Revaluating the Community Education Model: A Social Work Response to Global Risk Issues
The idea of community education can be traced back to mass adult education and literacy initiatives throughout history. It is globally acknowledged that community education is central to development and that it is one of the priority long-term solutions to provide the necessary capacity and conditions for sustainable social development. In many respects community education was the forerunner of community development. Social work, as one of the core professions within the social welfare field, plays a pivotal role in attaining social development goals, because historically the purpose of social work has always been empowerment, liberation and the enhancement of people’s well-being. Community education, as a practice model of community work, provides a useful intervention tool for the social work profession to respond to global risk issues such as poverty and AIDS.
The community education model is based on the premise that the well-being of a community is determined by its members’ individual and collective knowledge, values and skills. This paper proposes that to be effective and appropriate, the community education model should function within the domain of contextual emancipatory education aimed at sustainable development. The application of the model must reflect insight into the inextricable link between education, culture and the economy. In practice this means utilisation of relevant communication technology and the development of indigenous education systems. The model should be people-centred and should emphasise the need for holistic, collective and measurable societal growth and development. Therefore, it should facilitate processes that duly appraise and respect the indigenous knowledge, values and skills of communities.
In countries with high levels of illiteracy, education processes generated through literacy should not take precedence over that from the oral tradition. Both literacy and indigenous skills are seen in a broader context as the "power of knowing" and "the ability to do or to influence". It is within this context that the necessity, nature and application of the community education model of social work is to be revaluated.