Dublin Community Television fulfills its core mission by ‘providing affordable access to transmission, training, basic production equipment and facilities for a broad range of individuals, community groups and activists, and by broadcasting a wealth of innovative, creative, critical, educational, and entertaining programmes that focus on real people and communities in all their diversity from around the world. ‘

As part of the ongoing relationship with Aontas. It was suggested in mid 2008 that DCTV and the Aontas – Community Education Network would be a good fit to explore a production project. This series, supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland sound and vision scheme is the most visible result of that partnership and seeks to bring the techniques, principles and potential of community education fully into view.

All of this material will be broadcast on Dublin Community Television and will be made available for other community television stations both within Ireland and abroad. Thanks to the support of the Broadcasting Authority and Aontas, a production crew and director were able to engage with the community education sector over an extended period and develop not only an awareness of the story of community education but also the importance for community television of the practice and principles the sector had developed.

From the development of television as a learning tool and the transformative potential in our work to the very real yet important insistence of using circular studio designs as opposed to the simpler to shoot yet less inclusive designs we had been using previously, the nearly two years work on this series has been profoundly influential on DCTV. We think that these “innovative, creative, critical, educational, and entertaining programmes that focus on real people and communities” that form the Beyond the Classroom series not only capture the spirit of community education but also point a way for community television as it too is transformed by these important concepts.

The Communities

The Practitioners

The Learners

We are interested in organising screenings and discussions about this media.  If you are interested in helping us with a screening or discussion, then contact us here.

Beyond The Classroom will be launched on Wednesday February 24th in the Lighthouse Cinema.  The event will be launched by Cllr Emer Costello Lord Mayor of Dublin and will highlight each of the three community education television programmes. This event will afford you the opportunity to learn more about community education: the theory, practice, outcomes and to celebrate its contribution to the adult and community education sector.  Details of the TV premier will be announced later.

Online and torrented versions will be released simultaneously. Eventually all aspects of the Beyond The Classroom Project will be available for viewing online.