Welcome to the tenth edition of Observatory PASCAL Project News — an e-newsletter about the development of this strategic information tracking and sharing service of international developments in place management, social capital and learning regions within the knowledge economy.

You have received this e-newsletter because of your expressed interest in tracking the progress of this initiative. If you do not wish to receive any further editions of the Observatory PASCAL news, follow the instructions at the bottom of this page.

If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter: http://www.obs-pascal.com/

In this issue:

1. PASCAL briefing note to June Hot Topic, by Chris Duke
2. June 2005 Hot Topic paper by Shirley Walters on the South Africal 'Learning Cape'.
3. Launch of Victorian Learning Communities Network, Australia
4. Calls for Papers
5. Book notices
6. PASCAL International Conference
7. PASCAL events listing
8. News on PASCAL
9. About the PASCAL Observatory Project
10. How to unsubscribe from the Newsletter

1. Chris Duke discusses Shirley Walter's hot topic paper on 'Learning Cape' aspirations: the idea of a learning region and the use of indicators in a middle income country

"PASCAL's seventh Hot Topic is written by Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Its title is 'Learning Cape' aspirations: the idea of a learning region and the use of indicators in a middle income country.

For the PASCAL Hot Topics series, this paper breaks out for the first time from the OECD-type advanced economies — earlier papers come from Australia and Ireland, England and Canada — to look at lifelong learning and learning regions from the perspective and experience of a middle income country. South Africa is not only different in this respect. It is also quite different in having laboured under the uniquely unequal experience of Apartheid.

The nation has since faced, and continues to confront, twin challenges: on the social and civic side of overcoming the Apartheid legacy of deep, legally as well as culturally embedded, inequality based in the politics and legal definitions of ethnicity and racial categorisation; and on the economic side of winning a secure place in the global liberal economic world of more free trade, with international mobility of people and jobs as well as money and ideas, that has grown up since the election of the first democratic post-Apartheid government in 1992.

Shirley Walters' paper thus challenges the PASCAL user community, who are mostly located in the advanced 'North', to think through how the ideas of the learning community/city/region flow out beyond the OECD club of nations, and what this means for all of us.

Read the rest of the Briefing Note:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=110

Chris Duke is the Associate Director for Higher Education, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) UK, and Professor of Regional Partnerships and Learning at RMIT University. He is also the Executive Officer for PASCAL.

Read more from Chris Duke:
http://www.actiononaccess.org/events/earchive/chrisdke.html

2. June 2005 Hot Topic paper

Dr Shirley Walters 'Learning Cape' aspirations: the idea of a learning region and the use of indicators in a middle income country

The Western Cape Province in South Africa aspires to being a learning province, called the Learning Cape. The case study locates developments historically, describes competing understandings of the Learning Cape, and analyses two strategies, which are illustrative of attempts to engage seriously with the concept.

They are the Learning Cape Festival, which is in its fourth year, and the Learning Cape Indicators Project, which has drafted preliminary indicators. The strategies throw up many of the challenges and questions that confront the Learning Cape.

The paper is a work in progress and the author writes as a participant observer, who has been closely involved in various aspects of the Learning Cape. There is very little literature available which discusses 'learning regions' in a middle-income country like South Africa.

This paper aims to identify critical issues and questions within such a context.

Read the paper: 'Learning Cape' aspirations: the idea of a learning region and the use of indicators in a middle income country (PDF)

- Dr Shirley Walters -
Shirley Walters is a leading figure in adult and continuing education in South Africa and has been recognized internationally for her pioneering work. She was the first woman professor of adult education in the country and was founding director of the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education (CACE) at University of Western Cape (UWC).
http://tel.occe.ou.edu/halloffame/2005/walters.html

- Further reading -

From the Social Capital Gateway, readings on social capital in African Studies: http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/NV-eng-africa.htm

Hot Topics papers on PASCAL
http://www.obs-pascal.com/hottopics.php

3. Launch of Victorian Learning Communities Network

Dr Leone Wheeler participated in the launch of the Victorian Learning Communities Network at a function at the Hume Global Learning Village on 17 June. The day included a lively panel discussions with Dr Shanti Wong formulating questions, some of which were stimulated by Dr Tom Healy's recently published paper on Social Capital and Educational Policy: Serious Issues from an Imaginary Conversation with a Minister.

