Insights from the Playgroup Movement Equality and Autonomy in a Voluntary Organisation

The playgroup movement achieves its half century in 2011, yet the Pre-school Playgroups Association which founded it failed after 30 years.Why it failed is especially important today, because PPA embodied so many qualities and attitudes that government and policy makers would like to achieve right now. The PPA tapped powerful reserves of learning potential in children but also in adults, families and whole communities. It generated an explosion of lateral thinking and innovative social development that reverberates to this day. And then it broke up. This book, written by people who were part of the organisation, looks at the nature of its success but also turns an analytical eye on the reasons for its premature end and the lessons to be learned. So the book is for not just to those concerned with children's early lives and education, including parents, but also those concerned with the involvement of adults in their own learning and all those committed to the healthy development of a democratic society and a positive balance of power and responsibility within its organisations.