Written Evidence submitted by NEAD
1. SUMMARY:
— We at NEAD fully support the DFID's Building
Support for Development Agenda.
— We know that the project grants from
DFID's Development Awareness Fund (DAF) and the Enabling Effective
Support (EES) initiative have contributed to far greater global
awareness and actions amongst many thousands of people in our
local area and region.
— We also know from contacts with other
DECs and Development Education practitioners that the DAF fund
and EES has enabled them to initiate many more Global Citizenship
activities in their local areas, regions and countries.
— We therefore urge this Committee, and
all MPs, not only to maintain DFID's funding for increased public
awareness but also to consider increasing it so that more people
can be equipped with the necessary knowledge, attitudes and skills
to participate in our increasingly multicultural society and globalised
world
— Lastly, we would like to make some recommendations.
2. NEAD: BACKGROUND
2.1. NEAD, (Norfolk Education & Action
for Development), originally known as the Third World Centre,
was the first Development Education Centre in Britain when it
registered as a charity in 1973. From its roots as a small organisation
staffed mainly by volunteers, it has grown into a respected authority
on a range of global issues. Our Norwich and King's Lynn offices
are now often the first point of contact for teachers, community
groups and individuals keen to increase their own and their pupils'
understanding of the wider world. (for more information on the
history of NEAD see http://www.nead.org.uk/history ).
NEAD aims to "work locally for global justice
and equality" by:
— Showing the links that exist between
people throughout the world.
— Raising awareness about inequalities
in our world and increasing understanding of their causes.
— Promoting ways in which people can take
action to create a more just and sustainable world.
2.2. I am Sandy Betlem, currently the Schools
Work Co-ordinator and the longest serving staff member at NEAD.
I was appointed as a Schools Worker in November 1989. At that
time there were just two workers each working 10 hours a
week with an annual turnover of approx £20,000 p.a.
Today NEAD has a staff of 6 full and part time workers (Full
Time Equivalent four staff posts) with a turnover of approximately
£250,000.
2.3. Most of the funding for our educational
activities come from programme or project grants. Between 1989 and
2008 NEAD received grants from Oxfam, Christian Aid, UNICEF,
Norwich City Council, National Lottery, the European Community
and a range of other organisations and Trusts, but these are declining.
Since 1999 we have received funding from DFID's Development
Awareness Fund (DAF) and been provided support to develop local
and regional partnerships as a result of the DFID's "Enabling
Effective Support" initiative since 2002. These derived from
DFID's strategy paper "Building Support for Development".
Below I have tried to set out some of the achievements in
our local area as a result of this key support from DFID.
3. Achievements resulting from DFID funding
and Support:
During the past 10 years we have received
DAF funding for work on 7 major projects.
3.1. Just Business (1999-2004): This
was one of the first DAF funded projects. It aimed to support
and encourage the integration of global and ethical dimension
into the teaching of Economics and Business Studies locally regionally
and nationally. Over the life of this project NEAD staff delivered:
quality INSET (In Service Education Training) and CPD (Curriculum
Professional Development) sessions for over two thousand Local
Authority (LA) Education Advisers, Teachers and Trainee Teachers;
developed a range of classroom educational resources; initiated
one of the first development awareness websites (which again was
successfully used by many other teachers and educators) and organised
workshops and conferences for over a thousand secondary school
Economics and Business Studies Students. That work continues with
the website still being accessed and a number of Global Citizenship
days still being run for students in Initial Teacher Education
institutions across England. http://www.jusbiz.org/
3.2. Developing Citizenship (2002-05):
NEAD was invited, with two other Development Education Centres
(Cheshire and Manchester), by Oxfam, Save the Children and UNICEF
UK to explore and develop ways in which the new Citizenship curriculum
could be utilised to embed the global dimension in secondary schools
practice and policies. As its contribution, NEAD worked intensively
with eight Secondary Schools in Norfolk and Suffolk (the other
DECs did the same in their local areas). As a result we developed
a range of ideas, strategies and resources which were disseminated
nationally through a website and other opportunities. We estimate
that this project directly influenced the practice of over 250 teachers
and the learning experience of over 5,000 students in our
eight schools and many, many other students, teachers and schools
through dissemination. http://www.nead.org.uk/schools/developingcitizenship
3.3. Developing Local Partnerships for
Global Events (2003-07): was a project which aimed to empower
local community groups, volunteers and others to deliver development
awareness events for people living locally and regionally. This
community focussed project utilised three key national initiatives.
Black History Month (October), Fair Trade Fortnight (March) and
Refugee Week (June) to develop the awareness and knowledge of
thousands of people (many of whom might be unaware of key development
issues) through the staging of a wide range of project events.
