2. The movement to community
school education stems from variety
of concerns about the learner and
societal structures. People are
realizing
how
socioeconomic
conditions, regional prejudice, and
multitude of subtle environmental
factors have a dramatic bearing on
one’s ability to learn.
3. THE NATURE OF A COMMUNITY
SCHOOL EDUCATION
Kerensky (1972) defines community education as a
process that “puts meaning into the notion that
people can and should make an input into the
educational system that serves their community.”
He emphasizes that, as a process, community
education lends itself more to description than to
definition.
4. Hughes perceives the underlying premise of the
community school to be the belief “that the school
belong to the people, and that local resources can
be harnessed to attack community problems.”
Thus the school may serve a four-fold role as:
• an educational center where learner and adults
have optimum opportunities for study and
learning.
• a neighborhood center for cultural and
recreational activities
• a center for social services
• a center of neighborhood and community life
assisting citizens in the study and solution of
neighborhood problems
5. Dr. Cecilio Putong defines a community school as one
succinctified with, and intimately related to, the life of
the community in which it is located; a school of, and
for the community.
Trinidad and Gaffud affirms that the community school
is “a school that integrates the education of the child
with that of the adult toward home and community
betterment; it is a school that utilizes the material,
human, and institutional resources of the community
as part of the educational facilities so as to make school
learning functionally related to the realities of life; and
it is a school that aims to develop children, youth and
adults to become useful members of society through
continuous participation in democratic living.”
6. COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY
SCHOOLS
Community education is a concept based on a
process of education for children, youth and
adults. The process refers to the organization of
the community into appropriate size units to
facilitate interaction, identification of local
resources, and involvement of the problems of
the community. It is an effort to capture a sense
of community without eliminating its pluralism.
7. Community schools are vehicles that provide that
opportunities for community involvement and
decision-making. They are for the entire community
and are often located in the neighborhood school.
There are major distinctions between the
neighborhood school and the community. Both mat
offer similar programs, services, and activities, yet the
community school concept is premised on the ultimate
goal of community involvement and participation and
is not necessarily based in the individual’s
neighborhood. The neighborhood school is usually
oriented to skill attainment, personal enjoyment, and
individual self-enrichment for a particular age group at
a school in the individual’s immediate surroundings.
8. PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNITY SCHOOL EDUCATION
Community school education is life-centered. It looks
at individual differences related to most community
participation. Its concept of human nature is neither
good nor bad. It stresses environmental conditioning
and group achievement. The teacher’s role is to
impart direct learning process for most effective
group participation.
Totten (1972) states: “that community educator is
committed to the idea that people learn from the
total environment. That is, the entire community is
the school plant. All the people are potential
teachers. Everything in the community is a potential
resource.
9. STRATEGIES FOR ESTABLISHING
COMMUNITY SCHOOL EDUCATION
Carrillo and Heaton (1972) outlined the strategies for
establishing community education into fourteen steps.
COMMUNITY SCHOOL EDUCATION
AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
