Community Based Learning: Hedge Schools for the 21st Century
Sean Costello (University of Limerick), Caroline Clarke (University of Limerick)
Abstract
This paper documents the experience of collaborative working between AccessCampus, University of Limerick and the communities it seeks to serve. The benefits to this type of engagement are outlined for both the university and the community. Findings indicate that a range of benefits result from working in partnership in terms of widening participation, research and community recognition. The implications of the findings are discussed, including the need for higher education institutions to adopt community engagement as a core value and to formally recognise the effort and contribution of academics, staff, students and community alike in developing and maintaining these strategic alliances.
Despite the boom years of the Celtic Tiger, it appears opportunity did not knock on everyone’s door. Educational participation remains a key issue for socio-economically disadvantaged groups, exacerbated in the Irish context by a move towards the knowledge economy. Since 1991, Limerick City has consistently ranked as the second most socio-economically disadvantaged of 234 local authority areas in the country. (Haase and Pratschke, 2004). Evidence indicates acute disengagement from education within residential communities surrounding the AccessCampus, where two thirds of the population have a lower level secondary education or less and have a significant rate of non-transfer to further and higher education (McCafferty 2005:45).
Opened in 2003, as a result of a partnership agreement between the University of Limerick and the Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP), the AccessCampus represents a unique joint venture between a third level institution and the community development sector (LEDP) to create a community-based location that promotes and facilitates the participation in education amongst some of the city’s most marginalised communities. A range of opportunities for community engagement are offered through AccessCampus including pre-entry initiatives aimed at second-level students, a range of programmes for second chance adult learners and specific programmes targeted at parents to enable them to participate to a greater degree in their children’s education.
Through an in-depth analysis of the programmes offered at AccessCampus, this case study will set out the benefits and challenges to community-based learning for both the higher education institution and the communities it seeks to serve, along with providing a model of best practice for campus engagement in the community. A number of key examples will be utilized to illustrate the mutual benefit of using a partnership approach; a case in point is that the provision of classes by AccessCampus to encourage greater participation by target groups is supported and enhanced by the campus becoming an outreach centre of a local community adult education provider, in so doing being in a position to provide Fetac accreditation.
