Practice in the social space of Neighbourhood Houses: community, relationships and adult learning

Neighbourhood Houses are significant sites of community-based adult learning spaces that are empowering, supportive and caring. They embody inclusive community development processes and adult learning practices that facilitate formal, informal, and incidental learning. Practices in these sites of social inclusion support relationships and shared learning. This paper uncovers the relational practices in Neighbourhood Houses as people develop knowledge, skills and new ways of knowing through their participation. Many participants in this research lacked confidence as learners and were reengaging with learning following former negative and/or incomplete education experiences. They came to learn new skills following personal interests, to re-engage with learning for employment, seeking involvement in the community and reconnecting with others following periods of isolation and loneliness.

Drawing on Bourdieu's Theory of Practice we interpret the dispositions, practices and habitus in the Houses that support learner relationships and learning. We argue it is the Houses' intimate and nurturing relational practices that transform learners' lives, families and their local communities. This qualitative case study research involved adult and life-long learners in Neighbourhood Houses across Victoria. In-depth interviews were conducted with 87 diverse participants and from a mixture of rural, regional and urban Neighbourhood House locations.

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