Essay: Community Learning Practice – Reflective Account

Community Learning Practice – Reflective Account
My journey from the HNC Working with Communities to where I am now has been the most rewarding and knowledgeable time, and I am not the same person I was when I started this journey.
I have always referred myself to as a thinker but my experience at the University of the West of Scotland has enhanced my critical analysis skills, I have learned to question everything and always ask ‘why’, whether it be reading a report from a main stream media source or hearing a breaking news story on the radio. ‘The important thing is not to stop questioning’ Albert Einstein. This new way of thinking has had a massive impact on not only my professional development but probably even more so on my personal development, it has changed my life, my attitude and my personality which in turn has made me become a more critically reflective and competent practitioner. Made me question my own values,
In my opinion the recommended literature for the course have been a massive help in  especially the CLD Standard Council resource pack Using the competences for the Community Learning and Development sector in Scotland: A Resource Pack. I have used this pack as a guide to analyse my own personal and professional developments and gave me the information I needed to use competence based questions to reflect, develop and progress, I have now notice myself constantly reflecting in practice while I am leading the youth group, always asking myself questions such as does my leadership style suit the needs of the group? Can I take a step back and let the young people have more control and leadership? In my opinion this is effective because it allows the young people in the group to feel more confident in taking a lead role which empowers more young people to do the same.
Facilitate and promote community empowerment; so that people can take individual and collective action to bring about change
Develop and support collaborative working; so that people can enhance decision making and collaborative activities that impact on the quality of life of individuals and communities
Know and understand the community we work;
I consider myself to be very confident in this area, I feel I have researched and understand this competence most as I believe it is the most important when working within the community development sector.
I work and currently undertake my placement in the small deprived community in which I grew up in, when I started youth work in 2012 I knew it was ‘my’ community I wanted to help, I knew the families, the old and the young and I could truly empathise with them on their daily struggles such as poverty, unemployment and discrimination to name a few. I wanted to see the/my community flourish and get the families to see that the light at the end of the tunnel was possible; IF they just believe in themselves.
I became more active in my community and started attending the local regeneration meetings and through this myself and the local regeneration officer went out into the community to conduct a H-form survey which gave the public an opportunity to raise any concerns and get involved in the 10 year regeneration plan for the area, this helped give me an understanding of what the issues the individuals in the community have reported and discuss ways to tackle the issues.
One of my assessments at College was to conduct a Community Profile, this provided to be extremely useful in finding out more about the community in which I work including the political, economic and social context of the community, some of the findings were upsetting such as two streets in the community were ranked below the worst 10% in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) with areas including income, health, education and crime being the main cause for its such low score, this made me think hard about the oppression, injustice and misery which seemed to be imbedded/surrounding the community.
Keeping up to date with relevant policies and legislations has also helped me know and understand the community we work as well as building relationships and working in partnership with local councilors, regeneration officers, school teachers, community police officers and other local businesses.
Evaluate and Inform Practice
I consider my skills in this area to be the weakest of all competencies as its slightly out of my comfort zone although I do feel I need to work harder to understand it better.
I am aware that this is the area which my personal development needs lie.
Building on “Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities”: a joint statement by the Scottish Government and COSLA (I-develop)
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) has confirmed that where CLD is delivered to a high standard, through genuine partnership working, and linked into wider planning arrangements the impact is significant.  (Reference = Making a difference in Scotland’s communities: a five year review of CLD in Scotland: HMIE, 2007.)