Foreword Tothe2009forerunner to Efforts

Foreword ForewordForeword When the Commonwealth Consortium for the hope that our association was about to Education (CCfE) was debating whether to place human development at its centre. reissue this collection of review essays on Commonwealth co-operation in education, What is so disappointing about the latest we could not then imagine how important it proposal that the Secretariat should disengage would become to reach out once again, as in from education is that it has been made 2009, to a wide audience with a reminder of without serious consultation or review the extent and value of these collaborative of Commonwealth capacity and roles in efforts. education for which we have consistently called. The initial discussion papers have In the Foreword to the 2009 forerunner to been devoid of the analysis and evidence that the current volume, I wrote: should underpin such a far-reaching proposal. The Consortium earnestly hopes that “Education lies at the heart both of Education Ministers at 18CCEM in Mauritius Commonwealth relationships and of will insist on the need for proper reflection Commonwealth achievement. There before any irreversible decision or precipitate has not, however, always been adequate action is taken. We hope the evidence in these recognition of the extent of collaboration pages and in our companion Commonwealth and of what has been accomplished. In part Education Directory will remind them of the this may reflect the difficulty of getting a great comparative advantage that the depth holistic picture: reflecting the fact that and breadth of Commonwealth infrastructure co-operation in education takes such in education brings. Sir Shridath Ramphal a wide variety of forms, and exchanges hardly exaggerated in describing this as “the occur through so many different Jewel in the Commonwealth Crown”. programmes and institutional channels. This lack of awareness can be dangerous, I would like to thank all the organisations as when, at the start of this decade, the and individual authors who have helped Commonwealth’s High-Level Group to bring this publication to fruition in an on the future of the Commonwealth extraordinarily short time. I am particularly overlooked the role of education as one gratified that Michael Crossley and Dame of the principal foundations on which Pearlette Louisy have enabled us to add a the Commonwealth association rests Chapter on educational co-operation in and a key to its future development. For small states of the Commonwealth. This is a time it even seemed as if promotion of both because Ministers will be meeting for educational co-operation might disappear 18CCEM in Mauritius, the island state where from the functions undertaken by the the Secretariat began its influential work Commonwealth Secretariat.” on Education in Small states 27 years ago; and because this area as much as any other It is astonishing that the very same threat bears testimony to the importance of the should re-emerge at the end of a decade in Secretariat’s role in developing new insights which Commonwealth Heads of Government and pioneering programmes to address issues have reiterated so many times at successive of central concern to its member states. CHOGMs that education is a top priority for Commonwealth member states. It is We also acknowledge our debt to the a decade in which the Commonwealth of Commonwealth Foundation for its financial Learning has consolidated its place as a backing and to Peter Williams our Secretary major player in international educational for again acting as editor, very ably assisted by co-operation; the Commonwealth Teacher James Urwick. Recruitment Protocol and Endowment Fund for the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan have been launched; and our Colin Power own Consortium has matured and made its Chair, Commonwealth Consortium mark. It has ended with publication of a report for Education from the Eminent Persons Group entitled A Commonwealth of the People, a title inspiring August 2012 -1- Commonwealth-booklet-2012-V7.indd 1 09/08/2012 18:23 Chapter 1 Chapter 1: COMMONWEALTH CO-OPERATION IN EDUCATION: A PROFILE Peter Williams Introduction or protectorates. Appendix 2 shows the present members by date of joining the Commonwealth Language, law and learning, it is often said, as independent states. are the three main pillars underpinning the Commonwealth association. The third of them, The Commonwealth Secretariat was founded education, is an area where collaboration is in 1965. The five Commonwealth Secretaries- especially well developed on a scale that has General to date have been Arnold Smith (1965- earned educational co-operation the accolade of 75), Shridath Ramphal (1975-90), Emeka Anyaoku “Jewel in the Commonwealth Crown”.1 (1990-2000), Don McKinnon (2000-2008) and Kamalesh Sharma (since 2008). In part, the prominence of Learning in Commonwealth interchange reflects the inter- Starting in 1966, meetings of Commonwealth relationship between the three pillars. For the prime ministers, and later Heads of Government commonalities in English-language use, and in the Meetings (CHOGMs), have taken place regularly, legal/institutional frameworks that are derived normally every two years. These lay down from shared history and traditions, provide Commonwealth policies and priorities. Landmark sound bases for exchanges in education. statements setting out fundamental principles Collaboration in education takes many different came from Singapore in 1971, and Zimbabwe forms. It extends across the spectrum of (the Harare Declaration) in 1991. Following multilateral co-operation, shared regional the CHOGM held in Perth (Australia) in 2011, institutions in some parts of the world, bilateral consideration is being given to enshrining co-operation between individual governments, some of these principles and values in a activities of Commonwealth civil-society “Commonwealth Charter”. associations and professional bodies in education, a host of unregulated movements of individual From time to time governments have called students and teachers going to learn and teach for a review of the Commonwealth’s priorities in a Commonwealth country abroad, and and purposes. For example in 2001 a High- commercial transactions in educational goods Level Group made recommendations to the and services. Brisbane-Coolum CHOGM, and in 2010 an Eminent Persons Group was formed under the This introductory chapter attempts to provide chairmanship of a former Prime Minister of an overview, charting the main elements in Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Badawi, and submitted education co-operation in the Commonwealth. its report, “A Commonwealth of the People”, Given that the question has recently been raised to the Perth CHOGM in 2011. It was this last whether the Commonwealth Secretariat should report, with its call (Recommendation 62) for divest itself of its education functions, and out- the Secretary-General to advise governments source the co-ordination of Commonwealth on areas of work that could be retired, that co-operation in education to others, it becomes has opened up the debate as to whether more relevant than ever to understand the the Secretariat should retain an educational range and depth of the overall resource, and the function. According to the EPG, grounds for capacities of the other major players who might retirement would be that there is no specific be called on to undertake new responsibilities. Commonwealth advantage, that Commonwealth resources are too insignificant relative to those The modern Commonwealth is generally of other organisations, or that the work overall considered to date from 1949 when it was has demonstrated no significant impact. agreed that the republican status of newly independent India and Pakistan should not be In education, the year 1959 is normally regarded barriers to Commonwealth membership. Today’s as the start of the modern era of co-operation, Commonwealth comprises 53 states that vary because that is when the first Commonwealth widely in physical and population size, and Education Conference took place and the which are diverse in ethnic, religious, cultural decision was taken to launch the Commonwealth and linguistic make-up. Almost all (Mozambique Scholarship and Fellowship Plan and to set up and Rwanda are exceptions) have had a historic a central secretariat to facilitate liaison in the connection with Britain as former dependencies education sector between member countries. 1 S. Ramphal, “Education: Jewel in the Commonwealth Crown”, The Round Table 98, no. 405 (2009): 663–678. -2- Commonwealth-booklet-2012-V7.indd 2 09/08/2012 18:23 Chapter 1 One should note, however, that parts of today’s Box 1.1 Heads of Government infrastructure have much earlier origins. For Statements on Education example the Association of Commonwealth Universities was founded in 1913, and the Abuja, Aso Rock Declaration, 2003 Commonwealth Institute (forerunner of the “Education, whether formal or informal, is central to Commonwealth Education Trust) in 1886. development in any society and is of the highest priority The first of a series of Imperial Education to the Commonwealth. In an increasingly divided and Conferences was held in 1911. insecure world, education must play a crucial role for people, both young and old, for them to optimise their opportunities and to bridge divides.” The multilateral framework in education Valletta Communiqué, 2005 Heads “affirmed the centrality of education to (1) The political level development and democracy, as it provides the foundation

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