| Admin History | The 'Voluntary Organisations: Citizenship, Learning and Change' study, instituted by The University of Nottingham's Department of Education, began in 1989. Its purpose was to construct a typology of local voluntary organisations by: investigating the formal and informal educational impact which they made on individuals, groups and communities; noting the origins and characteristics of good practice; and putting forward recommendations on the implications for national and local policy and for training and development.
The study was divided into two parts: a national survey of a sample 31 case studies of local voluntary organisations involving the completion of 831 interviews and 157 questionnaires; and a questionnaire-based locality study of 101 voluntary organisations in the Nottinghamshire town of Retford.
The findings of the study were published in three main works: K.T. Elsdon with John Reynolds and Susan Stewart, 'Voluntary Organisations: Citizenship, Learning and Change' (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and The University of Nottingham, Department of Adult Education; 1995), K.T. Elsdon, 'Adult Learning and Voluntary Organisations', in three volumes covering the case studies 1-30 (The University of Nottingham Department of Adult Education; 1991), and John Reynolds, K.T. Elsdon and Susan Stewart, 'A Town in Action' (The University of Nottingham Department of Adult Education; 1994).
The study was partly funded by the Economic and Science Research and Social Science Council (ESRC). Electronic datasets of the study's findings were prepared by Dr John Reynolds of the Department of Adult Education and submitted for preservation to the <a href="http://www.data-archive.ac.uk" target="blank">UK Data Archive</a>, which is also part funded by ESRC. |
| Custodial History | The collection was deposited by The University of Nottingham's Department of Adult Education with the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in August 1995. |
| Publication Note | K.T. Elsdon with John Reynolds and Susan Stewart, 'Voluntary Organisations: Citizenship, Learning and Change' (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and The University of Nottingham, Department of Adult Education; 1995)
John Reynolds, K.T. Elsdon and Susan Stewart, 'A Town in Action' (The University of Nottingham Department of Adult Education; 1994)
K.T. Elsdon, 'Adult Learning and Voluntary Organisations, in three volumes covering the case studies 1-30' (The University of Nottingham Department of Adult Education; 1991) |