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"The Toolkit" - Practice, Progess and Value |
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Contents Page |
Foreword by the Secretary of State |
Introduction and Summary |
What is a Learning City? |
The Learning City |
Taking the First Steps |
The Structure of this Guide |
The Three Strands of Development |
Strand One: Partnership |
Strand Two: Participation |
Strand Three: Performance |
Useful Publications
Strand One: PartnershipLevel 2: Towards a Shared Understanding When a partnership has been drawn together, work must focus on the shared vision and priorities for the learning city. This will differ from, but inevitably connect with the individual mission of partners relating to the development of learning within their own organisation. The purpose of the learning city must be to add value to individual initiatives so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If this is not felt to be the case then those involved will quickly lose interest and revert to pursuing their own institutional agendas. The idea and advantages of the learning city may mean very different things to different partners. A local authority might be interested in school standards. For a university, the possibility of recruiting local undergraduates or attracting research might be a stronger incentive. For some, the idea will specifically include the idea of widening participation in learning throughout the population. For others, the focus may be more on high level skills for those within the workforce. For many, the idea will be confined to the education sector. All these issues need to be explored over time. In the meantime it may be that action needs to take place to demonstrate the advantages of partnership working. Although most partnerships work through their values and intentions, this often happens alongside a practical programme of activity. Ideas for Action All partners might be supplied with initial reading on the idea of the Learning City which can give a common starting point. Coming up with a sensible and meaningful mission or vision statement for the initiative begins a process of exploring what the different priorities are for partners. Action to try to extend the initiative to a wider community for consultation can lead to the group having to clarify their own ideas about:
In working through shared vision it is important that it is a locally appropriate set of aims and priorities which is being sought. It should not just be a re-iteration of nationally expressed policy. It may be important to some partnerships that activity to improve social cohesion should be more important than, for example, increasing skills at level 4 and vice versa. Action planning and concrete events can help to keep a positive common focus when difficult decisions are being made about priorities and values. Exploring the parts of partners' mission statements and strategic plans which contribute towards a common vision can demonstrate areas for early joint action. Agreement about common areas for action which are appropriate and clear about where "normal" competition must be allowed enables institutions to feel able to function appropriately in relation to their funding and markets while still committing to joint action. It is important that the shaping of the initiative is a joint process and not one dominated by one or two powerful interests. The neutral player/co-ordinator role is crucial here. Pitfalls and Perils Becoming bogged down in lengthy discussions about aims to the exclusion of action. Seek to relate discussion of values and purposes to some concrete practical actions to begin to justify meetings at an early stage. Hoping for too much too soon. It is unlikely that all parts of all organisations will be able to sign up to work jointly. Acceptance of imperfect co-operation on all fronts is necessary. However it is important that this doesn't happen in initiatives or projects which have been chosen for joint action. Going through this process at a time when institutions in the locality are in a particularly intense period of change. Essential This stage relates not just to the development of an idea of shared values, but also involves moving toward planning and identifying action and strategy. The effectiveness of this will be judged against such values. Assessing Progress in Level Two Has the initiative got a mission/vision statement which embraces the values and intentions of the partnership? Have partners aligned parts or all of their own mission statements behind those of the learning city? Have discussions taken place about priorities for action for the initiative which demonstrate shared commitment to specific areas/principles? Have the agreed values of the group reached a stage where they can be shared with a wider community? Has the partnership shared its vision with others, through a conference, seminar or similar event? Are those involved sufficiently committed to place their own resources at the service of the joint initiative? Have budgets been made available for joint working? Is there an action plan or strategic plan for the partnership? Has the sharing of values, ideas and plans involved those outside the education and training sector? Are members of the partnership able to allocate responsibility for specifics to specific partners? Is mutual trust developing? Is the partnership developing a sense of how it might evaluate success? Facts and Figures Action plans should show the need for baseline data. They should include ideas on where such data is to be obtained: how, from whom and by when. All setting of targets should include discussion about the availability and appropriateness of supporting data. Where specific partners are responsible for delivery in specific areas, their capabilities and limitations must be understood by all partners. |
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Examples in Action
Hull has a vision of becoming a new, successful maritime city. CityVision Ltd is the public/private partnership charged with taking this ambition forward. It sets out its tasks as being:
When CityVision drew up its economic development strategy, it formed four task groups in four key activity areas: economy; people and communities; essence and fabric; lifetime learning. Initially the lifetime plan was in the hands of an education forum, but Hull City Learning offered to take it on and was given the task of improving on a first draft of a learning plan. Hull City Learning is a forum involving partners from the universities, TEC, CityVision itself, FE College, City Council, private sector, media and the voluntary sector. The result of the efforts of the group was "The Learning Chapter". This provides a comprehensive vision of how the partners wish to see lifelong learning develop within the city. It has formed the backdrop for a large city-wide bid for SRB Round 4. It is a framework within which individuals and institutions can locate their activities. The document has been widely distributed and consulted upon throughout the city. The priorities of "The Learning Chapter" are built into the overall priorities of CityVision Ltd. Thus one of the four strategic aims of the City Regeneration Strategy is "to increase the levels of learning aspiration and achievement and to match skills to employers' needs". One of the key measures of progress in this area is the development of the City Learning Initiative. Another is the capacity-building which has taken place in an estates project where City Learning had key involvement. The key regeneration strategies which City Learning group has been addressing have been enhancing skill levels, improving the learning infrastructure, raising achievements and staying-on rates, and pursuing lifelong learning. On the additional value that the partnership has given, members would point to the position of learning at the heart of CityVision's strategies and to the enhanced valuing of learning shown by the very large SRB4 bid being made on learning, youth and disability. The partnership between providers enables a more powerful, less sectoral voice to be heard - the inclusion of learning elements in city centre regeneration activities is evidence of this. Although many communities are conscious of the need to increase skills, few have articulated this so clearly through their economic development and regeneration planning as in Hull. In Derby, the key players in the sponsoring body agreed that no deputies could attend meetings. It was also agreed that members would align the relevant parts of their organisation's strategic plans as far as possible with the targets and goals of the City of Learning. In Sheffield, an early meeting of the partners to discuss access and entitlement in learning led to the creation of the Multilingual City initiative. This promotes the ideal of bilingualism and trilingualism (since many Sheffielders already speak two languages). One of the initiative's successes is the spread of language teaching to primary and nursery schools and their involvement in international exchanges. In York, a wide variety of interests led by the Local Authority and the TEC have drawn up eight key objectives to take the concept of the learning city forward, a series of key questions to address in relation to the city's achievements in promoting a learning culture and some identified priorities. To share thinking with schools, a briefing note was sent to all schools in the city asking for comments on what schools thought should constitute a learning city, how schools could contribute to the objectives, and what questions they might wish to address in connection with the identified priorities.
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