Reviving Limerick CDB City of Learning Strategy 2011

1. Reviving Limerick CDB City of Learning Strategy 2011

2. Limerick City of Learning Project: Progress to Date • The City of Learning Steering Group was established by the CDB in 2002 • Huge commitment on part of members, who participated in regular meetings & task groups over a 7 year period. • City of Learning Collaborative Framework for Progress launched in 2008 • Review of Progress conducted in 2009 • No further progress since 2009 • Negligible adoption of LLL principles, approaches & practices by public organisations, civic entities, communities & workplaces and, as a result, no systematic fostering of a LLL culture in Limerick City. • Possible reasons for limited success of initiative include; • Dominant focus on organised education and training provision with corresponding undervaluing of Lifelong Learning • Failure to fully appreciate the critical role that learning has to play in the renewal and sustainability of 21st century cities • Weak commitment to the ideal of Limerick as a Learning City • Insufficient investment in the initiative

3. Why Limerick must be Learning in 2011 • Globalisation - exposed to a global world, cities are under increasing pressure to make profound changes in order to compete and prosper in the future. • Recession - demands that we learn how to do things differently & more efficiently, if we are to secure social and economic inclusion for all our citizens • Digitalisation – rapid advances in information & communication technologies are impacting on the lives of all individuals, organisations & communities, and are fundamental to success in almost every arena • Explosion of New Knowledge – particularly in the sciences & technologies • In the current environment “change” is the only constant. However, “change through learning” is also the best response to managing the profound socio-economic change that is transforming economies, nations, industries & communities.

4. What is a Learning City? Learning occurs in every City. However, the essential & distinguishing feature of a Learning City is its explicit adoption of “Lifelong Learning” as an organising principleand a social /economic / cultural goal. A Learning City values, recognises and invests in LLL and purposefully integrates it within the analysis, planning and implementation of all sectoral and cross sectoral collaborative strategies.

5. Economic Sector (Private & Social Enterprise) Partnerships Public Sector (Health, Social Protection, Libraries, Gardai, etc.) Civic Sector (Local Government) LIFELONG LEARNING - A fundamental element of all strategies in the Learning City Educational Sector (Schools, Colleges, Training Agencies, etc.) Voluntary & Community Sector (Civil Society)

6. City of Learning Steering Group Critical Features: December 2010 – May 2012 • The aim of the Steering Group is to: • promote the value of learning in Limerick, across all stages of the life cycle • support the range of sectoral networks & groups in their efforts to engage people in positive learning experiences. • Concept of “learning”, rather than organised “education” and “training” provision, is kept to the fore. • Steering Group reconstituted around key, sectoral networks,partnerships & fora – not specific institutions or individuals, in order to promote recognition, coherence & integration of all learning opportunities and activities – formal, non-formal & informal. • Network representatives on the Steering Group are conscious of the critical role learning has to play in the development of our City and are committed to working in partnership to create a LLL culture in Limerick. • Learning Priorities / Themes, which may change from year to year, are agreed by the Steering Group – in consultation with the constituent networks • Limerick City of Learning Initiative - the Irish site in EU R3L Grundvig Project • The Chairperson of the Steering Group does not come from any of the organised education or training sectors. S/he is regarded as a “neutral” champion of Lifelong Learning, leading a city-wide initiative that is learning - not education - driven.

7. Sectoral Groups involved in Formal & Non-Formal Learning

8. City of Learning Steering Group Representation – Networks with Role in Learning

9. Networks with Role in Learning - continued

10. : The Role of Networks Individual Network Individual Network Individual Network Network Rep brings information to and from City of Learning S.G. City of Learning Steering Group Individual Network Individual Network • City of Learning Representative: - • A ‘Champion of Lifelong Learning’. • Bringing the information to and from the City of Learning Steering Group. • Motivates network members to commit to Citywide Learning Initiatives.

11. City of Learning Steering Group Meetings • Explore concepts of Lifelong Learning & Learning City. • Share information, experience, issues and challenges. • Identify common issues/themes for actions. • Spearhead/support city-wide initiatives. • Add value to work of network members and their constituency of learners.

12. Implement Actions from Strategic Framework • Mapping/scoping non-formal learning activity in Limerick. • Organising Learning Festival – in collaboration with Co-ordination Office and all partners. • Supporting development of Learning Pathways in Mid-West Region, posted on Limerick.ie. • Collaborative Citywide Learning Initiatives as agreed by the Steering Group.

13. Progress on Actions to Date: - • Membership successfully reconstituted around key sectoral networks, partnerships and fora • Data gathered from all sectoral representatives on (1) involvement in ‘Collaborative Learning Initiatives’ and (2) recent Learning-related data, Research, etc. conducted by partners. • Information collated; categorised and shared with members. • Information sharing will increase partners’ awareness and knowledge of cross-sectoral learning activity , promoting collaboration & integration.

14. Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival • Limerick’s first ever Lifelong Learning Festival held week beginning June 13th. • Over 70 events were hosted by a variety of partners, including demonstrations, tours, plays, performances, workshops, information sessions . • Official Opening of Festival held in Limerick’s Milk Market on June 14th ‘Roadmap of Learning’ Initiative • Steering Group currently working on Terms of Reference for Roadmap of Learning – Learning Pathways. • Scoping categories; target audience, intended outputs.

15. EU Grundtvig Project • Limerick City of Learning was the Irish site selected by Nexus Research Cooperative. • Sharing best practice, project aims to identify criteria, indicators and methods for evaluating Learning Regions. • As part of this project, Limerick City of Learning had a facilitated session with Nexus in March 2011, and also conducted a visit to Germany and Switzerland in May 2011.