Introduction to a seminar on the State of the Field in Community Learning and Development on Friday 13th June 2024, University of Edinburgh.

Today’s seminar comes out of the concerns the organisers of this event have about the narrow framing of the current independent review of Community Learning & Development. For example, the overview of the review states: Community Learning and Development (CLD) is a professional practice within education with delivery stretching across all stages of lifelong learning…The purpose of CLD is to provide early intervention and prevention to those experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, inequality of opportunity within the education and skills system. (Scottish Government, No Date)  As a result of this perceived narrowing of the scope of CLD work, four of us working on CLD programmes in Scottish universities wrote an open letter (Galloway et al, 2024) to express our concerns and invite support from the field of practice. Our concerns are summarised by this extract from the letter: We argue that the learning and development components of CLD cannot be separated without losing the ethos and values of the profession in relation to social justice. We also note that within the terms of reference, ‘educational’ refers explicitly to learning and skills for employment, neglecting longstanding broader social justice aims for lifelong, life wide education as recognised formally by the Scottish Government

Meta-skills: exciting opportunity or neo-liberal retread?

The term Meta-skills has become prominent in education in the last decade and, in Scotland, has increasingly been seen at the forefront of policy agendas. Based on the idea of Metacognition, and so claiming to derive from evidence of Psychology and Cognitive Science, the Meta-skills concept seems to offer an exciting and quintessentially 21st century opportunity.  Or does it? Is the idea coherent and evidence-based? Indeed, is it new or merely a rebranding of those key/core/transferable/soft skills that have been contested since the 1980s?  Does it represent a further neo-liberal strategy to vocationalise education, prioritising making learners ‘ready for the market’? This paper asks what are Meta-skills and what do they have to offer (or threaten) to those working in adult education

Hamish Henderson and Cultural Activism

This article is based on The Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture given in the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 9th November 2024.  I start with some general thoughts on what is culture, and cultural activism. Then I examine the cultural activism of Hamish Henderson (1919-2002) poet, songwriter, soldier and scholar. He was a world-renowned folklorist, a pioneering lecturer in the School of Scottish Studies, founded in Edinburgh University In 1951, and a leader in the folk song revival of the 1950s and 1960s. His activism was influenced by the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist philosopher and writer (1891-1937) imprisoned and tortured by the fascist Italian state. Gramsci was also a very important influence on the Liberation movement in Latin American in the 1960s and 70s. I will discuss how the influence of Paolo Freire came to be embedded in the practice of the Adult Learning Project (ALP) in Edinburgh and share some examples of liberating cultural action which demonstrate the values and beliefs ALP shared with Henderson, Gramsci and Freire

Community Education, Populism and Deliberative Democracy

Politics have been transformed by populism in this past decade resulting in political culture becoming increasingly polarised and angry. This article aims to better understand populism by drawing on a range of perspectives in fields such as political sociology, psychology and psychoanalysis. The article accounts for populism’s rise by exploring factors such as financial crises, changing demographics, especially in relation to education, and the transformative impact of social media on political culture. The article also considers the role of emotive reasoning in shaping populism and political persuasion more broadly. Drawing on ideas associated with Jurgen Habermas, the article argues that deliberative democracy, when applied to learning environments in community education, provides a way of making politics less polarised and angry and more deliberative and dialogical.&nbsp

Community Health and Multi-directional integration in Cables Wynd House, Leith: Community Development Approaches

In this article, I reflect on my experience of working alongside community activists trying to support community health and multi-directional integration in Cables Wynd House (‘the Banana Flats’), Leith, and how its reputation in the city may have presented difficulties. I bring together insights from Community Development, Migration Studies and other disciplines, as well as reflections on my own practice, and suggest a model for working towards community health and multi-directional integration in neighbourhoods on the receiving end of area-based stigma

Rediscovering community again and again and again!

