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Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris. Printed by Imprimerie des Presses Universitaires de France, V e n d m e . Unesco 1979

quarterly review of education

Vol. IX No. 2 1979

Unesco
gallon f"

if/

?/UMSC
^'ifer de \ ' V " T h e child's right to education and the development of knowledge of child psychology A. N. Leontiev and D . B. Elkonine 125 T h e state of inquiry in science education W. E. Searles 133 V i e w p o i n t s a n d controversies After literacy, teaching: paradoxes of post-literacy work Bernard Dumont Elements for a dossier: Learning about interdependence Learning to live together on a small planet Lester R. Brown Conflict studies and peace education David C. Smith Education for international understanding Ingrid Classen-Bauer Learning in a world of change: methods and approaches in the classroom Robin Richardson Education for peace and international understanding in the training of teachers Jzsef Margcsy T h e Danish Unesco Schools Project Kamma Struwe Development education in Finland: a tool to global citizenship Helena Allahwerdi Education for international understanding in Japanese schools Teruo Sato Japan: political or apolitical education for peace? Glenn D . Hook Trends and cases: The International Year of the Child
Discrimination and inequalities between the sexes at school Fay E. Saunders Children of exiles and immigrants Ana Vasquez 233 238

C o n t e n t s

145

161 170 177 184 197 203 210 216 223

Notes and reviews

Book reviews 245

ISSN

0033-1538

Authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in signed articles and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Unesco and d o not commit the Organization. Permission to reproduce articles must be requested from the Editor. T h e Editor will be happy to consider submissions or letters stimulatedfavourably or unfavourablyby articles published in Prospects or by the themes treated within. All correspondence should be addressed to the Editor, Prospects, Unesco, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, France. T h e designations employed and the presentation of the material in Prospects do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Unesco Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

A . N . Leontiev and D . B . Elkonine

The child's right to education and the development of knowledge of child psychology*

Aleksei Nikolaevitch Leontiev (USSR). Until his death in January, full member of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor of General Psychology and Dean of the Psychology Faculty at the Lomonosov State University in Moscow. Author of T h e Development of the Memory,- The Re-establishment of Motor Reflexes with other authors; Activity, Conscience, Personality (in Russian). Daniil Borisovitch Elkonine (USSR). Corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, Director of the Laboratory of the Research Institute of General Psychology and Psychopedagogy of the Academy, Professor in the Psychology Faculty at the Lomonosov State University in Moscow. Author of Child Psychology, and G a m e Psychology (in Russian).

At the beginning of the century, the Swedish teacher Ellen K e y wrote that the twentieth century would be the century of the child; and it is true that at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, considerably greater interest began to be taken in the study of child development. Research into the child's mental development was undertaken in m a n y countries, and faculties and laboratories were set up in which the process was studied from a variety of angles. N e w paths in child psychologythe science of the child's mental development and its characteristics and general principleswere opened u p by S. Hall and A . Gesell in the United States of America, E . Claparde and A . Binet in France, V . Stern in G e r m a n y and m a n y others. Present-day research in thisfieldis very wide-ranging and varied, and important research centres have been set up where intensive work is being done. W e need only mention the n o w world-famous Geneva Centre for Child Studies, directed by the doyen of child psychology, J. Piaget; or Henri Wallon's school in Paris, n o w run by his pupil R . Zazzo; the institutes of child development in the Universities of Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Chicago and other universities in the United States; or the large departments of child psychology at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the United K i n g d o m . Finally, important work has been done since the war by the A c a d e m y of Pedagogical Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which was in fact set u p during the war. Here, researchers in thirteen institutes, including the Institute of General and Pedagogical Psychology, are tackling the problems of the public education system,
* In connection with the International Year of the Child, Unesco is preparing a book, Children's Right to Education, to be published shortly. The present article and those by Fay E . Saunders and Ana Vasquez further on in this volume are chapters from that book. 125