Project staff also targeted and developed excellent working relationships
with local media so that their coverage of events and issues created
far greater awareness and understanding of global issues locally
and regionally. Sustainability was reached in 2007 when at
the end of the project the three partnership groups continued
to organise events around the issues with little further NEAD
support. http://www.nead.org.uk/community/dlpge
3.4. Students 4 Global Action (2006-09):
This mini-project aimed to enable young people in Norfolk and
Suffolk secondary schools to take action on local/global issues
in their own schools and local communities. This was achieved
by organising biannual conferences in Norfolk and Suffolk where
over 750 year 8 and 9 students (13-16 year
olds) from 50 secondary schools could learn through plenary activities
and workshops about some of the key development issues in our
(their) world. After lunch they were supported to draw up their
own Action Plans on the issues they felt most strongly about (Fair
Trade, Cultural Diversity, Climate Change, Our Unequal World,
etc). Thereafter project staff visited the school groups and/or
offered remote support. Some of the outcomes were: student organised
Fair Trade activities, student led assemblies on the myths and
stereotypes surrounding Refugees and Asylum Seekers, student produced
displays which highlighted the impact of global poverty overseas
and the effects it might have locally and in two cases student
groups campaigning and fundraising to build wind turbines on their
school grounds to reduce their schools and their local communities
global footprint (a very tall order!!). http://www.nead.org.uk/schools/s4ga
3.5. Global Messengers (2006-09):
A three year project that aims to develop ways to support ASTs
(Advanced Skills Teachers), LEA Advisers, ITE (Initial Teacher
Education) tutors and others who regularly visit schools in order
that they can help teachers across East Anglia who want to integrate
international development issues into their teaching and across
the whole school curriculum. The target was to recruit and support
75 of these people to become Global Messengers. Thus far
(Feb 2009) we have recruited 124 in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire
and Essex. We also have 28 "guest" or national
Global Messengers. A new tool that this project developed is the
Global Messenger Pen Drive. Again as a result of this project
we believe that NEAD as a result of DFID funding, using Global
Messengers as key multipliers, have influenced the teaching of
over 5,000 teachers, who in turn will influence the views
of at least 50,000 young people in primary and secondary
schools across East Anglia. N.B Some samples of the Global Messenger
Pen Drive can be made available to the Committee (+ instructions)
http://www.nead.org.uk/schools/globalmessengers
3.6. Global Schools UK (2006-08):
This was a national project co-ordinated by Leeds DEC, NEAD was
invited to contribute to the regional focus of this project as
a result of our experience with the Developing Citizenship project
(see 3.2 above). This project involved NEAD staff in recruiting
and supporting teachers in six secondary schools in our region,
schools who wish to provide their students with a greater and
deeper knowledge and understanding of the world they live in and
the skills they need to fully and actively engage with it. The
teachers' working groups in each school developed at least 6 new
lesson plans in six curriculum areas (a total of 36 per school).
In the event in our region over 200 new lesson plans were
developed. These were sent to Leeds DEC who will make these available
to every school in the UK. http://www.nead.org.uk/schools/globalschoolsuk
and http://www.leedsdec.org.uk/
3.7. Developing New Audiences (2008-11):
As a result of consultations with King's Lynn primary head-teachers,
it was identified that a key issue for them was the large increase
in the past 2-3 years of children coming into their schools
with English as an Additional Language (EAL) needs. This results
from the large numbers of "new community" members (Black
and Ethnic Minorities, Refugees and Asylum Seekers and in particular,
Migrant Workers) in the West Norfolk area. This project has enabled
us to set up a new NEAD satellite base in Kings Lynn to develop
new educational opportunities and activities that focus on migration,
globalisation & prejudice, and show how a key local issue
is directly related to the Millennium Development goals. The new
West Norfolk base has meant that more schools across this large
rural county are able to access our services. The project is fully
supported by Norfolk Children's Services and the West Norfolk
Community Cohesion Team. http://www.nead.org.uk/schools/wan
3.8. Enabling Effective Support (EES)
(2002-13): NEAD has been involved with EES since 2001. We
convened the first meetings to set up East Anglia's Enabling Effective
Support group (then called East of England Development Education
Network). In 2004 the co-ordinating role was taken over by
an external staff team based at the Harambee Centre (a DEC) in
Cambridge and recently it was renamed as "Global Thinking"
(http://global-thinking.org.uk/). Since 2004, we have continued
to participate as key partners and Steering Group Members and
have witnessed the development of strong cross-sector (Local Education
Authorities, Initial Teacher Training Institutions and NGOs) and
cross-county partnerships, which would have been unthinkable seven
years ago. EEDEN/Global Thinking has supported the development
of local and regional teachers' working groups to develop best
practice, provided small grants for innovative local and regional
projects, organised and supported a wide range of meetings, seminars,
networks, conferences and activities, all of which have stimulated
interest in International Development. Current EES work is becoming
increasingly strategic/ high profile within the formal education
sector. We are helping to shape a more enabling policy environment
in schools and other educational institutions. We also provide
educators with the opportunity to become curriculum developers
as well as curriculum deliverers.
