14
Introduction
In Chapter 13, we discussed the growth of democracy and the influence of that political ideology on the history of educational ideas. The years of the Second World War represented a high point of that development. The result was a victory for the democratic powers and the general defeat of the anti-democratic forces followed by a programme of re-education in Germany, Italy and Japan.
Soon after the end of the war, other non-democratic countries such as Spain and Portugal adopted democratic constitutions with consciously democratic educational programmes involving free universal education including secondary education. Later still, in the 1980s and 1990s countries in the Eastern block including the USSR renounced communist or Marxist policies and their education systems. Apart from China and a few other Far Eastern nations, most of the world, including South Africa, were committed to democracy, and, officially, to democratic education systems. In addition to the initiatives of individual countries, a number of international agencies began to promulgate aspects of democratic education, especially the goal of universal literacy. UNESCO, OECD and the World Bank were particularly influential in the second half of the twentieth century.
At this stage it will be helpful to go back some years, before the end of the Second World War, to see the origins of some of these more recent but highly significant educational ideas and their application in the context of 'internationalism'.
International understanding
International co-operation in education can be traced back at least as far as the seventeenth century in post-reformation Europe when Comenius, who had experienced the horrors of the Thirty Years' War, planned a pansophic college to promote the idea of mutual understanding among all the varieties of Christianity and all the nations involved.1 The college failed for a number of reasons, including financial problems, but the ideas of international co-operation in education and education as a means of encouraging peace lived on and were discussed again in the eighteenth century by Rousseau and, in different ways, by Kant and others. Comenius was also an early advocate of universal literacy
In the nineteenth century, after the Napoleonic wars, the French educator Marc-Antoine Julien (1775-1848) recommended an international organisation to collect and analyse educational ideas and data. Influenced by both Rousseau and Pestalozzi, Julien was also international in his educational thinking and wanted to establish a science of education that included comparative education which he saw as a means of promoting trust and co-operation among politicians and educators.
In the twentieth century, Edward Peters established, in 1908, a publishing house in Ostend which was later connected with the start of the International Bureau of Education (IBE). The First World War interrupted the activities of that organisation, but they were revived after the war under the aegis of the League of Nations. Unfortunately, the early IBE organisation was soon reduced in scope and all but excluded education because at that time many countries were unwilling to submit their own systems to international scrutiny. In 1925 a compromise alternative was found: a privately funded IBE which produced much useful work not least in the field of comparative education, although it lacked the status of an official international organisation. After the Second World War, the IBE became part of the wider UNESCO group of organisations devoted to international education.
The United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
During the Second World War, the Allied Ministers of Education in Exile met in London and discussed education in the post-war world. In April 1944 the allies set up a United Nations Organisation for Educational and Cultural Reconstruction which was followed by the London meeting in 1945 which drafted the constitution of UNESCO. It was attended by such scholars as Julian Huxley (1887-1975) who became the first director-general. UNESCO was soon an organisation which was neither an aid organisation nor a funding agency, but an international organisation concerned with the development of human potential. The word often used in connection with UNESCO is 'facilitate'. Its role is to encourage and assist the transfer and sharing of knowledge on how to improve education systems; knowledge needed to protect the environment; and knowledge giving access to science and technology, as well as strengthening communication capacities, fostering mutual respect and tolerance, democratic participation and awareness of human rights. Another key word is co-operation: UNESCO co-operates with its institutional partners within the United Nations, with member states, as well as nongovernmental organisations. Priority is given to education and the 'sharing and transfer of knowledge' in every one of UNESCO's fields of competence.
By November 1946, 20 states had accepted the UNESCO Constitution, but only one was in Africa and three in Asia. Gradually, especially following decolonisation, more and more African and Asian countries joined UNESCO which became a truly global organisation associated with many significant education reforms throughout the world. From 1947, following the independence of India and Pakistan, increasing numbers of colonial territories became independent nations in Africa and elsewhere. UNESCO provided assistance in many cases. They established experimental and training projects on various aspects of education considered to be particularly relevant to underdeveloped countries. An early example was an institute for training teachers in Mexico in 1951 which was particularly concerned with fundamental education in tropical areas. By the 1990s there was some pressure for UNESCO, and its Institutes, to be less dominated by Western European cultures and education models.
The aims of UNESCO: peace and universal literacy
The aims of UNESCO, as expressed in its Constitution in 1957, include as a major purpose 'to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion'.
Literacy was an enormous problem for most underdeveloped countries. From the 1970s onwards efforts were made to overcome illiteracy by extending primary schooling, and, by experimenting with a new adult education structure or system - development education building the four elements of agricultural improvement, health care, selfgovernment and literacy education into a simple practical programme. As poorer countries developed they tended to try to copy the developed world by instituting secondary education for large proportions of the population, often without adequate financing to provide an efficient system, including teacher training. Such overambitious programmes frequently conflicted with more modest but realistic principles of development education, although both shared the aim of universal literacy.