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A . N . Leontiev and D . B. Elkonine

including education in school, looking ahead to the start of the twenty-first century. But does all this m e a n that the twentieth century has become the century of the child? Unfortunately not. A s the next century approaches, tens of millions of children do not even have the right to basic elementary education. In m a n y countries, too, where the education of all children is compulsory, there are still economic, national, racial and other forms of discrimination which enable the children of the ruling classes and the prosperous sections of the community to reach a m u c h higher standard of education than the children of ordinary workers in the middle and particularly the lower socioeconomic categories. If w e accept that the degree of a society's development is defined not only by its economic potential, material standards of living and technological level but also by the standard of education and balanced development found a m o n g its children, then m a n y countries which appear to be extremely advanced rank a m o n g the least developed. In the International Year of the Child, the child's right to education and, more importantly, to balanced development, must be raised as a most crucial question, and scientific research into child psychology is, in the final analysis, directed to finding an answer to precisely this problem. T h e middle of our century has been marked by a series of such fundamental scientific discoveries and such changes in science and technology that it has been n a m e d the period of the scientific and technological revolution. Nuclear fission and the development of atomic energy; the conquering of distance by supersonic jets; m a n ' s flights into space and the prospect of its conquest; the breaking of the genetic code, giving the hope of breeding n e w and m u c h more productive types of plants and animals; achievements in electronics and electrical engineering such as television, telecommunication by satellite and the development of extremely powerful computers; outstanding successes in organic chemistry, making it possible to create n e w synthetic materials, and even to synthesize foodstuffsall this has been achieved in the lastfiftyyears. Scientific, technical and social progress is still continuing to gather m o m e n t u m , and laboratory work is laying the theoretical and experimental foundations for even more highly sophisticated technology which will enable n e w forms of energy and essentially n e w materials to be created with properties not possessed by any materials found immediately in nature. M a n y scientists note that techniques and technology are becoming obsolete 126

The child's right to education and the development of knowledge of child psychology

at an ever faster rate and that already, industry has to be re-tooled every ten years. It is thus impossible to foresee today what science will have done for mankind and technology by the beginning of the third millennium. It is not very long since schools were able to base subject-matter and teaching methods on the needs of the present, which were likely to remain relatively stable for decades. During the lifetime of one generation no radical, qualitative changes used to occur in science, technology or the diffusion of culture. That situation has changed considerably. T h e energies and abilities of the children w h o are starting school n o w will reach their peak at the end of this century. In whatever sphere of activity they engage, whether physical or intellectual work, they will have to possess knowledge and skills very different from those imparted by the schools of today. Throughout the world voices are heard calling for the 'modernization' of education. Presumably the essential feature of this modernization must be an approach which will give young people a training fitting them to live, work and be creative in a completely n e w socioeconomic context. Long-term planning of the education system is thus called for. This is true of the developed countries and even more so of developing countries, which are assimilating the achievements of scientific, technical, social and cultural progress and themselves becoming part of it at an unprecedented speed. T h e volume of scientific data with which a young person must be familiar before beginning his career is increasing at such a rate that simply to prolong the period of formal education, higher education included, is not enough. Indeed, the educational process cannot be extended indefinitely. Mankind cannot afford the luxury of young people embarking on their careers w h e n the most productive and creative period of their working lives is already past. M a n y countries are thus experimenting with ways offittingthe training of young people into a time-span which is acceptable in practical terms. In the first place, attempts are being m a d e to select for inclusion in school curricula only what is most essential and most u p to date, thus reducing the volume and breadth of the material to be absorbed. Secondly, efforts are being m a d e to devise n e w , more intensive teaching methods, even to the extent of automating learning through the application of modern technology (teaching machines), the use of hypnosis, etc. Finally, a lowering of the age at which children begin systematic instruction is also being called for. All these measures could bring about some improvement, but their 127

A . N. Leontiev and D . B. Elkonine

effect would be limited, incomplete and temporary. This is because they are unrelated to the basic processes of mental development and to the internal laws governing the evolution of the personality and its creative potential. This failure to develop young people's creative potential has deep-rooted social causes. It stems from the assumption that the introduction of ever more sophisticated machinery will m a k e work increasingly mechanical, calling for only a m i n i m u m of k n o w ledge. This is a false assumption, if only because it is based on the idea that there will always be a gulf between intellectual, creative work and uncreative work which merely consists in carrying out instructions. If education is to be organized with a view to community development, thefirstpriority is to obtain a clearer picture of the potential latent in the process of a child's mental development and of the laws governing the formation of the personality, its creative powers and ways by which they can be significantly increased. W e base our consideration of these questions on the fundamental problems of the theory of mental development. T h e most widespread general theory of mental development in childhood is that of the 'two factors': heredity and environment. It is the interaction of these two factors which, it is claimed, determines the course of the individual's development and its end-product, his or her value to the community. Although these ideas state that the two factors are of equal importance, in practice more importance is ascribed to the innate potential handed d o w n in the genes; the importance of the environment is that it creates conditions able only either to hinder or to encourage fulfilment of this potential. According to this theory, the process of mental development is thus actuated by two forces which lie outside it. This concept of inherited ability has led to the application of special procedures, such as the so-called 'intelligence tests' which m a k e it possible not only to distinguish between normal and retarded children, but also to differentiate a m o n g children of normal intelligence and on this basis to define for each group the attainable limits of their possible mental development and, by the same token, the level to which they should be educated. W e thus have a form of discrimination between children as regards their right to education which allegedly has a scientific basis, but which is a front for racial and class discrimination. Discrimination between different groups of children in respect of their right to education and the full development of all their abilities leads to discrimination between different schools 128

