Alan Wilkins' Blog

Date: Friday, February 17, 2012

A Fairer Economy is a Co-operative Economy

Co-operative Futures event, Swindon 27th - 28th January 2012

This event sought to explore the actions all co-operatives and co-operators could take to expand the size of the UK movement over the next 20 years.

Alan from CLADA ran a workshop on day two with Nick Matthews, chair of the Society of Co-operative Studies. The theme was the development of high quality co-operative education focusing on the 5th co-operative principle - education, training and information. Participants investigated innovative ways to meet the real needs in the co-operative sector and others responding to the current complexities in establishing successful community initiatives.

This is ongoing work. We will keep you posted through this blog.

Posted by alan on 02/17 at 08:06 PM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010

Soldiers are active citizens too!

Joe, my youngest son, is a corporal in the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months. His experience of training and becoming a professional soldier caused me to suspend earlier judgements and consider the place of the soldier in society. This article, published in Citizenship News in 2010, explores the distinction between the soldier and the war, the complexities of serving in the forces and being an active contributor to society, and key questions each citizen needs to consider when men and women are deployed in their name. The article in word is available here. The full published article in Citizenship News can be found by following this link. You need the free download and go to page 12.

Posted by alan on 09/19 at 10:24 PM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

National Citizens Service – a co-operative opportunity?

CLADA is exploring how the co-operative offer can be represented in the National Citizen Service 2011 pilots.

There will be 15 national pilots. CLADA is working with partners to identify and promote ways that co-operative activities can be included to broaden the opportunities available to young people.
If you are involved in any of these pilots and would like to discuss the current approach please contact Alan at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Posted by alan on 09/19 at 09:40 AM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Identity, diversity and community cohesion

If you are exploring these themes then please contact Alan.

Posted by alan on 11/11 at 02:51 PM :: :: :: :: Permalink

Learning Co-operatively

This chapter has been published in 'Personalised learning - taking choice seriously' availible from Educational Heretics Press or CLADA direct email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (£12 p+p included).

The contribution investigates:

• manifest and latent forms of co-operative behaviour in society
• identity, citizenship and community cohesion and
  
• the power of co-operative values.

It then explores:

• co-operative learning as experiential learning
• co-operative group developmental processes
• the interconnections between values, structure and behaviour and
• application to recent developments in citizenship and enterprise education.

It postulates that 'learning co-operatively is a serious and effective choice'.

Posted by alan on 11/11 at 02:50 PM :: :: :: :: Permalink