1. Introduction

This is the final report on the Pathfinder Project set up by the Learning City Network (LCN) and funded by the Department for Education and Employment (DFEE) to field test the Guide Practice, Progress and Value.

The Guide was commissioned by LCN and published in 1998. It involved work on the development of a system to evaluate the value added by learning community initiatives in developing a culture of learning, regeneration and improvement in the quality of life in their areas of operation. The Guide attempted to give attention not only to the quantitative outcomes of work undertaken but also the qualitative outcomes produced by the process of partnership.

The Pathfinder Project was set up to field test the Guide. It supported 18 learning community initiatives in the use of the Guide to develop their work. Practice, Progress and Value suggests that there are three strands to most learning community initiatives:

i. developing and sustaining an effective partnership;
ii. building dialogue with the community; and
iii. developing a system for measuring added value.

The framework outlines a further three types (or levels) of evaluation which can be assessed for each function:

i. getting organised;
ii. developing shared understanding; and
iii. reflecting.

The individual Pathfinder projects were very different but were grouped into three common themes:

• developing and sustaining partnerships;
• marketing learning and developing guidance; and
• information and communications technologies.

The report has been prepared using three main resources: reports by the projects themselves, input from consultants and the Pathfinder Joint Co-ordinators, and the report of the proceedings of a conference held for projects in July to share messages about the use of the Guide.

Those involved in learning community initiatives are particularly interested in how other places have conducted their work. To ensure that this is accessible there is a short report on each of the eighteen projects. Following this there is a section about how the Guide was used and its benefits and limitations. The last section deals with messages from projects that those seeking to develop learning community initiatives may find useful, and raises issues which emerge from the general experience of the Pathfinder projects.