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in respect of their facilities and the level at which they organize the process of education and training. T h e selection of children on the basis of intelligence tests, and the production of the necessary materials has become a specialized industry in s o m e countries, and organizing the selection process itself has taken on the nature of a specialized occupation. A whole n e w field of social activity has emerged which is, naturally enough, opposed to any attempt to introduce changes and mobilizes all the scientific and political forces it can to preserve the status q u o , enjoying in the process the support of the public institutions and governments of the capitalist States. Progressive public opinion has for s o m e time been sharply critical both of the two-factor theory and of the practice of discrimination it gives rise to regarding a child's right to education. T h e fact is, of course, that selection of this kind is extremely harmful for society, impoverishing its culture and weakening its intellectual potential, which should, on the contrary, be enhanced in every possible way in view of the course of events as the twenty-first century draws closer. Such selection has equally harmful effects o n the hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of children w h o have it impressed upon them from the earliest age that they are intellectually, and therefore socially, inferior. This is a particularly crucial question in the developing countries, faced with the problem of creating a system of education to bring about, in an extremely short space of time, a decisive increase in the intellectual and cultural potential of the broad masses of their people, once thought to be of inferior intelligence. In fact the mistakenness of this theory has long been proved by practical experience. It is, for example, c o m m o n knowledge that peoples w h o under the tsarist system in pre-revolutionary Russia were considered backward and incapable of assimilating contemporary culture and science were, after the Great October Revolution, in a relatively short space of time transformed into developed societies andflourishingrepublics with high standards of culture, science and education, whose present intellectual level is indistinguishable in any respect from that of any highly developed society. Striking changes are taking place n o w in the developing countries. T h e children of peoples w h o not so long ago were treated as backward and belonging to genetically inferior races, have proved themselves capable of rapid development which has led to exactly the same results as development a m o n g children of the ruling classes in developed countries. T h e two-factor theory is also disproved by scientific facts. There 129

A . N . Leontiev and D . B. Elkonine

are children, although not a very large number, w h o have been unfairly treated by nature. T h e y have either been blind or deaf and d u m b from birth or have been afflicted by blindness or deafness from a very early age. In the early 1920s, I. A . Sokolyansky, an eminent Soviet teacher of the deaf, opened a clinic in Kharkov for blind and deaf children. It is difficult to describe the state of these children w h e n they came to the clinic. T h e y had no glimmering of awareness and had reached roughly the same level of development as a 6-month-old child, with the difference that in normal circumstances they could have had no hope of developing any further. T h e admirable and h u m a n e aim of integrating these unfortunate children into the normal life of society was combined with thorough research into the process of arousing the h u m a n mind and consciousness, the emergence of h u m a n needs, finding one's way in the surrounding world, the development of speech, thought and intellectual abilities. O u t standing success was achieved by organizing their education to fit the general pattern of mental development in ontogenesis. O n e of the pupils of this clinic, O . I. Skorokhodova, n o w works at the Institute of Defectology, has a post-graduate degree in science and is the author of a number of remarkable books. N o t long ago, a group of four blind and deaf students completed a course of higher education at M o s c o w University. After the death of the founder, the clinic continued to function in M o s c o w under the direction of one of his pupils, A . L . Meshcheryakov. T h e most important result of this research was its demonstration of the crucial role in the child's mental development of a relationship established between the child and an adult in the context of a specific practical activity, beginning as a joint venture but into which some division of labour is gradually introduced and which later involves independent activity as the child masters his environment. This research highlighted the importance of education based on knowledge of the pattern of mental development. It seems appropriate that the International Year of the Child should mobilize the efforts of all progressive biologists, psychologists, sociologists and philosophers to refute theories which, under whatever auspices, attempt to cast doubt upon, and to restrict opportunities for, the development of creative abilities in children belonging to particular racial, national or social groups, and to combat any tendency to discriminate between children in respect of their right to a complete education. W a y s of effecting a considerable improvement in the child's
130

