Development Education in United Kingdom
Development Education in United Kingdom |
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The late 60s and 70s saw the rise of Action For World Development (AWDF), and the subsequent organisation of local action groups through the churches and voluntary commitment. In the UK, the law defines what activities can be presented to the public by registered charities through appeals for funds and support. Certain kinds of political activity are not accepted as charitable. So, for many development agencies with charitable status, this has meant separating certain kinds of campaigning activities and political lobbying from education work, humanitarian aid and development co-operation. For AWDF, it resulted in the creation of the World Development Movement (WDM), as a separate, political lobbying organisation. A network of local WDM support groups introduced many people to Third World development and campaigning activities in the 70s.
The term `Development Education' (DE) has been used in many countries, but began to be used more commonly in the UK following the establishment of a DE Fund in 1977 by the left of centre Labour Government. The late Judith Hart, as Minister for Overseas Development, encouraged the Fund as a means of combating widespread ignorance about Third World issues which a national survey had revealed. Hart noted that:
"Too many attitudes are still moulded almost entirely by irrational feeling, misconceptions and prejudice".
The Fund's objective was to increase public understanding, by formal and informal means, on all issues affecting the economic and social development of the South and their consequences on Britain. For activists, the crucial thing was that the government was finally validating this area of work and these concerns in partnership with NGOs and individuals.
Four main strands of grassroots DE activity developed during the 70s and 80s:
A key element for the success of grassroots DE was the notion of working in partnership; with people developing their own agendas in the South, and with teachers, youth workers and those involved in education in the North.
The formation of NADEC (the National Association of Development Education Centres) in 1979, encouraged the idea of local meeting places and a national structure for relatively isolated local groups. "Within the first seven years, NADEC made significant gains in raising the public profile of DE. Both the scope of its work and size of its membership rose rapidly from 6 to 46 Centres throughout the UK, and from 30 to over 100 affiliated organisations". (?)
NADEC's annual conference became a major focal point for grassroots DE. It raised contentious and topical issues, and developed the capacity to set agendas for grassroots work. For example, the promotion of equal opportunity policies and good practice, anti- racism and Black DE worker representation in DE organisations and structures, or the issues of citizenship and class conditioning on people's sense of control over their lives.
A climate of public support for broad DE concerns was demonstrated by the mass anti-nuclear demonstrations and Third World lobbies of Parliament in the late 70s and early 80s and the Anti-apartheid rallies of the late 80s. The constituency for involvement in global concerns was widening.
Mainstream DE became firmly lodged in the opposition camp to the right
wing Conservative Government, both in the DE Movement's sense of identity
and in the mind of the Government. This alienation was precipitated by
the axing of the Government fund for DE by the Conservatives when they
gained power in 1979.
Within the constraints of Charity Law, DECs and development agencies
have attempted to define and interpret active principles, methods and
themes to sustain a relevant, international education for the late
20th century. Such education aimed to empower and respect individuals while
giving them access to knowledge and skills development which would help
them define the changing, interdependent world they inhabit.
In the wider political field, DE was able during this period to contribute
to the debate that was re-examining relations with the South in the
post-colonial period. Classrooms and libraries in the late 1970s were
still full of textbooks and reference material that described the Third
World through the frequently racist language and patronage of Empire;
nation states as providers of raw materials for British industry and public
consumption, and different cultures as interesting and exotic but hardly
modern. DE workers publicly questioned the messages received by students
and teachers from the use of these out-of-date texts, and demonstrated
through publishing alternative and topical materials, new ways of
thinking about the South and the dynamics of change and development on
people's lives. This debate influenced the growth of multicultural education
and anti-racist education strategies adopted by many local education authorities.
At the level of community involvement, whether in cities, towns or villages,
the process of enabling people to feel competent to address global issues
from their own starting point was greatly advanced with the growth of Town
Twinning and Community Linking schemes throughout the country. The
experience of linking brings DE alive. By involving communities in the
organisation of active links with other countries and through listening
to one another, development issues are personalised and demystified. In
the UK, there are now over 200 active community links with the South, involving
people, young and old, in a wide range of activities- through schools,
training, visits and local projects.
