Leading from the front issuu

community we have a richness of experience, knowledge
and skills to share.
Within the community education department and
gradually throughout the college, the traditional institutional
way of doing things evolved into more inclusive,
more collaborative processes with outcomes we previously
could only have dreamt about. I recall having discussions
about these developments with Pat. “I’ve been
telling you that!” he said with that wry smile. He had.
In fact, very early in the piece, Pat had proposed that
the college appoint community-based ‘conversationalists’
to nurture closer college-community relationships
with the Maraenui community. This fitted our re-set well
and after discussions with the appropriate agencies;
community-based appointments were made in youth
development, parenting skills and youth unemployment.
These appointments greatly enhanced the college-community
relationship, leading to the establishment of the
Maraenui Learning Centre.
Growth in demand for all manner of personal and
community learning programmes was such that within
three years the community education department had
“You have arrived at a
remarkable answer to local
needs in community education”.
russell marshall,
minister of education, 1984 — 1987
expanded from its initial 4 full-time, 8 part-time tutors
to 27 full-time tutors and close to seventy experienced
part-time tutors on the register. In Term 1 alone, there
were 120 learning events (courses, workshops, community
planning meetings, conferences and seminars etc.),
with total “enrolments” exceeding 6,000. And, what’s
more, community education was paying its way.
The college’s increasing capacity to engage with its
many communities confirmed the level of mutual trust
that was developing between us. Over the first decade,
the range of off-campus and campus-based activities
grew by the week. Many were one-off events which in-
Above: A cynical response from John Wise to the notion that LEARNING FOR LIFE would, on its own, make continuing education
available to all.
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Hawke’s Bay Community College – it worked! So what happened?