UNESCO/International Institute for Education Planning (IIEP)
In 1963 an institute of educational planning had been set up in Paris to advise and train educational administrators, especially those from developing countries. This International Institute for Educational Planning arranged seminars and working parties on problems in developing countries, sent experts to advise and work in those countries and held large conferences to plan development for whole regions: for example, the conference in Karachi (1960) for South and East Asia and Addis Ababa (1961) for Africa. The essential feature was to assist nations in the preparation of their own plans, as well as experimenting with literacy projects and improving curricula. Technical education was a priority, but was often less successful than general education projects. Following the 1990 Jomtien Conference on Education for All, the HEP took the lead in developing strategies for educational planning and management at times of crisis, with ideas on flexible planning and strategic choice being developed for member states. HEP is funded by a UNESCO financial allocation, but also by voluntary contributions from individual member states, from other national entities, and by contracts for specific projects.
UNESCO/The International Bureau for Education (IBE)
As we observed above, an earlier form of the IBE pre-dated UNESCO. It was founded in 1925 in Geneva as a non-governmental institution, as part of the education reform movement of the 1920s and the beginning of intergovernmental co-operation within the League of Nations. In 1969, the IBE became an integral part of UNESCO, whilst retaining intellectual autonomy. The IBE is responsible for the International Conference on Education (ICE) which normally meets every two years in Geneva, convened by the Director-General of UNESCO. The IBE houses a documentation centre which includes a large collection of national reports of educational development. IBE also organises training activities and has published such reference works as the International Yearbook of Education as well as Prospects which is an international review of comparative education. Despite its illustrious history, including being headed for some years by Jean Piaget, the IBE has found it more difficult to develop a truly distinctive role within the UNESCO structure, and has become an international centre for information on educational content and methods (curriculum) and their renewal.
UNESCO/United Nations Institute of Education (UIE)
The UIE was established in Hamburg in 1951, when the Federal Republic of Germany joined UNESCO. It began as an international institute promoting dialogue between educators and researchers. It now specialises in adult and non-formal education within a framework for lifelong learning, and its work includes research, training and documentation dissemination. There is an extensive exchange network on Literacy and Adult Learning in Industrialised and Developing Countries. The Institute also has a documentation centre, and publishes the well-known International Review of Education. Currently the three priorities agreed by the governing board for UIE are: (1) following up the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education; (2) reinforcing national capacity for promoting the right for all to learn, and the provision of adult learning opportunities; (3) analysing the transitions of education systems towards lifelong learning.
All three institutes are established within the framework of UNESCO, have a governing body elected or appointed according to statutes approved by UNESCO, reporting to the General Conference of UNESCO, and receive funding from UNESCO. The Director of each institute is appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO.
UNESCO and Developing Countries
The United Nations also set up a special development fund which UNESCO helps to administer. UNESCO produces reports, statistical analyses, journals and books intended to guide educators in developing countries.
North African countries were among the first to achieve independence: Libya in 1951, Tunisia and Morocco in 1956 and Algeria in 1962. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Gold Coast became independent Ghana in 1959, soon followed by Nigeria in 1960, Sierra Leone in 1961 and Gambia in 1965. In many of these countries vast sums of money have been spent on education but not always with great success. This has sometimes been blamed on 'the colonial legacy' of over-formal teaching and academic curricula, but attempts to introduce practical work on non-Western models, as in Tanzania under Nyere, have not stood the test of time either. There was an important UNESCO conference on Education and Scientific and Technical Training in relation to development in Africa in Nairobi in 1968. It would seem to be true that no complete solution has yet been found to education in developing countries either copying Western models or trying to develop a uniquely African or Asian alternative.
The work of UNESCO has sometimes been criticised on grounds of political bias. Certainly some programmes appeared to encourage anticapitalist propaganda. In 1984 the USA, which contributed 25 per cent of the UNESCO budget withdrew its support having attacked its 'over-politicisation'. The United Kingdom followed the United States' example and withdrew in 1985. After a change of Director-General and the election of a Labour Government, the United Kingdom rejoined in 1997.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic development and world trade, especially but not exclusively among its member states; it has sometimes been criticised for being a 'rich man's club' of affluent, developed countries. In some respects it was an extension internationally of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, which had been set up in 1948 to co-ordinate the application of post-war US aid to Europe under the Marshall Plan. A major purpose of the OECD is to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in member countries, whilst maintaining financial stability. This aim is achieved partly by liberalising international trade and the movement of capital. A second aim is the co-ordination of economic aid to underdeveloped countries. Much of the educational work of OECD is carried out by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) which is based in Paris. The OECD/CERI publish reviews of national policies for education of its member countries and in recent years has been concerned particularly with the question of quality in education, which is only partly a question of 'value for money'. The work of OECD/CERI also illustrates the close connection in the post-war world between education and economic efficiency.
