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ALCN Ripples Newsletter - May/June 2022

The ALCN Ripples Newsletter for May/June 2022 features a welcome to the new members of our Executive Committee and summaries of various activities including our Australian Learning Cities Webinar, Friday Forums and a call out to host  an event for the Global Learning Festival.

Enjoy reading.

Best wishes,

Leone

Dr Leone Wheeler
Hon. CEO
Australian Learning Communities Network
Website: https://alcn.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aus.alcn
Email: [email protected]

Official Newsletter of the Australian Learning Communities Network
Incorporated in NSW. No: 9883167
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May/June 2022

Dear Colleagues, 

In this newsletter, I welcome Caroline Jones, Benita Parsons, Dr Donna Goldie and Peter Kearns, AM, to our Executive and look forward to working with them and the other wonderful members of the Exec.

I report on a plethora of activities since the last newsletter. I summarise the results of our May Webinar - Sharing Insights: Australian Learning Cities: global to local - local to global; there is an invitation to host an event for the Global Learning Festival; a summary of the Learning for Earning Festival; the Friday Forums conversations; and new lifelong learning posters developed by Wollongong City Council.

I also managed to go out to the community and visit Danielle and Cassandra on location at Brimbank City Council!

Please let us know about stories or events that you want to highlight in our forthcoming newsletters.

With my best wishes.

Leone
 
Dr Leone Wheeler
Hon. CEO
Australian Learning Communities Network
Website: https://alcn.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aus.alcn
+61 (0) 456 038 236     Email:
[email protected]


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The ALCN Executive

 
I am very pleased to welcome our new members of the ALCN Executive.
  • Caroline Jones, Community Learning and Capacity Manager, Canning City Council - Western Australia
  • Benita Parsons, Community Learning Leader (Libraries), Port Adelaide Enfield (PAE) City Council, South Australia
  • Dr Donna Goldie, Coordinator Learning and Information Services - Libraries Community, Environment and Lifestyle, Townsville City Council, Queensland, and 
  • Peter Kearns, AM, is our Learning Cities expert and critical friend.

Leone Wheeler was appointed for a further two-year term as Hon. CEO; Diane Tabbagh was confirmed as Chair of the ALCN (Victoria); Jim Saleeba our Treasurer; Max Eastcott - rural NSW; Lara Pugh, NSW; Jan Simmons - rural Victoria; Adam Josifovski - Victoria.

The final copy of our Annual Report is available here.

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Sharing Insights: Australian Learning Cities: global to local - local to global
 

This webinar, facilitated by ALCN, ALA and Wyndham City Council, was held on 4 May 2022 and explored the principles and features of learning cities, learning communities, and learning municipalities in Australia and globally. Our keynote speaker was David Atchoarena, Director of the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning.

 

This was the first time that Australian members of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) – Melton, and Wyndham, Victoria, and Circular Head, Tasmania, and those cities aspiring to become members – Wollongong, NSW, and Canning, Western Australia came together to talk about how their communities, faced with turbulent times, were adapting, and learning from one another in their long-term aim build healthy and resilient cities through learning, which contributes to the UN Sustainability Goals.

David Atchoarena outlined the basic principles of the GNLC – to facilitate and exchange good practices between members of the network. Members of the GNLC include all regions of the work and are coordinated by the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL). Currently, there are 229 members and membership is increasing. The cities are of various sizes. The Australian members make a significant contribution to the network and are a source of inspiration for the network and its activities. For example, Melton co-coordinates the inclusion network; last year Wyndham won a Learning City Award and Circular Head’s Study Centre.
 
David reminded us of the criteria for learning cities: 

 


2022 Expressions of Interest
Now Open!

 

The Global Learning Festival is returning in 2022! Register your interest in hosting an event now!

Wyndham City Council and Melton City Council (Melbourne, Australia) are inviting you to register your interest to run an event in the virtual Global Learning Festival (GLF) in November 2022.

The festival will run from 6-9 November 2022 globally, with each organisation/community contributing 1-3 free online events of their choosing for a maximum of 2 hours per event. Events should be linked to lifelong learning and can run at a time that suits your team/community. The GLF co-ordinating team will work with you to schedule your event to minimise clashes in the festival schedule, and to maximise your scheduling preferences where possible.

The final date to submit your event is Friday 29 July 2022.
 

EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST

*Note:  festival organisers reserve the right to approve or deny an event based on its appropriateness for our audience.
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Learning for Earning Festival
Summary
The Learning for Earning Festival returned for its second year in May 2022. This project was an important collaboration between six councils from Western and Northern Melbourne that form the LearnWest network. Members of Learnwest work together to support their various communities in learning and earning to improve outcomes across the north and west. The councils involved were Wyndham City Council, Melton City Council, Brimbank City Council, Hobson's Bay City Council, Maribyrnong City Council and Darebin City Council. This model of collaboration amongst councils has meant a greater collective impact amongst our communities. Heartfelt thanks to all those involved in making the Learning for Earning Festival happen.
 
