SECTION 1

THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY

Community residents - develop relationships based on common concerns; get
nurtured & developed the spirit of togetherness, help one another and share common
norms, beliefs & behavior patterns
Rural areas - based on various social & occupational interests & referred to as
communities of interest; relations among residents are based on traditional values and
mores and are reinforced by a rich traditional celebration to maintain continuity &
stability
Urban centers - replaced by contractual and work-related relations

THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION

According to United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) -
everybody has the right to education
Education - must be supported & taken in partnership with a change agent/ community
facilitator
Inculcating the habit of independent learning skills in learners - among the primary
objectives of community educators/ facilitators

SCOPE OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION

Community Education - political tool for enhancement of community’s development
Focus: all activities available to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development
in the community
Health and water, livelihood and resource endowments, leadership and decision-
making - areas the development facilitators can use as starting point in organizing work
Area of culture - important scope; concerns of the people would be easily identified;
their interests aroused to embrace the development & education process
Freire - used the term “culture circles” in communities to advance their culture as the
base for the promotion of functional literacy
Cultural advancement of communities - to promote the socio-economic development
of communities
Participation of women in community programs - one major concern of modern
community education
Attitudes and norms - relegate women to the background and fall under a category of
people who are victims of the ‘culture of silence’ 
Factors hindering women’s participation:
1. Traditional role allocations
2. Early marriages
3. Restricted movement of women
4. Burden of multi-family roles
5. Economic concerns
6. Inadequate education
7. Information and taboo barriers
Community Education - relates to equity; which individuals irrespective of age, sex,
culture, class, race, religion, occupation or educational level benefit from the
educational programme to fulfill themselves and society
MODELS OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION
According to Brookfield (1986), there are 2 major models of community adult
education:
Liberal Model of Community Education
 Community is a homogenous entity where all people are equal & free & they can
be freer & more enlightened when exposed to education
 Help people’s organization’s identity & satisfy the needs of all members of the
community at the same time
 This form of education is provided by an agency concerned with the satisfaction
of the needs of community members through social & educational programs
 Common education programs to enlighten the horizon of members are therefore,
organized (Amedzro, 2005).
Liberating Model of Community Education
 There are structural injustices in society as mentioned by Freire (1974)
 Injustices exist in the political, social and economic spheres of the community
 Essence of this model of education, radical in content & approach is to raise the
consciousness of members to take action & bring social & political change
(Amedzro, 2005)

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND SOCIAL WORK

People-focused development philosophy - proactive approach in addressing present
& anticipated issues; based on the assumption that all people should have access to
goods, services, opportunities, decision-making processes & information
Through innovation approach/ working w/ adult learners/ groups with little formal
education training - social workers can address present & anticipated issues like
urban resettlement, livelihood option, resource management, agrarian reform and
community driven development
Community education - heart of human development & the acquisition of knowledge,
values & skills by people in the community; has always been the foundation of all
human development; more effective model to address risk issues &  a radical departure
from the traditional methodology of imparting knowledge known as pedagogic method

ANDRAGOGY AND PEDAGOGY

Adult-focused teaching approaches - art of helping adults learn; Alexander Kapp,
German educator in 1833 first used the term
Pedagogy - child-focused teaching approach; art of helping kids learn; widely used in
ancient Greece where learned monks educated young boys
Learning Behavior
Pedagogy - dependent on the teacher; teacher is responsible of what will be taught &
how it will be evaluated
Andragogy - learners are self-directed; they’re responsible for their own learning,
involved in planning & evaluating 
Role of Learner’s Experience
Pedagogy - learner has little experience that could be tapped as resource for learning;
experience of instructor is most influential
Andragogy - learner brings greater volume & quality of experience which becomes
main resource of learning; different experiences assure diversity in groups 
Readiness to Learn
Pedagogy - students are told what to learn in order to advance to the next level of
mastery
Andragogy - any change is likely to trigger readiness to learn; adults need to learn
something, as soon as they answer this question, they are ready to start; ability to
assess gaps between where one is now & where one wants & needs to be
Orientation to Learning
Pedagogy - subject-centered; learning is a process of acquiring prescribed subject
matter; content units are sequences according to the logic of the subject matter
Andragogy - adults are motivated to devote energy to learning;task/problem-centered;
learners want to perform a task, solve a problem, live in a more satisfying way; learning
must have relevance to real-life tasks; learning is organized around life/ work situations
rather than subject matter units
Motivation for Learning
Pedagogy - motivated by external pressures; external rewards & punishments; extrinsic
motivation
Andragogy - motivated by internal pressure; intrinsic motivation

