Abstract
Using auto/biographical research, this chapter explores notions of sustainability in the context of the development of family “support” projects, like Sure Start, in the United Kingdom. Space was created in some of these projects for access to the much needed specialist services but also for parents as well as children to engage in a range of non-formal and informal learning in highly sustaining ways. Transactional space was also created to facilitate democratic involvement and practices within particular programs. I suggest that building social sustainability has to encompass long-term investment in community capacity building as well as an awareness of the subtle interplay of family life and the quality of the social fabric; and also the extent to which the delivery of public services and professional behaviors are grounded in more democratized and respectful social relationships. Notions of learning—in a holistic, life-wide sense—lie at the heart of the struggle for sustainability, beyond current narrow preoccupations with education for employability.
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West, L. (2009). Claiming Sustainable Space: Families, Communities, and Learning, an Auto/Biographical Perspective. In: Willis, P., Mckenzie, S., Harris, R. (eds) Rethinking Work and Learning. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8964-0_10
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