Knowledge Networking: a Dilemma in Building Social Capital Through Nonformal Education

Abstract

This article reports the results of an inquiry into the embeddedness of nonformal education (NFE) in the work of knowledge service providers, analyzing the dilemmas they experience in their operations around a public housing precinct. It explores the proposition that the networking of NFE providers is a mechanism by which a fragmented community might be repositioned socially and economically. NFE is seen as a bridge for extending and deepening existing social capital. The learning activities offered by the knowledge service providers are compared with the lifelong learning outcomes expected through NFE. The analysis positions these NFE providers in terms of their relative strengths and weakness, and indicates how these impacts on their projected sustainability. Community learning through non-formal education via the networking of knowledge providers is shown to involve serious tensions.