#12 - October 18, 2005
PASCAL International Observatory Newsletter no 12, 18 October 2005
Welcome to the 12th 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.
A copy of this newsletter is available online at: http://www.obs-pascal.com/newsletters.php
In this issue:
- Making Knowledge Work Conference Blog!
- Learning in Local and Regional Authorities (LILARA), new Grundtwig project co-ordinated by PASCAL.
- Briefing note to David Livingstone’s new Hot Topic paper by Tom Schuller
- Hot Topic paper by David Livingstone, Exploring Adult Learning and Work in Advanced Capitalist Society
- Briefing note about Australian Consortium on Higher Education by Alexandra Winter
- Book notices – new book from PASCAL - A review of David McNulty’s “Dreams, Dialogues and Desires - New and forthcoming titles
- PASCAL International Conference
- Conference notices and calls for papers
- New in the PASCAL library
- PASCAL services
- About the PASCAL Observatory Project
- How to subscribe/unsubscribe from this newsletter
1. “Making Knowledge Work” Conference Blog!
Dr Leone Wheeler from RMIT University will be PASCAL’s eyes on the ground at PASCAL’s Making Knowledge Work International Conference, which begins in Scotland next week.
If you can’t be in Stirling, keep an eye on PASCAL’s blog for her reflections and comments from the conference.
READ THE BLOG: http://www.obs-pascal.com/blog.php
2. Learning in Local and Regional Authorities (LILARA), new Grundtvig project co-ordinated by PASCAL.
Learning in Local and Regional Authorities (LILARA) is a new Grundtvig project funded by the European Commission and co-ordinated at the University of Stirling through the PASCAL Observatory and the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning, from 2005 to 2007.
The overall objective of LILARA is to research and disseminate materials relating to the needs for training and learning of management and professionals in Local and Regional Authorities and their institutional stakeholders in order to assist with the development of Lifelong Learning Organisations, Regions and Cities throughout Europe.
Read more about LILARA: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=128
FURTHER READING
Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning: http://crll.gcal.ac.uk/
R3L Project: http://www.obs-pascal.com/demoproj.php?doc=73
About Grundtvig: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/grundtvig/home_en.html
3. Briefing note on David Livingstone’s Hot Topic paper
“David Livingstone's Hot Topic paper Exploring Adult Learning and Work in Advanced Capitalist Society, addresses an issue which is very important and very under-analysed. Both researchers and policy-makers customarily acknowledge the importance of informal learning, but proceed then to concentrate on the formal sector - I plead guilty to this myself.
If we want an accurate picture of the volume, the distribution and the effect of lifelong learning, we need more rigorous work on the role informal learning plays, in paid and unpaid work. Livingstone's paper concentrates on the Canadian situation, but his approach could fruitfully be applied in other countries. One particular aspect is worth stressing. Increasingly it appears that participation in informal learning exhibits a very different pattern to participation in formal learning.
People with less education - or at least fewer qualifications - are more comfortable with less formal modes of provision. If we can map these we may be able to get beyond the usual well-established reports of strong correlations between initial educational success and subsequent participation.
The policy implications are potentially very significant: if we want to narrow the gap, and reduce the 'tail', we should be devoting more resources to supporting informal modes of learning. Two potential problems follow, which are worth reflecting on.”
Tom Schuller, October 2005
Read the rest of the briefing note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=130
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Professor Tom Schuller is Head of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), and was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education and Professor of Lifelong Learning at Birkbeck, University of London.
4. Hot Topic paper by David Livingstone, Exploring Adult Learning and Work in Advanced Capitalist Society
"This paper argues that studies of learning and work in advanced capitalist societies have generally been conceived too narrowly in terms of formal education and paid employment. In order to more fully comprehend current processes of learning and work and their interrelations, informal learning and unpaid work should be considered. Secondly, the now widespread assumption that an emergent knowledge-based economy (KBE) requires substantially increased learning efforts from most workers needs to be assessed carefully with the aid of empirical evidence on both learning efforts and actual job requirements.
The paper analyzes findings of two recent Canadian national surveys of adults; paid and unpaid work and their formal and informal learning activities. These 1998 and 2004 surveys find that unpaid work and informal learning are both very extensive and have distinctive links with paid work and formal education. In addition, the presumed learning deficit in the current labour force is a smaller phenomenon than the underemployment of many workers’ existing skills and knowledge. Implications of these findings for reversing the dominant optic on educational and economic reforms are also discussed.
