COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN BRITISH URBAN PRIORITY AREAS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HULL JAMES ANTHONY McELLIGOTT Submitted to the University of London Institute of Education for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) BBL LONDIN. UNIV. 1 ABSTRACT This thesis develops a model of community education for non traditional adult learners from the least socially and educationally advantaged groups living in the priority areas of urban Britain. The model is investigated through a case study of a community education project situated within North Hull. The thesis is organised into six chapters. Chapter One commences with a detailed analysis of urban priority areas and examines the cumulative effects of post war material conditions, social dislocation and educational underachievement. Educational proposals for ameliorating the situation are reviewed, including the idea of closer links with the home and neighbourhood as part of a community education solution. Chapter Two develops this emerging theme of community education by examining compensatory and reconstructionist models of British community education in which USA models of compensation and the idea of community problem solving became influential Following this early discussion, a model for community education in priority areas is proposed in Chapter Three. The model has the overall purpose of developing adult learners and achieving more open and accessible institutions through a two stage continuum of learning opportunities. Chapter Four describes the North Hull Community Outreach Project which investigates the model in practice. In Chapter Five an evaluation of the case study is carried out to analyse the potential value of the model. Chapter Six brings together the main findings of the thesis. These suggest that the educational problems of non traditional adult learners are the result of the cumulative interaction between situational, institutional and dispositional factors in the priority area situation which serve to diminish the importance of education. The proposed model hence should be regarded as developmental with the potential capacity of engaging adults in mainstream educational opportunities which may provide the skills and knowledge needed to challenge and possibly change the material inequalities in the situation. 2 .CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS 7 LIST OF FIGURES 8 INTRODUCTION 9 CHAPTER ONE: THE URBAN PRIORITY AREA CONTEXT Introduction 16 Part 1. Urban Priority Areas in Context 20 1.1 Urbanisation and suburbanisation 20 1.2 Economic decline 26 1.3 Housing conditions 31 1.4 A gradient of urban disadvantage 35 1.5 Dislocation and social polarisation 41 in priority areas Part 2. Education and Disadvantage 47 2.1 Educational underachievement 47 2.2 Educational responses in priority areas 52 Appendices 61 Notes 63 CHAPTER TWO: COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND URBAN PRIORITY AREAS Introduction 69 Part 1. Educational Compensation and Urban 74 Priority Areas 1.1 The culture of poverty and cultural deprivation 75 1.2 Compensatory education in the USA 79 1.3 The idea of positive discrimination 84 1.4 From compensation to community education 87 3 Page Part 2. The Reconstructionist Strand of Community 94 Education 2.1 The notion of community regeneration 95 2.2 The community oriented relevant curriculum 1C4 2.3 Adult education and community action 111 2.4 Community control and participative management 116 Part 3 Developmental Issues 123 3.1 Views about priority area life 123 3.2 The concern over community problem solving 126 3.3 The issue of community control 130 and participation Notes 133 CHAPTER THREE: A MODEL FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION Introduction 142 Part 1. Barriers to Learning 147 1.1 Situational barriers 148 1.2 Institutional barriers 150 1.3 Dispositional barriers 152 Part 2. Developing Locally Based Educational 157 Activity 2.1 Establishing contact in local areas 158 2.2 Negotiation and ownership of learning 163 Part 3. Influencing Institutionally Based Provision 170 3.1 Working towards equal educational opportunities 171 3.2 Supporting learners in education 175 3.3 Developing responsive institutions 183 Part 4. Towards a Model for Community Education 193 Notes 200 4 Page CHAPTER FOUR: COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN PRACTICE: THE NORTH HULL COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROJECT Introduction 204 Part 1. A Profile of Hull and the Orchard Park Estate 208 1.1 Population statistics 211 1.2 Employment trends 213 1.3 Housing conditions 216 1.4 Educational provision 219 Part 2. Establishing the North Hull Community 223 Outreach Project 2.1 The LEA and community education 223 2.2 Launching the Project 226 2.3 Methodology for the Project 230 Part. 3. Describing the North Hull Community 233 Outreach Project 3.1 Building the Project team 234 3.2 Identifying activities and establishing 237 networks 3.3 Developing educational activities 241 3.4 Management and ownership of the Project 252 Appendices 259 Notes 263 CHAPTER FIVE: EVALUATING THE NORTH HULL COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROJECT Introduction 269 Part 1. Analysing the Work of the Project 272 1.1 The interventionist role in the Project 272 1.2 The supportive role in the Project 282 1.3 The responsive role in the Project. 