MODELS OF ADULT LEARNING

Malcolm Knowles - defined andragogy as philosophy of teaching that focuses on
instructing adults
Stephen Brook Field - advocated a self-directed learning & critical reflection model
wherein adults take control of their own learning by settling their own learning goals,
locating appropriate resources, deciding on which learning methods to use & evaluating
their own progress
David Kolb - associated with experiential learning cycle; this learning mode developed
a detailed learning style inventory to assess learning preferences but it is not necessary
to have the results of this style inventory; this includes owning concrete experiences by
a learner, lecture or demonstration for learners to observe, thinking by learners about
what they know from their own experiences & what they have observed, active
experimentation by applying what was learned
Experiential Learning Cycle - provide opportunities for active involvement in learning,
encourage self-directed learning, connect the new learning to previous experiences of
the learners

PRINCIPLES OF ANDRAGOGY - identified by Knowles

1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed - decide what they learn, create their
own personal learning objectives; must effective and lasting if self-initiated and
they proceed at their own pace
2. Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge - they
have a much wider range of previous life experiences and previously acquired
knowledge
3. Adults are goal-oriented - they learn better when there is a connection between
training goals and their own personal goals; perceives training as an aid to help
them realize their goals
4. Adults are relevancy-oriented - they seek to find relevance for learning something
5. Adults are practical - they learn best through an active not a passive process;
they’re not interested in knowledge for its own sake or for a theoretical future but
for an immediate applicability
6. Adults need to be shown respect - they need to be respected as an individual &
acknowledge their maturity and wealth of knowledge and experience
According to Malcolm Knowles, adults learn best when
1. They understand why something is important to know or do
2. They have the freedom to learn in their own way
3. Learning is experiential
4. The time is right for them to learn
5. The process is positive and encouraging

SOURCES OF MOTIVATION FOR  ADULT LEARNERS

1. Social relationships - make new friends; associations & friendships
2. External expectations - comply with instructions from someone; fulfill
expectations/ recommendations
3. Social welfare - improve ability to serve mankind
4. Personal advancement - achieve higher status in job
5. Escape/ stimulation - relieve boredom
6. Cognitive interest - learn for the sake of learning

SECTION 2
UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES
Community Education - process where participants are guided in acquiring new
knowledge, attitudes and skills that will help sustain life for future generations and
improve quality of life; should not be concentrated on awareness building and skills
development only
Effective community education program - helps people become socially and
environmentally knowledgeable, skilled and dedicated citizens who are willing to work
individually and collectively, toward achieving/ maintaining dynamic balance between
quality of life and quality of environment.
1) Participation in the Learning Process - community residents take an active part in
problem-solving activities where they choose their own pace, make decisions about the
contents, etc.
2) Participation in improving the socio-economic environment - community
residents/ rural farmers may be involved in direct action in using and promoting organic
fertilizers and other environment-friendly technologies that produce the best
environmental results; it is the best known way that positive environmental change can
be brought in the local community; there is a need to analyze the strengths and
weaknesses of both yourself and your organization
Adult learn best when - programs are designed based on need and when they have a
chance to actively participate in the design, development and evaluation of the learning
program 
Active participation - one of the cornerstones of community-based environmental
management, must be pivotal point in any environmental education programs
developed for adults

FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION

1. Ecological concepts
2. Socio-cultural realities
3. Political realities
4. Economic realities
5. Dominant science & technology
6. Women and development
Community Education - not advocacy/ preaching; examination of the issues which
allow the community participants to make up their own minds as to the best course of
action; outcome should be aiming towards a decision to actively participate in and for
the socio-economic environment; task of the facilitator/ trainer is to help communities
identify for themselves the best courses of action
Involves the following concepts:
1. Cooperation & communication
2. Participation by all levels
3. Consensus & conflict resolution
4. Strategic planning
5. Understanding of benefits
6. Local community leadership
Facilitating Participatory Community Education Activity - the four key activities are
preparatory activities, facilitating the actual conduct, planning & evaluation
Preparatory activities
Assessing Needs
1.1 Identification of community needs - necessary to look at the “needs” from 3
different levels; you must have a clear understanding of the needs of the community
1.2 Identification of issues and response needed - can and must be linked to primary
human needs in the community; critical to have a clear understanding of the human
needs in the community; other members of community have to be consulted to
ascertain which of the issues are most important and how to address it by the
concerned party/ies; once you are through with the issues, you should look at the global
or overall picture related to the environmental/social issue you have identified as the
most important; examine what the environment needs
Gap between what is happening now & what you would like to see in the future -
indicates important content information that must be filled throughout the learning
program
Make sure that you do not adopt or advocate environmental actions which have
been developed somewhere else and is not appropriate to the culture of your
community
Set of approaches in needs identification is proposed with the primary objective of
drawing the community residents into the process:
1. Understanding organizational needs
2. Identifying and understanding the participants
3. Setting objectives
4. Formulating a training design
4.1) Workshops
4.2) Field Trips/ ‘Lakbay Aral’
4.3) Action Projects
4.4) Drama and Festivals
4.5) Other Formats
1) Understanding organizational needs - examine where the organization is now in
relation to its learners; if you are seeking funding/ assistance from other agencies, they
will be looking for careful documentation of your situation and evaluate how carefully
you have approached program planning; it is also worth identifying other educational
programs within the community
2) Identifying and understanding the participants - where you identify specific target
groups and look at the individual learners; together with the community, identify issues
most important to the target participants; the collection of traditional stories and
knowledge can make an important contribution to developing the environmental
education content; make sure that your questions are practical rather than
philosophical; remember that basic needs are most important to people than
environmental ones; if you have not already done so, or you are not familiar with the
community, you will need to conduct a general analysis of the socio-cultural structure of
the society in which the people live and work
3) Setting objectives - to develop a cohesive and meaningful objective,  you will need
to blend into your program the following
a. The environmental objectives of agency/ department
b. The learner’s objective
c. The basic human needs of the community
Objectives must be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bounded
Programs with clear objectives - much easier to implement & evaluate
Adults learn best about the environment and general conditions - when there is an
overall global approach combined with local examples; objectives should always be
clarified with the participants at the beginning of the program
Objective-setting phase of the program planning - identify the achievable results
that you will strive for in your learning program
Design a system for measuring achievement - once the program is completed, you
should be able to prove you have been successful
As a facilitator of a learning program - you8 must be able to respond to the people
and their own sense of experience & knowledge
4) Formulating a training design
a. Decide on the format
First step of design; in adult environmental education, the best results are achieved
when various formats are combined; adults learn by themselves in home study
programs/self-directed learning projects; whatever format is chosen, you must ensure
that all members of the community are equally represented; women have often been
given less power; ensure that both men and women are given the same learning
experiences
4.1) Workshops
Highly recommended because of intensity & emphasis on problem solving; small size
of workshops - allows for rapport between educators & learners; facilitator should
strive to include all participants and ensure that everyone has a fair & equal chance to
participate in the learning experience; workshops can be held indoors or outdoors & can
be both formal & informal; they can last for several hours to several days; it is highly
portable & can be moved to meet the participants in geographical locators that may be
isolated from other training opportunities; it is highly varied in structure but most often
involve a series of group activities; are ideal places to use many different group
processes; should emphasize problem solving & critical thinking as well as direct
application of the problem; ability to assist participants requires skilled & thoughtful
facilitation & leadership; make sure you leave adequate time to provide them w/ training
in facilitation & communication
Tips for Organizing & Conducting Successful Workshops
1. Provide name tags
2. Come to the venue and set it up early
3. Ensure audio-visual equipment is working properly
4. Ensure that you have all the materials you need
5. Greet the participants when they arrive
6. Start the workshop with something that gets people excited & enthusiastic
Include an icebreaker - make sure it has an environmental theme; if the workshop is
held indoors, provide interesting items on the walls (posters, maps); after icebreakers
and introductions, always review the workshop agenda & introductions; provide clear
