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Perspectives of the Child Project
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Under the auspice of the “Perspectives of Children in the City” project the views and aspirations of a wide range of young people from across Mount Gambier were gathered.
These views were delivered in a series of presentations to Professor Carla Rinaldi by early childhood leaders from kindergartens, childcare centres, preschools, children’s centres and OSHC who had sought the views of young people on a range of questions that included:
- What are the places you like to visit with your friends and family?
- Where do you like to play and why?
- What makes your place special?
- Where don’t you like to go and why?
- What do you think would make Mount Gambier even better?
The presentations reflected the thoughts, ideas and understandings of the children in their own words and drawings. Take a look at what Mount Gambier's children have told us here.
Outcomes from “Perspectives of Children in the City”:
- Council recognises early childhood learning and development as fundamentally important
- Council acknowledges that the experts on childhood are the children themselves
- Play settings which reconnect children to nature also encourage children to problem solve, think creatively and develop their own growth and knowledge (moved)
As part of the “Perspectives” project we sought to understand the way children view their own City. We asked them to tell us and to show us. By doing this, we’ve already learned that:
- Not every child in Mount Gambier knows the name of the City they live in
- Mount Gambier children like places that allow them to explore their imagination, seek adventure, nature and height.
These outcomes were particularly illuminating, and will support the future directions of Council.
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Social Capital & Community-Based Education & Learning: From Agency to Relationship-based Services
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Over the past two years the City of Mount Gambier have been privileged to partner with Flinders University, bringing education professionals Dr George Otero (Director of the Centre for Relational Learning in Sante Fe, New Mexico) and Professor John Halsey (the Sidney Myer Chair of Rural Education and Communities in the School of Education at Flinders University) to Mount Gambier; developing a commitment to the relational learning process in partnership with our community.
Dr Otero's fundamental philosophy is simple:
"We believe that our relationships hold the keys to educational success"
2012 saw a Sidney Myer Rural Lecture Series 'Rural Communities...Education for the 21st Century' hosted in Mount Gambier (watch it here). This lecture was an incredible success and received an overwhelming response from participants wanting to be involved in further workshops to challenge the traditional education paradigm and develop a local whole of community, relationship based approach to educationand learning; raising the question where to from here?
A two-day workshop with Dr Otero and Professor Halsey titled 'Social Capital and Community-based Education & Learning: From Agency to Relationship-based Services' was held in Mount Gambier in 2013.
The aim of the workshop was to reconnect with the content and input from the Sidney Myer Rural Lecture Series 'Rural Communities...Education for the 21st Century' lecture; engaging participants in the process of moving toward relational, whole of community based ways of providing education, human services and support.
Topics covered included:
- Social capital and community-based education and learning: Rural contextual factors specific to Mount Gambier,
- Exploring partnerships: Identifying opportunities to make them work and how,
- From agency to relationship-based services: Exploring being and working in a relationship-based way, and
- Progressing being and working in a relationship-based way: Identifying areas of change and what needs to be done.
The strong attendance at these sessions emphasised that relational, whole of community based ways of providing education, human and support services will form the pillars of our approach to developing a sustainable community learning model, specifically designed to meet the ongoing needs of our community - with our community.
Please visit the 'Library' for further information and extensive documentation relating to Dr Otero's philosophy.