South Tipperary County Development Board
REPORT OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
SEGMENT SUB GROUP MEETING
HELD IN CAHIR ENTERPRISE CENTRE ON DECEMBER 4, 2000
Present:
Brigid O'Keeffe (Chair), Cllr Susan Meagher, Fr Gerard O'Connor, Pat Moroney, Bob Keating, Mick Cummins, Mark Ryan, Seamus Moore, P J Dooley, Ann Whyte, Pierce O'Loughlin and John Quinn
Apologies:
Cllr Denis Landy, Supt Mary Fitzgerald, Sean McSweeney, Jack Terry, Oliver Clancy
Summary
The Community Development Segment sub-group reviewed three issues arising from the Social Review carried out by the County Development Board
- Resolve the conundrum between more demand on the voluntary sector and the decline in volunteerism
- A community development perspective on the education conundrum – the academic competitive model suits the majority of young people but what about the losers and is the community ultimately the loser?
- The inclusion on the community agenda of groups that experience discrimination, especially the elderly, travellers, disabled, refugees and asylum seekers.
The sub-group recommended:
- That wider consultation take place with the community sector on the decline of volunteerism and the development of structures more suited to the time availability of people (especially those in the 12-15, 30-45 and the 55+ age groups)
- That an analysis of the education conundrum and its effects in South Tipperary be presented for focus group consultations with representatives of parents, schools, teacher unions and community groups
- That the Chair bring the issues raised in the debate of inclusion of groups to the Health Segment Group in advance of community consultations in late January 2001.
The Community Development Segment sub-group agreed to meet again in February 2001 to review the choices facing community groups (particularly in relation to inclusion of marginalized groups on the community agenda).
1. Community Conundrum – more demand on the voluntary sector at a time of decline in volunteerism
There is a decline in volunteerism particularly among young age groups. On this very day, only one recipient representing the community for the local authority tidy towns awards was under 55 years of age. Given the ageing profile of volunteers, an important issue for a strong community development involvement in implementing the County Social Strategy is to address the issue of sustainability of volunteers. Key questions were raised. How can young people be included? Why is there a decline in volunteerism generally (at both community development and youth service levels)? Are new structures of voluntary involvement required? How can young people be included?
There is a decline of youth clubs in rural areas. Where clubs exist, a life cycle of four years active, two years passive, four years active, etc, has been discerned. There is high involvement of youth to age 15 and considerable interest in leadership training. The more interested young people stay on in 'leader roles' from age 16, but low numbers of leaders coming through make continuity of an active club difficult. After a year or two of inactivity, demand from parents for something to do for their children give it an impetus again.
Teachers also report that children in school do not volunteer as much as in the past.
The same trend can be seen in sports clubs. It is very difficult to get young people to stay involved in sport, yet sport has a good record in introducing young people to voluntary activity.
The pattern of a young person's life needs to be understood. For most people, school leads to college. After college there is a mixture of a job before the almost mandatory year in Australia. The reality is that most young people cannot engage in local community endeavour between the ages of 16 and 30. The challenge for community groups is to ensure that they get good experience before the age of 16 and that they are integrated once they come back from their year out in Australia.
Why is there a decline in volunteerism?
Time is more highly valued to pursue personal concerns, especially earning income in order to enjoy a better standard of living. In the past, there were significant numbers of women working in the home who took part in voluntary activity and more importantly provided continuity to voluntary groups.
In the past, leadership roles in rural areas were often related to social class. Why did the issue of social class exclusion in leadership roles exist in the past? Was it related to education levels? Was it snobbery? Whichever answer is pertinent, insufficient resources were not targeted at developing leadership talent of those who had low educational achievement or who were not natural leaders. One weakness in community structures (with notable exceptions such as Macra Na Feirme) was the lack of insistence in the rules of voluntary organisations on changing officers after a two year period. A change-over rule requires consistent effort in attracting new members.
There is also a decline of volunteerism in the professions associated with voluntary activity in the past. The age profile of priests is getting older. Teachers are questioning their voluntary activity in schools.
How can the decline in volunteerism be addressed? What new structures of voluntary involvement can be developed?
Given the track record of voluntary groups where volunteers are afraid to become officers in case they become officers for life, there is a fear around traditional structures of committees. Many people are prepared to volunteer but for more short-term tasks. A more flexible or user-friendly approach is required where it is ok to drop in and out of community groups. This creates a challenge for continuity (filled in the past by women working in the home).
State agencies are using community based solutions more. But the agencies start with first principles – the training and development of a voluntary management group for the projects. A community concern is the amount of bureaucracy, especially if new legal structures have to be established for each different public body initiative. There are also new issues to address in terms of relationships between volunteers and paid community group officials.
There is a need to consult actively with community groups as to why less people are volunteering. The solution must ultimately come from community groups themselves. Two issues emerged in recent consultations carried out by the South Tipperary Voluntary Community Group Platform – insurance and the responsibility of minding children.
Insurance is largely a resource issue but it is also a psychological issue. Volunteers rarely feel comfortable that they understand all the implications of insurance. (Fr Gerard O'Connor to circulate a document which may allay this and provide a basis for future training). The 'insurance knowledge' deficit should be targeted by the National Voluntary and Community Pillar. The cost of insurance is also rising as the church's involvement in owning and insuring community property declines.