An influence rarely acknowledged in the development of practical skills
among DE workers was the government- funded Manpower Services Commission's
Employment Programmes in the early to mid '80s. These made funding available
to local voluntary groups to provide short term work for unemployed people
of a "socially useful nature, in the local community". It was a short-
lived scheme! But while it lasted, grassroots DE was shaken-up by an influx
of large numbers of highly motivated, risk-taking young people, from a
variety of social and cultural backgrounds who had nothing to lose by doing
what all education is supposed to do. . . raise questions, expand their
knowledge of the world, and develop useful skills. Certainly, in NADEC,
this was the time that `equal opportunities' came to the head of the agenda.
Throughout this period, grassroots DE was establishing democratic, organisational
structures, moving towards equal opportunity work practice, and
using inter- active teaching and decision-taking methods.
The role of the development/aid agencies (NGDOs) in formulating
the content and activities of DE has been very significant. Their continuing
support for grassroots development activity in the struggle to alleviate
poverty and injustices in the South, has provided them with a wealth of
experience. They have monitored the impact of socioeconomic and environmental
factors on ordinary people's lives over many decades, and witnessed the
reorganisation of a world emerging from a world war and European imperial
influence. DE programmes and activities have tapped this experience in
many ways, and NGDOs remain a primary source of information, contacts,
and source material for DE.
DE has also benefited from the commitment of increasing numbers of
volunteers returning to the UK after working overseas in rural or urban
communities. They have examined what they have learned from their experience
and how it might link with awareness raising amongst the UK public. VSO
(Voluntary Services Overseas), RVA (Returned Volunteer Action) and other
volunteer organisations developed induction and training programmes which
channelled returned volunteers' interests towards development activities.
People related to the tragedy in almost personal ways. It inspired very
imaginative and generous acts; and these influences have prevailed on all
our thinking since then.
Live aid, Band Aid, Comic relief - all kinds of Aid- received wide-spread
popular support and drew on the commitment and participation of the rich
and famous- particularly from the world of entertainment. It became `cool'
for rock musicians and new-wave comedians to be identified with development,
particularly in Africa.
Media coverage and responsibility for the presentation of
popular images and public understanding of disasters became prime DE
concerns, not least because ideas about Africa became graphically stereotyped
through the repetition of harrowing pictures from Ethiopia and Sudan. A
large number of projects and training programmes were organised on visual
and verbal images and messages. This activity included the multi-national
`Images of Africa' project and still continues with strategies to implement
the EC NGDO network's Code of Conduct on Images and Messages produced in
1989. Many NGDOs subsequently adopted codes of conduct or guidelines on
the use and publication of visual and written material describing people
and their situations, particularly in the South. Grassroots DE reflected
the same concerns in active work in school classrooms, exhibitions and
public education.
Influences and Trends
During this period, DE's internal process included assimilating pedagogical
influences with regard to content, analysis and methodology, particularly
in the production of education materials. This growing professionalism
was translated into educational programmes adapted to the learning environment
and organisational structures of both the formal and informal sectors.
In particular, formal sector (schools) work, involving close working relationships
with teachers and Local Education Authorities (LEAs), has been very effective.
But writers about the national DE scene during the formative years
of the 70s and early 80s tend to support the view that " DE lacks a clear
definition and there is no wholly consistent usage of the term" (idem !).
Definitions ranged from bland statements about spreading knowledge
of interdependence to- analyses of maldistribution of resources. However,
grassroots DE activists tended to adopt the NADEC definition, which is
given at the end of this report.
Images and Messages
The famine in Ethiopia and Sudan in the mid 1980s marked a watershed
in the positioning of NGDOs in the UK. Their income and support more than
doubled in a 2-3 year period. The famine, through extensive media coverage,
caused an upsurge in people's awareness about the cause and effect of what
were once seen as natural disasters. Since then few would consider famine
as an `act of God', or simply a climatic phenomenon.