Oxfam and the Rise of Development Education in England from 1959 to 1979
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Oxfam and the rise of development education in England from 1959 to 1979 Donald Geoffrey Harrison University of London Institute of Education Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Declaration This thesis of 81,998 words is based on personal research and is entirely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Don Harrison London September 2008 Abbreviations of key organisations and terms ACDE -Advisory Committee on Development Education CEWC - Council for Education in World Citizenship CIIR- Catholic Institute for International Relations CND - Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CPAG- Child Poverty Action Group CRC - Community Relations Council CWDE - Centre for World Development Education DANGO - Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations DCSF - Department for Children, Schools and Families DE- Development Education DEA- Development Education Association DEC - Development Education Centre DES - Department of Education and Science DfES - Department for Education and Skills DfiD- Department for International Development EEC - European Economic Community EIU- Education for International Understanding FAO- Food and Agriculture Organisation FCO - Foreign and Commonwealth Office FFHC - Freedom from Hunger Campaign GCE- General Certificate of Education LNU - League of Nations Union NADEC- National Association of Development Education Centres NGO - Non-Government Organisation NUT- National Union of Teachers ODA- Overseas Development Administration ODI- Overseas Development Institute ODM - Ministry of Overseas Development OWT - One World Trust PGWG - Parliamentary Group for World Government RVA - Returned Volunteer Action SCEIU- Standing Conference on Education for International Understanding SCF I S.C.F. -Save the Children Fund SOAS - School of Oriental and African Studies TANU- Tanzania African National Union (post-1964) UNA I UNA-UK- United Nations Association UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNICEF- United Nations Children's Fund VCOAD - Voluntary Committee on Overseas Aid and Development VSO I V.S.O. -Voluntary Service Overseas WDM -World Development Movement WOW- War on Want WSP- World Studies Project 2 Abstract During the 1960s and 1970s, non-government organisations (NGOs) in England influenced public understanding of Third World development, through lobbying, information and educational programmes. The largest NGO involved in the schools' dimension of this movement for 'development education' was Oxfam. Oxfam's Education Department made a contribution to theory and practice for learning about Third World development, in a wider context of international understanding. Historical studies of changing educational policy during these two decades have mainly focused on interactions between government and the teaching profession, relating to official reports on the changing nature of schools, to Schools Council curriculum development projects, and to Black Paper emphases on standards. This thesis is innovative in its focus on the role of the civic sector, as represented here by Oxfam and a network of organisations which were seeking to improve learning in a specific area of knowledge, skills and values. The methods used to bring Oxfam's educational activity and influence to the light of the present include analyses of NGO and government sources and of interviews with practitioners. The findings show complex interactions within both NGO and government fields and between the two fields. Oxfam's educational visionaries were constrained by internal pressures like fundraising. Government officials had varying views between education and overseas development ministries on appropriate levels of support for development education. The conclusion is that this lack of a co-ordinated understanding of development education limited its entry to state education in England during the 1960s and 1970s, even though Oxfam had a substantial role in the growth of the movement. 3 Contents Contents Page Chapter 1: Introduction 6 The scope of this thesis 6 Research questions 10 Contribution to historical understanding 13 Key areas of the thesis 16 Organisation of the chapters 18 Opportunities for wider research 20 Chapter 2: Research methodology 23 Research in education policy 24 Values in educational research 26 Sources of information from fieldwork 29 Overview of research methodology 36 Chapter 3: Conceptual frameworks 41 Movements for global learning 43 Histories of development education 49 Barriers to curriculum change 56 Conclusions on the rise of development education 62 Chapter 4: World understanding up to 1960 68 Government and the NGO sector in the 1950s 68 The Council for Education in World Citizenship 75 Learning locally: a War on Want exhibition in London 84 Conclusions on world understanding in the 1950s 86 Chapter 5: The development puzzle: 1960-1971 90 Government and the NGO sector in the 1960s 90 Oxfam's Education Department- phase 1 100 Learning locally: an Oxfam Youth Conference at Keele 121 Conclusions on Oxfam's role in the 1960s 124 Chapter 6: Antipoverty: 1971-1974 133 Social welfare networks up to the early 1970s 133 The first development education organisation 134 Learning locally: a housing project in Manchester 153 Conclusions on the Antipoverty approach to learning 157 4 Contents Chapter 7: The vicious circle of neglect: 1971-1977 164 Government and the NGO sector in the 1970s 165 The World Studies Project 174 The Changing World in the Classroom 181 Oxfam's Education Department- phase 2 185 Learning locally: the Third World Centre in Norwich 207 Conclusions on Oxfam's role in the 1970s 208 Chapter 8: The school and the wider world: 1978 218 Government and NGO initiatives 218 Oxfam education initiatives 239 Learning locally: the Coombe Lodge conference 242 Conclusions on connecting strands in 1978 244 Chapter 9: Conclusion 251 Appendices 1. Terms, people and organisations 270 2. Oxfam round-table discussion 274 Bibliography Informants 289 Archives 290 Government publications 291 Books, articles and theses 292 List of figures Fig. 1: Time table of key organisations 7 Fig. 2: Mapping fields for development education 55 Fig. 3: The 'Vicious Circle' of Neglect 183 Fig. 4: Robin Richardson's map for World Studies 236 Fig. 5: A map of Development Education Centres 255 5 I, Chapter 1 Chapter One Introduction This thesis is a study of the rise of development education as a field of learning in England during the two United Nations 'Development Decades' of the 1960s and 1970s. Learning in schools about the developing world was stimulated and supported by non-government organisations (NGOs), particularly Oxfam and Christian Aid, which were growing in income and public influence during these decades. The main theme of the thesis is the role played by the Education Department of Oxfam in the growth of development education as a movement, both through liaison with other NGOs and with the two most important Government Ministries, for Education and for Overseas Development. The scope of this thesis NGOs are organisations in UK civil society that have been and are independent of government. From Victorian philanthropic organisations like Dr Barnardo's Homes, through the founding of The Save the Children Fund (SCF) in 1919 to the period of this research, terminologies have changed, with 'NGO' progressively preferred to 'charity'. The Charity Commission, based on laws dating back to the Elizabethan era and only recently revised by the current Labour Government, has acted as a controller of NGO activities in the United Kingdom. At times NGOs trying to raise awareness of development issues have been challenged by the Commission for supposed 'politicisation'. The NGOs studied here are those with charitable purposes related to Third World aid and development, like Oxfam, and those with purposes related to global awareness and education like the Council for Education in World Citizenship (CEWC). The 6 Chapter 1 former organisation was more involved in 'development awareness' while the latter one was more involved in 'world-minded education'. This distinction between 'education' and 'development' is highlighted in the table below which attempts to map key events in the emergence of development education in England in relation to changes in the NGO sector (the two central columns) and in central government (the two outer columns). The aim of this is to show some of the complexity of social and political forces and changes in public attitude which caused the emergence of development education. The thesis as a whole is a study of these intersecting trends, aiming to illustrate how the strategic decision making of one development NGO influenced a network of similar NGOs and the decision making of central government in relation to learning about development in schools. OFFICIAL WORLD-MINDED DEVELOPMENT OFFICIAL EDUCATION EDUCATION AWARENESS DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONS ORGANISATIONS 1940s CEWC Oxfam 1950s Ministry of Commonwealth War on Want Education: Institute Christian Aid Circular 294 1960s DES (1964) Education Freedom from ODM (1964) Advisory Hunger Campaign Committee of (1960) PGWG (1960) Oxfam Education Department (1964) VCOAD (1965) 1970s Circular 9/76 World Studies Birmingham DEC ACDE Report (1976) Project (1973) (1975) (1978) SCEIU (1978) CWDE (1977) 1980s World Studies 8-13 NADEC 1990s DfES DEA DfiD 2000s DCSF Enabling Global Dimension Effective