Reviving Limerick CDB City of Learning Strategy

January 2011

Learning and the Future of the City

“The city of the future will be organised around learning as its primary, productive activity, thus

fusing the social and the economic with the educational.”

(Mumford, L., “The City in History”, 1961)

•The City of Learning Steering Group was established by the CDB in 2002

•Huge commitment on part of members, who participated in regular meetings & task groups over a 7 year period.

•City of Learning Collaborative Framework for Progress launched in 2008

•Review of Progress conducted in 2009

•No further progress since 2009

•Negligible adoption of LLL principles, approaches & practices by public organisations, civic entities, communities & workplaces and, as a result, no systematic fostering of a LLL culture in Limerick City.

Possible reasons for limited success of initiative include;1. Dominant focus on organised education and training provision with

corresponding undervaluing of Lifelong Learning2. Failure to fully appreciate the critical role that learning has to play in the

renewal and sustainability of 21st century cities3. Weak commitment to the ideal of Limerick as a Learning City4. Insufficient investment in the initiative

Limerick City of Learning Project: Progress to Date

Why Limerick must be Learning in 2011

•Globalisation - exposed to a global world, cities are under increasing pressure to make profound changes in order to compete and prosper in the future.•Recession - demands that we learn how to do things differently & more efficiently, if we are to secure social and economic inclusion for all our citizens•Digitalisation – rapid advances in information & communication technologies are impacting on the lives of all individuals, organisations & communities, and are fundamental to success in almost every arena•Explosion of New Knowledge – particularly in the sciences & technologies

In the current environment “change” is the only constant. However, “change through learning” is also the best response to managing the profound socio-economic change that is transforming economies, nations, industries & communities.

Learning occurs in every City. However, the essential & distinguishing feature of a Learning City is its explicit adoption of “Lifelong Learning” as an organising principle and a social /economic / cultural goal. A Learning City values, recognises and invests in LLL and purposefully integrates it within the analysis, planning and implementation of all sectoral and cross sectoral collaborative strategies.

What is a Learning City?

Civic Sector (Local

Government)

Economic Sector

(Private & Social Enterprise)

Public Sector (Health, Social

Protection, Libraries, Gardai,

etc.)

Educational Sector

(Schools, Colleges, Training Agencies,

etc.)

Voluntary & Community

Sector (Civil Society)

LIFELONG LEARNING -

A fundamental element of all strategies in the

Learning City

SSSSocial

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il

SSSSial

SSSocia

H U M A NCAPITAL

S O C I A L

SOCIAL C A P I T A L

CAPITAL

CAPITAL

S O C I A L

LIFELONG LEARNING MODEL

Sectoral Groups involved in Formal & Non-Formal Learning

: The Role of Networks

Individual Network

City of Learning Representative: -• A ‘Champion of Lifelong Learning’.• Bringing the information to and from the City of Learning Steering Group.• Motivates network members to commit to Citywide Learning Initiatives.

City of Learning

Steering Group

Network Rep brings information to and from

City of Learning S.G.

Individual Network

Individual Network

Individual Network

Individual Network

City of Learning Steering Group Meetings

Explore concepts of Lifelong Learning & Learning City.

Share information, experience, issues and challenges.

Identify common issues/themes for actions.

Spearhead/support city-wide initiatives.

Add value to work of network members and their constituency of learners.

City of Learning EU Project

•Limerick City of Learning Initiative the Irish site in EU R3L Grundtvig Project •Quality Framework for Learning Regions.•Effective planning, implementation, evaluation and review of cooperation among educational providers within learning regions.•Project outcomes provide one of the vehicles by which a whole city or region might also become a learning organisation.

Implement Actions from Strategic FrameworkMapping/scoping non-formal learning activity in

Limerick.

Organising Learning Festival – in collaboration with Co-ordination Office and all partners.

Supporting development of Learning Pathways in Mid-West Region, posted on Limerick.ie.

Collaborative Citywide Learning Initiatives as agreed by the Steering Group.