Schools as Community Hubs

Increasingly, school leaders are asking the question, “How might we better facilitate collaboration and partnership with our community”? In essence, “how might we become a community hub“?

It was a privilege for Tārai Kura to co-host an online event with Learning Environments NZ, exploring the idea of Schools as Community Hubs. Associate Professor, Ben Cleveland, from the University of Melbourne shared with us initial findings from research on this important topic. 

Some of the key questions that guided the initial research can be seen in the following image:

If you were unable to attend, here is a video of the event. This includes: 

• introduction (0-4min) 
• presentation by Dr Cleveland (4-30 min) sharing some key ideas on ‘how to hub’.
• Q and A with Dr Cleveland (30-57 min)

The video provides examples of ways in which schools have progressed partnerships toward intensive collaboration and greater community connections. Dr Cleveland also shares with us some key thoughts on ways to sustain, and classic pitfalls to avoid. 

Dr Cleveland took participants through the ‘how to hub journey map’ which includes considerations on the following: 

• the benefits of hubs
• ways to develop hubs
• ways to implement hubs
• ways to sustain hubs
• low impact hubs that falter.

For more information on this topic, check out the LEaRN website for this project.