Community Education, Learning and Development

In this revised and expanded third edition of her popular book, author Lyn Tett has developed a discussion of community education to include aspects of learning and development. The book illustrates the conceptual and political debates surrounding the role, purpose, and practice of community education, learning, and development. Community Education, Learning and Development moves behind the policy rhetoric to recognize and explore some of the tensions in current policy trends, particularly the danger of seeing social marginalization and exclusion as an individual problem rather than a result of structured inequalities. A number of projects are examined to give a real sense of the approach being advocated and to make a case for a model of lifelong learning focusing on democratic renewal. The task of community educators, and those concerned with learning and development, is not an easy one. They must recognize competing interests, but still enable voices that have been excluded to be heard, while also seeking ways of building mutual understandings and cooperation. The challenge for community education is considerable, and this book provides a real sense of its possibilities for learning and development throughout life.