FACE Conference 2011

 

"Lifelong Learning and Community Development."

 

 

 

 

 

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Delegate's Report on FACE 2011

by Dawn Mannay, PhD Student, Cardiff University

I am a doctoral student in my last year of an ESRC funded position studying at Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences. My research interests revolve around class, education, gender, geography, inequality and visual research methods and my current research, explores the gendered and classed processes of social and cultural reproduction, relationship cultures and identity formation through a focus on mothers and daughters in working-class families resident on a peripheral housing estate.

In December 2010 I entered an open competition run by the Higher Education Academy centre, ESCalate for a bursary to attend an education themed conference. I wrote my application with details of the conference I wanted to attend, the FACE 2011 Annual Conference, Lifelong Learning and Community Development, and the reasons for selecting this particular event. I was fortunate to be selected by the ESCalate panel as one of the winners receiving a full ESCalate bursary.

For me, FACE was the education conference that seemed most fitting, and I applied to attend this particular conference for a number of reasons. Firstly, the themes of the conference, particularly ‘Higher education provision and its contribution to the community’ and ‘The future of outreach work and the Aimhigher legacy’ were of academic interest and resonated with my own research. Secondly, I wanted to present a paper and hopefully get some feedback and ideas from other academics and practitioners. Lastly, as I teach part time for the Open University and for Newport University’s Access programme, I also have an interest in FACE in terms of best practice in my own teaching and wider developments.

Arriving at FACE I was not disappointed and knew that I had made the right choice. The first day started with lunch, and chatting with other delegates I was impressed by their commitment to equality and education and their student centred approach. This was particularly refreshing in a climate that often emphasises research outputs above teaching and also the austerity of cuts.  Over the three days of the conference, the keynote speakers and parallel sessions were also inspiring and I would like to write about them all, but in restricting my self to speak about one of each I was particularly impressed by the first key note presentation and a paper given in the final set of parallel sessions.

Professor Keith Popple gave the opening keynote presentation, ‘The Big Society: the implications for community development’ and I avidly wrote extensive notes trying to capture the opportunities and challenges presented by the policies of the new government, it was an interesting and thought provoking beginning. Among the exciting programme that followed I presented the paper, ‘Aimhigher? Considering the emotional cost of aiming higher for marginalised, mature, mothers re-entering education’, which was well received and opened up dialogues with new networks.

One of these new connections was made with Lindsay Hewitt, and it was her joint paper with Jonathan Sharpe that was a particularly inspiring parallel presentation. I was impressed with the paper in terms of the practical and educational benefits the project brought to refugee and asylum seekers in Glasgow. Academically, I was interested in the innovative way that Bhabba’s (1994) notion of the third space was employed to think about learner identities in terms of ‘in-betweeness’, (Hewitt et al 2010) a hybridity that I have tried to grapple with in my own work (Mannay 2009). Attending the conference provided an opportunity to find out about this study, and the work of other delegates, which I would have missed in my ordinary milieu of publications.

This is the key strength of FACE; it is a coming together of academics from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, but with a common interest in making education both accessible to all and of a high quality. I left FACE full of ideas and enthusiasm and I am planning to attend the 2012 conference at the University of Ulster. The conference was very well organised and Alan Foster and the team at CR&DALL, Glasgow University did an excellent job as hosts of FACE. Lastly, Glasgow was a fantastic city and the conference timings and Scottish ‘sunny’ weather engendered an opportunity to explore the urban treasures. So thank you, FACE, CR&DALL, ESCalate and all the speakers and delegates who taught me so many things in such a short time, a fantastic experience.

Dawn Mannay

References: Bhabba, H. K. 1994. The location of culture. Oxford: Routledge.
Hewitt, L., Hall, E. and Mills, S. 2010. Women learning: women’s learning: an investigation into the creation of learner identities. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 12, pp. 91-102.
Mannay, D. 2009. Postgraduate Café Papers 2009: Balancing on the boundary between two discursively different worlds: a mother and daughter case study exploring space, place, class and identity. Cardiff School of Social Sciences Working Paper 126, Cardiff University, 19-32.  http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/resources/wp126.pdf

 

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Presentations and Workshops from FACE 2011

Keynote “The 'Big Society': the implications for community development” Professor Keith Popple, Head of Social Work, London South Bank University

Keynote Professor Andy Furlong, University of Glasgow

Keynote The emergence of one tertiary sector in Australia: the impact on students, teacher & institutions in TAFE/FE Associate Professor Leesa Wheelahan, University of Melbourne

Roundtable “HE and the Big Society: Opportunism or opportunities?”

