Community Tool

Authentic Engagement with Community

 

 

 

Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to the Community section of the Authentic Engagement Toolkit.

We are so glad you’re here. 

The overarching objective of all groups in Mayfield 2023 was to create a set of tools that support and facilitate authentic listening, in order to promote genuine JEDI outcomes for all in learning environments. We are a group of educators, designers and policy makers who have dedicated the last few months exploring how we can genuinely listen to and build relationships with the community which surround our schools. 

Our tool is to be used to help develop a unit plan or module within the academic year by providing a dedicated space for unique learning experiences and fostering relationships with the schools local community. 

By using the tools on this page you will enable learners in your school to explore local community values, desires and requirements through authentic listening to the members of your local community. The goal is for students to gain a deeper understanding of the people who surround them, including what makes it unique and what it needs. The learners will be responsible for planning, conducting interviews, and presenting their findings to their own neighbourhood. 

To get you started on your journey, we have developed a set of Reflective Prompts that can be used to guide conversations and learning objectives throughout your unit of work.

Community | Reflective Prompts

Authentic Engagement Toolkit

Key questions to answer during each unit phase which outline the intended purpose and outcome of a learning experience in order to determine the communities values, desires and requirements.

Click on the button below to use the cards online

 

 

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Or

Download All Reflective Prompt Cards Here

Unit Plan Exemplars

We have created supporting planning documentation to help you use these cards as part of your regular school class.

New Zealand

This unit plan is for teachers based in New Zealand who want to use these resources to engage with their local community and link learning back to the curriculum.

NZ Unit Plan

Australia

The resource below will help teachers in Australia to map their Unit Plan to the Australian Curriculum and incorporate this unit into their regular school programs.

Australian Unit Plan

What resources can you use with your students?

The other tools were developed to support learners to engage directly with the community. The cards in the tools can be used across four different year-level bands; Foundation to Year 3, Year 4 to Year 6, Year 7 to Year 8, and Year 9 to Year 10.

We wanted to give educators the ability to define or tweak their unit plans to suit their particular learners’ needs, therefore the unit plan and resource card in the tools are split into these four bands. In order to establish the communities values, desires and needs effectively we have provided two sets of cards for the educator to utilise: Learning Experiences and Interview Questions. Explore the tools below.

Community | Learning Experiences

Authentic Engagement Toolkit

Examples of optional learning experiences which can achieve the prompts. These are split into different ages of learners and phases of the unit. The activities vary in time and group size to suit each experience.  

Click on the buttons below to use the cards online

Or

Download All Learning Experience Cards Here
 

“Conversation is the most basic community development tool we possess. Conversation has always been the fundamental community building process we have used to share knowledge and ideas. When you have a conversation with another person or a group of people, you listen closely and respond appropriately, so that your conversation is a true exchange of ideas, not just people waiting for their turn to talk. A good conversation makes you feel heard, satisfied, and more informed.” 

 

Bank of I.D.E.A.S
 

Community | Interview Questions

Authentic Engagement Toolkit

Examples of optional interview questions which can be used for interviews with a community member to determine their values, desires and requirements. These are also split into the different ages of learners and can be amended to suit the learners.  

Click on the buttons below to use the cards online

Or

Download All Interview Question Cards Here

How The Cards Work

Who can use this tool?

The tool is flexible and adaptable for any age/stage of learner at school. It provides examples of learning experiences for each age with flexibility for teachers to adapt to suit their learner needs. However, this tool could be adapted for adult learners by using the Stage 9-10 cards. 

Variety

Cards in sets for Stage 0-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-10 

Flexible

Experiences for individuals, pairs and groups 

Adaptable

To suit your national curriculum requirements 

Where can this tool be used?

This tool can be implemented at any time – whether that’s to connect when a neighbourhood is feeling distant, or when a design project is about to start or even when you want to discover how your school’s current infrastructure can meet the needs of those around you. 

Designing

At the start of a new building project

Connecting

Reestablishing the school within the community 

Learning

Intergenerational learning, identifying local skills and needs within the community 

Interested in learning more about the Community Tool from the Authentic Engagement Toolkit? Find the answers below.