The child's right to education and the development of knowledge of child psychology

'

^O!jf*, ~ ~

cultural and intellectual development with a view ra^his or herit^i participation in the life of the twenty-first cenlirf^^utd^rm^^ht first of all in the child himself and in the process of hk-4evelopment. Recent work in child psychology has established a n u m b e r of firm principles on the basis of which practical measures can be taken. It has been established that the child is not a passive creature, merely submitting to external influences. F r o m the earliest age he is a m e m b e r of society, from birth onwards he is linked with society as a whole through the adults with w h o m he comes into contact, and he strives actively for this link, which becomes m o r e and m o r e complex and is to an increasing extent established through knowledge about the surrounding world, cultural objects, tools and science. In the last analysis, his mastery of culture and science is the essential condition and the means of his living together with adults. T h e content of this life in the world of adults changes with each n e w stage in the child's development, and this change is the principal source of the child's activity. H e strives to become part of the adult world, and this striving gives rise to constant efforts to master its cultural forms. Stimulation of the child's active striving to master culture and science is one of the necessary conditions for his development. Like all people, the child is above all a being capable of self-development and selfimprovement. It is therefore essential to solve the problem of h o w to connect every link in the chain of the educational process with adult life and adult occupations. T h e primary task of education is to stimulate and organize the child's practical, creative activity. Unless this is done, no form of education or training can be effective. A second principle, whose validity has n o w been proved, is that the process of development is indivisible and must follow a strict sequence, in which each stage has its o w n significance. A failure in the development of any link will have its effect on subsequent development. It has also been established that different periods in a child's development are particularly propitious for the development of different abilities, the period from i to 3 years, for example, that of the development of speech. If at this particular period the development of speech is retarded, it can be m a d e good at a later age only with great difficulty. T h e same applies to other mental processes and skills. Very often there is a tendency to develop skills and instil complex patterns of knowledge and behaviour at the earliest possible stage. But it should not be forgotten that mental development in general, and intellectual development in particular, must be organized in such a w a y that the completion of each stage opens the w a y to the 131

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next. This means that a unified system of education must be devised, starting in earliest childhood and continuing to full psychological maturity. Often children w h o have not received sufficient attention in their pre-school years arrive at school without having spent the preceding periods of development in accordance with their o w n particular bent and without having developed the skills which can be successfully learnt only during those years. A s a result, they are lumped with the backward, this backwardness often being ascribed to poor heredity. It is thus no coincidence that greater interest in a system of education for children in early infancy and of pre-school age is being shown in a n u m b e r of countries, such a system already existing in the U S S R and other socialist countries, where education during this period has become as m u c h the responsibility of the State as education at school. T h e main point here is not that certain academic skills and knowledge can be imparted at an earlier age. T h e point is to ensure that during these early stages of development, every opportunity is given for the development of those creative powers and abilities which can only be sufficiently rapid and completely developed during those periods. Structuring the education system in this way creates the conditions necessary for the emergence of the full range of skills at a given stage of life and offers enormous possibilities, at present far from fully exploited, for increasing the cultural and intellectual potential of those w h o will create the science, technology and culture of the twenty-first century. All this leads us to the conclusion that children must have the right not only to an education which starts at a given age, but also to the full development of their abilities during preschool years.

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W . E . Searles

The state of inquiry in science education

W . E . Searles (Canada). Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, McGill University, and Chairman of the Department of Education in mathematics and science.

