Community Catalysts by Lou Mycroft

Communities need difference – across many dimensions. We use the term ‘constellations’ to indicate that we won’t settle for communities which are closed and stale, where the same ideas circulate round and around.

Difference brings freshness and challenge. It’s also right. We know that in English further education (our recent landscape), the diversity of the student population – of our country’s population – is not reflected in the leadership of the sector. In our recent programmes we got used to seeing a sea of white faces whenever we ran an event. If we are sincere about our commitment to equality, that has to change.

We’re not just talking about the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, a decent bit of kit, but limited. We are talking about the identity intersections of every single human life – the complex and sometimes changing ways we choose to identify and self-define. We are also talking about where and how we do ‘the work’ – the work of changemaking. FE Constellations has no boundaries. We are international, intergenerational and transdisciplinary – if you work with young people and adults around any form of learning you’re welcome. What matters is that you are (or want to be) a changemaker.

In her book ‘Inclusion on Purpose: Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work‘, Ruchika Tulshyan makes a number of recommendations for intentional practice. One of them – essentially – is “put your money where your mouth is” (Ruchika expresses this more gracefully). That’s why we have created the Community Catalyst offer – six months’ free membership of FE Constellations for selected applicants.

Obviously, we hope you’ll continue your membership, it’s brilliant value for money (and hopefully bring your organisation on board!). But there’s no pressure 😀

We recognise that selection is often where we replicate inequality, so our selection process is different. We ask you to tell us about your potentia – your changemaking capacity – and about you, who you are, what your work is. You can find the application form here.

We’ll offer a number of Community Catalyst places each month (the exact number will ebb and flow along with the community itself*). We hope you’ll share this offer with your networks and maybe think of applying yourself!

*We’re limiting membership initially to 30 founding individual members and 30 founding organisations, to ensure that the community is small enough to be a culture of belonging and big enough to have a buzz.