SECTION 1:

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Community education is the amorphous notion that a co-located group of people can
determine and design contextually based educational programs that serve their own needs.
Although much of our discipline concentrates on adult and continuing education, community
education is much less examined. Yet community education is a politically contested space
where governmental programs (i.e., family literacy, English as a Second Language, Adult Basic
Education, workforce development) seeking social change engage with local learners.
Community Education, Learning and Development, aims to “Analyze the conceptual, policy and
political ideas underpinning community education and the varieties of practice in which
community educators engage”. She achieves this goal through a sophisticated discussion of
community education historically and currently. Her arguments are insightful and layered to
demystify the context of assumptions and policies, while leading the reader toward a democratic
community-centered approach. Her Scottish perspective provides a different lens to see the
historical since 1975 and current influences on community education in the European Union, the
United Kingdom, and Scotland. Although the policies and specific examples used are different
from those in the United States, the assumptions, impacts, and consequences are surprisingly
familiar. Drawing on Freire (1972) and others throughout the text, it counters the top-down
discussion of current policy with bottom-up options. She provides examples of community
education that “address the concerns of ordinary people and actively draw upon their experience,
developing the knowledge that is useful to those who generate it”.

The book provides examples of community education programs that draw on the learner’s
experience and allow them to set their own outcomes and goals. Her examples include family
literacy learning and educational development and health.

The academic tone and message of using community education to support engaged citizenship
rather than simply workforce development is consistent with the rest of the text. This chapter
helps gain a perspective from those who are serving youth rather than adults. Throughout the
text, it reminds us that the role of the community educator is one of negotiation of power within
the constraints set forth in policy to support the “learning that leads to democratic renewal”. She
challenges the assumptions that are often held by policy makers with regards to lifelong learning:
that education and training are commodities in the market, that economic success equals
eradication of deprivation and exclusion, that failure is the fault of the individual, and that access
to education is fair. Her deconstruction of familiar arguments for workforce development and
lifelong learning are reminders that the underlying educational and political systems often
reinforce and recreate imbalances of power for privileged and underprivileged groups.

The book regains an optimistic tone and reminds the community educators of their role. It
reminds us that “community education is about the development of knowledge and skills,
building human relationships, and the engagement of people in understanding the wider social
forces that impact [lives] both locally and globally”. She supports the democratic tradition of
reducing inequalities and redistributing resources as community educators advocate for local
priorities rather than negotiate change within policy directives. This book is a comprehensive and
well-supported study of community education. This book will serve well as a primary or
companion text for a community education course. The examples of programs promoted within it
could be used in a program planning or teaching strategies course as alternative approaches to
working with disadvantaged learners.

This book stakes a claim for community education in the broader discussion of adult education,
especially as budgets continue to tighten and the world tries to recover from the economic
crisis.
SECTION 7:

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication is the sharing of thoughts, ideas and feelings with others. The Latin word
for communication is “communicare”, which means to make common or share. So good
communication has little to do with having a large vocabulary but more about being able to share
your meaning with others.

What is Interpersonal Communication Skills?

Interpersonal communication involves the information, ideas, and feelings being
exchanged verbally or non-verbally between two or more people. Face-to-face communication
often involves hearing, seeing, and feeling body language, facial expressions, and gestures.

In other terms, Interpersonal communication is exchanging information, meaning, feelings,

and opinions between two or more people via verbal and non-verbal means. Although we
mentioned “face-to-face” communication previously, today’s technology compels us to
expand its definition to include media such as phone calls and online messaging.

6 Essential Skills of an Effective Facilitator

A facilitator’s responsibility is to make a process easier or facilitate a process through

adequate planning. A facilitator acts like a guide to help people move through a process. They
guide the participants towards an exploratory journey of learning by helping them to delve into
their inner self to realize their strengths and weaknesses, helping them to share their experiences
and learning from the experiences of others. Facilitators achieve this by helping the group to
analyze what they wish to accomplish. Good facilitators understand their group and adopt a
customized approach while working in the group. They plan, manage and guide a group event
effectively ensuring that objectives are met. A good facilitator keeps away from the real content
and maintains a neutral stance.