Roundtable “Social Mobility Roundtable”

Roundtable “University and Regional Engagement for Lifelong Learning”

Roundtable “Listening to learners – McNair Scholars’ experience of US outreach and student support programmes”

Roundtable “The ‘PASCAL Universities Regional Engagement’ (PURE) programme - International Perspectives”

The PURE Programme - Overview Professor Michael Osborne, University of Glasgow

Some observations on the relations between universities and regions in France, the case of a remote region, Brittany Jean-Marie Filloque, University of Brest,

The Jamtland Region Anna Hansen

Issues pertaining to community engagement in remote settings Julia Preece, National University of Lesotho

Roundtable “Service Learning as Community Engagement: Exploration of Academic Staff's Skills for Assessment of Learning”

 

Paper Sessions

Effective partnerships in the development oflearning city/regions at both macro and micro levels: A case study approach Professor Mike Osborne and Dr Muir Houston, School Of Education, University of Glasgow

Degrees of difference: Student experience of HE in FE Anthony Hudson, Continuum, University of East London

What do we mean by the "potential for higher education" and how do education professionals identify it in young people? Jim Tate, University of the West of England

Higher education in the community Professor Colin Trotman, Dr Lynne Jenkins University of Swansea

From Presence to Transformation: Reporting on an Australian Research Project Associate Professor Jayne Clapton, School of Human Services and Social Work, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

Values into Practice – Whatever the Odds Louise Sheridan, University Teacher & Helen Martin, University Teacher, BA Community Development, University of Glasgow

The Importance of Continuing Community Development within Higher Education, Despite the Recent Changes in Funding Jasbir Panesar, University of East London, Education and Community Partnerships

Aimhigher? Considering the emotional cost of aiming higher for marginalised, mature, mothers re-entering education Dawn Mannay, Cardiff University (ESCalate Bursary Paper)

Mature Students: Barriers to adult learning? Baljit Gill, Learner Enhancement Manager, Aston University

CALL West – Community Access to Lifelong Learning Paula Cleary and Bernadette Sanderson, West of Scotland Wider Access Forum

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework: Scotland’s Lifelong Learning Framework Margaret Cameron, SCQF Partnership Manager

E-learning resources in Linking London LLN partner organisations
Karina Berzins, Continuum, University of East London

The East Midlands Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Awards: the Legacy of a Collaborative Aimhigher Project Dr Neil Raven and Sam Husbands, Aimhigher in the East Midlands

University and Community Engagement through Continuing Education: the Rauawaawa Kaumatua Trust Professor Brian Findsen, Faculty of Education, University of Waikato

Widening Participation through International Collaboration
Professor John Storan, University of East London and Annika Malm, University of Borås, Sweden

To boldly go – sustaining widening access to higher education.
Jim Bradley and Sean McDonagh, University of Stirling

Social justice and Higher Education: Universities as agents of change in the context of the ‘Big Society’
Sharon Clancy, University of Nottingham

Still Aiming Higher: How the lessons of Aimhigher can inform and shape new strategic approaches to widening participation Dr Stephen Lake – Head of Access and Recruitment, Southampton Solent University and Zita Eckett MBE – Head of Planning, Southampton Solent

The experience of Aimhigher and student ambassadors at Ruskin College, Oxford
Hannah Jones, Ruskin College

Creating and maintaining partnerships to continue to hear the care leaver voice in challenging times Maggie Mclinden, FE and Schools partnership Manager, University of East London

Towards the Creation of the Self Professional Route: an experimental project in the recognition of informal and non-formal learning in the University of Catania Roberta Piazza, University of Catania

From Stone age learning to Cyber age knowledge Dama Mosweunyane, University of Botswana

The EUROlocal repository on learning regions and cities and R3L+: effective partnerships in the development of learning city/regions at both macro and micro levels, and the quality of learning regions. Lynette Jordan and Mike Osborne, University of Glasgow

Nurturing lifelong learning in Communities through the National University of Lesotho: prospects and challenges Professor Julia Preece, National University of Lesotho

A Sense of Belonging - How the SOAMS model promotes social change in communities local to Sheffield Amy Horton, University of Sheffield (ESCalate sponsored paper)

Catalysts and Triggers in Lifelong Learning: An exploration of engagement in the South Wales Valleys
Sarah Graves, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Glamorgan

The Open University / Bridges Programmes partnership: more than the sum of its parts? An investigation into the impact of the academy in supporting social inclusion and access to higher education within a community context
Lindsay Hewitt, The Open University, Jonathan Sharp, The Bridges Programmes

The Unique Learner Number and Personal Learning Record and their implications for Widening Participation
Helen Clifford, Keele University (FACE sponsored paper)

Contextualised approaches to Widening Participation – a comparative case study of two UK universities
John Rose-Adams, The Open University and Rohini Corfield, University of Northampton

More Choices, More Chances or are we entering an Era of Fewer Choices, Fewer Chances?
Margaret Sutherland, University of Glasgow

Inclusion of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in Post Secondary and Higher Education. A Review of the Literature.
Deirdre Corby, Lecturer in School of Nursing, Dublin City University.

 

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