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Community Education

Report 2001
Summary Conclusions & Recommendations

The City of Cork VEC/Adult Education Board, for many years supported new developing educational services as a first point of contact for adults re-entering education and training.

 Provision is made through the literacy schemes, family resources centres, home school community liaison, third age learners, travellers and disability groups.

 Financial contributors to Community Education include the Department of Education and Science, the City of Cork VEC/Adult Education Board, Cork City Partnership, FAS, Department of Social and Family Affairs, Southern Health Board and others. 

 This Annual Report 2001

1. Is based on the community education provision supported by funding from the Department of Education and Science to the City of Cork Vocational Education Committee and Adult Education Board with allocation of teaching  hours  made to individual community education groups.

2. It reviews the information submitted from community education groups in the City of Cork who accessed teaching hours from the City of Cork Vocational Education Committee.

3. It presents an overview of a new developing participative Community Education structure including the Area-Based Networks, which during 2001were in their infancy, the Forum, and membership of the Adult Education Board

4. It shows

   • How teaching hours were allocated and how these hours were used per course, individual, per network

   • How learners are encouraged to be part of each stage of development of community education.

5. It identifies as the focus [the Aims/objectives of CEgroups] of community education the provision of programmes for those who wish to enter education and for those who wish to be part of the progression routes identified in the White Paper on Adult Education. 

The report finds [Conclusions]

1. That there are dynamic and varied courses on offer within the City. 

2. That a number of educational disciplines are under-represented. 

3. The data showed that the majority of courses offered are pre-foundation level courses.

4. That the majority of those who tutor on programmes, while skilled in their subject area, have yet to take the Adult Tutor Training Course offered by the City of Cork VEC.

The report recommends [In response to the data collected]

1. Participation Rates; equal gender participation; promotion of male participation

2. The provision & development of programmes/courses; Community Education will develop strategies in order to offer programmes in areas that are, at present, under-represented;

3. Accreditation of Courses; In addition to pre-foundation courses, Community Education will encourage foundation and Level 1 FETAC accreditation.

4. Tutor Qualifications; Community Tutors will be encouraged to seek qualifications in Adult Teaching Methodology;

5. Acquisition of information; report forms will be redesigned in order to collect more appropriate data, and

6. On-line access to questionnaires and statistics will be developed.

Participation Rates  
Participation Rates are very high with a growing number of male participants in community education and this is very positive.  There should be a continued promotion of equal gender participation. 

Provision & development of Programmes / Courses
It can be seen that those who wish to enter Community Education for the first time have many courses available to them.  These cover a wide range such as computer applications, personal development, art, art and craft, communications etc. 

• Why are courses chosen?

The courses that are on offer attract many people within the community. 
Data should be collected to ascertain why individuals took specific courses. 
This data should aim to establish:

a)      If courses are taken by individuals because these are the courses that are on offer, or

b)      If courses are tailor-made to suit individuals coming together as a group.

This will allow an opportunity to explore the reasons why particular courses are popular within the community.

• Expanding the provision of courses.

Community Education provides for diverse programmes as previously noted.
In order to widen and deepen the learning experiences at this level, it is a recommendation of this report that Community groups look to expanding courses in order to represent a wider variety of courses that can create opportunities for progression routes and/or introductory courses in further education. 

Particular emphasis should be placed on providing courses in under-represented disciplines such as community science, community mathematics, community law, and community culture and community social studies.

Accreditation of courses

Educational progression is an important element for Community Education Groups.
This report shows a gap between this principle and the provision of courses that will facilitate such a progression.  The small number of certified courses offered is noted.  All courses offered have a mechanism of certification through FETAC. 
With certification, community learners may gain exemptions through the Accreditation of Prior Certified Learning (APCL) and access further education.

Courses provided in community education are offered for those who are entering into the arena of adult education. 
Their focus is on the process of self-awareness, facilitating  identification and acquisition of skills, ability and talent from which adult community learners progress on the educational ladder and take FETAC foundation and level 1 programmes.  

FETAC qualification offers an opportunity for accreditation for most of the courses offered in community education.  From the data collected, there appears to be a "predominance" of pre-foundation courses.
Is it now time to look at foundation and level 1 accreditation for community courses?

 The questions that should be considered are:

a)      Do community courses have FETAC accreditation?

b)      If not, are community courses in the process of gaining FETAC accreditation?

c)      If not, is there an intention to apply for FETAC accreditation?

Targets should be set for the FETAC accreditation of courses. 
Groups and networks should set targets to obtain accreditation of their courses and outline them in their area plan.

Qualifications of Community Tutors
Community Tutors who are on programmes are not availing of the in-service training offered by the City of Cork VEC.
Over the coming 5 years Community Education Co-ordinators should encourage their tutors to take part in this training.
Discussions between groups, networks and the Adult Tutor Training co-ordinator should take place in order to plan how best to facilitate community tutors in availing of in-service training. 

Acquisition of Information

The data collected in the questionnaire does not provide sufficient information to comment on how efficiently the resources allocated to community education are being used. 

For example, 8,000 teaching hours are provided to cater for 2,854 adults. 
This means that each learner receives approximately four hours tuition for the duration of the teaching year ?
 The information gathered does not allow an analysis of the real use of the teaching resources provided.

From the data collected, it was not possible to look at the following issues:

1. Child Care provision

2. Profile of the participants.

3. Accessibility of programmes

4. Learners who transfer from one course to another either within the community education centre or progression to other educational institutions.

5. Participation of culturally diverse groups

A greater emphasis should be placed on the acquisition of information from community education groups.

This acquisition should be two-fold:

Firstly, the questionnaires sent to community groups each year will  be redesigned in order to gather more appropriate information. 
The questionnaire will be designed so that it gathers information on:

1.      The gender distribution of learners;

2.      The nationality of learners;

3.      The integration of non-national learners;

4.      The access of learners with disability;

5.      The rate of annual repeat of learners taking courses in the community ;

6.      The progression of learners through the education system;

7.      Learners’ evaluation of courses.

Secondly, each community education class should have an attendance sheet that records the learners name and address and attendance.  
These should be submitted for each course that has been offered. 

On-Line Education Reports

To facilitate more frequent statistics, community groups should have access to on-line questionnaire.  These questionnaires will be accessed by password, so that each individual group can submit their information on-line in confidence.  In addition, statistics that are produced will be produced on line and groups will have access to these statistics on www.corkadulteducation.ie

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