Changing Framework of Local Governance and Community Participation in Elementary Education in India

In recent years, strengthening and better functioning of local governance have become prime concerns of educational reform agenda. Establishment of effective local governance has been part of overall changes in educational governance for several years in many countries including India. It is now widely recognized that effective local governance considerably impacts on access to education as well as the enrolment, retention and learning experiences of children in school. It is in this context, that this paper provides an overview of the changing framework of governance of elementary education and community participation in India with a special focus on its role in improving the participation of children. An attempt has also been made to examine the extent to which grassroots level functionaries and local bodies like panchayat and VEC are able to get involved in decision making processes and different approaches that have been taken by different states in regards to local governance of education. Drawing references from recent efforts made by different states, the paper has tried to establish a link between effectiveness of local governance and issues regarding access, equity and quality of school education. While discussing the changing framework of local governance, the paper critically examines the guiding principles of governance reform from two perspectives. ‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches are discussed, in terms of ensuring the effectiveness of the system and empowering people for active participation in decentralized decision making process

A European lens upon adult and lifelong learning in Asia

In this article, we seek to assess the extent to which adult and lifelong learning policies and practices in Asia have distinctiveness by comparison to those found in western societies, through an analysis of inter-governmental, national and regional policies in the field. We also inform our study through the analysis of the work of organisations with an international remit with a specific focus on Asia and Europe. In one case, the Asia–Europe Meeting Lifelong Learning (ASEM LLL) Hub has a specific function of bringing together researchers in Asia and Europe. In another, the PASCAL Observatory has had a particular focus on one aspect of lifelong learning, that of learning cities, with a concentration in its work on Asia and Europe. We focus on learning city development as a particular case of distinction in the field. We seek to identify the extent to which developments in the field in Asia have influenced and have been influenced by practices elsewhere in world, especially in Europe, and undertake our analysis using theories of societal learning/the learning society, learning communities and life-deep learning. We complement our analysis through assessment of material contained in three dominant journals in the field, the International Journal of Lifelong Education, the International Review of Education and Adult Education Quarterly, each edited in the west

Convivial Making: Power in Public Library Creative Places

In 2011, public libraries began to provide access to collaborative creative places, frequently called “makerspaces.” The professional literature portrays these as beneficial for communities and individuals through their support of creativity, innovation, learning, and access to high-tech tools such as 3D printers. As in longstanding “library faith” narratives, which pin the library’s existence to widely held values, makerspace rhetoric describes access to tools and skills as instrumental for a stronger economy or democracy, social justice, and/or individual happiness. The rhetoric generally frames these places as empowering. Yet the concept of power has been neither well-theorized within the library makerspace literature nor explored in previous studies. This study fills the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of power, as described by the stakeholders, including staff, trustees, and users of the library. Potentially, library creative places could be what Ivan Illich calls convivial tools: tools that manifest social relations involving equitable distributions of power and decision-making. A convivial tool ensures that users may decide to which end they would like to apply the tool, and thus are constitutive of human capabilities and social justice. However, the characterization of library makerspaces in the literature evokes a technologically deterministic entrepreneurialism that marginalizes many types of making, and reduces the power of individuals to choose the ends to which they put this tool. This multi-site ethnographic study seeks to unravel the currents of power within three public library creative places. Through participant observation, document analysis, and interviews, the study traces the mechanisms and processes by which power is distributed, as enacted by institutional practices—the spaces, policies, tools, and programs—or through individual practices. The study finds seven key tensions that coalesce around the concept of conviviality, and also reveals seven capabilities of convivial tools that the users and providers of these spaces identify as crucial to their successful and satisfying implementation. As a user-centered exploration of the interactions of power in a public institution, this study can benefit a range of organizations that aim to further inclusion, equity, and social justice

Designing to Restory the Past: Storytelling for Empowerment through a Digital Archive

Storytelling is a frequently used approach to design. Stories and storytelling also have a role in mediating information and contributing to people\u27s understanding of the world around them. Previous research suggests that storytelling can be empowering to marginalized and diverse communities, such as Indigenous peoples, by offering a platform to voice their (hi)stories. In this paper, we present a research through design project in which we explore the design of the living archive. This is a web-based digital archive that encourages a user-based approach to restorying the past by focusing on storytelling for empowerment and involving members of Indigenous People, the Sami. We demonstrate how a digital archive can contribute to (re)storying the past in a manner that preserves Indigenous ways of knowing and ethical archiving of social memory. Through this archive, we provide the digital tools for the communities to take on the role to tell their truth and, in doing so, become central in the design and communication of their own stories. In short, design for storytelling to empower those who need a voice