3.9. New Funding Bids to DFID for 2009:
NEAD has submitted 3 new funding applications to the Development
Awareness Fund. These are:
1. Developing New Audiences East: This would
establish a further satellite base in Great Yarmouth (Norfolk
is a very large county, it can take two hours to travel from the
west to the east and if we are to meet local needs we need to
be on the spot) so that we can replicate the successes in West
Norfolk (see 3.7 above) in an area with similar issues.
2. Global English: Working with English departments
in local secondary schools to develop activities to raise awareness
of international issues and the Millennium Development Goals in
the teaching of English—a compulsory subject for all students.
3. Student Global Messengers: Working with the
School of Development Studies at the University of East Anglia
to develop the facilitation skills of their students so that they
can share their derived knowledge of development issues with young
people in local schools.
3.10. Overall Achievement: I hope
that the above information shows how invaluable DFID's support
has been over the past 10 or more years in enabling thousands
and thousands of young people, teachers, Higher Education tutors,
Local Authority Education Advisers, BME groups, the media, businesses
and the general public to become more aware and knowledgeable
about International Development issues and of the role they can
play as global citizens. I strongly suggest that DFID's educational
activities in the UK have played a pivotal role in deepening awareness
and understanding of international issues and increased support
for the Millennium Development Goals.
4. The bigger picture
4.1. NEAD has over the years developed a
range of contacts with other Development Education Centres and
education staff at other International Development NGOs (Oxfam,
Christian Aid, UNICEF, Save the Children etc) and other educationalists
nationally. We know that our experiences are shared by many of
them and of how they have benefited from DFID support in their
endeavours to build public awareness and support for International
Development within people and communities across the UK.
4.2. I was the last chair of the National
Association of Development Education Centres (NADEC) from 1992-94 and
the first chair of the body it morphed into, the national Development
Education Association (DEA), from 1994-98. I then continued as
a DEA Trustee for a further two years. I can remember how limited
and patchy Development Education provision was in the early 90's
and the struggles to gain any government support to educate the
population about International Development issues. I can also
remember the change in 1996 when the then Overseas Development
Agency (DFID's predecessor) announced the first mini grants programme
for Development Education and two years later the inception of
DFID's Development Awareness Fund. Since then, I have witnessed
at first hand, how the Development Education/Global Learning sector
has grown and been enabled to provide quality education about
global citizenship and International Development across the UK.
4.3. The current economic downturn could
have serious consequences for the Development Education sector.
Over the past few years Development Education Centres have had
to adjust to the loss of annual programme grants from UNICEF,
Christian Aid and lately Oxfam—not because they questioned
the quality of our work but because they needed to restructure
their finances. Were DFID's support for public awareness education
to be cut or diminished then there could be serious consequences
not only for support for its overseas work but also in terms of
tolerance of globalised society in Britain.
4.4. There have already been some instances
of xenophobia in Britain as a result of the economic downturn
("British jobs for British Workers", the wildcat strikes
resulting from the recent Lincolnshire refinery dispute) and some
commentators are positing that there will be a rise in myopic
nationalism. Without quality educational activities which develop
the necessary knowledge skills and attitudes for people to become
tolerant human beings and active global citizens this could escalate.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. As is, I hope, obvious from the above
we at NEAD and all our supporters urge you to support and endorse
DFID's efforts over the past 10 years, resist any actions
which cut or limit their support in this area AND lobby to have
their Building Support for Development programme increased.
N.B. Please see attachment "Amy and Elise
are bovvered"—student motivated activity could be replicated
across the UK but only with continuing support
5.2. We would also like to ask why is it
that DFID is the major government department supporting this area
of work?
With the new requirements in the secondary school
curriculum last year and the imminent changes to the primary curriculum
(QCA website http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_5856.aspx) which highlight
the global dimension, sustainable development and cultural diversity
as key whole curriculum changes, it would make sense if support
was available from the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF) to organisations like NEAD.
At a meeting with my local MP a few years ago, when
he was Secretary of State for Education, he suggested that there
should be support like this from the DfES and that it could be
funded. However, in the ensuing cabinet reshuffle he moved to
the Home Office. NEAD and others in the development education
sector have tried to access significant support from the DfES/DCSF
but, as yet, to no avail.
Could members of this Select Committee raise this
either with colleagues in Parliament or members of other Select
Committees who deal with the DCSF?
5.3. Similarly, other government ministries
could contribute to this essential area of global awareness and
international education—eg; Foreign Office (International
Political Literacy), Home Office (Community Cohesion), Department
for Community, Leisure and Sport (awareness of our increasing
cultural diversity). As it is within schools, perhaps the development
awareness agenda could best be served by a pan-departmental approach
at government level?
| 