The question is what does it take to be an effective facilitator? What are the competencies
you need to build in order to effectively drive a group towards their objective?

Six competencies given below are the ones I thought are "non-negotiable". Of-course there are
many more. In fact, every facilitator has a unique style that corresponds to a unique competency
Communication Skills

A good facilitator encourages open communication. He ensures inclusion whereby each

member can participate and scans nonverbal cues through behavioral observations of the group.
He ensures conclusion at the end of meetings and paraphrases for clarification. He also ensures
that the group is focused and not deviating from the topic.

Active Listening

Comprehension of the message that the speaker is conveying requires active listening.
Statistics reveal that most of us listen to just 25-50% of what we hear and forget almost 46% of
what we have heard. The totality of the message being conveyed should not get lost and so
effective listening is extremely important. There might be some natural barriers to listening like
noises and other barriers could be talking more and listening less, boredom, being engrossed in
personal issues, preconceived ideas and assumptions. A facilitator should develop the skill of
active listening. They should maintain a body language that makes the group feel assured about
his physical presence by facing them squarely, making eye contact, nodding, keeping an open
posture and so on. He also should be able to attend to the speaker at a psychological level by
understanding what is not being conveyed explicitly and he should be able to pick up from
nonverbal cues. Paraphrasing and repeating back what was said and asking questions reflects that
he is actively listening.

Rapport Building

A facilitator should be able to connect with the group. Trust and empathy are essential for
building a relationship with the group. Building a relationship with a new group requires finding
some common goals and interests, shared values and outlook.

Structuring and recording facts and feelings

A facilitator should be able to record precisely the information gathered during the course
of the discussion. He can do it himself or assign a note gatherer for it. He could do it using a flip
chart for this purpose. Noting key words and accuracy is extremely important.

Developing Synergy

Teamwork is an essential in any workshop or session. A skilled facilitator knows how to

bring the participants together based on shared interests and goals. The facilitators should
facilitate synergy in the group by removing distractions, by making them sit face to face, in arena
type arrangement for open discussions. He should encourage sharing of views, respecting each
other’s views, reaching consensus and through brainstorming sessions.

Effective Techniques of Questioning

The purpose of questioning is to seek clarification and to check for comprehension.

Facilitators ask questions primarily to probe the understanding of the participants and to help
them in critical thinking and for evaluating information. Socratic questioning method is a very
effective questioning method whereby one just does not raise questions but finds out the answers
himself. It helps in developing critical thinking skills. Facilitators often use this technique to
unravel the basic issues, identify the problem areas, and develop accuracy, increase creativity
and logical thinking. Facilitators should possess good probing skills through open ended and
closed ended questions.

A good facilitator encourages open communication. He ensures inclusion whereby each

member can participate and scans nonverbal cues through behavioral observations of the group.
He ensures conclusion at the end of meetings and paraphrases for clarification. He also ensures
that the group is focused and not deviating from the topic.

In today’s world, communication skills are so important and essential to succeeding in whatever
career that you choose to pursue. I’m in the communications field and I still feel as though I need
some brushed up at times after being away from people for a while.

Sometimes I find that I have problems getting my point across or having my messages
understood. I noticed that in meetings, sometimes people have difficulty understanding what I
am trying to say and it is sometimes hard to get them to understand my ideas. I decided to pick
this book up in an effort to improve my communications skills.

Through this book I learned a quick and easy thing that helped to make my communications
skills more attractive. There are some great ideas in this book on the best practices of how to be a
better communicator. I applied some of these and they do worked, such as I have noticed I'm
willing to talk to more people.

When you have that eagerness to wanting to communicate with people they take you more
seriously and listening to what you say.

One extra bonus to this book is that it also covers written communication and how to be effective
with it. I feel like the book can really help anybody improve their skills. It's quick, it's short, and
to the point for anybody needing a little brushed on. Communication Skills is a quick read and
one that will definitely help to improve anyone's communication skills.

The book is organized in way that starts out with small steps to reaching your
communication goals. It is succinct and to the point, without fluff or extraneous words to drown
the message.