Editorial

for Concept Volume 17, Number 1

by Mae Shaw, Executive Editor

Most of the articles in this issue of the journal are concerned with the re-appropriation of social and political purpose in community education. Ian Cooke reviews the history of council housing as a community education issue, emphasising the way in which it has virtually fallen off the agenda of practice. He relates this to a policy context in which stock transfer – creeping privatisation – has been presented as the only alternative to poor housing. Given that means testing is being seriously discussed by the UK Government as the best way to select council house tenants of the future, his challenge is very timely indeed. The right to decent affordable housing remains a wholly legitimate demand, and one which deserves support. Yet, as Ian points out, community education workers have been noticeable by their absence in recent campaigning in Edinburgh and elsewhere on stock transfer. This may reflect the way in which government appears to be increasingly directive about the focus and parameters of community-based work.

Presenting a case study of the changing focus and fortunes of a local arts organisation, Gavin Crichton identifies what he sees as some of the problems inherent in the current managerial context. Drawing on the work of Freire, he argues that a social model of education, which emphasises the impact and influence of wider socioeconomic structures, has given way to a more individualized model: ‘there is nothing here about seeing society as the problem and wanting to change it. It is more about challenging behaviour so that individuals can be accepted into the status quo.’ His assessment of opportunities for the kind of Freirean dialogue which exposes political problems rather than offering solutions to ‘social problems’ is less than optimistic. As long as increasing self-confidence is regarded as a synonym (or substitute) for critical thinking, spaces to be ‘radical’ will be limited. Nevertheless, he argues for the need to ‘stay radical’ in spite of current constraints – and to make common cause with others in this respect.

One traditional means of retaining a critical perspective is to look beyond the immediate field of practice: to make connections between the micro and macro aspects of social experience; between local and global politics. The articles by Teresa Martinez and Ted Scanlon contribute to this process in different ways. Based on the work of the Global Community Project at Friends of the Earth Scotland, which locates Scottish experience in the context of globalisation, Martinez’s article expresses the aim ‘to build solidarity between communities in Scotland and those elsewhere in the world’. She describes examples in which environmental issues in particular can be tackled at both local and global levels by making links and alliances between affected communities across the world.

Ted Scanlon’s article considers alliances of a different kind. Although the context of Brazil from which he writes is clearly not equivalent to the UK, nevertheless there are common questions to do with the benefits and costs of working with erstwhile adversaries. As Ettore Gelpi argued, ‘in every society there is some degree of autonomy for educational action, some possibility of political confrontation, and at the same time an interrelation between the two’. The threat of compromise must always be measured against the promise of autonomy, and worked through systematically in concrete contexts. This piece demonstrates the way in which a popular movement made such strategic judgements central to its educational process.

Nancy Somerville describes the work of the Edinburgh Active Citizens Group in relation to the forthcoming Scottish parliamentary and local elections. It has become common knowledge, and of real concern, that elections do not attract a sufficiently high percentage of voters to demonstrate an engaged democratic culture. As Nancy argues, ‘addressing the issue of low voter turnout and “political apathy” requires a wider programme of education than simply training in how to vote’. In any case, a vibrant democratic culture comes not just from voting, however important, but from the autonomous actions and struggles of groups for whom ‘democracy’ has yet to deliver its promise.