Almost two decades have passed since the term inquiry assumed a prominent role in science education. It is n o w commonplace to see a researcher's report on a study involving inquiry, a chapter in a textbook devoted to inquiry, or a curriculum referred to as an inquirytype curriculum by its designer. A n d yet, what is inquiry? H o w did inquiry come into prominence? Are the claims m a d e for the usefulness of inquiry valid? These are but a few questions which arise w h e n one thinks of inquiry in science education. Initially one can assume that it was man's inquiring ways which allowed him to recognize and to solve problems as he progressed from primitive beginnings to the modern era. Socrates is closely associated with inquiry. H e believed that man's nature leads h i m to act correctly and in agreement with knowledge; that the correct method of discovering the c o m m o n characteristics of knowledge was by inductive means. A s a teacher he engaged his listeners in a series of verbal interchanges by using a method of questioning assumptions that allowed m e n to proceed from less adequate to more adequate definitions. B y his astute questioning techniques Socrates subjected his students to a rigorous selfexamination, and in so doing helped them discover their o w n solutions to problems. Aristotle extended the Socratic inquiry model, and developed a set of principles governing the collection of facts and the ensuing analysis. T h e techniques and principles used in determining logical proof are generally referred to as 'Aristotelian logic' and are still used in scientific inquiry today. In recent history, one of the earliest appeals to teach science as an inquiry could be found in the works of Rousseau. H e was concerned with the kind of education he thought desirable and states.
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W . E. Searles

'Let him not be taught science, let h i m discover it.' Evidently, a n u m b e r of eminent citizens of the eighteenth century were either influenced by Rousseau, or were of like mind. Pestalozzi (1746-1827), took a similar stance to Rousseau and advocated that the individuality of the child must be sacred to the teacher, and that investigation is the best method of learning facts'. But it was not until the 1890s w h e n Professor H . E . Armstrong introduced 'the heuristic theory into the teaching of chemistry and physics in Great Britain'1 that emphasis was given by educators to this method of teaching. T h e heuristic method encouraged the student to develop the attitude of the experienced researcher. It trained the student to use his initiative, develop self-reliance, good judgement, and manipulative skills by personal contact with apparatus and materials in a problemsolving situation. Students were allowed to discuss their problems with their peers as they would under research conditions. Stress was placed on the need to be good observers, the collection, recording, analysis and use of data. Emphasis was also placed on a balance, not merely for that used to weigh materials, but also with the use of words and phrases in communications dealing with the investigations. Every lesson should be in the form of an inquiry with the student placed in the position of the original discoverer. 'Armstrong's heuristic methods were occasionally misunderstood',2 particularly in the area dealing with the student's discovery. In fact, Armstrong only wished the student to find the general conditions under which chemical reactions occurred. Other criticisms were that the enthusiasm and personality of the teacher overly influenced the degree to which the inquiry was a success, or failure; there was insufficient time, some of the experimental methods were too dry and tedious, not all students are able to discover all the relevant facts, or continually act the part of the original discoverer, etc. Regardless of such criticism, modified forms of the heuristic method became firmly established as one method to be used in the teaching of science, but, not exclusively. T h e degree to which the heuristic method was modified depended not only on the personality and background preparation of the teacher, but also on the subject-matter to be taught. Within non-expository limits, it is possible for a whole range of instructional methods to be in agreement with the heuristic method providing the student's element of discovery is present. T h e term heuristic was changed to discovery method as the import

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of reflective thinking for the student's discovery was recognized and given emphasis. T h e twentieth-century orchestrator of discovery as method was John D e w e y . H e w a s concerned with the step-by-step reflective thinking engaged in by the student during an investigative learning experience. T h e problem of what was really involved in the discovery method was still present a m o n g educators, and in this respect D e w e y considered: N o one expects the young to make original discoveries of just the same facts and principles as are embodied in the sciences of nature and m a n . But it is not unreasonable to expect that learning m a y take place under such conditions that from the standpoint of the learner there is a genuine discovery.3 T h e person most closely associated with the discovery method today is Bruner. Discovery to Bruner is any acquisition of knowledge by the individual through the use of his o w n mind. T h e geometrically increasing quantity of knowledge in this age of science and technology generated a critical problem in the area of what knowledge should be transmitted to the student. M u c h better, it was reasoned, to teach the skills of logical reasoning as used in the methods of science, in order that in later life the students could effectively accommodate those active modes of knowledge. T h e discovery method, m a n undertaking an investigation to solve a problem, was considered the most relevant method to be used.

