4. Pathfinder Projects and Lessons for Learning Communities

Although the Pathfinder projects were designed to test Practice, Progress and Value, they also involved considerable work on the part of Learning Community initiatives in developing local activity. Some of the progress made and challenges faced by projects re-enforces the points made within the Guide, some suggests new advice. This final part of the report summarises some of this material which is a valuable resource for other projects.

Partnership was, and remains, the most developed strand of activity in Learning Community Initiatives and much of the advice and essential lessons coming from the Pathfinder Projects reflects or strengthens the suggestions for action given in the Guide. In particular the following messages are strongly re-enforced:

• the need to combine talk and the development of shared vision with practical action and achievement to secure and retain commitment;
• the value of a "Patron" or "champion", a substantial figure prepared to act as a figurehead for the project providing credibility and status;
• the need for an "honest broker" at the heart of the project to ensure that the project/partnership doesn't become the property of a particular sectoral interest;
• the necessity of involving a wide range of partners and of developing clarity about what is required of those who are involved;
• projects are conscious of the need for evaluation but rarely engage in the process of defining the means of evaluation at an early enough stage; and
• there are real issues for all initiatives in maintaining momentum and commitment. Even the most successful has found the status of members of the core group decreasing as other calls press on members' time. When this happens communication and high profile activities become even more important for strategic level partnerships.

The Pathfinder projects added some new messages to those present in the Guide. The projects inevitably started from different backgrounds and had differing aims but in spite of this some generally applicable points come from the experience of this wide range of initiatives.

Learning Community initiatives/other partnerships, do not start from nowhere. Within the partners there are histories of successful/unsuccessful work and many will be engaged in other partnerships alongside the main one. These affect joint working and such effects can be adverse as well as positive. Awareness of "history" is important. So also is the development of a sense of ownership most clearly expressed in the York project by those designing and using a project to attract non-conventional entrants to Higher Education.

All initiatives need resources, at an early stage these can be found through the enthusiasm and commitment of members but real commitment results from the allocation of resources and many initiatives find they cannot move forward effectively without at the v" least the finances to support a co-ordinator. Sometimes these have been found through project or challenge funding rather than through the contribution of partners.

Projects need to produce tangible benefits within a reasonable period. Those initiatives that have been most successful have had clearly recognisable outcomes. Examples include marketing campaigns, the attraction of funding, the setting up of a learning shop. The projects have reflected the value of sharing good practice with others. E.g. Stockton and Darlington have profited from the opportunity to liaise with other partnerships offered by the Pathfinder Programme. The use of consultants, bringing an outside perspective to initiatives, has also been a recognisable benefit for some quite outside the role of facilitating use of the Guide. In marketing and promoting learning the projects were keen to stress the need to focus on the benefits of learning to the learner rather than simply inviting access to opportunities.

In terms of the Participation of Communities in developing themselves some telling points were made by the Pathfinder projects about the realities of engaging with communities and community groups.

There is a message that for the most disadvantaged communities the idea of assessing learning needs must follow considerable capacity building activity and trust building. In working with community groups there is a need to attend to their agendas and work to protocols they set if they are to be involved in partnership.

It is also made clear from the West Berkshire project that although there may be a good fit between the many kinds of community consultation going on and the development of participation in formal and informal learning, little has been done to make the links necessary to profit from the connection.

In terms of the development of technology there is a firm recommendation that this issue is considered seriously but by a separate sub-group of any partnership with a grasp of the particular issues involved and a knowledge of the span of local infrastructure being created by different initiatives.