The Tasks of the Learning City

If learning is to be made attractive, communities have to learn to create new forms of partnership between sectors and ways of listening to, and involving the public. This introduces the first two strands of development which feature in this guide:

1) Partnership

A fragmented education and training sector with inadequate connections between sectors and competition between providers - particularly in the post-school phase - does not facilitate the participation needed for the learning age. An early phase of the Learning City work is to build the partnerships between sectors and institutions which encourage participation and progression in learning of all members of the community. Such partnerships:

• develop community-wide coalitions which bring together relevant partners from the public and private sectors
• co-ordinate approaches to the various kinds of learning offered within the community whether formal, informal or work-based
• make contacts across sectors and at all levels of education and employment
• use the media to promote achievement and stimulate the appetite for learning.

2) Participation

These partnerships need to become part of a broader public dialogue. Their purpose is to clarify the future of the community in an era of global change. Traditionally, public services have been delivered to their customers with too little consultation and involvement. Democracy has been distant from the communities which it was created to serve. Many cities and towns are now looking to find new ways of strengthening the important traditions of local democratic practice and understanding the contribution of participation to regeneration. Real learning communities will learn to engage citizens in new ways to involve them in how their communities will be governed and changed. This process demands citizens who have the skills to articulate their needs and aspirations. These are the same skills needed for work and leisure in a society which is in a state of change. The educational system has an important part to play in moving to such a culture of learning. But employers and other parts of the community with its democratic and cultural traditions also have a key role to play in renewing the quality and vitality of public life.