Download 1: Introduction -- Change, Learning and Rural Development

Euracademy
5th Summer Academy
The Role of Education and Lifelong Learning in
Sustainable Rural Development
plenary session
Dr. Rhys Evans
Integrate Consulting,
Highland Perthshire
Scotland UK
Introduction
Change, Learning
and Rural Development
Sustainability
Local
Global
What is sustainability?
 Stewardship
 Of environment


Of resources
Of identity
 Principles of Justice


Social Justice
Environmental Justice
Types of sustainability
 Environmental
 Economic
 Social and Cultural
Sustainability and Time
Present
Past
Future
Learning as a mechanism for coping
with change
 An Ecological metaphor


Learning functions as diversity in ability of
community to respond to change.
Old knowledges, new knowledges, all are
important in development.
2: Changing rural development
 Economic change
 Social change
 Environmental change
 Technological change
 Policy Change
Economic Change in Rural Europe
 Primary sector economic activity
 Secondary sector
 Tertiary sector
 Quaternary sector
 European change in emphasis from primary
(production) to tertiary (services and
consumption).
The new consumption economy

Consumption-in-Place



Retains landscape features and is thus
sustainable
Brings higher value than pure commodity
harvesting
Otherwise-neglected local resources/assets are
integral to producing high value added services
and products
New consumption economy
 In mass Global Market, local ‘isolation’ becomes an
asset, not a liability.
 Local ‘distinctiveness’ is key marketing tool – “there is
no place like this….”
 Place-marking



Places
Products
Services
Environmental change in rural Europe
 Cross-border environmental issues


Acid rain
Water quality
 Impact of agriculture and forestry

Overproduction
 Impact of urbanisation

Growth, suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation.
Technological change in rural Europe
 isolation


Improved transport networks, linking formerly
isolated places to core markets
New transport technologies reduce price for
goods and people
 presence


IT, rural broadband
Lower call rates, mobile phone access
Policy change in rural Europe
 EU development policy
 ‘Second Pillar’ – the environment
 new regulation of rural environment
 Moves to change ordering of Agriculture and Rural
Development
 CAP support -- from production to ????
 Modulation
 Implicit support for community-led development at
heart of sustainability

LEADER
3: Development and Community
 Putting the Community into Rural
Development in Europe




Changing governance
Increased neo-liberalisation
retreat from ‘food mountains’ to quality of rural
landscape
Impact and importance of sustainability
Asset-based approaches to rural
community development
 Asset-based Rural Community Development
(ABRCD)

Sustainable Livelihoods


Five Capitals Model


UK Sustainable Development Commission
Asset-Based Community Development


(UNDP, UK Dffid)
Cody Institute, Nova Scotia, Canada
Carnegie UK Rural Commission

ABRCD
Five Capitals model






‘Capitals’ are assets.
Some are material
Some are Intangible
Some belong outside community
Some belong within community
All are necessary parts of sustainable
development
Five Capitals
 Natural
 Human
 Social
 Manufactured
 Financial
Natural Capital
 Biodiversity, flora & fauna
 Landscape character
 Soils
 Water
 Air and climate
 Minerals and other non-renewables
Human Capital
 Employment and skills base
 Education and training
 Health and well-being
 Leadership and trust
Social Capital
 Leadership and trust
 Community cohesion
 A sense of place
 Stakeholder networks and processes
Manufactured Capital
 Archeology
 Buildings and Built Heritage
 Transport infrastructure, traffic and access
networks
 Processes and waste products
 Energy production and Consumption
 IT and telecommunications
Financial Capital
 Private Capital
 Business investment
 Infrastructure investment
 IT and digital industry investment
 Land ownership
 Public Capital
 CAP
 Rural programmes
 Environment, sustainability
 Local authority expenditure
 Community land acquisition
Five Capitals/Assets
 These Capitals are the assets communities
bring to the development table.
 Knowledge Assets are expressed by
individuals but can be a collective resource
 Not limited to culture items such as music or
food. Can include ways of working, the
importance of local networks to mobilize
development, and other assets which
contribute to enterprise
4: Changing Education
 Education and Community Development
 Education and Sustainability
 Education and economic development
 Learning and Livelihood
Learning – formal, non-formal?
 Formal


