Community Education Facilitators (CEFs)
Context
In Making an Impact (June 1999), the AONTAS response to the Green Paper on Adult Education, AONTAS recommended the establishment of Community Resource Workers as an essential part of the infrastructure needed for the development of the adult education service. This translated into the recommendation of the White Paper on Adult Education (2000) that Community Education Facilitators be employed at local level and work to programmes determined by the Adult Education Boards. There are now 37 Community Education Facilitators employed within the VECs' Adult Education Service .
Aims
The Training and Support Programme for the Community Education Facilitators (CEFs) based in AONTAS is designed to bring the CEFs together for information, support and training and enables the CEFs to collectively identify issues that could enhance their work.The Community Education Facilitators have to date been a major contributing factor to the development of a more integrated Adult Education Service which includes the involvement of the community sector providers. The aims of the programme are:
- To provide induction and on-going training to the Community Education Facilitators
- To provide a forum for networking of Community Education Facilitators at national level
- To enable the Community Education Facilitators to share information and models of good practice
- To keep the Community Education Facilitators informed on developments relevant to their work
- To support the Community Education Facilitators on an ongoing basis through continued contact, information and research
Steering Group
The CEF Training and Support programme is overseen by a national steering group comprising of members of the Further Education Section; IVEA; AEOA; Pobal and AONTAS.
The Terms of Reference of the Steering Group are:-
- To oversee the work programme of the National Training/Support Programme Co-ordinator for Community Education Facilitators (CEFs)
- To approve the training/support programme for CEFs and guide its implementation
- To develop and maintain links with the Strategic Management Initiative for CEOs/AEOs of VECs, so as to ensure complementarity of both training initiatives.
The CEFs inform the development of the programme through representation on the Programme planning sub-group.