During the panel discussion, Adult Learning Australia's Visiting Research Fellow Peter Kearns said that the development of a learning community required a vision, partnerships and leadership. The Hon. John Cain, former Premier of Victoria and Chair of the Hume Global Learning Village Advisory Committee, indicated that it was appropriate that local government should lead a learning community initiative, and that in his experience these things will happen when you have few committed people, with good officers chosen and a champion who drives it.

At the end of the day Dr Wheeler was elected chair of the broader Victorian Learning Communities Network and one of the first jobs of the network will be to link communities across Victoria who share the vision of the Australian Learning Communities network, that is, to develop a network of leading edge practitioners building sustainable communities using learning as a key element.

The first meeting of the new Victorian Learning Communities Network will be held in Albury/Wodonga on August 26, 2005.

A special guest at that meeting will be Dr Ron Faris from British Columbia in Canada.

- Links -

Hume Global Learning Village: http://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=182&h=-1

Adult Learning Australia: http://www.ala.asn.au/

Australian Learning Communities Catalyst:
http://www.lcc.edu.au/

Dr Tom Healy's paper:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/tomhealy_may2005.pdf

Ron Faris writes for PASCAL:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/faris_2004.pdf

4. Calls for Papers

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development
The Editor of "Entrepreneurship and Regional Development" is keen to broaden the scope and readership of the journal, and therefore invites article submissions in the following related disciplines: organisational theory; regional studies; sociology and innovation studies.

Contributors should send submissions to the Editor: Bengt Johannisson,
Email: Bengt.Johannisson@ehv.vxu.se
Please read the 'Instructions for Authors' before submitting your article:
http://s1.e-srv.net:80/?s2=01-4-4CQmk7Iej_htukms-49046

45th Adult Learning Australia Annual Conference, Learners@work: New Directions and Connections
25 — 26 November 2005, Canberra, Australia
Call for paper: http://www.ala.asn.au/conf/2005/index.html

31st IAL Conference 2006 Leading Through Learning
January 12th - 15th 2006, Alexandria Mark Hilton, Alexandria, Virginia
Call for proposals: http://www.ialearn.org/C-Proposals.php

Lifelong Learning
June 13 -16, 2006 Rydges Capricorn International Resort Yeppoon, Qld, Australia
Call for papers: http://lifelonglearning.cqu.edu.au/2006/callforpapers.php

5. Book notices

- Reviewed -

M. Osborne, J. Gallacher, and B. Crossan (editors), Researching Widening Access to Lifelong Learning: Issues and Approaches in International Research, Routledge Falmer, 2004

"Given its scope, and the strength of its contributions, this book is likely to become required reading to all those embarking on research in this area - and will be of interest to students, researchers, academics and policy makers both in the UK and further afield."
Marion Bowl from The University of Birmingham in the "Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning".
Read the rest of the review: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/journal/Volume71/rev-1.htm

- Just out -

David McNulty, Dreams, Dialogues and Desires: Building a Learning Community in Blackburn with Darwen, NIACE, June 2005, http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/D/Dreams.htm

"Blackburn with Darwen Local Education Authority has won international recognition and numerous awards for its work in widening participation in learning and building a thriving learning community.

"Dreams, dialogues and desires" offers a stimulating account of the creative approach used by Blackburn with Darwen to establish a learning community. In a passionately and, at times, humourously written account of his time there, David McNulty provides a valuable insight into how ideas develop and become reality; how to reach those learners previously disinterested or excluded; how to push limits and extend and question boundaries and in Blackburn with Darwen's case, dramatically increase participation in adult and community learning."

