- Title
- Learning in community and life in community" : the concept of a community as a classroom
- Creator
- Downey, Tamara
- Date
- 2002
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/42032
- Identifier
- vital:3894
- Identifier
- http://library.federation.edu.au/record=1216264
- Abstract
- This thesis presents the Leigh community’s view of the impact of Hayden College on Leigh. The study establishes ‘community’ as the key aspect of this atypical school-community partnership in the context of research which shows that effective school-community partnerships are socially and economically beneficial for rural communities. The research question addresses the relationship between a particular college and a specific community. Hayden College was attracted to life in Leigh as a source of learning for its students and to community life in Leigh in particular. The research demonstrates that the school’s vision for its Leigh campus was one based on use of the town environs and interaction with the local people, and that the overarching concept of a community as a classroom entailed Hayden College becoming part of the Leigh community. The nature and quality of the relationship is explored by contrasting the school’s vision with the community’s view of Hayden’s membership of the Leigh community. Inquiry into the idea of a community as a classroom was approached by studying ‘community’ as an ideal concept. The thesis argues that the Hayden in Leigh development is a coincidence of educational and social ideals, clarifying what it means to be part of a community using conceptual analysis of qualitative data collected from the field. The theoretical stance and empirical material in this research show the way in which the power of the concept of community resides at the ideal level. The research finds that the nature of this school-community partnership is characterized by learning exchange and small town renewal but that a threat to the quality of the relationship between college and community is contained in disparate understandings of what constitutes community life. The implications of these findings for the post-Hayden Leigh community and rural schools and communities more generally are that the association of curriculum objectives with community development objectives depends on a healthy reciprocal relationship.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- University of Ballarat
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Community and school -- Victoria -- Clunes.; Education -- Research -- Victoria.
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