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Community Education and Employability

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Community Education and Neoliberalism

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Abstract

This chapter will look at the role of social policy in directing community education away from its politicising, needs-based historical roots and towards the servicing of the labour market. It begins by explaining what social policy is and how it relates to neoliberalism before exploring its relationship with community education. As well as examining the actions of policy-makers far away, I will also explore practitioner’s own involvement in policy formation. Key policy changes and the implications for community education are investigated before the experiences of practitioners are presented.

Community education and employability

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Notes

  1. 1.

    AONTAS invited considerable dialogue with its members before submitting its submission “the voice of the adult learner” to the SOLAS consultative process. It can be viewed at http://www.aontas.com/download/pdf/aontas_submission_on_solas_consultation_process.pdf. Accessed 31 July 2014.

  2. 2.

    All submissions made to QQI during their consultation process can be viewed at http://www.qqi.ie/Consultation/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed 20 July 2014. Furthermore, at an AONTAS CEN meeting in March, 2015, the CEN membership reported making over 20 written submissions to QQI since its establishment.

  3. 3.

    These advocacy packs and specifically targeted policy work including submissions can be viewed at www.aontas.com. Accessed 20 July 2014.

  4. 4.

    This is because the chairperson of the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programme was the economist Colm McCarthy.

  5. 5.

    Address by John Curran TD Minister of State at the department of Community, Rural and Gaelteacht affairs to an 27 January 2010 retrieved from www.changingireland.ie. Accessed 20 April 2016.

  6. 6.

    These actions are reported within editorial and news accounts within Spring/Summer editions of the Community Sector magazine Changing Ireland An independent national magazine for community development who produce a quarterly print magazine which is sold across Ireland.

  7. 7.

    Directive 2014/24/EU in public procurement called for the awarding of public contracts by or on behalf of members States to comply with certain principles, most specifically non-discrimination, proportionality and transparency in the awarding of contracts (European Parliament 2014).

  8. 8.

    When these figures are broken down in terms of employment type, 77% of independent community educators, those not directly employed by a community sector or State provider outside of casual employment contracts agreed with this statement. Twenty–eight percent of those working within the community sector disagree and 60% agree. Sixty–six percent in VECs and 55% in NGOs all agree with the statement. The Irish Community Sector has been co–opted by the State and is not a force for influencing change.

  9. 9.

    I am deliberately not sharing which focus group this comment was relayed within as to do so would compromise the anonymity of this CEF.

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  1. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

    Camilla Fitzsimons

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Fitzsimons, C. (2017). Community Education and Employability. In: Community Education and Neoliberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45937-0_5

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