Revisiting labour history

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since, in their anticipation of a Turkish invasion, the Order of St. John perceived the eldest island inhabitants as ‘useless civilians’ and evacuated them to Sicily. Malta nowadays holds a key place in the history of international ageing policy. The Maltese Government made Malta the first nation to raise the subject of population ageing as an issue of world concern. This occurred in 1969 when it successfully appealed to the United Nations for the theme’s inclusion on the agenda of the 24th session of the General Assembly. This led to unprecedented awareness on the effects of population ageing. The United Nations eventually organised a World Assembly on Ageing in 1982 where, to Malta’s credit, the designated chairperson was a Maltese citizen. However, as Brincat recently highlighted, the history of the modern Maltese welfare state awaits detailed study. This is especially true with respect to policies relating to later life. Historical analyses of the development of social policies in Malta tend to focus on general health, educational, and labour issues, and hardly any attention is awarded towards the foundation of those services geared towards older persons. Given the space limitations, and specific focus of this publication, this paper does not seek to address such a lacuna. Rather, its goal is to conduct a critical overview as how the development of local ageing policy was stimulated and influenced by the values and judgements of the Labour Party in Malta.peer-reviewe

No measure for culture? Value in the new economy

This paper explores articulations of the value of investment in culture and the arts through a critical discourse analysis of policy documents, reports and academic commentary since 1997. It argues that in this period, discourses around the value of culture have moved from a focus on the direct economic contributions of the culture industries to their indirect economic benefits. These indirect benefits are discussed here under three main headings: creativity and innovation, employability, and social inclusion. These are in turn analysed in terms of three forms of capital: human, social and cultural. The paper concludes with an analysis of this discursive shift through the lens of autonomist Marxist concerns with the labour of social reproduction. It is our argument that, in contemporary policy discourses on culture and the arts, the government in the UK is increasingly concerned with the use of culture to form the social in the image of capital. As such, we must turn our attention beyond the walls of the factory in order to understand the contemporary capitalist production of value and resistance to it. </jats:p

The contribution of library programmes at the Emfuleni Library and Information Services in creating social capital to reduce poverty

The thesis is intended to assess the contribution of the public library service to the creation of social capital to reduce poverty. However, in research studies targeting this subject, the lack of empirical research is continuously mentioned or suggestions are made that more qualitative studies could shed more insight on the creation of social capital in public libraries. The concept of social capital or rather how it is created in public libraries leads to the complexity of understanding the creation thereof in public libraries, while continuous suggestions are that more qualitative studies would give light on its creation in public libraries and also in other subject disciplines (Aguilar & Sen 2009: 425; Halpern 2005: 1; Lin 2001: 3). However, to find clarity about what social capital is, the study focuses on Pierre Bourdieu’s description of social capital. Pierre Bourdieu is known as one of the first social scientists who tried to understand the concept of social capital (Bourdieu 2005: 1). The public library from a social capital viewpoint is a trustworthy social network where people have access to resources to benefit their socio-economic development. The presence of social capital is visible in every aspect of life and for that reason it is not uncommon for social capital to have an effect on unemployment, mental health and social empowerment (Thompson 2015). Social capital is a recognisable term in Library and Information Science (LIS) literature (Stilwell 2016: 54; Strand 2016: 144; Skelly 2014: 2; Aabø, Audunson & Vårheim 2010:16; Hart 2007:22; Bhandar, Pan & Tan 2007:263). However, the idea that social capital in libraries exists may not be recognised, such as in the case of the book Bowling alone, authored by Robert Putnam (Putnam 1995:22). Public libraries fulfil the role of social capital in two ways: connecting individuals and the community with their library services and programmes and promoting the staff-patron interactions that attempt to create patron trust in the library. Feldman (2009: 5) illustrates the notion of social capital in the library as generated through library services and programmes that could contribute towards empowerment, skills development, happy families and positive economic growth (Feldman 2009:5). The study is an sequential explanatory mixed methods study. There were three data collections methods use. Questionnaires with mostly close-ended questions, interviews and official documents. The research participants were 115 library patrons and 58 library staff of the Emfuleni Local Municipality Library and Information Service. The researcher found several explanations on the creation of social capital, but none had measurable outcomes that could illustrate the societal value of public libraries, apart from one, which was to build a trusting relationship between the library, staff and patrons. Hence, through Vårheim’s (2014: 68) observation about trust and patron attendance, library programmes were identified as the measurable outcome to rationalise the importance of the public library and the value of libraries and library staff. In such a case, the societal value of libraries can be understood. Through the correct measuring instruments that were identified in this study, public libraries address the creation of social capital that makes it possible to show that public library services support lifelong learning and workforce development.Information ScienceD. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science

Older adult learning in Malta : toward a policy agenda

Late-life learning is no longer an exotic terrain within the field of adult education. Older adults are not only participating in lifelong learning avenues in increasing numbers, but recent decades also witnessed the emergence of learning opportunities targeting specifically older cohorts. In Malta, the government not only communicates its support to late-life learning, but also put forward agefriendly policies that facilitate the inclusion of older adults in learning programmes. This paper conducts a critical overview of the Maltese experience in older adult learning, analysing both its guiding rationale and participation rates. It notes that late-life learning in Malta occurs in the absence of a national policy framework that directs and supports the efforts of formal and non-formal bodies in providing learning opportunities for older persons. The paper also proposes an agenda for the late-life learning based on the values of social justice, social levelling and social cohesion.peer-reviewe