Wyndham City - A tale of steady progress towards a sustainable learning community

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Paper explores how Wyndham City, Victoria, Australia, developed a learning community/city approach through successive Learning Community Strategies. It situates Wyndham’s progress in demographic and economic context, and compares local and international learning community/city frameworks including UNESCO learning city features. The analysis traces critical incidents behind steady advancement, reviews development and evaluation activities, and discusses vignettes of successful cases. Conclusions examine implications for adult education, emphasizing participation and caution against using “learning city” solely as a marketing label.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Wyndham City Snapshot and Context

Learning Community Strategy Drivers

Learning From Literature And Practice

Learning Community/Learning City Developments in Australia

International Frameworks and Influences

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 60, Number 3, November 2020 Wyndham City: A tale of steady progress towards a sustainable learning community Leone Wheeler Diane Tabbagh The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of a learning community/city approach within Wyndham City, Victoria, Australia. The journey commences with a discussion of the demographic and economic context in which Wyndham has established its Learning Community Strategies. The development of Wyndham’s Learning Community is placed in the context of a history of other learning community/city approaches within greater Melbourne, Australia and internationally. This history includes learning community and learning city frameworks such as the Australian Learning Community Framework and UNESCO’s Key Features of Learning Cities, which have influenced Wyndham’s Learning Community Strategies. Further, an in-depth examination of the journey of Wyndham City Council in developing successive Learning Community Strategies identifies critical incidents that have led to steady progress towards a sustainable learning community. Also, the development and evaluation of the Wyndham Learning Community are examined, including some vignettes of successful case studies. In conclusion, the implications for adult education and theory, including avoiding the use of the label ‘learning city’ as a marketing tool rather than a ‘social process ofparticipation and negotiation’is examined with pointers given for further research. Wyndham City: A tale of steady progress towards a sustainable learning community 493 Keywords: learning city, learning community, learning partnerships, lifelong learning, community development, Wyndham City Council Introduction Stakeholders credited the Wyndham Learning Community Strategy 2014-2017 as key to building the foundations for strong partnerships and collaborations on which to promote lifelong and life-wide learning across Wyndham’s increasingly diverse community (O’Connor, Wong, Scrase, 2018). In order to understand the context in which Wyndham has developed its Learning Community Strategies it is useful to provide a brief Snapshot of Wyndham City. The City of Wyndham is located on the western edge of Melbourne, Victoria, between Metropolitan Melbourne and Geelong. Wyndham covers an area of 542km² and features 27.4km of coastline bordering Port Phillip Bay to the east and has some of the richest basalt soils on the continent (Wyndham City Council (WCC), 2016) . For some time, Wyndham has experienced very rapid growth. Wyndham is the 3rd fastest growing municipality in Australia – by volume and by rate of growth. Around 13 babies are born to Wyndham mothers each day. It is predicted that in 2040 Wyndham’s population will have almost doubled. Wyndham’s population (288,212 in 2020), is dominated by millennialsand younger generations: 58% of residents are 35 years or younger. The Wyndham Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is the largest in all of greater Melbourne. Almost half of all Wyndham residents were born overseas from 162 different countries; 53% of Wyndham residents speak a language other than English. More than half of Wyndham households are families with children. Together with the cities of Casey and Hume, Wyndham has the largest average household size in all of Greater Melbourne. Transport is a key challenge with 70% of employed residents leaving Wyndham every morning to go to work. Such high numbers commuting out of Wyndham place great stress on public transport and traffic congestion and are in stark contrast to the 20-minute neighbourhood concept where people can ‘live, work and play’(Victorian State Government, 2020). This also compounds issues of time spent with 494 Leone Wheeler and Diane Tabbagh family, on recreation, education and sport, and associated health issues. More than 1 in 10 young people in Wyndham are neither working nor studying. Wyndham experiences lower levels of t

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the paper on Wyndham City’s learning community approach?

It examines the development of a learning community/city approach in Wyndham City and the context and history shaping its Learning Community Strategies.

Which frameworks influenced Wyndham’s Learning Community Strategies?

The paper highlights influence from frameworks such as the Australian Learning Community Framework and UNESCO’s Key Features of Learning Cities.

What does the conclusion say about using “learning city” in practice?

It discusses implications for adult education and argues against using the “learning city” label as a marketing tool instead of a social process of participation and negotiation.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy