Scottish Government

Think Global, Act Local
International Education in Communities

Introduction

In our rapidly shrinking world, the fates of people across the world are more and more bound together. The new global challenges, whether it is climate change, or crime, or terrorism, or mass migration, these are problems that we solve together as one global community or not at all.

"Young people must develop the competence, confidence and contacts, which will secure their place and influence in an increasingly global society" Tony Blair, Prime Minister, 1998

"We in Scotland will not be all that we can be unless we lift our eyes to the horizon and look beyond our own set of circumstances.... There is injustice internationally which those of us who believe in a fairer distribution of power, wealth and opportunity cannot and will not accept. Ultimately we are all interdependent, we share the same planet and the actions of one will matter to others"
Jack McConnell - Johannesburg Summit 2002

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical guide for those working in the field of community learning and development in Scotland. It explains why adopting an international approach can enhance the effectiveness of the learning and development activities here, and help people, young and old, to play a more active role in the global community.

In An International Outlook - Educating Young Scots about the World, published in 2001, the Scottish Executive recognised the important role that international education should play within Scottish schools. That report also highlighted the need to promote international education as an integral part of community learning and development.

Community learning and development is an approach to working with people of all ages and backgrounds within their communities. The Scottish Executive defines this as 'informal learning and social development with individuals and groups in their communities. It seeks to strengthen communities through enhancing people's confidence, knowledge and skills, organisational ability and resources'.

Community learning and development is based on a clear set of values, founded upon a commitment to the following:

• Empowerment - increasing the ability of individuals and groups to influence community circumstances;
• Participation - supporting people to take part in decision-making;
• Inclusion, equal opportunity and anti-discrimination - recognising that some people have more restricted opportunities and influence so should be given particular attention;
• Self-determination - supporting the right of people to make their own choices;
• Partnership - recognising that many agencies can contribute to community learning and development, and should work together to make the most of the resources available and to be as effective as possible.

This paper is aimed at a number of audiences, in order to encourage each to work more closely together in providing an international dimension to community-based learning and development activities here in Scotland:

• Community Learning and Development Partnerships, and the public and voluntary agencies in Scotland working together on the ground to support youth work, community work and adult education.
• Development education agencies such as Scottish Education and Action for Development (SEAD) and the International Development Education Association for Scotland (IDEAS).
• International development organisations, such as Voluntary Service Overseas, Save the Children Fund and Oxfam.
• Training agencies responsible for the initial and continuing professional development of those working in the community learning and development field.
• Funding bodies.

The paper explains what international education is and challenges agencies to work together to identify and develop programmes and activities. There is much experience to build upon. The European Commission, amongst others, has provided funding for youth exchanges for many years and latterly funding, albeit on a smaller scale, has become available for work around community capacity building or community-based adult learning. This paper encourages the expansion of international education with all ages and communities. It also demonstrates the wide range of activities, which can contribute to an international education dimension for community learning and development.

Part 1 Why international education is important

One in five of the world's population - 1.2 billion people - live in abject poverty, without adequate food, water, sanitation, healthcare or education for their children. And yet this is a time of a growing abundance of knowledge, technology and capital, which is generating growing wealth and material plenty...if we do not do better in reducing inequality it will lead to growing conflict, refugee movements, environmental degradation, disease and natural disasters....we need to work together to promote public understanding of globalisation - both its risks and its benefits.

George Foulkes MP
Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland on the Government's White Paper - Making Globalisation Work for the Poor.2001

We live together as members of neighbourhoods, communities, villages and towns, but also are part of a European and global community. These memberships bring with them rights and responsibilities - but most of us are still comparatively ignorant of what they are.

The fundamental challenge facing us today is one of connection. We can talk about global citizenship, but if people have little idea about the world in which they will become citizens, it is very difficult to turn the concept of citizenship into anything meaningful.

Jon Snow, Broadcaster,
ITN at the Developing Global Citizens' Conference 2000

There is a growing awareness that major challenges concerning xenophobia, citizenship, cultural diversity, religious differences, environmental protection, sustainable food supplies, poverty and human rights face communities across the world. Too often we lack the knowledge, understanding and skills that would enable us to think critically about them, make truly informed decisions and take appropriate action at a personal, local, national and international level.