 

Throughout history, schools have always played an important role within their local settings. The idea that schools should be the heart of the community is not a new one, as it was proposed by John Dewey in 1899 in his book ‘The School and Society’. Dewey advocated for schools to be viewed as a genuine form of active community life, rather than just a place for learning lessons (Cleveland et al., 2023). However, today schools are often depicted as islands in the community, cut off from the local neighbourhood (Hands, 2023). This is often due to increased pressure to ensure student safety or lack of time and resources for engagement with the community.

However, it’s not just the schools themselves. The designing of learning spaces has also often lacked adequate consultation with those in close context, resulting in missed opportunities for community engagement. Neither, architects, nor policy makers, have the budget or scope to make genuine engagement with the local community, yet involving communities in the process creates better outcomes for all.

The school buildings themselves present another area of opportunity to foster social engagement and community cohesion. Many school buildings operate on a 6-8 hour weekday operation, with facilities remaining unused outside of these hours. There is potential to re-establish the school as the heart of the community by utilising these facilities once again.

There are now renewed aspirations from governments in Australia and New Zealand for schools to play a more influential role in local communities. Collaborative partnerships between schools and communities are widely regarded as vital for the successful establishment of schools as the heart of the community (Cleveland et al., 2023). We believe that these partnerships can offer the opportunity to foster relationships, share intergenerational knowledge and reestablish the school as the heart of the community by sharing infrastructure and education opportunities.

But how do we do this? We know there are already vast amounts of helpful resources available online for engaging with the community. But the problem is the lack of time and resources available for educators, designers and policy makers alike to make genuine connections with the community.

So we’ve come up with an alternative solution.

Our tool offers a solution that does not burden educators or school leadership with extra time or pressure to engage with the community. Instead, our tool is to be used to help develop a unit plan or module within the academic year by providing a dedicated space for unique learning experiences and fostering relationships with the schools local community.

The objective is for the learners themselves to establish the local communities values, desires and requirements through authentic listening to the community. Our goal is for them to gain a deeper understanding of the people who surround them, including what makes it unique and what it needs. The learners will be responsible for planning, conducting interviews, and presenting their findings to their own neighbourhood.

In order to establish the communities values, desires and needs effectively the unit plan is split into four phases:

We wanted to give educators the ability to define or tweak their unit plan to suit their particular learners’ needs, therefore we have provided two sets of cards for the educator to utilise:

School-community relationships are beneficial for sharing knowledge, expertise, funding or providing support/education for all. This inclusive tool allows for learners to be exposed to people they may not normally interact with, establish relationships for future employment or mentoring, or just simply seeing their local area through someone else’s perspective. Whilst also meeting the national curriculum requirements.

The tool is designed to be flexible and can be used at any time during the academic year. The main objective is to prioritise the creation of relationships, rather than achieving a specific end goal.

However, the outcomes of the unit plan can be utilised based on the context and situation of each school.

For example, the findings could be used to…

Design

Form part of a brief to the architect or policy maker describing the values and requirements of your local community.

Connect

Form part of a presentation back to the community in an event for all to attend.

Imagine

May catalyse a journey of discovery, imagining alternative futures for existing school infrastructure for the community.

Ultimately, we hope that this tool allows schools to play a more significant role in supporting communities, establishing relationships and becoming more sustainable, both socially and environmentally by the sharing of infrastructure and learning opportunities for all.

    • Cleveland, B. et al. (2023) “Renewed Aspirations for Schools as Community Hubs ,” in Schools as Community Hubs. 1st edn. Sydney, NSW: Springer, pp. 3–11.

    • Hands, C.M. (2023) “School-Community Collaboration: Insights from Two Decades of Partnership Development,” in Schools as Community Hubs. 1st edn. Sydney, NSW: Springer, pp. 31–43.

  • Personal Values 

      • Website to explain values and examples of card sorting games to utilise with your class

  • Schwartz Values 

      • Paper explaining the Schwartz Values, including definitions of what values are.

  • Making Engagement Count 

      • Paper explaining how to make engagement long lasting, how to build relationships and some example experiences.

  • Techniques and Tools 

      • Paper giving background on community engagement, key definitions and example activities to engage with the community.

  • Planning Toolkit 

      • Paper which reviews engagement techniques and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches.