The importance of reflection in experiential learning with community and youth workers for the learning age

The New Labour government, in its Green Paper on the Learning Age, published in February 1998, put lifelong learning at the heart of its programme. In this article we aim to demonstrate that there is a direct parallel between the processes outlined in the Green Paper and the processes of experiential learning and community development by focusing on the Diploma in Community and Youth Work Studies run by the Community Work Unit (CWU) based in the Centre for the Development of Continuing Education at the University of Manchester.

Community action provides a setting for informal education. Community workers are in a unique position in relation to developing the potential for learning in the groups and individuals with whom they work. Their education and training should enable them to articulate and value their experience and reflect upon it in order to establish a meaningful basis for further self- and/or community development. We will explore how the CWU uses participative learning methods which recognize, value and use the experience and understanding of the participants as a basis for their own and others’ learning, and the relevance of these learning methods to the work practice of the participants.     

Access to Higher Education for Disabled People: A Systematic Approach at Chelyabinsk State University in Russia

The results achieved by Chelyabinsk State University in terms of providing access to higher education for disabled people are analysed. The experience obtained through joint work with European Union partners and applied to the conditions of a Russian university is underlined.     

Leadership: The Key Ingredient

This essay argues that the transition from physical education to Kinesiology involved the development of the kinesiological sciences such that over the last 35 years, the discipline has come to be dominated by a scientific outlook. The incorporation of science is in itself a benefit for the discipline. However, the cost is that the scientizing of the discipline has led to the marginalization of the humanistic features of movement. Thus, the history, philosophy, and literature of sport and movement stand in need of development in the American academy. More importantly, there needs to be a reawakening to the humanistic import of movement itself. So-called “gym classes” are being slowly weeded out of many university programs. The claim is that these need to be retained and strengthened with a focus on the importance of movement in developing our humanity.