The World Bank
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) is affiliated with the United Nations and is dedicated to the purpose of financing productive projects that further the economic development of member nations. Like OECD and UNESCO, the World Bank is a post-war development, initially set up in 1946 as a result of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference (1944) at Bretton Woods in the USA. At first, World Bank loans were directly concerned with post-war reconstruction projects, but by 1949 the focus moved towards loans for economic development outside Europe. By the end of the century the World Bank was by far the largest organisation concerned with development, and education was seen as an important prerequisite for many kinds of economic progress. In addition to negotiating loans for developing countries, the World Bank provides technical assistance, including educational advice. Its activities illustrate the close connection between economics and education; but the Bank has sometimes been criticised for having a narrowly economic view of the purpose of education.
Since 1945, education has ceased to be a purely local or national concern. It has become international in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons. Individual nations have realised that just as 'no man is an island' we are now, as independent nations, all part of a global community sharing such problems as peace, the environment, global warming and overpopulation. To some extent these are all educational issues of a political kind. International agencies have encouraged co-operation of various kinds and they have also promoted comparative studies, including the evaluation of standards achieved in different education systems. Cooperation can only be helpful in education as in many other spheres, but there are dangers. For example, comparative educationists have warned about 'naive cultural borrowing', and there may also be a danger of agencies like the World Bank wanting to promote one single model of educational development. There is a narrow path to be trodden between extreme cultural relativism and cultural imperialism.
Universal Literacy, Multicultural Education and Interculturalism
Part of the ideal of universal literacy was a concern for equality of opportunity. Some educationists, for example, Paolo Freire,2 always linked literacy to a teaching method, or pedagogy, which dealt with the real, everyday concerns of the under-privileged, or in his terms, 'The oppressed'. For Freire, literacy was part of a programme of civic liberation for those who had been denied access to formal education or who had been failed by it.
International comparisons of adult literacy have shown that even advanced industrial countries have high levels of functional illiteracy, that is, the inability to read and write to cope with everyday needs such as filling in job application forms or reading a bus timetable. The reasons for this kind of illiteracy are at least two-fold: the failure of conventional schooling systems to deal adequately with those who in the past were excluded from schooling systems, for example, peasants in Brazil or lower working-class children in England. The second reason for failure, in many European countries, is the presence of large numbers of children of immigrants who do not easily fit into the normal school system either for reasons of language or cultural differences or both. The response of some countries, including England, to the latter problem was 'multicultural education'. This was an attempt to promote respect for minority cultures by teachers, pupils and others, and to make special efforts to overcome linguistic difficulties. This approach has, in some places, evolved into more positive cultural programmes distinguished by the title 'intercultural'. One aspect of such programmes is to oppose the idea of cultural uniqueness (such as the supposed cultural purity of Aryan Germany) and to emphasise the interdependence of cultures and national traditions. At the Institute of Education, University of London, for example, the Centre for Multicultural Education has been renamed and redeveloped as the International Centre for Intercultural Studies (ICIS). In an article he has written Jagdish Gundara3 reminds us that Ancient Greece, the cradle of European civilisation, owed much to Egypt and Phoenicia.
Applying these ideas to the educational scene, Gundara is fond of using the word 'entitlement' in the context of literacy and educational opportunity. This is not surprising since 'entitlement' is part of the discourse of 'rights' in the tradition of UNESCO programmes. He makes the valid point that to establish a national curriculum by legislation is by no means the same as making it accessible to all. In a separate article on citizenship education, Gundara relates citizenship to both entitlement and the need to look beyond schools for the education solution:
It is not only what children are taught and what they learn but also their actual experiences at school which contribute to their understanding of their rights and their responsibilities as future citizens. So, a democractic school ethos is important and this needs to be experienced in the context of the wider community. The role of youth work, further and other formal and non-formal life-long learning are all-important. There is an African adage that `It takes a whole village to educate a child.' There is obviously a lot to this adage but nowadays it is possible that the village itself will need reeducating. This is especially true because both young people and adults are not sufficiently educated to understand the historical and contemporary underpinnings of society and issues of citizenship and belonging within it.4
Perhaps the key to entitlement in education is citizenship: all members of a community should feel they have a right or entitlement to literacy and other kinds of access to education; those responsible for education policies must make sure that not only is education available but is also genuinely accessible to all. Hence the term 'inclusive education' which is increasingly used in educational discourse about those sections of the community deprived of access to education - the excluded.
References
1. D. Murphy, Comenius (Irish Academic Press, 1995), p. 25.
2. P. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Penguin, 1971).
3. J. Gundara, 'Values, National Curriculum and Diversity in British Society', in P. O'Hear and J. White (eds), Assessing the National Curriculum (Paul Chapman, 1993), p. 72.
4. J. Gundara, 'Social Diversity, Inclusiveness and Citizenship Education', in D. Lawton, J. Cairns and R. Gardner (eds). Education for Citizenship (Continuum, 2000), pp. 14-26.
Further Reading
Coombs, P., The World Crisis in Education (Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1968).
Mayor, F„ UNESCO - An Ideal in Action (UNESCO, Paris, 1997).