Local Administrative Districts Serving as Lifelong Learning Communities: A Case Study on the Zhabei Learning Community

Abstract

According to Henderson, Castles, and Brown (2000), term of the learning community is used to describe a learning city, town, or a community regardless of its size or (p. 5). Kilpatrick, Barrett, and Jones (2003) consider that in Europe, learning emphasize learning towns, learning cities, and learning regions and tend to identify geographical location as a binding element in learning communities (p. 2). The learning community plays an important role in expanding lifelong learning ideas in social units such as cities, towns, and communities. Some European countries, Australia, Japan, Korea, and China are employing the idea of learning community to promote lifelong learning in local communities. In an effort to address recent social problems, China is engaged in building a harmonious society through many strategies, one of which is to develop a lifelong learning society composed of sub-social units such as learning cities, learning communities, learning towns, learning streets, and learning organizations and institutions. To promote a lifelong learning society from the district level, starting from 2001, China established 114 national community pilots and hundreds of local community pilots (Notice of the first, second, third, and fourth lists of the national community education pilots, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to describe how a local administrative district, the Zhebei Learning Community, serves as a lifelong learning community. Zhabei District as a Learning Community Promoting Lifelong Learning The Zhabei District is one of the 18 districts in Shanghai, China. Administratively, the Zhabei District is divided into eight streets (administrative divisions, similar to wards) and one town (see figure 1). Based on the idea of lifelong learning, the aim of the Zhabei Learning Community is to build a harmonious lifelong learning environment for everyone in the community. In doing so, the Zhabei Learning Community has developed several important strategies. The following five strategies indicate how the Zhabei District promotes lifelong learning: (a) creating collaborative networks, (b) stimulating the vitality of grassroots and non-governmental organizations, (c) capitalizing on pivotal events, (d) initiating the experimental (action research) projects, and (e) embracing the local social resources and social and cultural heritages. Creating Collaborative Networks Shanghai promotes the learning society enterprise by nurturing social learning units such as learning communities, learning apartment complexes, learning families, and learning organizations and institutions (Ye, personal communication, June 16, 2008). In the Zhabei Learning Community, building networks is a way to integrate the community resources to serve lifelong learning. This means that all of the social units, such as hospitals, cultural centers, schools, and companies in the Zhabei District open their educational sites to one another and share their learning resources (Hui, personal communication, July 7, 2008). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] In the Zhabei Learning Community, the Zhabei Government established a systematic collaborative network to promote lifelong learning. This collaborative network is mainly composed of the Zhabei Education Bureau, its subdivisions, and about 29 professional organizations/institutions and their subdivisions. In this network, the Zhabei Education Bureau is the main force for promoting learning activities in the administrative streets and neighborhoods. It mainly provides macrolevel services and guidance on learning community development to its subordinate organizations, including the Culture and Education Division and nine community schools. The Culture and Education Division is responsible for organizing cultural performances and learning campaigns in the streets and neighborhoods. Nine community schools, their branch schools, and their neighborhood learning sites are responsible for offering learning activities for local people and nurturing learning cells such as learning apartment complexes, learning families, businesses, and learning groups. …