information about bathrooms, smoking areas etc.
4.2) Field Trips/ ‘Lakbay Aral’
Can also be used in combination w/ other learning formats/ as main focus; getting
adults into an environmental setting is effective as a motivation for them to understand
why they would be engaged in programs to improve it
It can be taken to:
 View environmental innovations/ technologies
 Experience natural world/ view particular community approach
 Whatever the focus, it must be something that the participants can actively
experience
Tips for Organizing & Conducting Successful Field Trips
1. While traveling, talk to the participants where you are going 
2. Point out cultural, social & economic points of interest along the route
3. Make sure that arrangements for adequate food and refreshments have been
made
4. Make sure everyone can hear you or see the object of interest
5. Provide information prior to the trip so that people are prepared; tell them what to
bring
6. Know in advance how strenuous the activity shall be
7. Rehearse the trip a few days before it takes place
8. Have a clear objective for the trip
9. Make sure local tour guides know something about the group in order to
communicate effectively
10. Always have a back-up plan
11. Have a follow-up activity after the trip
12. Carry a notebook that contains all the information you need for the trip
13. Carry a first aid kit
4.3) Action Projects
Effective tool to help participants learn more about their environment/ community while
they participate in a stewardship activity; should be incorporated in year planning to
ensure participation; encourage adults to participate in community/ environmental action
programs while being educated
Awareness of why the action is required in environmental, social and economic
terms - should outline to the participants the benefits to the community; good place to
hear from participants and to make linkages between basic human needs and a healthy
environment
Make sure that the programme content covers global as well as local,
environmental and social concerns
1. Information on the action - instruct the learners of what is expected of them
2. Information on how to communicate with others - should have a clear strategy on
how communication should take place
3. Evaluation of participation - develop an evaluation strategy to know if they were
successful
4. Recognition of participation - invite local media; helps to keep people interested
and to strengthen educational benefits of your programming efforts
5. Do not forget to ensure that any community/ environmental action projects have
a component of fun - programmes organized should be celebratory, creative and
innovative
4.4) Drama and Festivals
Theatre is very effective and popular method of sharing environmental/ community
education messages; environmental action that is required can be role-played &
participants can easily see what is expected of them; drama presentations are aimed
at target groups that have low levels of literacy and an effective way of integrating
humor into very serious subjects; humor - important part of an effective environmental
education; make sure that it is acceptable and not offensive to local people; plays &
other festivals - ideal forums for integrating environmental topics of basic human
needs; puppetry/ any form of creative storytelling - ideal for gaining attention of all ages
in the community; scripts for drama presentations - written by trading ideas or
brainstorming with local actors and members of the artistic community
Tips for integrative environmental issues with drama productions
1. Use humor whenever and whenever possible
2. Make puppets and costumes from recycled materials
3. Use themes that have local importance and impact
4. Use characters modeled on real-life people in the community 
5. If you decide to use a play written for somewhere else, make sure that you adapt
it carefully
6. Present all sides of the issues equally
7. Script should invite and encourage audience participation
4.5) Other Formats
Most effective in teaching about the environment and achieving some measure of
participation in the environment
a. Choosing the content
 Awareness - must have awareness on concepts of environmental and social
issue and the need to be more actively involved  in problem solving
 Knowledge - participants cannot process w/o basic understanding; basic
ecological literacy should be an important component of all educational
programming
 Attitude - participants will probably need to develop new attitudes towards their
world and their place in it
 Skills - there are two areas of skill development that are relevant in community/
environment education: first, development of new process skills in order to
enhance decision making and critical thinking - assist learners to problem-
solving and participate in any social/ political arenas that may be required;
second, development in the area of environmental action - people may need
assistance in learning a particular new skill that will assist them in participating in
environmental action & stewardship situations
 Participation - theme and end goal of all community/ environmental education; it
may mean changing behavior, involving oneself in decision making/ political
processes
b. Choosing the methods
Find the methods that allow all community members to participate in programming and
action; will be made much easier if you have done enough work at the needs
assessment stage
b.1 Nominal Group Technique - helps a group identify problems and solutions and
establishes priorities; group brainstorms and votes to decide which issues have greatest
priority; single purpose technique that can only be used for one question at a time; can
be used to 
 identify organizational & individual needs
 examine goals and objectives 
 allocate resources
 determine specific training requirements
 identify & prioritize a list of environmental issues
 areas in the community
 identify & prioritize list environmental conflict areas
 generate list of solutions to an environmental issue/ problem
 achieve consensus on an environmental issue
3 common applications for the use of NGT
1) problem identification
2) solution exploration
3) priority setting
Materials, Equipment and Space Requirements
You will need a space suitable for discussion; arrange chairs in a U/ round shape
around a table so people can write easily
Materials needed:
Flip chart/ surface for taping paper up so participants can see, tapes/ pins, papers,
markers, pens, small pieces of paper/ index cards for voting