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LEARNING COMMUNITIES:Neighbourhoods, Villages, Towns, Cities
& Regions Preparing for the 21st Century Knowledge-Based
Economy & Society
Ron FarisOct. 3, 2007 Trurohttp://members.shaw.ca/rfaris
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ANTIGONISH MOVEMENTWe 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 attending to 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
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KEY GLOBAL TRENDSThree inter-related drivers of
changeGlobalization market ideologyTechnological changeNew
knowledge and learning
From resource-based to knowledge-based economyHuman & social
capitalNew literaciesLearning technologies
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KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMYConstant change = Continuous
learningInvestment in education/learning results in significant
returns to organizations, individuals & societyHuman &
social capital are intangible assetsHuman capital: Formal
educational attainmentSocial capital: Trust, networking &
shared valuesSocial/human capital synergy:Social capital the cradle
of human capital
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LEARNING COMMUNITY INITIATIVESEUROPEOECD Learning Regions -
Spain, France, Denmark-Sweden & UKLearning Communities Network
& Test-beds - UKLearning Villages - Finland, Portugal &
ItalyAUSTRALIAVictoria State Learning TownsAustralian Learning
communities NetworkCANADALearning villages, cities and regions in
B.C.South Island Learning Community (SILC) project
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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
FoundationsEducation & training float on a Sea of Learning
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES: AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONNeighbourhoods,
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
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURECommunity Partners
civic economic
public education voluntaryOutcomeseconomic regeneration social
inclusion increased community capacitylifelong
learningInter-related Strategiesadult literacy community econ
development expanded IT use at-risk youth initiativesInput
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SOME IMPACTSHume: 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
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LEARNING COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPSPARTNERSHIPSCOMMUNITY/VOLUNTARYCIVICMunicipal -
BandShire - Prov-FedECONOMICPrivate - SocialPUBLIC Libraries -
MuseumsSocial - Health AgenciesEDUCATIONK -20
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES:SUCCESS DETERMINANTS3 Ps of
successPartnership - 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
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GOALSSUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM
LINEEconomicEnvironmentalSocial/culturalSOCIAL INCLUSIONBuilding
First Nation & non-First Nation bridgesCOMMUNITY CAPACITY
BUILDINGHuman capital - Education, training & healthSocial
capital - Social Infrastructure - Trust, Networks & Shared
Values Built capital - Physical infrastructureNatural capital -
Environment
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TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE OF
LEARNINGPartnershipsParticipationNetworksRespect for Land
&Interdependence of LifeSocial &
HumanCapitalECONOMICLIFELONGLEARNINGSOCIAL/CULTURALENVIRONMENTAL
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SUSTAINABLE TRIPLEBOTTOM LINEECO-JUSTICEIKEASOCIAL
ENTERPRISESUSTAINABILITY
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EARLY LEARNINGPerry 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 dollarsYear
40 - 16 dollars
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EARLY LEARNING: ROIPre-school group had almost 50% lower rates
of:high school drop-outsteenage pregnanciesdrug
abuse/alcoholismwelfare dependencyimprisonmentunemployment than the
control group without quality pre-schools
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ADULT LITERACY: AN INVESTMENTA 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
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THIS WE KNOW, ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE THE BLOOD WHICH
UNITES ONE FAMILY . WHATEVER BEFALLS THE EARTH, BEFALLS THE SONS
AND DAUGHTERS OF 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
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THE WEB OF LEARNING: LEARNING COMMUNITIESLEARNERSEducation
SectorEconomic SectorVoluntary SectorCivicSectorPublic
SectorUniversities InstitutesCommunityCollegesSchoolsHealth
AgenciesLibrariesSocial Service AgenciesService ClubsPrivate &
Social
EnterpriseCommunityAssociationsLocalGovernmentMuseumsFaithCommunities
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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
EducationStatement of Purposes, 1946
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COMMUNITY VALUESBalance 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
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CANADIAN CHALLENGESIALS: 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
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GROWING INEQUALITYIncome gap at 30-year highAverage earning of
richest 10% families in 2004 was 82 times that of poorest 10% : 31
times in 1976Increasing polarizationOnly richest 20% families
experiencing gains in income shareContrasting fortunesPoorest 20%
families: Drop in earnings share from 4.5% in late 70s to 2.6% in
early 2000sRichest 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
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INEQUALITY: LITERACY & INCOMEKjell Rubenson OECD Intl
Literacy Survey 2000
Kaavio1
28.5
28.2
32.4
25.5
23
34.4
30.5
32.4
21.7
22.8
25.6
Gini coefficient
Literacy inequality
Income inequality
USA
UK
IRL
AUS
CAN
BEL
CZE
GER
FIN
SWE
NLD
NOR
DNK
Data
Figure 6.1
Literacy inequalityIncome inequality
Canada1.7828.5
Germany1.5128.2
Ireland1.7132.4
Netherlands1.4825.5
Sweden1.5123.0
United States1.9034.4
Australia1.6930.5
United Kingdom1.7532.4
Denmark1.3921.7
Finland1.5422.8
Norway1.4425.6
Figure 6.1
Figure 3.Relationship between economic inequality (Gini
coefficient) and the inequality in the distribution of literacy
within selected counties. ( Adapted from OECD, 2000).
Figure 6.1
28.5
28.2
32.4
25.5
23
34.4
30.5
32.4
21.7
22.8
25.6
Gini coefficient
Literacy inequality
Income inequality
DNK
NOR
NLD
SWE
FIN
DEU
CZE
BEL
CAN
AUS
IRL
UKM
USA
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NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS:SOME COMPARISONS
Nordic countries have significantly lower:Poverty ratesHomicide
and drug abuseInfant mortality ratesNordic countries have
significantly higher:Adult literacy ratesGender equalityWorld
Economic Forum growth competitiveness rankingsLife
expectancyEnvironmental performanceR&D and innovation
measures
Source: The Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation,
2006
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NORDIC MODEL: TOP 10
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A PAN-CANADIAN STRATEGY2005: HRDC Towards A Fully Literate
Nation report (Bradshaw)
2007: CMEC Adult Literacy Forum report (Faris-Blunt)
2007: TD Bank Literacy Matters: A Call for Action report
(Alexander-McKenna)
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KEY RECOMMENDATIONSGovernment(s) commitmentLifelong
learningLong-termWell-resourced
Cross-sectoral partnerships including the enterprise sector
Learner involvement
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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 dont 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.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:EARLY LEARNINGL. 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.
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ADULT LITERACYCoulombe, 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.
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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.
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NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELSBrooks, 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.
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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: Canadas 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 Canadas Growing Gap,
CCPA, Ottawa.