Community learning and development practice seeks to build the capacity of individuals and communities to understand their circumstances and take greater control of their lives. But how can we fully understand our own circumstances when these are affected by factors from beyond our own country or continent, or by factors within Scotland that may mitigate against cultural diversity, instead of a rich source of mutual learning and sharing? How can we find effective solutions if we have little contact with different communities 'next door', or limited knowledge of similar issues in other parts of the world?

Traditionally, this sector has been outward looking - responsive to ideas from other countries. UK Government, Commonwealth and European Union policy initiatives have for many years encouraged practitioners to take an international perspective, in particular, by facilitating and funding transnational partnerships to promote social inclusion, lifelong learning, volunteering and community action. But are we making the best use of these opportunities, and is there more that we can do to enrich local learning and development work?

The main ideas

Those interested in international education tend to separate two, and increasingly three, related and over-lapping ideas. There is a widely, but perhaps not universally, accepted distinction between international and development education, and a growing view that we also have to be clear about global issues.

• Development education, while a very broad concept, has at its centre, concern for issues related to economic conditions, to all aspects of material and social welfare, such as health, education, communications and other types of infrastructure within countries, and the relationships among countries which influence these issues. These relationships include trade, access to information, international constraints on development, international politics and finance and many more. Necessarily, development education involves a very wide range of cultural and other issues. Fundamentally, development education is concerned with issues of equality and equity.
• International education is generally interpreted as including development education as a central element, but it also emphasises mutual understanding of, and respect for, differences, political, economic and social systems, culture and inter-dependence, whether or not equality and development issues are involved. It values all forms of exchange and mutual learning, ranging from festivals and twinning to issue based collaborations, comparative and theoretical studies, as well as learning that is action orientated.

In reality the two are inter-related as this quotation from the Development Education Commission (Essential Learning for Everyone, 1999) shows:

"Meeting the challenge of development education does not require additions to the curriculum since much of the content is already there. It does require a shift in emphasis towards the values message which should underpin much of the children's (and adults') learning - a sense of obligation towards others, respect for the cultures and lifestyles of all people and a willingness to challenge inequality, racism, bias and ethnocentrism."

The case for an even wider educational concern for global issues includes the notion of global citizenship. This is based upon an awareness that our very survival depends on understanding the widest implications of human interactions, including our interactions with the environment. Responsible action requires acceptance of the idea of the individual as a citizen of the world.

A particularly helpful use of 'global' comes from Save the Children, who refer to Global Child Rights Education as the concept on which their work in education with young people and others is based. It has four aims:

• promoting learning about the world and the reality of children's lives from a child rights perspective
• strengthening the links and exchanges between young people's lives in the North and South, and encouraging their personal development
• focusing on reasons why children's rights are denied or violated- because of global poverty, for example
• acquiring and practising skills to take positive action to fulfil children's rights - both locally and globally through advocacy, campaigning and other voluntary activities.

This paper fully endorses the breadth that the ideas of global education and development education imply but, in view of the use of 'international education' in the formal education sector, adopts the term 'international education'.

International themes should be seen as an integral part of community learning and development, and a growing understanding of them, and of the ways in which they change over time, should be part of a long-term community learning and development strategy. Just as international issues impact on peoples' everyday lives, so international education should continually recognise and help people to develop awareness of these issues.

International education therefore seeks to help people to understand the links between out lives and the social, economic, political and environmental forces which shape our lives. It develops skills, attitudes and values which enable people to take control of their own lives. Ultimately, it works towards achieving a more just world in which power and resources are more equitably shared. As Paul Boateng has put it:

Focusing on global and development issues provides opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to work together to be informed of each other's needs, difficulties, celebrations and achievements. This sharing makes the multicultural community a reality. The contribution of the black and ethnic minority communities to this process is from the heart and is rooted in the experience of transitions, struggle and transformation

The World in our Neighbourhood: Development Education Association (1997) - Foreword by Paul Boateng MP

In Scotland, international education can be a key contributor to building community capacity, promoting personal and social development and supporting the development of a more just world. This will result in a significant increase in social capital ¹. To be internationally educated should be one of the key outcomes of community based learning and development.