The problematic situation

A variety of terms have been used to describe the assortment of complex methodologies used in the discovery-inquiry method. T e r m s such as heuristic, problem-solving, reflective thinking, scientific thinking, discovery and inquiry, have been associated with learning experiences of an investigative nature. There are two components of this activity; the informationprocessing activity of the h u m a n brain and the nature of the phenomena being investigated. T h e lack of knowledge as to what actually occurs at the interface of these two components leaves the educator with only a vague concept of the interactive process. A further hindrance to clarity occurs during the recorded c o m m u n i cation of the investigation; the meaning of words changes over a

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period of time. There is little to guide the development of a universally accepted definitive meaning of discovery-inquiry methods as used in education, as there is, for example, in the naming of chemical compounds. T h e discovery and inquiry methods of investigation used b y students in science education are n o w considered as synonymous. W h e n a student undertakes an investigation, an inquiry, he is searching for information, knowledge or truth. At the m o m e n t he recognizes the information he was, or in s o m e instances was not, seeking, he experiences the act of discovery. In this manner, an inquiry leads to a discovery. T h e discovery method is an attempt to reach the experience of discovery; the process of inquiry is therefore implicit in the method. T h e interrelationship of these two terms, inquiry and discovery, is such that they are considered interchangeable. Inasmuch as an inquiry does not always lead to a discovery, the inquiry method is to be preferred. This simple development and explanation of the term 'inquiry method' is far removed from the confusion which exists regarding its application in the classroom. O n e study on the inquiry method examined the literature of eminent educators and found agreement upon inquiry methods in learning, but disagreement on the objectives of inquiry teaching. T h e problem arose from whether priority should be given to the 'affective' or 'cognitive' goals of the inquiry activity. T h e study found: substantive differences among authors on three general constituents of the inquiry method: I. the specific roles of teacher and student in the inquiry process; 2. the nature of the subject-matter to be inquired into; and 3. the emotional milieu in which inquiry occurs.4 Authors w h o stress the affective objectives believe that the problems to be solved should emanate from the students, the teacher acting as a resource person, and that the emotional tone of the classroom is critical to the inquiry. Those w h o consider the cognitive objective to be the most important hold that the teacher should pose the problem, structure the inquiry activity, and attach less importance to the emotional climate of the classroom. T h e dichotomy of beliefs in the objectives of inquiry teaching m a y have contributed to the confusion but it has also generated considerable thought as to what is meant by the term inquiry method. If one considers the affective and cognitive goals of inquiry teaching to be extreme positions, then it m a y be postulated that a whole range

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of objective positions exists between these extremes. T h e nature of the student's intellectual ability and interests interacting with the environmental influences present in the classroom dictates the pedagogical strategies, type, and level of inquiry to be used. Further credence that a variety of inquiry methods exist can be found by examining the numerous techniques and interactive processes used in an inquiry-type educational activity. This suggests that the term 'methods of inquiry' m a y be more appropriate than the inquiry method. Depending upon the learner and material to be learned, the teaching act does affect the learning process, thus the beliefs and objectives used in inquiry teaching are important. There is a need, therefore, to recognize the divergent nature of inquiry methods and the possible effects on the learner. While this article is primarily concerned with the inquiry method and learning, it cannot escape the influence of the teaching component.

M o d e r n definitions of inquiry

There is a tendency in science education literature to treat the term inquiry as though it were interchangeable with its use and meanings in non-instructional contexts. This is apparent in m a n y definitions of inquiry, provided in the literature. Implicit in each definition, however, is the fact that inquiry is an intellectual endeavour. T h e achievement of one objective merely opens u p n e w vistas to be inquired into for an even greater understanding of the phenomena. In this context, inquiry is used to designate an activity of knowledge-building. For the student this means learning n e w knowledge for himself, whereas in scholarly investigation it refers to the activity which occurs at the frontier of knowledge, and is invariably for the benefit of mankind.

Reasons for inquiry in science instruction

Science as a process of inquiry evolved from man's inquiring ways, which were refined by the development of attitudes and methods and which became part of the scientific enterprise. During the curriculum reform movement of the 1960s, science teachers were urged to plan experiences conducive to the student's learning science by inquiry

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and, by so doing, generate and maintain the spirit of inquiry in children. It was reasoned that students could appreciate inquiry only by becoming actively involved in it. T h e dynamic nature of inquiry controls the nature of the scientific endeavour to a considerable degree. It m a y be hypothesized that it wields a similar control over the activities of the learner to the extent that by engaging in an inquiry activity the student obtains significant, meaningful, experiential learning, which comes from personal involvement. W h e n learning by inquiry the learner is in the learning event. T o be more specific, the following reasons are usually given for using the inquiry method in science education. Learning by inquiry allows the students to: Develop an attitude conducive to understanding the nature of science and the role of science in environment. Understand that there is still m u c h to be learned in science. Recognize the importance and limitations of the techniques used in science. Appreciate that 'science is a body of knowledge forged slowly and tentatively from raw materials'.5 Recognize the validity of conclusions of science, the manner in which they arise and are tested. Understand that the h u m a n mind is the most vital part of the scientific enterprise. T h e reasons generally given for the use of inquiry in science involve two areas of concern; either the traditional science curriculum fails to project the true picture of the scientific enterprise, or claims are m a d e for superior learning activities.