In relation to children, there are difficulties associated with the increasing lack of discipline among children and with the increased awareness of 'child abuse issues'. New guidelines for voluntary groups re dealing with children are perceived to be bureaucratic and a challenge for the South Tipperary Voluntary Community Group Platform is to get volunteers to accept that there are safeguards in the 'red tape' both for themselves and the children.
2. The Education Conundrum – if we are developing young people under a competitive model can we really be surprised by a decline in community and co-operative endeavour.
Schools are organised to provide academic services, not social or community services and not wider personal development services. Any teacher that seeks to seriously address wider developmental issues within the classroom will meet resistance from the majority of parents. Most parents value the focus on knowledge development and homework because primary and secondary level schools can provide the passport to third level education and third level education provides the passport for life.
The majority of students benefit from this approach. Those students who do not succeed in education often have parents whom the education system also failed. These parents rarely have the skills to champion the needs of the disaffected and the disappeared in education. Consequently, more and more resources are targeted at those children whose parents have strong advocacy skills. Witness the state contribution per child at primary education level versus third level education.
But it is difficult to criticise parents when society values the contribution of a 'manager' at twenty times the salary of an office cleaner (who must work unsociable hours) or five to ten times the salary of a front line officer (who has to deal with the day to day issues of the customer).
The competitive element between second level schools in bigger towns is not advantageous given a majority of parents largely focused on the self interest of their own children. There is a danger of ghettoisation of those not academically inclined. Schools compete to avoid the fate of holding all the low academic achievers, thus raising the academic focus higher. This competition means that there is little or no co-operation in maximising the available resources with already documented failures – sports centre in Carrick on Suir; water-polo team in Tipperary Town, etc. Teachers are valued for academic prowess (number of A grade students) with a consequent lack of value on those who volunteer their time in sport and non-academic activities.
What can the voluntary sector do about the serious lack of social education and development in schools? Are there ways of doing things differently about the values we are giving young people in education?
There are opportunities to transform academically treated subjects such as civics into something more real and relevant.
More and more communities have people in the 55-70 age group who are retired. These people have expertise that could be usefully channelled to the development of youth. The challenge for the community sector is to use school and out of school structures to increase the understanding of young people about wider aspects of life.
All primary schools and a majority of second level schools are answerable directly to the Department of Education. There is a considerable challenge at local level to get schools (principals and teachers) to engage in debate on these issues. However, the next phase of consultation should aim to engage with parents and principals/teachers on the issues raised earlier.
Community groups also need to be consulted. If the education system is producing a majority of 'economic winners', with a good standard of living but not necessarily a good quality of life, is this the system the community wishes to perpetuate?
There are alternative models of community based education piloted by the Combat Poverty Agency. Home school liaison officers reflect the mainstreaming of elements of these pilot actions. But learning is not the monopoly of schools. Learning happens after school as well. There is a need for a complementary system of in-school/out of school initiatives.
Schools can provide an 'anchor' not alone for facilitating social development but also for focusing on lifelong learning. But schools have a major challenge to regain the confidence of those parents who have been failed by the education system and often failed again by society. These parents are often afraid of the 'homework culture' and can also be afraid of giving their children a vision that the children can do better than themselves in case the children are later disappointed.
The tasks for the County Development Board are to analyse the underlying causes of the competitive model in education and to influence (added value of a County Social Strategy) society to re-examine and if necessary re-orientate the model. Questions for parents and the community include. How do you know if you have succeeded when a child leaves primary school? When a child leaves second level school?
3. The Community Inclusion Conundrum - meeting the needs of groups that experience discrimination such as the elderly, travellers, disabled, refugees and asylum seekers.
How does one define community? Is it a village? Is it a geographical area that people identify with? Is it something else?
People do not like change but there are massive changes in the increasing urbanisation of Ireland. The National Spatial Strategy Research team is forecasting an increase of 900,000 in Ireland'' population in the next twenty years. Part of this increased population will live in South Tipperary.
Will these new residents have a stake in their community? Will they have a sense of belonging to their community? What about new residents in the last five years?
Most communities have an ageing population. There is consensus on the objective of encouraging the elderly to remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. But when it is no longer possible – elderly in the past were placed in County Homes and hospitals; in more recent time the focus has been on nursing homes. Neither approach has a particularly good image. Both approaches are largely resourced by the state but the nursing homes are largely delivered by the private sector (following tax break incentives). The available resources dictate little emphasis on services other than medical care. Small families and the decline of social and family networks (witness the debate on the decline of volunteerism) also add to a decreasing quality of life for many of the elderly in care.
Is this what the community wants? There are integrated models of day care centres, sheltered housing and community hospitals in Denmark. But is the community willing to pay the taxes necessary to support a system that does not lead to dual systems of health care, etc. There are some examples in Ireland (some of the AIB Better Ireland Award winners) that could be replicated by a joint community-state-private approach to the issue of future care of the elderly.
The South Eastern Health Board has specific schemes and resources to work with community groups in advancing issues of inclusion/health care of the elderly, travellers and disabled. The Department of Social Community and Family Affairs has a scheme to assist to security of vulnerable people in their own homes.
It was agreed to review issues of the marginalised again after the consultations with the wider public next January on progress in developing the County Social Strategy.
