Pushing the Boundaries Project
18-Dec-2000

Excellence in Education Compact ECEF Priority Areas project by Graeme Harvey
The Compact aims to make more effective use and operation of current services and resources available in the community without each losing their identity. Eventually to facilitate the development of a self-sustaining self-prophesising community.
	Launched in 1995, by 1999 the EIEC was self funding. Its activities led to the need to "push the boundaries" to establish effective links with more regional organisations. Community plus would "provide a non-threatening environment for the exchange of ideas, innovation, experimentation and development and establish trust which will benefit the community as a whole. It would also be proactive in influencing future directions.”
Why a Community Learning Centre ? The Excellence in Education Compact (in Kwinana/Rockingham, 40 km south of Perth, WA) was officially launched in 1995 by the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement. This agreement was between Kwinana Industries Council (KIC), representing 32 heavy industries, and 6 (now 8) local high schools. Most activities the Compact developed involve workplace learning and articulation to employment and/or further education and/or training. While links with KIC were extremely valuable, it was seen that schools also needed to have better links with other members of the local community. The Regional Executive was established to develop these links late in 1997. This was replaced by the "Industry & Community Links and Partnerships" (ICLP) sub committee, one of four established in 1998. Projects the ICLP developed include annual Careers Expo, “Back on Track” and “Positive Pathways” for "at risk" students, “Careers plus” a Careers Caravan and investigation of replication of the Compact. These made it apparent that the Compact needed to establish links with many other agencies and groups. It has also become apparent that there is a large number of agencies, some duplication of services, some overlap of services and some gaps where there are no services. Hence the proposal for maximising the use of local resources, the development of the Community Learning Centre with the EIEC as its hub. Aims of “Community plus” - To make more effective use and operation of current services and resources available in the community without each losing their identity. - Further strengthen pathways from school to employment, particularly local. - Promote life long learning. - Provide support to other groups who wish to replicate the Community Learning Centre. - Facilitate the development of a self-sustaining self-prophesising community. - To provide “face to face” as well as “technological” links and services. - Be proactive in influencing future directions. - Provide forums for innovation and experimentation. - Facilitate a means of sharing learning and the outcomes of that learning. - To provide a non-threatening environment for the exchange of ideas, innovation, experimentation and development, which will establish trust and benefit the community as a whole. Stage 1 (developing the links) Establish Community Learning Centre in Kwinana/Rockingham to act as a community 'hub'. - Expand services into the community by forming links and developing understanding - Link organisations in the region already operating in the area - Provide access to these through a "shop front" - Provide service and links through face to face and technology Stage 2 (organising the services) Rationalise services through the Community Learning Centre - Document the service providers and the services each provides - Determine the "needs" in the region Work with the providers to: - Identify and minimise unnecessary replication - Identify ways to provide services not currently provided Stage 3 (creating the community) Community Learning Centre influencing future directions - Scenario planning - Being pro-active in Employing local - Developing projects, funding etc - Developing and promoting employment opportunities “Community plus” – nine months on The Community Learning Centre is one of the activities of the Excellence In Education Compact which are within the scope of the “Industry and Community Links and Partnerships” sub committee. Workshopping with the community The proposal for funding the Community Learning Centre was delayed and so the project didn’t “get under way” until April. It is a two year project, although already it is felt this timeframe may have been a “bit ambitious”. Although the aims of the Community Learning Centre were fairly clear, what it would actually “look like” was to be developed with community input. This was done through workshoping. It was determined that the project would be called “Community plus” The vision A catalyst for our community to reach its full potential. What is Community plus? - friendly community based service - conduit - communicator - facilitator - Innovator - vehicle to enable goals/objectives to be attained. - separate shopfront(s) - link business and community -comes back to a central hub - many access points (shopfronts) to government and community services What will it do? - identify/influence/consolidate groups/funds/gaps in the community - distribute/influence Government funding to the community - central self help - technology (web based) - guarantee a standard of service - set up access to all information available to support the community - assist groups/teams in the community to set up - respond within a certain timeframe “what do they need to enable community members to do”. The mission To provide a vehicle for: - enabling people to take action to attain their aspirations; - quality community linking through the provision of partnerships, networking, programs and projects; - open access to community information and lifelong learning; - the community to determine its future. Our catchcry " Working together is success." The logo - Three arrows spiralling in represents the three sectors, learning (education and training), employment and community coming together Activities that had become our “core business” needed to be maintained, and in fact grew considerably. Pushing the Boundaries was always seen as an opportunity to “fast track” what was seen as a natural evolution of the compact: - we moved into new offices (previously based at a school) - became an incorporated organisation (leading to changes in our management procedures) - developed our website. - put into service our new “Careers plus” (a mobile Careers advice caravan - we started working with other neighbouring areas interested in looking at the concept of a “compact” - we increased staff from 2 to 5 full time, with some consultancy work let out - we hosted a “National Youth Commitment Partnership” workshop as a part of growing our Community Learning Centre concept Challenges Despite all this we have made some mistakes, or perhaps produced some challenges we could have done without: - Deciding on the name “Community plus” was seen as giving the centre an identity, however in hind sight we may have caused some confusion. Why, we were asked, do we need a new program, Community plus, when we have the Compact? The community groups we are working with are all: - overworked and under resourced - often don’t know other groups exist - find it difficult to find time to be involved even though they can see the benefits. - We were also guilty of not allocating our time as effectively as we could. We decided to share the activities of “Community plus” amongst our staff rather than dedicate one (or two) people. We are currently advertising to appoint someone who will be dedicated to that role. Summary In summing up we have: - established our office - determined the parameters of the project - considerable information (and quotes) for possible resources - increased (considerably) the number of community groups we are involved with - gained an acceptance from the community of the worth of developing the concept - a commitment (at least “in principle”) from the community to a Regional Youth Commitment, and a working party developing it - clear directions for the incoming staff member to move towards This early developmental stage has taken more time than we had envisaged, however the road ahead is now much clearer!
Related websites:
EIEC website

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