Adult and community educators, local authority employees, community organisation leaders and academics recently attended the CR&DALL hosted conference on Addressing Democratic Deficits – The Role of Community Learning and Development at the University of Glasgow on September, 15^th, 2016.

In celebration of the UN’s International Day of Democracy, this event was the second in a series of professional learning sessions on Learning for Democracy, aimed at community learning and development (CLD) practitioners from across the public, voluntary and community sectors.  Over 50 members of the field attended.

Introduced by Mia Perry (School of Education) and John Galt (Education Scotland), this event included talks from Liam Kane (popular education theorist, Centre for Open Studies, University of Glasgow) and Karen Armstrong (Scottish Government, Fairer Scotland initiative). Following these keynote talks, substantial round table discussions ensued on issues of political equality, democracy, and community engagement.

What emerged from this animated event was the need to think critically and carefully about the language used around community, democracy, and change, both in terms of rhetoric used in government, as well as discourse used by practitioners. In all cases, language is not neutral and discussions emerging from this event revealed many contested ideas, for example, regarding the role of community in democracy, the relationship between communities and state, and the assumptions of youth in democratic processes. The delegates collectively shared extensive examples of best practices and situated issues, and clearly appreciated the connections made, the ideas shared, and the inspiration provided by this knowledge-exchange event.