286 5 Page Part 2. Issues Raised in the Evaluation of 296 the Project 2.1 The organisation of the Project 296 2.2 Negotiation and ownership in education 307 2.3 Concluding remarks 311 Appendix 313 Notes 315 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 318 Notes 336 BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 6 LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS_ ' Page Tables 1. Average annual population growth rates by type 22 of district, mid-1977 to mid-1990 2. Population change in urban areas 23 3. Changes in Employment. 1951-1981 27 4. Unemployment. Rates 1981 29 5. Indices of social deprivation - ranking of 36 most deprived areas 6. Gradient of deprivation 38 7. Proportions of recruits who left school at 15, 48 16, 17 or 18+ in relation to occupation of father (1959-60) 8. Percentage of 18 year olds entering university 49 by social class 1961 and 1968 9. Home candidates and acceptance by social class 49 10. EPA Mean EPVT and SRA Scores 51 11. Broad occupational distribution of employment 1981 61 12. Disadvantaged households 62 Maps 1. Humberside: National Context and County Map 209 2. Orchard Park Estate: Ward Profile 210 3. North Hull Community Outreach Project: 229 Area of Benefit 4. North Hull Community Outreach Project: 242 Area of Focus 7 LIST OF FIGURES Page 1. Inner Areas 1981: Ethnic Minorities 24 2. Lacking exclusive use of basic amenities 33 3. The cycle of powerlessness 42 4. Patterns of achievement in verbal skills at 77 various grade levels by race and region 5. Urban and Rural Britain: overlapping sets 96 of problems 6. Obstacles to re-entry 155 7. The Community Education Process 193 8. A Community Education Model 194 9. Population profile for Hull and Orchard Park 211 10. Social class composition for Hull and Orchard Park 212 11. Type of employment of residents 213 12. Unemployment rates for Hull and Orchard Park 1981 214 13. Unemployment rates 1991 215 14. Household type: Hull and Orchard Park 216 15. Disadvantaged households 217 16. Free school meals and clothing grants: 220 percentage take up 17. GCSE passes and staying on rates: 220 Orchard Park Estate 18. Qualifications: why not? 221 19. North Hull Community Outreach Project: System 227 of Management and Support 20. Outreach Project Staffing Structure 234 21. Local Group Support 238 22. Involvement by Orchard Park Residents in 249 Hull College of Further Education Courses 23. Base Users Group 257 24. Local community use of 'the base' 290 8 INTRODUCTION I have worked for the past twenty years in a variety of educational contexts as a teacher, development officer and latterly, in local authority administration. My special field of interest has been community education in the inner city where I have worked with parents in inner London, developed adult education and youth work strategies in Coventry and Birmingham and led a variety of initiatives in post sixteen education in Humberside. It has always puzzled me throughout my endeavours that despite the efforts of community educators'in areas experiencing severe disadvantage, the involvement and subsequent performance of children and adults from such places has been disappointing. This despite community education in Britain having a long-standing reputation as the user friendly arm of mainstream educational provision and, as a consequence, often been expected to provide a point of connection between education and learners who have become disengaged from educational opportunities. However, evidence from the post war period appears to suggest that community education in its various forms has made little impact amongst the people in areas experiencing considerable material disadvantage and social stress. The expectation that community education should undertake community problem solving may, on reflection, have been over ambitious. The problems of educational underachievement when linked to poverty, low income and the physical 9 conditions arising out of economic and social decay has proved too great a hurdle for community education alone to overcome. The time has come to have a closer look at the role and purpose of community education in urban areas undergoing serious socio-economic decline. The social and economic changes of the past fifteen years particularly, have produced a new condition for education which has been reflected in legislation. Market and competitive forces have become the dominant factors guiding educational activities, jeapordising the kind of developments outside of the mainstream which community education has promoted. The consequence of this position has been to lessen the scope for developing activities to support less advantaged groups which may be regarded as on the margins of educational provision and non-profitable. Yet the needs that such programmes set out to address are no less, and arguably, greater, amongst the groups in question. It is therefore imperative that community education continues to respond to these needs and develop strategies to encourage the re-engagement of non-traditional adult learners in education.