¹ Social capital is understood to mean the skills, resources, networks, opportunities, confidence and motivation which characterise empowered communities.

Learning and development objectives

The learning and development objectives for international education within community learning and development are to assist people to:

• understand and appreciate other cultures and ways of life, secure in their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their own culture
• explore issues of international consequence, including international inequalities, and global interdependence in order to establish a sound understanding of what they mean for Scotland and the wider international community
• recognise our interdependence with other countries
• deploy skills that will enable them to enter or stay and survive in the employment market within a fast-changing and increasingly global economy
• develop positive attitudes to life: respecting the views of others, questioning stereotypes and oversimplification of situations, and making sound judgements based on good information
• develop a commitment to common human values
• raise aspirations and achievements
• learn from people in the south about taking action for development
• be active citizens within Scotland, the UK and the world

In the international context, this means supporting activities and programmes in communities to create links and common ground with people and communities in other countries. It is about thinking and acting local and global.

There is a wide range of national and international legislation that underlies these objectives. To take just one significant example, Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covers children's right to participation, while Articles 29 and 30 are particularly helpful in providing a rationale for developing learning about the lives of children in other parts of the world. They state:

Article 29
The education of the child shall be directed towards:
The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms...;
The development of respect for his or her own cultural identity, language and values, and for civilisations different from his or her own;
The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance and friendship among all people, ethnic, national and religious groups...

Article 30
A child belonging to a minority shall not be denied the right to enjoy his or her own culture.

Overall, international education is about ensuring a global perspective on local issues and concerns, and of supporting people to make connections with communities in other parts of the world. We have a rich cultural diversity in Scotland, which holds a great and under-used potential for learning about global and development questions. Such global perspectives can and do make a major contribution to promoting a more inclusive society, addressing such issues as social justice, interdependence, and human rights. Sharing knowledge, skills and experience between people in organisations on a local and global level can be a key to empowering communities, enabling vulnerable groups to campaign for their rights more effectively.

Part 2 International education through community learning and development

It is always people who matter, people who remain forever in your memory. My international experience of Tanzania was overwhelming. I never knew I was capable of such depth of emotion. On that final forty-minute journey to the airport I shed tears, the first of many I have shed in solitude since my return as this indescribable exchange continues to have a profound impact on me as a person. I feel I have been awarded both a privilege and a duty that will remain with me for the rest of my life

John Douglas Buckie - Tanzania Exchange

Putting it into practice

Scottish Executive policy with respect to community learning and development was published in June 2002 in Community Learning and Development: The Way Forward (3) and in guidance to Community Planning Partnerships, published in January 2003 Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities (4) Central to this is the establishment of Community Learning and Development Partnerships. These partnerships bring together statutory and voluntary agencies to support community learning and development within a local authority area. These embrace health, enterprise and environmental bodies, colleges, local authorities and a wide range of voluntary organisations.

Scottish Executive policy wishes to see Community Learning and Development Partnerships targeting their support upon disadvantaged individuals, groups and communities, and those who are at risk of becoming disadvantaged. To achieve this end, the Scottish Executive has identified four national priorities, to which an international education dimension could contribute. The priorities are:

• To raise standards of achievement in learning for adults, in the core skills of literacy and numeracy, ICT and through community-based vocational and non-vocational learning.
• To support the personal, social and educational development of young people.
• To give individuals, groups and communities, including young people, the organisational skills they need to tackle issues of concern in the community.
• To support individuals, groups and communities, including young people, to work with and influence the planning and delivery of services at local and strategic levels.

When planning their strategies and plans Community Learning and Development Partnerships are encouraged to consider carefully how international education might contribute to realising both these national and local priorities. In this, they should take account of the Scottish Executive's lifelong learning strategy ("Life through Learning: Learning through Life") which recognises the distinctive role of CLD in building a culture of lifelong learning in Scotland.

