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Executive summary Creating synergies: Local government facilitating learning and development through partnerships This research sought to investigate and document four evolving learning communities in Victoria where local government is playing a key role. The project is based upon an earlier study conducted by the Victorian Local Governance Association (Snelling 2003). The main report provides an overview of the research and the findings, while the support document provides the literature review and four case studies and can be found at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) website <http://www.ncver.edu.au>. The four learning communities each involved a range of industry, community, education and local government stakeholders. The case studies from these sites reveal the complexities facing practitioners interested in developing the cooperative partnerships required for the creation of such learning communities. The importance of recognising the different values and perspectives of the various stakeholders, appreciating the value of multiple outcomes, and actively managing the relationship between the stakeholders emerge as key principles. We conclude that, in many respects, new hybrid forms of professional practice are required. By this we mean modes of work that combine disciplines, areas of practice and ways of working. For instance, in the Melton case study we see cross-sectoral work that encompasses elements of town planning and industry development in combination with elements of curriculum and instructional design and outreach work with youth. In the 'Governance Plus' story, professional practice in commercial management and business development is coupled with educational design and proactive social work. These new forms of work move beyond the traditional practice and work modes (and conventional position descriptions) of many, perhaps all, of those involved. This study highlights that local government can play a key role in education, particularly in relation to lifelong learning. The analysis of these sites identified a range of key success factors, as well as factors inhibiting the development of these learning communities. Key success factors in learning communities Effective orientation to policy and funding When new policy directions and funding opportunities ignite interest in the community and industry, partnerships can emerge to create development opportunities. For these opportunities to be realised, they must first of all be aligned to federal, state and local government policy to ensure financial support for the proposed project. Passion and vision with strategic planning A key factor in these sites was the way local government enacted its governance and community responsibilities. This included the provision of forums for intersectoral exchange, which also enabled industry and community to express needs and identify opportunities. The approach to partnership development requires vision and strategy. Program planning, which enables a cluster of interrelated projects to be strategically aligned to realise an expansive vision beyond the immediate needs, is important. The strategic approach also involves the identification or shaping of projects that intersect with high-priority needs for all partners, as well as deliberate strategies to shift projects from pilot status to the mainstream ('institutionalisation'). Of equal importance however is the passion and commitment of key people who become the 'drivers' for these projects. The involvement of enthusiastic educators who understand the (specific) industry and the principles of contextualised, interactive education is essential, as are project champions at each stakeholder level who have vision and leadership skills. Stewardship Stewardship emerged as a key success factor. Fostering stewardship requires management which promotes group identity over individual identity and group ownership over individual ownership. Managers need to manage for the wellbeing of the whole project rather than the specialist interests of a particular stakeholder. Here local government has the potential to play a key stewardship role. At its best, stewardship promotes high levels of industry engagement and ownership, including engagement in the training/learning designs, resourcing and implementation. Broad community ownership helps to ensure sustainability. Managing across sectors and working with different values Managing the cross-sectoral relationships within the social partnerships emerged as a critical success factor. The awareness and willingness of all parties to recognise, appreciate and make allowances for the processes and cultural differences of other partners was important. At times, to maintain effective collaboration, there was a need for active mediation and bridge-building, for nurturing relationships between all stakeholders and for engendering trust and cultural understanding. The effective management of cross-sectoral interests also entailed the delegation of operational matters to professional bodies and encouraged the building of new business relationships and partnerships. Enabling management for 'fuzzy' projects 'Fuzzy' projects are those where the anticipated path, timelines, resourcing and outcomes are unpredictable-as is often the case in pilot projects. They are characterised by uncertainty, complexity, diverse values, ambiguity and risk. Such projects require particular management skills and flexible structures. Enabling ('making things happen') management emerged as a key success factor for such projects, while inflexible management was identified as a significant inhibitor. In projects such as these, managers need to be advocates, sometimes willing and able to 'bend the rules'. They need to appreciate the creative energy of passionate activists within the project and be willing to adapt and incorporate new ideas and facilitate new approaches. Flexibility and responsiveness emerged as key themes, along with a 'can do' attitude. The infectious nature of this attitude attracts and inspires key stakeholders, including essential stakeholders in business and education. Factors inhibiting the development of learning communities Management As noted above, while effective enabling management was a critical success factor, the case studies also identified particular styles of management as significant inhibitors. Traditional 'command and control' approaches to management are not conducive to the development processes required for building social partnerships and learning communities. Management difficulties included:
Further inhibiting factors relating to management include concerns about schedules, timing and timeliness. Respondents reported on the difficulty, and sometimes absolute impossibility of matching tenders, proposals, submissions and programs from the field to mandated management schedules. Schedules were perceived as inflexible, unrealistic and unsympathetic to the needs of the community/industry. The absence of measurable outcomes was identified as a constraint, as was management by generalised committees with no genuine stake in the project. Ownership While stewardship was identified as a key success factor, 'ownership' was identified as a factor constraining the development of learning communities. However, this statement needs clarification. In this context, ownership refers to that located in too few individuals; overly possessive ownership; lack of community ownership and lack of involvement; and financial commitment from business stakeholders. The absence of key community stakeholder involvement was identified as an inhibitor to development, as was their divergence from the project aims and purposes. Weak support ('lip service') for the project and lack of trust between key stakeholders were also inhibiting factors. Further inhibiting factors Long-term dependence on government funding was cited as a significant difficulty, particularly in relation to the autonomous sustainability of developments. The project also identified poor understanding of educational design and processes as a key issue: it was apparent that, in some instances, even when supporters had a vision of what they wanted to achieve, they had little sense of the design, development and learning processes required to get there. Competing institutional demands with the potential to undercut the progress of the project were also a constant challenge. Key insights The case studies revealed key insights into the nature of learning communities and how they may be created and sustained. Key stakeholders' interests, which are often diverse (and sometimes divergent), require constant monitoring to ensure that cooperation between stakeholders is sustained. The potential for cultural clashes needs to be recognised and managed across sectors and 'tribal' lines. If possible, all stakeholders need to be involved from the beginning, so that strong links are built and maintained. However, stakeholder membership also needs to be reviewed, and new relationships nurtured as circumstances and projects change. The sustainability of the project needs to be established and planned from the beginning, along with strategies to encourage the development of stewardship. In some respects this developmental work calls for new forms of professional practice that involve working with new colleagues-from different 'tribes'. It means working in new ways and in different contexts where pathways are ill-defined. The project demonstrated that, in relation to these case studies, stakeholders from educational institutions rarely adopted a proactive role. However, also highlighted was that effective educational strategy and curriculum/learning designs are necessary for the success of these projects. Such design and development processes cannot be left to senior administrators. Skilled educational practitioners with appropriate industry and community experience and understandings are indispensable.
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