Local Communities and Learning Paul Drake, Director of Student Services and External Relations

Local Communities and Learning Welcome to the University of Gloucestershire A University committed to equality, access and social justice through socially responsible and sustainable activity A University that seeks to embrace partnership and collaboration

Local Communities and Learning Communities have always been engaged in learning through activity and in seeking to meet the needs of the locality Community Learning is not socially neutral but takes place within an historical context (continuing inequality and increasingly global context)

Local Communities and Learning Learning is fundamentally social, shaped by dominant forces for social ends So, what is new? Are we replaying the development of ‘social / workers education’ from the last century when we saw a rise in workers’ self education and the development of the Victorian library system?

Local Communities and Learning Where is the innovation that takes us forward rather than replaying history? In an increasingly global environment, what forces will shape community education into the future? How can we work together to further social objectives (if we agree them)?