The examples in Annex A show that many different contributions could be made to these priorities. They highlight the range and diversity of opportunities that are already available to agencies, communities and individuals.

Community Learning and Development Partnerships have a key role to play in encouraging an international dimension to work within local areas. There are a variety of proven approaches for doing this, such as:

• Direct experience
• Learning activities
• Virtual experience
• Using information and learning resources

Direct experience

This is a particularly important approach that allows for, and actively encourages, a process of self-discovery. It involves direct contact between people of different cultures and/or nations, and can take place as well among Scottish communities as between Scottish, European and overseas communities. It may mean supporting individuals and youth and community groups to participate in visits or exchanges, whether to communities half a mile away or to another country, or in hosting visitors.

Volunteering can be an especially rich approach to learning and to be 'international' does not necessarily require extensive travel. Work in Scotland, with refugees for example, can be as relevant as work abroad.

Creating links among different cultural traditions here offers a practical strategy for international learning that could be sustained more easily than some other, more resource intensive approaches.

Direct experiences include:

• study visits by professionals and learners
• transnational links and partnerships
• international exchanges
• joint activity in relation to concerns that are shared by different communities in Scotland
• participation in international voluntary work, whether in Scotland or abroad.

Learning activities

From classroom activities to projects, from discussion groups to drama workshops, from talks to entertainment - the range of activities that have been designed specifically, if sometimes subtly, to support learning in community and informal settings about development, international and global issues is almost endless. They enable people to understand the links between their own lives and those of people throughout the world. They increase understanding of the social, economic, political and environmental forces which shape our lives. They develop skills, attitudes and values.

Learning activities include:

• global citizenship training
• creative activities, such as drama, role-play, crafts and arts, to encourage awareness and action
• introducing racism as an issue in relation to membership of community representative committees
• engaging with issues of trade and economy by using inter-active games and discussion
• looking at the local economy and how it is affected by the international trade system
• looking at the role of football in communities devastated by war, e.g. the rehabilitation of child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Virtual experience

Through information and communications technologies, it is now possible to forge relationships with people from other countries, building networks and exploring their culture and living conditions without necessarily meeting them. With distance being no object, very good use can be made of ICT to connect communities and learners.

Virtual experiences include:

• use of the internet to research countries
• video-conferencing links with a similar organisation in another country
• establishing vetted e-mail pen-pals
• on-line campaigning with local and international groups
• working together on transnational projects.

Information and learning resources

The provision of quality information and learning resources is growing in this area. A wide range of specialist organisations (see Annex D) now exist that can be an invaluable resource to practice.

Information and learning resources include:

• funding information to assist international links
• materials, resources, training packs and games

Community learning and development practitioners in Scotland are already involved in a considerable amount of international education. (Annex A provides a wide range of examples of current work). Most of this focuses upon supporting direct experiences for young people, such as educational exchanges and volunteering. There is a need to extend the level of work with adults and community groups.

The International Development Education Association for Scotland (IDEAS) for example, currently has over 30 member organisations, ranging from the large international agencies like Oxfam, Christian Aid, Save the Children and SCIAF to local development education centres like the Montgomery Development Education Centre in Aberdeen and Dundee's One World Centre, and campaigning organisations like the World Development Movement, Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International. Local community groups, organisations such as Glasgow's Working Together for Change and Falkirk's Community Training and Development Unit are also active. Most of these organisations produce resources or facilitate sessions on international and/or development education and global citizenship.

The current state of international education in community learning and development raises a number of key issues for Community Learning and Development Partnerships and their constituent partner agencies. Each are inter-linked but have distinct questions and issues arising from them.

Recognition

Among some of the providers of community learning and development the image of international education can be one of "junkets" to sun-drenched beaches. Practitioners wishing to include an international dimension to their work are often regarded with the suspicion that they are attempting to achieve a "free holiday".

Agencies and Partnerships need to:

• ensure that international education, including development education, is viewed as an important and integral part of community learning and development programmes.
• establish international education, including development education, as intrinsic to the planning and delivery of community learning and development programmes.