Stable and fluid inquiry

Basically, the unifying thread within all inquiries is the seeking of evidence for the solution of a problem. T h e n u m b e r of processes of science used during the inquiry is dependent upon the subject-matter content, the degree of complexity of the problem, and the intellectual ability of the inquirer. T h e problem m a y prove to be an insuperable one, or the inquirer m a y lack the skills necessary to employ those processes of science required to solve the problem. T h e educator must weigh all of these aspects of the inquiry prior to deciding on whether the learning activity should be a stable orfluidone. Schwab considers stable inquiries are short term in the sense that

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separate problems can be pursued separately and settled in a relatively short time, as, for example, during a single or double school period used for an investigation. His school-book version of this construct is: i. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. T h e formulation of a problem. T h e search for data that will suggest possible solutions to this problem. Reformulation of the problem to include these possible solutions. A determination of the data necessary to solve the problem. A plan of experiment that will elicit the data desired. Execution of the experiment and accumulation of the desired data. Interpretation of the data by means of the guiding substantive structures together with previous knowledge possessed by the investigator.6

Problems of incoherencies and inconsistencies m a y , and invariably do, arise during stable inquiry in the classroom. M a n y of the thoughtprovoking questions raised by the students are in their very nature the essence of the scientific endeavour. Their recognition of disparities in data, the scientific invalidity of a c one-shot' study, the lack of precision in measurement, an apparent weakness in experimental design, suggests the employment of long-term studies as in fluid inquiry. T h e fluid enquirer has three aims:first,to be alert to the moments of enquiry which reveal inadequacies of principle; second, to obtain such clues as he can from current stable enquiries which will point to the specific weakness or inadequacy that characterizes the principle in question; finally, to devise a modification of the existing structure, or a new structure to replace it, that will embrace more of the richness of the subject matter and take account of the specific weakness discovered in the older principles.' Fluid inquiry illustrates the dynamic nature of science in which knowledge becomes redundant or is refined as the principles of science are changed. T h eflexibilityoffluidinquiry appears limitless and is in accord with the m o d e r n definitions of science in which the accumulated structured body of knowledge is subjected to refinement and verification b y constant investigation and experimentation using the methods of science. In this sense, inquiry is continuous. A problem exists in most schools regarding the nature of fluid inquiry. T h e school's curriculum and its timetable for lessons generally lack theflexibilitynecessary for students to engage in long-term studies. A further problem exists at the secondary-school level regarding the students' ability to sustain a lengthy study intellectually, particularly in the formulation of thoughts and maintenance of

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interest. T h e short-term stable inquiry is m u c h more appropriate to a school's curriculum. It allows the educator to maintain the evolutionary progression of learning activities and thereby present small packages of information amenable to the interests and abilities of the student body. Stable inquiry is favoured by most teachers and is the inquiry method most used. Stable inquiry provides an easy check on the students' reasoning as they progress through the investigation. T h e nature of stable inquiry, particularly with reference to time limitations, allows the teacher to keep in contact with a greater n u m b e r of students as their progress is usually m u c h closer in time than influidinquiry. T h e recognition of the student's process of reasoning permits the educator to apply effective reinforcement w h e n necessary. T h e interaction of the teacher and students during an inquiry is extremely important to the success of the activity. T h e intricate nature of the process of inquiry m a y be seen in a scientific inquiry. At the c o m m e n c e m e n t of the activity there m a y be m a n y false starts, as, for instance, w h e n a problem lacks clarity of purpose and needs to be redefined or reformulated. T h e direction the inquirer takes during an investigation m a y prove repeatedly to be unproductive, as if one were lost in a maze-like activity. T h e student's use of intuitive thought and educated guesses m a y result in conceptual leaps producing gaps in an apparent illogical pathway. A progressive, logical pathway is often difficult to determine in scientific inquiry. Inherent in this model of inquiry activity is the informationprocessing capability of the student; that is, the processes used by the student to handle stimuli which emanate from the problem and which are encountered during the investigation. Depending upon the nature of the content and the learner, the model generates an educational environment which requires the educator to consider implementing the following strategies to facilitate inquiry, i. T h e implementation of attitudes and processes of science conducive to a scientific enterprise. 2. Sufficient time to allow for the successful completion of the investigation. 3. T h e problem to be solved should create and sustain the interest of the students. 4. A discussion, or type of examination by the class should occur to determine the feasibility of solving the problem. 5. Hypotheses are encouraged from the class to guide the student's investigation. 140

