The Learning Catalysts Project: Action Research for Raising Aspirations

Final report published March 2010

The Learning Catalysts Project was focussed on raising aspirations for young children and families in West Norfolk. The full report is an account of the action and learning that has taken place as a result of the unique collaboration between a university department and local authority professionals from economic development and school, adult and further education. It is a narrative that includes personal triumph, endurance and the hallmark of learning - knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. The project was inspired by principled practice and an explicit set of beliefs about how to strive for change in communities. The action research was characterised by the involvement of members of the community in which it was based. It was an attempt to work for change within communities and through the institution of school yet essentially outside the normal conduits for authority and power. This was both its inherent strength and ultimate weakness.

To view the report please log in.   Norfolk project report 2010

Learning Catalysts: Raising Aspirations in West Norfolk Report of Phase 1: Family Work Stories

Report of Phase 1: Family Work Stories, published March 2007

Abstract
The original idea for the project centred around ways of measuring and impacting on aspirations among communities in disadvantaged areas. King's Lynn has developed as a manufacturing town, particularly since its status as an Expanded Town in the 1960s and 70s. It serves a rural, traditionally agricultural, hinterland. The economies of King's Lynn and the Fens are over-reliant on sectors that are declining at a national level; and the area is characterised by lower-skilled, low earning employment. Unemployment is low but there are significant areas where long-term benefit dependency is evident. The issue of low aspirations is seen as endemic to the whole of Norfolk and has been identified as a key focus for the county in a document that has remained an important resource for the partnership's work.

To view the whole paper, please log in. Norfolk project phase 1 report March 2007