Learning Communities and the involvement of families and communities: The key to a successful education for everyone

Abstract

The main subject of the article is the involvement of families and communities as the key element in promoting successful education for everyone in today’s knowledge and information society through the Learning Community (LC) proposal. It contains contributions from a research project conducted at schools that have become Learning Communities in two different contexts of action, viz. Brazil and Spain. This research is focused on the concept of dialogic learning, which is based on the central theories of Habermas and Freire, as well as on the communicative-critical methodology, and its main collection instruments were interviews and discussion groups. Advisory committees made up of teachers, children, volunteers, managers and family members were involved in the analysis of its data. The results achieved included more respectful and dialogic relations and an improvement of everyone’s learning. The diffi culties relate to the need for keeping the egalitarian dialog alive among the various agents involved.

Keywords: Learning Community, participation, dialogic learning.