Training

Those who see the benefits of international education often feel daunted by its implementation. Training in this area is not universal either geographically across the country, or at different levels of responsibility. Raising issues such as race or culture can be challenging. In contrast student teachers in Scotland are now required to know about and understand the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and must demonstrate 'respect for the rights of all children and young people without discrimination as defined by the UN CRC'.

Agencies and Partnerships need to:

• support staff at all levels to implement an international education dimension to their work.
• ensure that sufficient resource materials are available to support staff and communities in this work.

The Scottish Executive report on the future of community learning and development training 'Empowered to Practice' makes reference to international education being included as a new content area, in the revision of the Guidelines to Training Providers at HNC/D and degree levels. This in turn presents a need to develop training resources for use in the training of community learning and development practitioners at both pre service and continuing professional development levels. Annex B gives some examples of current training activities.

Management

Each partner agency will have its own conditions of service. This has created a wide diversity of responses to such matters as the use of annual leave during an international exchange and the amount of time off in lieu accumulated.

Agencies and Partnerships need to:

• ensure a consistency of approach
• ensure clear lines of management responsibility for international education.

Measuring the impact

As with much that involves so-called soft skills, it has not proven easy to measure and evaluate the impact of any given activity. This has led to further pressure on recognition, particularly when the amount of staff time for one international activity can be substantial. Annex B provides information on recent developments in this area.

Agencies and Partnerships need to:

• adopt tools to better measure the impact of international education on personal and social development, and building community capacity
• demonstrate the cost against the benefit of international education
• ensure effective evaluation and monitoring in all international education through use of the quality assurance framework 'How Good is our Community Learning and Development?'.

Part 3 Recommendations

This paper proposes a number of actions to achieve the delivery of quality international education through community learning and development. It is recommended that these be adopted by Community Learning and Development Partnerships to inform the preparation of their community learning and development strategies by 2004.

Recognition

What needs to be done

• CLDPs should agree an international education policy. Policies should clearly identify the outcomes of such work.
• CLDPs should consider ways in which international education can become part of their response to national and local priorities. In that way it will inform all provision and encourage innovative ways of developing a global perspective.
• Communities Scotland, together with the national support bodies for specific aspects of community learning and development and specialist agencies such as IDEAS, should support CLDPs in their work on international education, in the context of delivering the national priorities for community learning and development.

Training

What needs to be done

• The Scottish Executive should recognise the importance of international education in its response to the Review of professional training.
• Community learning and development training providers should incorporate an international dimension into all qualifying programmes at HNC/D and degree levels. Guidance in this area should be provided by CeVe and its successor body.
• SIEAG should instigate a short-term working group to produce a national training strategy and commission materials to support it. The working group should draw on the current research project Global Citizenship in Initial Teacher Education, which is a partnership between IDEAS and Glasgow University, and part of a UK-wide initiative funded by DFID.
• International education should be a part of the continuous professional development priorities developed by CLDPs. This should reflect national priorities for community learning and development.
• Access to, and funding for, employers should enhance international CPD, allowing staff and volunteers access to individual and group international study visits, job shadowing, exchange programmes, etc.

Management

What needs to be done

• Community Learning and Development Partnerships should appoint an officer with responsibility for supporting international education. It is recommended that each local authority take on this support role in relation to the wider CLDP.
• National guidelines for public and voluntary sector employers should be developed by the Scottish Executive and employers to cover such issues as TOIL, annual leave, pre-visits, sessional staff payments.

Measuring the Impact

What needs to be done

• CLDPs should introduce a quality assurance strategy for international education drawing upon materials such as the CYEC Record of Achievement.
• The Scottish Executive should commission an audit of stakeholders and draw on the current research project Enabling Effective Support. This aims to develop a strategic plan for Development Education in Scotland and is managed by (IDEAS) as part of a UK-wide initiative funded by DFID.
• HMIE should advise CLDPs on any necessary adaptation or enhancement required to the quality indicators contained within 'How Good is our Community Learning and Development?'