The festival was designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to upskill and look at different pathways to employment and to gain knowledge about starting or changing careers, learning about leading and emerging industries and discover opportunities for the future, through the three key flagship online forums:
 
Opportunities in the West.
 
Kicking off the Festival, the Wyndham Humanitarian Network hosted a panel of speakers who provided an insight into employment opportunities for local communities. The breadth of programs included MiCare’s Hope@Hand Traineeships; CALD and refugee employment services; WEstjustice employment and equality law clinics; Ararat’s new arrivals settlement program; and Good Cycles’ social enterprise. This event provided the opportunity the 90+ attendees (out of 167 registrations) to connect with employers, industry leaders & employment services.
 
Meet the Major Employers in the West.
 
A range of major employers shared their current and varied vacancies and what they look for in candidates. Representatives from Amazon, Westgate Tunnel Project, Western Health, Victoria University, and the Multiplex Connectivity Centre provided insightful and timely commentary on current vacancies, career paths, and recruitment tips. Out of 135 registrations, 68 joined the virtual room.
 
Want to Work in Local Government?
 
From 174 registrations, over 70 attended, hearing from representatives from Wyndham, Hobson’s Bay, Melton, and Brimbank who shared their varied employment experiences across their council careers. Moderated by Wyndham, topics covered included current vacancies in each of the Council areas, gender equity in recruitment, flexible working arrangements, what recruiters look for in applicants, transferable skills, and tips on searching and applying for vacancies.
 
The three online forums were scaffolded by a series of live events held in each Council’s library featuring mock interview workshops; resume help; an introduction to online job searching; and social media workshops. All events were free.

This project is unique in its cross-council collaboration in learning in Australia. LearnWest network is a community of practice where people who are passionate about lifelong learning can work together to drive the necessary changes to increase the economic and social capacity of our communities.
 
For more information visit the LearnWest website, and/or contact [email protected].
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ALCN Friday Forums!!!
Summary of Conversation on Friday 6 May and next dates: 

The first informal Friday Forum was held on Friday 6 May 3-4 pm. The topic for session one was ‘What do learning cities do? Exploring learning city initiatives.’
 
Lara Pugh, Learning City Leader, Wollongong City Council, facilitated a lively conversation and noted the following questions that were posed and answers given.
How do we get internal buy-in and commitment across our Councils so that we can establish learning cities?

  • Build a strong business case showcasing precedence in other Councils. What is the Return on Investment (ROI) for lifelong learning/learning cities? Demonstrate that lifelong learning is Council business.
  • Advocate for a designated role to ‘investigate the feasibility of becoming a learning city’.
  • Take a ‘Collective Impact’ approach and bring everyone along for the ride – the project officer is the broker and part of a ‘backbone’ organisation (Social Impact model).
  • Establish internal governance with Council, Community Facilitators, Educators and others at both operation and strategic levels for a finite timeframe to achieve shared goals and outcomes (e.g. establish a more coordinated approach to community education at Council; map Council’s lifelong learning assets; develop a shared evaluation framework that measures impact, tells human stories and [somehow] communicates the ROI).
  • Conduct briefings at all levels on progress and outcomes. 
How do we get external stakeholders on board across our cities? What is the value-add for them to get involved in a learning city?
  • Ask your internal networks to share their contacts and introduce you.
  • Create a cross-sector map of different organisations/community groups in your city and try and meet with at least one organisation in each sector.
  • When you meet with them, ask them about their business and clients – listen and learn so you can begin to understand their needs and what assets you already have in your community (don’t want to duplicate).
  • One practitioner said her community is a fast-growing community and she often struggles to understand how they can get diverse community groups to engage with community learning in their community learning centres. She thinks perhaps they don’t feel welcome in these places. Leone said one solution was to bring activities to the people in their communities to build trust and relationships.  
How do we create strategic plans and actions for a learning city that result in tangible learning outcomes?
  • One practitioner recommended the Jeder Institute – this organisation promotes asset-based community engagement which is similar to a collective impact approach where you bring together a cross-section of your city to develop a shared agenda that meets organisations’ needs and community needs. Leone noted that this is similar to an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach (see the work of McKnight and Kretzmann).
  • Try to see where the gaps are and understand what role the Learning City initiative could play to enhance what is already happening in your city, for example, build networks and broker relationships
  • An example cited is Western BACE – a business and community incubator facility - that work with Melton Learning City. BACE use lifelong learning to support youth at risk. 
  • We all agree that we’d like to learn more about how you calculate the ROI for lifelong learning/learning cities and this will be discussed at the session on evaluation.
A number of resources were shared about the social impact model and ROI. See the Reading of the Month section of this newsletter.

Next sessions:

Join your ALCN colleagues from Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales for an informal discussion on different aspects of building a learning city.

