David Cameron relaunched his flagship ‘Big Society’ project last month amid claims that the policy was in danger of being wrecked by cuts to public spending. The Big Society, Mr Cameron explained, was his ‘mission in politics’, the ‘moral purpose’ that ran through his programme for government. The Big Society, it seems, is here to stay.
Yet there remains considerable public confusion and a fair amount of scepticism about the policy. Half of the respondents in a recent Independent on Sunday poll agreed that the idea was ‘largely just a gimmick’, 41 per cent believed it is ‘merely a cover for spending cuts’, while only 17 per cent agreed that it would ‘succeed in fostering a culture of voluntarism’.
Many of its critics would, however, admit that there is value in the idea. Few would argue against the empowerment of communities, though they might disagree about the best ways to achieve it or about the role of local and national government in delivering it.
In this issue of Adults Learning we examine the Big Society from the perspectives of adult educators, local authorities, the library service and the voluntary and community sector.
There is broad agreement that the transfer of power to citizens and communities is overdue, but there are clear concerns about the loss and potential loss of existing voluntary and community work and of the infrastructure that supports it; the danger of failing to build on what we already know works; and the need to ensure democratic accountability to local communities.
There are some compelling models of what the Big Society might look like in practice, not least in informal adult and community learning work (the Transformation Fund projects are a much cited but, nevertheless, quite compelling example), which frequently involves a partnership of adult educators, local government and voluntary and community groups.
The success or failure of the Big Society project will rest very largely on what can be taken from these models and how carefully and creatively we build on and nurture their foundations.
Paul Stanistreet
Editor – Adults Learning
4 News
7 Commentary
8 Big Society, big deal?
Is the Big Society a big deal or is it in big trouble? Alastair Thomson looks at the challenges for adult educators working with one of the central strands of David Cameron’s political project
10 Build the Big Society on what we know works
The Big Society may open up opportunities for the voluntary and community sector, but it will be critical to build on what is already there and not allow good voluntary work to be lost, writes John Low
12 Cuts threaten the voluntary sector’s contribution
David Cameron’s bold plans for a radical transfer of power to citizens and communities are in real danger of being squashed by short-sighted council cuts to the funding of voluntary and community organisations, says Stephen Bubb
13 Public libraries and the Big Society
Volunteers already enrich the public library service but the full value of their contribution is reliant on the presence of skilled and knowledgeable staff working within the direction of a professionally managed service, writes Brian Hall
14 The Big Society? It’s already here
The government’s localism agenda will return real power to local communities. But it is in danger of damaging the excellent work already being done by the huge numbers of volunteers working in almost every sector, argues Richard Kemp
15 Meeting the ambitions of our communities
Current changes to the learning and skills landscape present opportunities and a clear role for local government in ensuring that all communities, including those that are most disadvantaged, have access to a wide curriculum, high-quality, responsive provision and progression in learning, writes Peter Box
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