Active Partners: Education and Local Development

Renée B. Meloche is an instructional consultant with the Halton Board
of Education.

This examination of a regional initiative that is aimed at connecting
the community at large with the school community in order to enhance
local economic and social viability addresses the question “What role
does the school play in helping communities to adapt to change and to
encourage students and their parents to explore new opportunities?”
The projects and initiatives developed by the people of Cape Breton
Island, Nova Scotia, are based on the notion that schools can give
meaning and identity to local communities and can play a mediating role
by encouraging the sharing of knowledge and information from local,
provincial, national, and international sources. To accomplish this
task, several criteria are required: a curriculum that is based on local
issues and concerns, site-based management, community involvement,
computer networks, process facilitation, and teachers who are willing to
examine with parents new opportunities for themselves and their
children.

MacIntyre’s exploration of the school as mediating structure has
valuable lessons to offer those interested in a similar philosophy and
approach. However, the wealth of detail tends to obscure the message and
makes it more difficult to relate to individual circumstances. The book
reads more like a postgraduate thesis than a comprehensive examination
of building a partnership between the local community and the school
community.