We Make the Spiral in Circle: The Effectiveness of the Spiral Model in Community-Based Learning

Abstract

Written with a reflective posture, guided by concepts from the critical tradition of community development – Participatory Development Practice (PDP), and aligned with Freire’s Popular Education, the article offers insights into research undertaken with Australian community-based practitioners and citizens in neighbourhood centre and Landcare contexts. By engaging in workshops to develop knowledge and skills of mezzo-level circle work of community development, and by employing the Spiral Model of Community Education, the article points to the importance of transformative dialogue and learning. Our findings support the vision of community development groups, when given opportunities to have hegemonic ideas disrupted, can develop structural analyses that lead to collective action.