Community Education and Community Action

The role of adult education in community development and community action has aroused a great deal of debate, discussion and action by socially committed adult educators. The question of social purpose once again became a relevant and important theme for adult educators. There was increasing pressure on organisations like the Workers’ Educational Association to concentrate on the needs of the working class. During the exploratory period the tutor/organiser met many of the teachers and parents in the various E.P.A. schools. He also became involved in a number of community activities, mainly concerned with housing problems and the lack of adequate social, youth and recreational facilities in the area. In educational terms there is thus more concern with ‘culture’ in its widest sense and for educators to be seen as cultural workers, linking traditional politics to the politics of everyday personal life, through movements like the feminists.