10 leaders complete Two-Day community leadership training

10 leaders from 8 institutions, including four member institutions, attended our first ever Spring Two-Day Training in Community Leadership which took place at MK Quaker Centre on Fri-Sat 22nd-23rd March.

Funded by MK Community Foundation, the training taught the universal concepts of Power and Self-interest and the tools of Community Organising.

Trainees came with a range of motivations including: to understand a methodology to drive change, strengthen my institution, engage with the wider school community, organise diverse communities, develop my own and my students’ leadership, find out more about power, help parents set up a PTA in my school, get rid of the prejudice in society.

A short questionnaire after the course, asking about self-perception Before and After, yielded the following results:

  • 110% average increase in ‘My awareness of tools for building relational power (3.9 to 8.2 out of 10)
  • 98% average increase in ‘My confidence in my community leadership’ (3.3 to 6.8 out of 10)
  • 32% increase in ‘My motivation to make positive change in my community’ (6.9 to 9.1 out of 10).

After the course, participants said they’d benefited most from: the techniques and strategies, practical tools, feeling empowered, feeling more useful to society.

Kirsty Forshaw of MK Green Alliance said: “Thanks for all your support on the course. I found it really worthwhile and will be encouraging others to do it too. It’s given me the kick-start I needed to have a more focused approach to how I can make positive change in my community. “

“I intend now to mobilise the community and start dreaming big about using some of the other green spaces in Conniburrow,” said Kirsten Jeffery of Big Local Conniburrow.

“I will now start gathering information from the children and what they’d like to change,” said Deborah Griffiths of Jubilee Wood Primary School. Her school colleague, Sagarika Chakravarti, said: “I’ll definitely that each and every member of staff (at my school) should join this course.”

In post-session evaluation, participants gave an aggregate score of 8.5/10.

Click here to see video of participants’ comments on the course.

Click here for Saira’s testimony.

Those who attended the course were:

AndyCoatonCLT Steering Group
CatherineWilliamsLord Grey School
CraigWarneNASUWT
DeborahGriffithsJubilee Wood Primary School
KirstenJefferyBig Local Conniburrow
KirstyForshawMK Green Alliance
SagarikaChakravartiJubilee Wood Primary School
SairaSajidMK Academy
SharonGhouilaMK Green Alliance
TomBartlettAspire

A month later, three trainees participated in Action Learning Set. Craig Warne said: “This Action Learning set provided an essential space to reinvigorate my momentum and motivation.  Talking with the group helped to refocus and realign my thinking to my vision. To think I nearly had not attended due to other commitments!  I now have the conviction to revisit my priorities.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.