Community is everywhere it seems. Again.  This time round, it seems to have been rediscovered as the ultimate solution to the public disorder seen in various parts of the UK in recent times, though not so far in Scotland.  The leader of Edinburgh District Council at the time no doubt had his fingers crossed when he talked about \u27[strengthening] our will to preserve the great community spirit and resilience we enjoy across our capital city\u27.  Even King Charles, that well-known communitarian, has spoken of how he has been greatly encouraged \u27by the many examples of community spirit that countered the aggression and criminality from the few\u27.  Of course, there are many who would dispute the basis and sources of these and many other contemporary claims about the veracity of community. As Marj Mayo (1975) summed it up nearly half a century ago:             It is not just that the term [community] has been used ambiguously, it has been contested, fought over and appropriated for different uses and interests to justify different politics, policies and practices

From Rhetoric to Reality: Tackling Poverty and Inequality Through a Just transition in Scotland

This article examines the intersection of poverty, inequality, and climate policy in Scotland. It argues that the shift to a low carbon economy offers a transformative opportunity to address structural social injustices that have persisted for decades. Drawing on government frameworks, civil society research, and comparative policy examples, the paper contends that Scotland’s just transition must embed social equity from the outset. It identifies income security, gender-responsive care infrastructure, participatory democracy, and fiscal justice as essential pillars of an inclusive transformation. The analysis demonstrates that poverty is a consequence of political design rather than individual failure, and that only a whole-economy approach can deliver both environmental and social sustainability

Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood (2023)

I came across Matrescence by Lucy Jones when I was 9 months deep into my own period of postpartum fog. I hadn’t slept for more than 60 minutes at a time, my hair was falling out in handfuls, I was dehydrated, over-caffeinated, simultaneously over and under stimulated, I had not read a book since my baby was born or brushed my teeth more than once a day. I felt both at my most lonely and my most connected, pulled through by my partner, family and close female friends who had done it before me. I had, up to this point, reliably got through life with a mixture of conscientiousness, enthusiasm and perfectionism. I yearned deeply to become a mum but the reality was not what I expected. My love for my son was like nothing I had ever known, and yet, so was the anxiety. I was consumed with obsessively tracking everything he did in the hope I might finally ‘get it right’. I was supposed to be good at this. This was what I was ‘meant’ to do. However, despite all my preparation and research, my baby wouldn’t sleep, needed held constantly, had a bad latch and cried inconsolably in cafes across the city. In my state of extreme sleep deprivation and mental depletion not only was I seemingly getting everything wrong but I felt wrong too

It\u27s been a long day!

Education can and should be emancipatory. Yet, for many of our neurodivergent children, it can feel like torture. Common challenges faced by neurodivergent children in our schools include sleep deprivation, sensory overload, social isolation, and repeated questioning - all compounded by a sense of powerlessness and the inability to leave or change their environment. As much as we strive to do our best for our young, it sometimes feels as though, in our efforts to educate, we do more harm than good. There is no doubt that we’ve made significant progress in supporting neurodivergent children. It wasn’t so long ago that some children were forced to write with their non-dominant hand or subjected to physical punishment for failing to make the grade. However, despite this progress, inequality of outcomes for neurodivergent individuals persists. In extreme cases, some are even institutionalized in hospitals, or imprisoned due to a lack of appropriate and available support. Clearly, we still have a long way to go. Given the chronic underfunding of our education system, it feels increasingly important for individuals to come together, support one another, and collectivize their efforts for change.  This poem is not about any one person. It is an amalgamation of my own experiences—as a child, parent, husband, educator, and a friend and confidant to other parents of neurodivergent children. I’ve been fortunate to be part of a self-organized parent support group for adults with neurodivergent children. There is something deeply powerful about learning from others with shared or similar experience - helping and being helped at the same time. Sometimes, it feels like you don’t have the energy to take on another responsibility, another evening spent meeting with other parents. But, in my experience, it is almost always worth it. The connection with others, the empathy for each other’s situations - it all helps to re-energize you for the fight ahead. As one of my fellow strugglers once said, \u27I arrive with a problem, but always leave with a few new ideas to try and address it\u27.  Moreover, participation in interest groups provides opportunities for collective action in support of our cause. This poem was used as a means of sharing the experiences of neurodivergent children with their teachers. This poem is dedicated to the parents and carers of neurodivergent children, their allies within the education system (of which there are many), and to all the neurodivergent children making their way through the school day - after day, after day

Exploring community engagement methods and approaches, a one-day workshop for anyone in the Fife area to build their skills in this environment, Glenrothes, November 2024.

Community Engagement: we hear it a lot, particularly from politicians when talking about controversial topics and projects: “We engaged with the community, and this is what they wanted”. In tourism, it can be used to find the balance between the social impacts of development – ensuring that what we, as development practitioners, do is in the community’s best interests. Responsible tourism looks at the social, economic and environmental factors; one of these is objective – money – you can count it. Another of these is theoretically measurable on both macro and micro levels, though tough to define - environmental. The final is very subjective and nearly impossible to measure with any proper level of accuracy – social. That’s where community engagement comes in