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Listen
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Learning Connections 2 commissioned a small pilot study to identify useful indicators for measuring the progress made by project participants and communities as a result of their involvement in community learning and development projects ( CLD). The aim of the research was to establish - through the retrospective accounts of participants - the nature and significance of the changes they had experienced in terms of building social capital.
Social capital
Four main categories of social capital were selected because they represent the defining characteristics of the concept identified in previous research: a) developing social contacts through growing friendships and associations; taking action to solve problems; attachments to a range of social networks, developing trusting relationships: b) civic participation through involvement in community/pressure/political groups; membership of networks; voting: c) relationships with those with power through the ability to respond to authorities; changes in terms of influencing authorities; expressing opinions and broadening expectations; and d) bridging social capital through social interactions with people from different backgrounds; sharing information and skills; and changes in beliefs about one's own life and that of others.
Measuring social capital
The research team developed an instrument that would validly measure changes in social capital by conducting a thorough review of the relevant literature. An interview schedule was constructed that asked participants to reflect on the changes that they had experienced as a result of participating in the project. In total 21 individuals were interviewed with interviews lasting from 11 to 55 minutes with a mean of 30 minutes. The questionnaire identifies behavioural or attitudinal changes that participants might attribute to the result of participation in CLD provision. To triangulate the data the project tutors were interviewed by telephone to ascertain the aim of the project and the areas in which they expected changes to take place.
Research tool for projects
To produce a usable research instrument for projects we have refined our questionnaire by reducing the number of questions asked for each aspect of social capital studied. We eliminated questions that had few responses, those that were asking similar things and those that appeared to be ambiguous and then made sure that each of the four sections had equal numbers of questions. This standardisation and refinement reduces repetition and the time needed to undertake the interviews and provides a more concise and accurate assessment of the four components of social capital. Also a simple scoring mechanism can be used to judge the extent of change experienced by participants and this can be fine tuned by plotting change on a continuum rather than simply adding numerical scores.
Results from the research
a) The impact of participation on social networks and trust
Participation in CLD increased the respondents' friendships and associations, had expanded their networks and positively changed the nature of their interactions with a wider range of other people. Respondents were also more able to take action to solve their own and others' problems and were thus able to call on greater sources of support in their lives. Finally levels of trust have increased, leading people to be more involved with others within and outwith their own communities.
b) Developing civic participation
There seems to be a strong causal relationship between the experience of community based learning and extending and intensifying the level of civic commitment amongst our respondents. A new sense of knowledge, skills, confidence and networks were helping individuals increase their involvement and take on new roles - although for a sizeable minority it made no difference. It is worth noting that greater experience and awareness of community and civic participation can lead to more cynical (or perhaps more astute) views about how power works. This might lead to a decline in participation in civic groups that are seen to be tokenistic rather than giving people a real opportunity to voice their concerns.
c) The impact of the projects on power relations
The biggest change noted by our respondents occurred in relation to their expectations about themselves, what they could do, and their willingness to voice their opinion. This is a change in attitudes and ability leading to the power to think and act differently and confront authority. In terms of influencing decision-makers and challenging the official agenda, people recorded some limited success (eg getting access to decision makers; legitimating the knowledge they had acquired) with incremental changes brought about primarily through collective effort. This experience was making a positive difference to their lives. However, the majority of respondents recognised that they had very little influence on authorities that had power over them. Individuals and groups in poor or disadvantaged communities are unlikely to have powerful and influential networks that members of dominant groups possess.
d) The impact of participation on bridging social capital
The respondents had increased their social interactions, shared and become aware of how to access information from others and, to a limited extent, changed some of their beliefs about their own life and that of others.
Conclusion
The impact of the projects on people's lives and experiences are without doubt positively contributing to their social capital in terms of extending social networks, trust, civic engagement, power to achieve things, and the bridges they are able to build with individuals and groups within and outwith their communities. The research confirms that community based learning can create a stronger sense of personal and social efficacy. There are clear and definitive changes in bonding and bridging social capital as well as civic engagement. The positive experience of involvement and enhanced confidence and skills is likely to encourage greater participation in other civic groups and community activities. We need to qualify this, however, by recognising what works for some people may not work for all. Also an unintended outcome is that the experience of involvement can lead to more selective forms of participation through a more astute awareness of the tokenistic exercise of power.
Overall, the experience of respondents shows an increase in personal and interactional experiences of empowerment, which have a positive affect on their lives, and has enabled some groups involved in collective activity to have an impact on power relationships. However, building social capital has done very little to make a difference to systemic inequalities of power and the material realities of people's lives. Marginalised groups are undoubtedly benefiting from their overall experience of learning in communities and are able to express themselves more, but is anybody listening?
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