Funding precipice: baby and bath water

I attended two different development education conferences last week. Both were interesting in their own way but confirming two sides of the coin of what development education means to me.

The first was a big university event: 120 people. Intro-lecture-lecture. Good stuff. Only a few questions which are treated by the audience as ‘look at me’ opportunities. Break into five large groups for two more presentations. Little dialogue, no conversation. Lots of academic language. The panel session at the end had a bit of verbal sparring (but less than half the attendance of the morning session). It wasn’t exclusively about formal education and there were few teachers in attendance but it was mostly opinion (sorry, research) about what other people should do.

The second was the project finale by a small local organisation with information about the project and the evaluation process in a group of schools. It had a reflective and modest tone. The real purpose, though, was to hear the young people (Year 9) involved in the project give their presentations. These were very impressive, confident and articulate, with one group of five delivering off-by-heart. It deserved a much larger audience.

I feel the first category is still being indulged with funding while the second type is seriously under threat throughout the country. I feel the first has only slight impact on the second but could not exist at all without the genuine hands-on support and guidance work at a grass roots level. I know which is most important and which is most under threat from the lack of funding.

But how is this vital local work to be sustained?

Development Education Research Centre (DERC), University of London Institute of Education
Development and development education conference
www.ioe.ac.uk/research/150.html
See also
London Global Teacher Network www.lgtn.org.uk/

World Education Development Group (WEDG), Canterbury
"My Dad says..."
www.wedg.org.uk/index.php/news/111-qmy-dad-saysq-conference-and-student-competition-final