Bernard GoddingChair & CEO

Educational Centres Association

•Dedicated to promoting, supporting and delivering adult education and lifelong learning

•Committed to recognising the worth and potential of individuals and widening participation.

•Views education as a means of sustainably promoting social inclusion, urban regeneration and neighbourhood renewal, to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to realise their potential and to actively participate in society

How can lifelong learning help to

empower communities?

Paulo Freire

‘Education either functions as an

instrument to facilitate ... integration

& ... conformity ... or it becomes

“the practice of freedom”, the means

by which men and women deal

critically with reality and discover how

to participate in the transformation

of their world’Gramsci, Freire, and Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action, by Peter Mayo, Macmillan, 1999

Learning is pivotal to successful social policy because it: -

•holds policy together•is a means of empowerment•is an active building block of civil society•is needed in order to build capacity and aid active citizenship

Matthew Scott, Director, Community Sector Coalition

Lifelong learning builds the capacity of and empowers citizens, equipping them with the knowledge,

skills and confidence to contribute to their community

“All should share in community action”

ESA Conference, The Folk House, Bristol, 1938 Risca Adult Education Centre Club Group preparing to clear Wattsville site

a distinctive approach to learning that enables people to make an active contribution to their communities and influence public policies and

services

Training course for thoseinvolved in teaching active citizenship in non formal education.

Championing the unique contribution that the community

sector makes to society

A practical approach to help community groups unlock their hidden ‘people power’ and work

together more effectively

“Show me a society where everyone has the opportunity and desire to seek out new knowledge and new skills and I’ll show you a society that really deserves to be called ‘bigger’.”

John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Royal Society of Arts 26th October 2010

www.e-c-a.ac.uk

info@e-c-a.ac.uk

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Educational-CentresAssociation/174905595888288http://www.youtube.com/user/THEECATV?feature=mhum