Think Global, Act Local
International Education in Communities
Annex B: Continuous Professional Development
New Zealand Youth Work Exchange
Community Education Worker Gary Malone spent a week in Rotorua, New Zealand. This was part of an advanced planning visit for a pending youth exchange between Arbroath Youth Council and the recently established Rotorua Youth Council.
22-year-old Paul Hardie who is a member of the Arbroath Youth Council accompanied Gary. With their partner group they discussed and agreed the programme carrying out the necessary risk assessments for the outward leg of the exchange. In addition to this they also gave a presentation at a national Youth in Government Seminar on how IT is used by young people in Angus to be active citizens.
Gary received 100% funding for his airfare from the League for Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers who will grant aid study visits of a Community Learning and Development nature to Commonwealth partners. An award of 500 was made by Angus Council under its Youth Work Support Grant to Arbroath Youth Council to support Paul's participation in the visit.
In addition to ensuring all health and safety requirements were in place the visit offered Gary a valuable professional development opportunity with Paul benefiting from a positive personal development experience.
(Source: Stewart Maxwell, Angus Community Education Service)
Rural Adult Learning Partnership
Anne the Community Education Worker for a rural area in North East Scotland undertook a Study Visit to Finland. The visit funded by the British Council ISV Programme focused on how remote rural communities in Finland were making best use of ICT.
In addition to passing information back to her own groups Anne is now in the process of establishing an Adult Learning Partnership initiative under the Grundtvig Programme. This will encourage the further exchange of practice and ideas between the partners.
(Source: Anne Craig, CEW, Angus CES)
'Y' are we in Budapest?
The European alliance of YMCAs offers many international educational opportunities to young people through seminars, training programmes and volunteering.
In June 1999 the YMCA Social Inclusion Programme Group held a training seminar for youth workers aged 18-30 at the European Youth Centre in Budapest. The seminar provided an opportunity for young practitioners from fourteen countries to discuss the key issues and challenges of educating socially excluded young people. The week-long seminar programme included: sharing of experiences and practice across Europe; visits to projects in Budapest; examining current European Union and Council of Europe Policies on social inclusion and discussing the relationship between educational practice and theory.
The seminar provided six Scottish participants with a valuable opportunity to relate their work to the bigger picture across Europe, understand how British Government policy related to European Policy, examine projects in another European country and learn from other practitioners.
(Source: Kerry Knox, Youth Work Development Officer, YMCA Scotland)
Global links with local lives
A learning day exploring links with the wider world run by the One World Centre, (Dundee's Development Education Centre) in conjunction with Neighbourhood Resource and Development Services, a department of Dundee City Council.
Thirty-six people from statutory and voluntary organisations attended this conference, which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of 'global citizenship' and to encourage community educators, to think about the global links in community programmes. Participants were encouraged to 'Think Globally' and to Listen to a 'Voice from the South', and they took part in workshops on 'Who's a Real Scot?', 'Global Images of Childhood', 'Debt and Poverty' and 'Linking and Learning from Others Across the Globe'. At the end of the day many present commented on the potential for incorporating a global dimension into community work. Other comments included:
'Very participative and though provoking. Liked the different methods used _ kept me interested and stimulated.'
'I will remember that everything I do affects others around the globe'.
(Source: Tanya Barman, International Development Education Association for Scotland)