The empirical analysis in this paper is based on Canada for three reasons: (1) I am Canadian; (2) Canada has one of the most expansive systems of advanced formal education in a fully developed capitalist economy; and (3) our Canadian research offers the only substantial national-level data to date on all basic forms of adult learning and work.. The concepts and arguments should find application in all advanced capitalist societies."
READ DAVID LIVINGSTONE’S PAPER: http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/davidlivingstoneoctober2005.pdf
FURTHER READING
General Summary of Findings from the First Canadian Survey of Informal Learning: http://www.nall.ca/sur_res.htm Research Network on New Approaches on Lifelong Learning (NALL): http://www.nall.ca/ Work and Lifelong Learning Research Network (WALL): http://www.wallnetwork.ca/index.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. David W. Livingstone is Canada Research Chair in Lifelong Learning and Work at the University of Toronto, Head of the Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE/UT, and Director of the SSHRC-funded national research network on “Changing Nature of Work and Lifelong Learning”. He has also been the principal investigator of the OISE/UT Biennial Survey of Public Attitudes toward Education in Ontario since 1978.
5. Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement and Social Responsibility (Australian Consortium) by Alexandra Winter
Since its launch in 2003, the objective of the Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement and Social Responsibility (Australian Consortium) has been to develop a critical and theoretical scholarly network to investigate and analyse the burgeoning role of community in higher education in a national social, political and economic context.
The Australian Consortium develops the capacity of a national network of established academics and early career researchers in order to interrogate community engagement in theory and application: the Australian Consortium is a body that analyses national trends and practices of community engagement.
The purpose of such a network is to provide a contribution to scholarly debates on community that supplements and supports practical work of community engagement and measurement in
Most recently, the Australian Consortium has hosted Senior Fulbright Scholar Professor Ira Harkavy run a Symposium that explored and further developed current Australian debate about the role and function of universities, and conducted a survey of community engagement policies and strategies in Victorian universities. The findings of this initial survey can be found at: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/highered/Beyond_Rhetoric_full_report_amended_ver_July05.pdf
FURTHER READING:
The briefing note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=126
Australian Consortium: http://www.australianconsortium.net/
Australian Consortium Foundation Paper: http://www.australianconsortium.net/documents/foundation%20paper.pdf
Eidos: http://www.eidos.org.au/
Beyond Rhetoric: University Community Engagement in Victoria: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/highered/Beyond_Rhetoric_full_report_amended_ver_July05.pdf
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Alexandra Winter is a Research Fellow with the Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement and Social Responsibility
6. Book notices – New book from PASCAL/Review of David McNulty’s “Dreams, Devices and Desires”/New and Forthcoming titles
NEW FROM PASCAL
Chris Duke, Mike Osborne & Bruce Wilson, Rebalancing the Social and Economic Learning, Partnership and Place, NIACE, October 2005.
This book examines the challenges facing those who make and implement social policy at a time when free-trade economics reign supreme. It draws on linked ideas of social capital and the management of place, and presents international perspectives from a diverse range of countries, to question the domination of the economic and call for a new balance in making policy and measuring what is achieved.
Lifelong learning is said to be vital for a ‘knowledge society’ in the ‘new economy’. But looking at knowledge and the economy alone short-changes us, making economic growth not a means to happiness, but an end. The book moves from applied philosophical analysis in
It examines how these concepts apply as guides to action in a leading English local authority,
The book should appeal to the widest possible range of social planners at all levels of government, as well as to scholars in the fields of social studies, management and administration. It is relevant to those concerned with lifelong learning as this spills over the walls of the classroom and the academy. It is also a book for all of us who, as citizens, care about how we succeed or fail to govern ourselves well, and how we learn from our mistakes.
More about this book: http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/R/Rebalancing.htm
REVIEW
Cheryl Lewis-Fitzgerald reviews David McNulty’s Dreams, Dialogues and Desires: Building a Learning Community in Blackburn with Darwen
“"This book is messy. Because I am. It's also got a muddled feel about it in places, that's mostly deliberate."
I should state my bias at the start of this review – I like David McNulty. I like his ideas, his work, his humour, his challenges, and I like the man himself. I also like the fact he mentions my favourite Morecambe and Wise sketch on the first page, and refers to Paulo Freire as a good friend who surprising had similar ideas to himself - I can identify with this. But seriously folks…
“Dreams, Dialogues and Desires”, tells the story of the work of the Blackburn and Darwen Local Education Authority team from David's point of view. And David makes it clear it is from his point of view that he has written this book, and that others on the team may disagree.
