ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to sketch a broad-brush map of the community participation in education landscape, a landscape that is bigger than is often suggested by particular initiatives. It provides a set of diagnostic questions to help think through proposed initiatives and possibilities for them. All human societies prepare young people for adult roles. Traditionally, such preparation was carried out through religious and occupational training, marked by social transitions from childhood to adulthood. Broad-scale public education first came to Europe. The School Establishment Act of 1616 mandated the creation of publicly funded Church-supervised schools in every Scottish parish. The United Nations Development Programme classifies citizenship participation along a similar hierarchy, from passive to more active involvement in the political process: consultation, dialogue, deliberation, co-administration/management, monitoring/accountability.
