Lyn Tett has developed her discussion of community education to include aspects of learning and development in this revised and expanded third edition of her popular text. The book illustrates the conceptual and political debates surrounding the role, purpose and practice of community education, learning and development. Community Education, Learning and Development moves behind the policy rhetoric to recognise and explore some of the tensions in current policy trends, particularly the danger of seeing social marginalisation and exclusion as an individual problem rather than a result of structured inequalities. A number of community education, learning and development projects are examined to give a real sense of the approach being advocated and to make a case for a model of lifelong learning focusing on democratic renewal. The task of community educators and those concerned with learning and development is not an easy one. They must recognise competing interests but still enable voices that have been excluded to be heard, whilst also seeking ways of building mutual understandings and cooperation. The challenge for community education is considerable but this book provides a real sense of its possibilities for learning and development throughout life.