It is David's narrative in which he explains what happened, with the stories of many of the people of the community. I know many who would disagree with this format but, when talking about people and the journey that learning takes them on, the power of the storyteller is great, and allows you to feel a part of action. It allows you to feel the passion and honesty of the programs and the people.”
Read the review: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=129
More about this book: http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/D/Dreams.htm
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cheryl Lewis-Fitzgerald manages a range of projects for RMIT Learning Networks. In particular her main work involves working with disadvantaged and marginalised people (such as The Salvation Army, The Smith Family and Scope Victoria) in non-formal environments to assist in building social inclusion and unlocking opportunities for individuals and families in their local communities.
NEW AND FORTHCOMING BOOKS
Dale, A. and Onyx, J (1995) A Dynamic Balance Social Capital and Sustainable Community Development, University of British Columbia Press
"Looking at case studies in both Australia and Canada, this book draws upon lessons that can be learned to reconnect large urban centres and smaller communities. A Dynamic Balance is a timely and provocative call for reconciliation and reconnection within and between communities. It makes unique links between two schools of thought, social capital and sustainable community development, showing how both are interdependent and can be mobilized by governments for greater agency in communities everywhere."]
R. Edwards, J. Gallacher & S. Whittaker (Eds.) Learning Outside the Academy. London: Routledge, 2006
Norman Longworth, Learning Cities, Learning Regions, Learning Communities: Lifelong Learning and Local Government, Routledge, forthcoming, 2006
Frédérique Six, The Trouble with Trust: the Dynamics of Interpersonal Trust Building, Edward Elgar, 2005
“The Trouble with Trust poses the question: if trust is considered to be important for successful cooperation, why don't high-trust work relationships predominate? Part of the explanation, the author argues, is that it is particularly difficult to build and maintain trust in work relations. This book addresses this problem by providing an in-depth, multi-level empirical analysis of the process by which trust builds up and breaks down in the interaction between people within organizations.”
Leonel Corona, Jéróme Doutriaux, and Sarfraz A. Mian, Building Knowledge Regions In North America: Emerging Technology Innovation Poles Edward Elgar, December 2005
"Focusing on emerging technology regions of the
7. PASCAL International Conference: Making Knowledge Work
Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 October 2005 University of Stirling,
Scotland
Public policy-makers, community development leaders and academic researchers from across the globe will gather at the University of Stirling in Scotland on 25-28 October, to share their knowledge and experiences of community-building, policy-making and regeneration and sustainability projects.
A number of high profile speakers will attend the conference – entitled Building Sustainable Communities through Partnerships in Place Management, Social Capital and Lifelong Learning – including Johann Lamont MSP, Scotland’s Deputy Minister for Communities; Professor Shirley Walters, Chair of the South African Qualifications Authority; Professor Paul Bélanger, former Head of the UNESCO Institute of Education; Professor Tom Schuller, Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) and Alex King, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Kent County Council, UK.
Conference website: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=86
NIACE: http://www.niace.org.uk/Conferences/PASCAL.htm
READ THE CONFERENCE BLOG: http://www.obs-pascal.com/blog.php
8. More conferences and events
NOVEMBER 2005
Intelligent Territories Conference, November 8, 2005, Melbourne,
A series of conferences to present the findings of a European/Australian research project 2000 – 2005 on City-Regions as Intelligent Territories: Inclusion, Competitiveness and Learning (CRITICAL: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/critical/).
The Melbourne conference is the first for this touring conference, which will then proceed to Tampere, Newcastle upon Tyne, Dublin and Berlin. This conference brings to Melbourne the initial findings from the research undertaken across the five cities.
website: http://tinyurl.com/8mtmd
FEBRUARY 2006
Social Capital and Educational Achievement Conference, California, February 24-26, 2006
Conference theme focuses on the concept of social capital and its use in explaining and improving educational achievement..
website: http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/resources/sea/06_conference/call.doc
MAY 2006
The City: a Festival of Knowledge/La ville: un festival du savoir
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 27-June 1, 2006, York University, Toronto,
The theme of Congress 2006 will be "The City: A Festival of Knowledge". The synergies and complexities of 21st century culture, society, politics, economics and communications are dominated by the city. While the city in history has had a profound effect on the civilizations that built them, the contemporary city is at once local and global. In
website: http://www.fedcan.ca/congress2006/index.htm
JUNE 2006
World Urban Forum III 2006, June 19 - 23, Vancouver,
"The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor's access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development."