Jim Gallacher and Michael Osborne, A Contested Landscape: International Perspectives on Diversity in Mass Higher Education, NIACE, June 2005, http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/C/ContestedLandscape.htm

Michael Welton, Designing the Just Learning Society: a Critical Enquiry, NIACE, June 2005, http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/D/DesigningJust.htm

- Forthcoming -

Ronald S. Burt, Brokerage and Closure: an Introduction to Social Capital, Oxford University Press, 28 July, 2005

Charles Lemart, Durkheim's Ghost: Cultural Logic and Social Things, Cambridge University Press, November 2005

Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen, and Gert Tinggaard Svendsen
The Creation And Destruction of Social Capital: Entrepreneurship, Co-operative Movements and Institutions, Edward Elgar, September 2005

Book notices on PASCAL:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=107

6. PASCAL International Conference Making Knowledge Work

Making Knowledge Work: Building Sustainable Communities through Place Management, Social Capital and Lifelong Learning.

Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 October 2005 University of Stirling, Scotland

This third international conference to be hosted by the PASCAL Observatory on place management, social capital and learning regions provides an opportunity for all with an interest in policy and programme development to share their knowledge and experiences in policy-making, community-building, regeneration and sustainability projects with others from a wide range of fields at local, regional, national and international level.

The conference aims to examine the implications for policy and practice of contemporary research in different models of place management, the role of social capital and the development of learning regions, and to raise fresh questions from practice for further research.

Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 October 2005
University of Stirling, Pathfoot Building,
Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland

Conference website: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=86
NIACE: http://www.niace.org.uk/Conferences/PASCAL.htm

7. More conferences and events

What is Social Capital?: Definitions, Measurement, Applications
September 20 — 22, The Social Capital Foundation, Republic of Malta
http://www.socialcapital-foundation.org/conferences/synopsis.htm

Informal Learning and Digital Media: Constructions, Contexts, Consequences
22-24 September 2005, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
http://www.dream.dk/index.php?page=0059&=Dansk

EADTU Working Conference 2005: Towards Lisbon 2010
November 10 -11, Nettuno, Rome
http://www.eadtu.nl/conference-2005/files/first_announcement_conf2005.pdf

World Summit on the Information Society
16 — 18 November 2005, Tunisia
http://www.itu.int/wsis/

KMAP 2005 Building a Knowledge Society: Linking Government, Business, Academia and the Community
November 28 — 29, Wellington, New Zealand
http://kmap2005.vuw.ac.nz/

Sustainable Regions: Making Regions Work: Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2005
24th November 2005, London, UK
http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/events/future.asp

Building Social Capital in Networks
December 11 — 15 2005, Merlin Beach Resort, Phuket, Thailand
http://www.muresk.curtin.edu.au/conference/imp/program.html

4th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning
December 11 - 14, 2005, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia
http://www.oval.uts.edu.au/rwl4/

You can find more information about these conferences and other events on the PASCAL events page at:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/events.php

If you have a conference, seminar, workshop or other event you would like publicised through PASCAL, please forward details to Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au

8. New on PASCAL

Expert Workshop on the Measurement of Social Capital for Public Policy:
http://recherchepolitique.gc.ca/doclib/R4_SocialCap_E.pdf

From the Social Capital Gateway, a selected list of readings on social capital and education:
http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/NV-eng-education.htm

Mixed Communities in England: a US Perspective on Evidence and Policy Prospects
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20050527_Mixedcomm.pdf

Social Capital Inc
http://www.socialcapitalinc.org/

PASCAL's news headlines appear on the right hand side of the home page. Items are updated several times a week.
http://www.obs-pascal.com/

PASCAL's library:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/library.php

PASCAL's events page: http://www.obs-pascal.com/events.php

9. About the PASCAL Observatory

PASCAL is an international research and policy development alliance which aims to develop, communicate and explain new and emerging ideas about place management, social capital and learning regions.

Read more: http://www.obs-pascal.com/alliances.php

A copy of this newsletter is available online at:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/newsletters.php

10. How to unsubscribe/subscribe

To unsubscribe from the PASCAL newsletter, simply click on the link at the bottom of your newsletter and follow the instructions.

To subscribe to this newsletter go to:
http://www.obs-pascal.com/newsletters.php and enter your email address in the form. You will receive and email asking you to confirm your registration by return email.

Regards,

Katrina Beard
Content Editor, PASCAL International Observatory
Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au

Dr Leone Wheeler
Manager/Senior Lecturer, Community & Regional Partnerships
Leone.Wheeler@rmit.edu.au