Primary, Secondary, Higher Education
Accredited learning





Trade Skills
Vocational Skills
Language Skills
IT Skills
Business, Enterpreneurship
Learning – formal, non-formal?
 Non-formal

Non-accredited learning
 Land-based
 Food, buildings and architecture, husbandry
 Local language and culture products
 Local narratives, local place identities
 Important role for people
Life-long Learning
Learning
Challenge
Change
Life-long Learning
 Builds robustness in the face of change
 Is of use to all ages
 Crosses formal and non-formal education
 Ensures continuity of knowledge
Place-based Education
“can be characterized as structured learning in
issues of local history, culture, language,
environment, and economy.
This approach to teaching and learning
represents a general orientation which
focuses on local resources”
Eric Romero. USA
Place-based Education
“place-based education serves both
individuals and communities,
helping individuals to experience the value
they hold for others
and allowing communities to benefit from the
commitment and contributions of their
members”
Gregory Smith, USA
Place-based Education
 Two aspects

Research



Gathering local knowledges
Using students or community members to do
research
Dissemination


Teaching through formal and non-formal channels
Often inter-generational
Place-based Education
 Ensures that individual knowledge, at risk of
dying away, becomes collective knowledge, a
collective resource.
 Turns this knowledge into an Asset for the
Community.
 Provides both the raw material (knowledges),
and a process (learning) through which
individuals gain the knowledge to engage in
self-development, personally and
economically
Place-based Education
 Contributes to sustainable development by:
 reinforcing local cultures and identities,
 making available key assets for collective and
individual development
 Increasing local pride, especially amongst the
young
 Increases social interaction across
generations, increases social capital and
collective capacity
Place-based Education
 Can take place in a school
 Can take place in a community centre
 Encompasses the outdoors and external
environment
 Can operate at as small or as large a scale
as necessary
5: Learning as a resource for
sustainable development
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Local changes
 Global changes
 New opportunities for rural distinction
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Social change
 Economic change
 Political change
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 New challenges




Decline of traditional role of rural Europe as sole
provider of raw commodities
Loss of young people
Increase of environmental and other regulation
Encroachment of urban and global cultures on
local society
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Opportunities




Growth of consumption sector
Growth of distance working and IT
New values for ‘natural’ environments
New opportunities for aspects of rural culture
which were previously under-valued.
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Learning


Place-based education captures heritage and
local knowledges and turns them into a
community asset
Learning to manage new technologies allows
rural residents to directly reach distant markets
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Lifelong learning



Takes place across formal and non-formal sectors
Takes place at all ages, and at all levels of formal
education
Part-time and distance learning can fit into rural
lifestyles and demands.
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
 Is the key to turning knowledge into an Asset
 Is the essential connector between the global
and the local
 Supports heritage knowledges and new
innovations equally
Lifelong learning and sustainable rural
development
Is a key component of sustainable
development at the levels of environment,
economy and society.
Group task
 Gather in small groups, not from the same
area.
 Take copy of Five Capitals table.
 Using flipchart, make new detailed table
 Take each category in the Five Capitals table
and Operationalize it – devise concrete
examples of each Capital
 Return to discuss and produce a master table
Example 1
Human Capital – employment and skills base
 Human Capital
 Employment and Skills Base

Land-based skills





Building trades
Farming trades
Forestry trades
Domestic trades
Service sector skills




Hospitality
Local cuisine
Tours and interpretation
Consumer services
Example 2 – natural capital -- water
 Water




Quality
Historic supply channels
Current challenges
Uses



Drinking
Industry
Power generation