website: http://www.unhabitat.org/wuf/2006/default.asp
JUNE 2006
4th International Lifelong Learning Conference, 13-16 June 2006, Queensland
The theme of the conference is Lifelong Learning: Partners, Pathways and Pedagogies. Hosted by Central Queensland University, the Lifelong Learning Conference brings together delegates from across the nation and from around the world to discuss, debate and progress the issues associated with lifelong learning.
website: http://lifelonglearning.cqu.edu.au/2006/
NOVEMBER 2006
Sustainable Learning Cities International Education Conference, 6 to 10 November 2006, Adelaide, South Australia
PROPOSED CONFERENCE THEMES:
Developing sustainable Learning Cities
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Equity and inclusion in education and training
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Collaboration for development and for education recovery post-disaster and post-conflict situations
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Creating linkages between education and local social, economic and environmental agendas
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Developing human resources, creating sustainable partnerships and fostering innovation for competitiveness in the Learning City of the 21st century
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Strengthening diversity, creativity and international understanding
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Information and Communication Technologies in the future Learning City
website: http://www.dfeest.sa.gov.au/dfeest/pages/conferences/learning_cities/
PASCAL Events page: http://www.obs-pascal.com/events.php
**If you have an event or conference you would like included in the newsletter or on the PASCAL events page, please email Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au
9. New in the PASCAL library
Measurement of Social Capital: Reference Document for Public Policy Research, Development and Evaluation
The conclusion of the Policy Research Initiative in September 2005 sees the release of research reports covering aspects of the project. This document is intended as a reference tool for measuring social capital for use by the public policy research community within the Government of Canada. It presents various methodological options for adopting a social capital approach in the context of developing and evaluating public policy and government programs.
Vancouver Working Group Discussion Paper: The Learning City
This paper is part of Turning Ideas into Action, a themed series created in preparation for the 2006 World Urban Forum. This paper focuses particularly on the role of universities and colleges in the learning city, examining the different dimensions of sustainability education and best practices from British Columbia, across Canada and internationally.
Peter Kearns, Achieving
This is the Executive Summary of a report commissioned by Adult Learning Australia on future directions for lifelong learning in
Elizabeth Fussell, Leaving New Orleans: Social Stratification, Networks, and Hurricane Evacuation
“Without understanding social stratification in the city of New Orleans – a city with one of the highest levels of income inequality in our country – it is difficult to understand the strategies people employed to survive the storm and that they are using to restart their lives in its aftermath.”
Danielle Colardyn and Jens Bjørnåvold (2005) The Learning Continuity: European Inventory on Validating Non-formal and Informal Learning
In 2001 the European Commission and Cedefop agreed to set up a European inventory of approaches to validating non-formal and informal learning. The objective of the inventory was to analyse similarities and diverging and converging trends in validation policies, practices and methodologies. This report aims to characterise European validation of non-formal and informal learning, to evaluate differences and commonalities between countries, and to consider the potential for building a European approach.
The Scholarship of Social Capital Circa 2005 - Where Are We At? (webcast 2379KB)
A major panel from the August 2005 International Conference on Engaging Communities which discusses the latest scholarship on social capital. This is an archived webcast of the panel.
Getting to Know Your Community Guides – State Government of Victoria
The Victorian Government's social policy statement, A Fairer Victoria, details a series of strategies aimed at equipping communities to take greater responsibility over future decisions and to have a greater say in local priority setting and decision-making. For this to happen, information needs to be gathered about specific local needs and community diversity.”
Two guides, a resource for gathering local data and its companion on obtaining and using qualitative data are designed to make getting and using that information easier.
PASCAL library: http://www.obs-pascal.com/library.php
10. PASCAL services
PASCAL RSS SERVICE
PASCAL news items can be received as an RSS feed on your desktop. See: http://www.obs-pascal.com/RSS.php for more information and links to feed reader software.
PASCAL BLOG
The PASCAL blog is a new service on PASCAL. It’s an easy way to keep up with what is happening on and around PASCAL: http://www.obs-pascal.com/blog.php
The PASCAL Observatory is always happy to receive conference, event, research and book notices, or relevant items for publication.
Please contact Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au if you have an item you’d like featured.
11. About the PASCAL Observatory
The PASCAL International Observatory provides an international strategic information tracking and sharing service on Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions in support of sustainable development based in experience and evidence of what works.
The Observatory is founded on the presumption that there is considerable work to be done to enable regional governments and associated policy-makers to bene?t fully from emerging research and learning about how best to foster balanced and sustainable economic and social development in their regions.
PASCAL is an alliance of RMIT University, Victoria,
Read more: http://www.obs-pascal.com/about.php
12. How to unsubscribe/subscribe
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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