Later this month a large group of people will gather at the National Curriculum Centre in Hamrun to be briefed on a certificate course they will be attending in the coming months. This course, commissioned by the National Curriculum Council (NCC) and held under the aegis of the University of Malta, is intended to prepare prospective leaders of community learning centres.
More specifically, it is meant for those who intend playing an active role in transforming our schools into community learning centres, in keeping with the provisions of the new National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) document.
This is the first in a series of steps to be taken to turn our schools into multifunctional community learning centres. A detailed action plan, prepared by the NMC Focus Group on "Parental Involvement and Schools as Community Learning Centres", was submitted to and approved by the NCC for this purpose.
The preparatory course will also coincide with a call, targeting local councils and school councils, to submit proposals for their local schools to be developed collaboratively as community learning centres. Three schools will be selected to serve as the first pilot 'community learning centres'.
The intention is to help develop these 'pilot schools' into centres of excellence, as community learning centres, before involving other schools in the project. There are several reasons that justify the development of schools as community learning centres.
The new NMC document states: "Schools should serve as community learning centres that also cater for the adult members of the community.
"This principle combines the commitment of this curriculum to a holistic education with the recognition of the importance of lifelong education and the need for stakeholder participation in the educational process."
It has often been argued that schools have traditionally operated as enclaves with little interaction bet-ween them and the rest of the community. By serving as community learning centres, schools can make an important contribution to the development of the public sphere.
They would provide educational services to members of the community at large and therefore promote the view that education is a lifelong process.
Furthermore, the community in which the school is located can be conceived of as a learning community or, to adopt a much used contemporary term, a 'learning society'.
Schools, especially state schools, are public resources. Their conception as community learning centres can therefore be seen as an attempt to make democratic use of public resources, rendering them accessible to a wider section of the local community than is the case at present.
There is also an economic argument to be made, given that the cost, per capita, of public resources in a micro-state such as Malta is higher than that incurred in larger states. One must make better and maximum use of resources lest these resources become 'idle capital' for several hours during the day and entire months during the calendar year.
There are also powerful pedagogical arguments to be made for conceiving schools as community learning centres. It is not only adult members of the community who benefit from such schools but also children. In forging strong links between schools and the community one would be creating greater space for the involvement of more stakeholders, such as parents, in the educational process.
This would create closer ties between schools and their pupils' immediate home environment. International research has shown that, in the majority of cases, the quality of education improved as a result of the development of such ties. The surrounding community also provides a significant part of the culture in which the children are immersed.
This culture provides them with an important framework of relevance. The community can therefore serve as an important learning resource for the teaching of children during the morning and early afternoon hours. There are teachers for whom this is not necessarily a new challenge.
Some teachers, for instance, have had the experience of inviting community members to share with children their first-hand and, in many instances, professional knowledge of a specific topic included in the syllabus. The idea of developing schools as community learning centres, however, has implications for the initial and ongoing formation of teachers.
It would seem appropriate for student teachers, especially at primary level, to be initiated into the task of researching the community in question prior to the start of their teaching practice session.
Fourth-year students in the B.Ed. (Hons) primary course, the course intended for prospective primary school teachers, will shortly be engaged in such a research project for which they will obtain credit.
Knowledge of the school's surrounding community can serve as an important teaching tool. It can help render what is taught more culturally relevant and meaningful to pupils. This is not to say that teaching should begin and end with the community. That would smack of 'campanilismo'.
National and international perspectives remain crucial to the broadening of the child's universe of knowledge.
What is being called for, here, is a more inclusive approach whereby, to provide one example, a lesson on 'Houses', delivered at primary level, would involve an appreciation of not only international types of houses, through foreign textbook illustrations, but also the types of houses available in the surrounding community.
Things which are familiar to the children in their everyday life gain legitimacy by becoming part of the school's 'official knowledge'. There is also a challenge for heads of school who have an important part to play in the whole project.
They would have to handle effectively many of the logistics involved in allowing children to leave the school premises, under their teacher's care, to observe things and visit places within the surrounding locality that relate to matters being taught as part of the subject syllabus and school curriculum.
Heads of school also need to collaborate with other stakeholders and personnel, particularly the co-ordinator entrusted with the task of running programmes held, on the school premises, after conventional hours. It is heartening to see the area of education and the community being included in the University's evening diploma course in 'Educational Administration and Management'.
This course targets prospective heads of school and assistant heads. The idea of developing schools as community learning centres poses a number of challenges for those working in and around them. It is not only teachers and heads who face these challenges.
Many other stakeholders are being called on to face this challenge. Parents feature prominently among the stakeholders.
A 'Parental Involvement' project has been taking place at Senglea Primary school since 1998. This project is run by the Senglea School Council, with the help of members of the University's Faculty of Education.
Parents have also been engaged in particular localities through the 21 Hilti centres and the NWAR Service run by the Foundation for Educational Services.
There is however more work to be done in the area of parental involvement in schools. Different stakeholders need to collaborate and to do so not on their own 'narrow' terms. There is also the challenge for local councils and school councils to avail themselves of this opportunity and work together to help transform the school culture for this purpose.
They need to ensure that funds available for physical adjustments to the building are secured to render the place accessible to and suitable for learners of different ages. One cannot expect adults to learn in an environment meant to accommodate children. And where it is necessary to build new schools, the local councils and school councils should ensure that these schools are designed as multipurpose community learning sites.
This emphasis on the school councils' and the local councils' active role in this venture should not imply a decrease in the state's major responsibilities in this regard. The councils' action should also include making legitimate demands on the state to honour these responsibilities. These and many other related issues will be addressed throughout the certificate course for which over 70 people have applied.
The certificate course will consist of ten units of 14 hours each. Included are such topics as 'Models of Schools as Community learning centres', 'Lifelong Learning policies and measures', 'Managing a Community Learning Centre', 'Group Dynamics', 'Parental involvement in schools', 'Inclusive Education' and 'Com-munity assets and needs.'
Professor Mayo is the co-ordinator of the Focus Group on 'Parental Involvement and Schools as Community Learning Centres'. He co-ordinates the Adult Education Programme in the Faculty of Education, University of Malta, where he also teaches and researches in Sociology of Education.