 Dates and themes are:

  • Friday 3 June 3-4 pm:
    Mapping lifelong learning assets in your organisation and city - (notes from this session will be included in the next newsletter).
  • Friday 1 July 3-4 pm:
    Evaluating the efforts, outcomes and impact of learning city/lifelong learning initiatives
  • Friday 5 August 3-4 pm: Localising the Sustainable development Goals for your learning city

Each session will encourage participants to share their different approaches, the challenges they face and their wins. Come join in the conversation!
 
Email Lara Pugh Project Leader Learning City at Wollongong City Council [email protected] if you’d like to participate.

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Other News from the Networks

Brimbank City Council 



Recently I caught up with Danielle Marie, Learning & Partnerships Coordinator, and Cassandra Connelly, Learning Officer in the Community Learning and Participation, Brimbank City Council. It was a lovely change for me to meet these practitioners in their community!  As identified in the ALCN Annual Report, they are having a busy year which includes starting the planning for a new Learning Strategy to replace Brimbank Lifelong Learning Strategy 2018-2023They are starting by evaluating the 2018-2023 Strategy and then undertaking community consultation for the next strategy. One interesting point made by Cassandra was that she is finding that her role is about making connections. She has a facilitator role and often finds herself as a 'knowledge bank' for learning resources, both internal resources within Council and externally as well. 

Wollongong City Council
The Libraries have developed a series of learning posters to get the word out about lifelong learners in the Wollongong community who are making a great contribution. Here is the story of Melahat. Very inspiring!


 

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News about Learning Cities from UNESCO UIL
Keep informed about The International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) which is a UNESCO intergovernmental (Category II) conference for policy dialogue on adult learning and education and related research and advocacy. The conference is held every 12 to 13 years since the 1940s.

The Seventh International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VII) will take place in Marrakech, Morocco  15 June to 17 June 2022.  Participants will take stock of achievements in adult learning and education, discuss challenges, and develop a new framework for action to make adult learning and education a reality around the world.

Read more here.
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Reading of the Month


Thank you to Susan Howard,  Specialist Lifelong Learning & Programs Culture, Community and Recreation, Maitland City Council, for sharing the following resources about Collective Impact: 

Burnie City Council. 2022. Making Burnie 2030. Available from: https://www.burnie.net/Living/Our-City/Making-Burnie-2030.

The Burnie Collective Impact initiative has been addressing aspects of employment, community growth and development, social change ... over a number of years and it geared itself to addressing the vision – Making Burnie 2030. The Council was initially the backbone organisation and this has now been transferred to an NGO called Burnie Works (see: https://www.facebook.com/BurnieWorksTas/). 

Tasmanian Government. n.d., Making a difference - 26TEN Tasmania Strategy. Available from: https://26ten.tas.gov.au/whats-happening/Pages/26TENStrategySocioEconomicReturn.aspx
A general description of the ROI for the 26TEN 10 year adult literacy strategy in Tasmania

Muller, P. and D. Knapp, 2020.  26TEN STRATEGY. The Socio-Economic Impact of Tasmania’s Investment in Adult Literacy and Numeracy. July 2018-June 2019. 2020, Institute of Project Management. Available from https://26ten.tas.gov.au/resources/Documents/SocioEconomicImpactTasmania...

PASCAL
Osborne, M., (2022). National Lifelong Learning Policies and Learning Cities | CR&DALL Policy Paper, in National LLL Policies and Learning Cities: ASEM LLL Hub Research Network 4. 2022. Available from: http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/pascal-activities/news/national-l...

This paper is a comprehensive review of national policies in lifelong learning across a range of countries including Australia. Well worth reading.

Other reading sourced from APO:

Crommelin, L., Denham, T., Troy, L., Harrison, J., Gilbert, H., Dühr, S. and Pinnegar, S. (2022) Understanding the lived experience and benefits of regional cities, AHURI Final Report No. 377, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne, https://www.ahuri.edu.au/ research/final-reports/377, doi: 10.18408/ahuri7126301

'This research investigates the lived experience of regional city residents (in five case studies) to understand how the benefits and disadvantages of regional city life are perceived and explore attitudes towards population growth.'  Not surprisingly 'the findings indicate that policy making needs to be approached from a regional perspective, with the goal of making regional Australia an attractive place to live and work, rather than approached as a solution to metropolitan population pressures.'

COTA NSW, (2022) 50+ What Older People Think.  COTA NSW. Available from https://apo.org.au/node/317899

This report explores the attitudes and values of 6390 people aged 50 and older in New South Wales on a range of topic areas that are of concern to the Australian people both now and into the future. The research found that the views of older people are not homogenous and there are 'different views on a range of issues that may confirm or challenge assumptions that are often based on gender, age-cohort, income or geographic location.' Interestingly, the top issues were climate change, housing affordability and homelessness, and COVID-19.
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Contact Us

For further information contact:

Dr. Leone Wheeler
Hon. CEO, Australian Learning Communities

Mobile: 0456 038 236.  Email: [email protected]
ALCN website www.alcn.com.au
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