Community Learning

This Foundation Degree meets the needs of people wishing to pursue or develop careers in the community learning sector.  It is designed to equip a range of practitioners to take an active part in facilitating effective community learning.

The course is aimed at people who have experience of supporting community learning in a paid or unpaid capacity.  Such experience may involve working with local adult education projects, local community groups, family learning projects, local advice centres etc.

You may have experience of the following activities: engaging a range of non-traditional, 'hard-to-reach' learners in learning activities in community settings; raising interest in learning in local communities, engaging learners and helping them to progress; mediating between learners and learning providers; conducting outreach work; carrying out information, advice and guidance; setting up and/or facilitating 'taster' courses and community-based learning activities and providing learner support.

Students might work or volunteer in the following roles: Community Learning Champions, Learning Support Workers, Learning Advisers, Outreach Workers, Family Learning Workers, Learning Mentors, In-school Extended Services Co-ordinators, Community Development Officers (if learning is part of your brief).

There is a current lack of formal training for community learning practitioners.  Often practitioners acquire their professional knowledge and skills via informal learning on the job.  Our Foundation Degree in Community Learning aims to redress this by providing a programme of study that will systematically develop your ability to provide support for non-traditional and 'hard-to-reach' learners in a variety of community settings.  It will enable you to develop the up-to-date and relevant professional knowledge and skills that are desired and required of a range of Community Learning Practitioners.

The Foundation Degree provides a stimulating and wide ranging academic education and affords the opportunity to make links between your ongoing activities in community learning contexts, and wider developments and ideas in the fields of social exclusion, lifelong learning, widening participation in education and community development.  You will have the chance to develop a range of personal, professional and academic skills that will be of value throughout your career.

The Foundation Degree comprises two levels: Level 1 and Level 2.

Level 1 prepares you for higher education-level study, introduces you to key topics and helps you to gain an overview of Community Learning.  At this level students begin with developing study skills and key skills in community learning work.  Level 1 comprises the following four core modules:

Personal Professional Development Portfolio; The Community Learning Practitioner; Learning in a Social Context; Supporting Community Learning (1)

Level 2 focuses on evaluating and improving professional practice and will develop your managerial skills and experience.  Level 2 comprises the following four core modules:

Supporting Community Learning (2); Working in teams and multi-agency partnerships; Leading a team in a Community Learning context; Individual Action Research Project

Our guiding principle is to place learning in the workplace at the heart of the programme.  This means that what you learn in the workplace is just as important as the formal study you undertake at the university.  We work closely with employers to ensure that work based learning is relevant and responsive to the complex demands of community learning working contexts.

We value the knowledge that you have already gained through your prior experience and you are encouraged to contribute your ideas and experiences in taught lessons.

Our Foundation Degree students are highly rated and sought after by employers and many achieve promotion.

If you are successful in the Foundation Degree, and if you wish to continue your studies, you will have the opportunity to progress to the BA and BA Hons Education awards.

If you are working to support learning in a school you might be interested in our Foundation Degree in Education for Teaching Assistants.

Qualification:	Foundation Degree
Faculty/School:	Business School
Location:	Stoke Campus
Course Start:	September.  Please contact Education Team for specific dates.
Course Length:	2 years
Attendance:	Part Time
Entry Requirements:	Please contact Education Team for details.
Application:	Apply directly to Staffordshire University
Fees and Bursaries:	Contact Education Team for details.

For more information about Community Learning please contact:

Business Admissions
Staffordshire University
Business Student Recruitment
Room C117
Cadman Building
College Road
Stoke on Trent
Staffordshire
ST4 2DE
t: +44 (0)1782 294400
f: +44 (0)1782 295928
e: enquiries@staffs.ac.uk