“The Making of an Empowering Profession” is a unique collection  – a “Reader” – of material that outlines and illustrates how the practices that we now describe as Community Learning and Development have been created, analysed, argued over and changed since the mid-1970s.

“The Making of an Empowering Profession” was first published in 1996, followed by editions in 1997 and 2002. Edited by Charlie McConnell, the reader was published by the then national agency for Community Learning and Development: Community Learning in Scotland.

The third edition available to download from the National Standards Council for Community Learning and Development in Scotland, contains 41 texts in four broad categories:

1. National policy publications
2. Regional, local authority inspired papers
3. Research and Evaluation studies
4. Polemical, reflective pieces

The texts were selected by a small editorial and commissioning group. Group members were identified from readers, practitioners and trainers of community educators. The reader was edited, and an extensive introduction written by, Charlie McConnell.

Charlie McConnell is the President of the International Association for Community Development

The Standards Council will publish a fourth edition of the reader in 2016

Download The Making of an Empowering Profession (3rd_Edition) here.