing education programs,
in workforce development programs,
in workplaces,
in colleges,
in prisons,
in museums,
in immigrant serving agencies
in family resource centers,
in senior centers,
and in other community-based agencies.

11. We are those who inform the public about the risks to the environment and
its beauties, and what we need to do to sustain healthy lifestyles.
We are muralists and local media producers that educate and engage
people about local issues.
We are change agents adept at working with community members to
identify needs and resources, and then to meet those needs through
educational services.

We facilitate cooperation and collaboration among those involved in the
participation and delivery of multiple resources.
We provide training in leadership and curriculum development that tie
formal to informal learning.
We offer help in strategic planning, communication development, public
relations, and program evaluation, among other transformational activities.

12. We are so many people addressing the multiple
needs of individuals, families, organizations, and
communities - providing an array of
academic, recreation, health, social
services, using the common thread of learning, to
prepare people of all ages for active and healthy
community life.

13. Recommendations
Build the linkages between the
myriad incarnations of
Community Education and
ensure that the mission is
about sustaining communities
through education and
learning.

14. Build partnerships with all
institutions, (education,
government, businesses,
service organizations,
neighborhoods, families,
philanthropy and civic
associations), locally,
regionally, nationally, and
internationally, and guide
where we are welcome the
process of creating
collaboration.

15. Reach out to and engage groups not currently being
supported by formal education institutions or who would
benefit from training. Learn from other informal and
indigenous learning systems so that we are informed about
the traditions and knowledge that shape people’s lives and
values.

16. Tap into the knowledge and expertise of community
educators throughout the world. Set up structures to share
this knowledge with one another so that we benefit
collectively what we each individually have experienced.

17. Constantly review,
evaluate and adapt to the
political, economic,
societal, technological,
environmental, and
demographic shifts
occurring in our
communities, nationally
and internationally.

18. Community Education is a vibrant
and ever changing field,
unique and interdependent,
adapting to the needs of
communities by responding with
programs and/or processes specific
to the local area.