Principles of community-based learning relate to the changing nature of society, the learner, the learning processes, and sources for learning. These principles have been articulated and refined over a five-year period by participants in a summer seminar organized by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory and focused on future directions in work-relevant education. This group, in preparing A Model for Restructuring Education for the 21st Century (Owens 1994), identified several critical assumptions that can serve as a foundation for community-based learning:
Education must be viewed as a continuum from preschool through lifelong education foradults.
Learning is what we do for ourselves. It therefore requires the full involvement of the learner as well as the teacher/mentor.
Jobs in the future will require not only more education, but a different type of education that includes critical thinking, teamwork, and the ability to apply knowledge.
Adults need to be involved in community affairs and to balance work, family and community responsibilities.
Problems affecting learners today are much broader than schools alone can solve.
Involvement of the family, business, labor, the community, and other agencies is essential.
Resistance by some teachers, schools, and communities to the changes implied by the above assumptions is to be expected. Helping these groups to see the need for change and to feel empowered to guide these changes is an important challenge facing the new leadership in education. Without this vision, supported by adequate resources and staff development, these changes are unlikely to occur.