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6. Proposals for inquiry activities and experimentation are cooperatively examined. 7. Students work in small groups and co-operate in the solving of the problem. 8. Summaries of group and class data are examined and discussed to test the hypotheses. 9. Emphasis is placed on the level of discussion with attention being directed to relevant processes such as assumptions or inferences being m a d e in order to maintain a good scientific attitude. 10. Students are responsible for arriving at, and possibly defending their o w n conclusions. 11. T h e validity of the conclusions are verified. 12. Investigations are related to the overall picture of science. 13. T h e inquiry is related to the student's environment. 14. H u m a n dignity and thought are prized components of inquiry and are treated accordingly throughout the investigation. These strategies require considerable planning b y the educator if the inquiry is to reach a successful conclusion. T h e atmosphere associated with this learning activity is one in which the students have the freedom to pursue lines of thought uncluttered by authoritative sources. A s m a y be seen in the strategies numbered 4 to 11, a high degree of student responsibility is involved in the inquiry.

For and against inquiry

T h e modern curriculum developments of the 1960s found m a n y educators w h o enthusiastically endorsed the use of inquiry in the classroom and m a d e exaggerated claims for its usefulness. Bruner, and to a somewhat lesser degree S u c h m a n , conducted extensive studies of learning by inquiry prior to stating their arguments for inquiry. F r o m his studies Bruner has hypothesized that through discovery learning: 1. The learner will become a constructionist by organizing the information he has discovered so that it is more readily viable in problem solving. 2. There will be a tendency for the child to carry out his learning activities with the autonomy of self-reward. 3. Symbolic modes of representing and transforming the environment arise. 4. T h e art and technique of inquiry will improve. 5. Material is more readily accessible in memory. 8

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Bruner also claims that a student's discovery of regularities of previously unrecognized relations and similarities between ideas results in a self-confidence of his abilities, that subject-matter becomes m o r e comprehensible, provides adequate transfer of training, and narrows the gap between elementary and advanced knowledge. Also, the understanding of structure which results from discovery enables the student 'to increase his effectiveness in dealing intuitively with problems'. 9 S u c h m a n ' s beliefs are very close to those of Bruner, H e considers that learning b y inquiry: 1. H a s its o w n intrinsic motivation. 2. Produces an autonomous student whose inquiry is directed largely by motivation of curiosity. 3. Enables the student to build his o w n conceptual structures that are strong because they grew from his o w n thinking. 5. Places the student at the very centre of the scientific way of life. 4. Will help the student grow into a creative adult.10 T h e findings of m a n y scholars substantiated these arguments with statements which closely resembled the claims of Bruner. O n the other hand, m u c h criticism has also arisen over the use of inquiry in the classroom. ' K n o w l e d g e of the psychology of learning has not yet developed to the extent that methods of teaching can be directly extrapolated from that knowledge.' 1 1 This m a y be another reason for the m a n y different interpretations of the term inquiry. In his book, The Technology of Teaching, Skinner levels the following criticism at the inquiry approach: 1. T h e method of inquiry is designed to absolve the teacher from a sense of failure by making instruction unnecessary and whilst students can learn without being taught it is no solution to the problem of education. 2. It is impossible for the student to discover for himself any substantial part of the wisdom of his culture and no philosophy of education proposes that he should. Great thinkers build upon the past, they do not waste time re-discovering it. 3. It is dangerous to suggest that it is beneath the dignity of the student to memorize facts, codes, formulae, etc., and it is dangerous to forgo teaching these important facts. 4. T h e position of the teacher w h o encourages discovery is ambiguous; is he to pretend that he doesn't know the answer, or say, I know, but you must find out, and accept the consequences of his actions? 5. W h e n it is necessary to teach a whole class h o w are a few good students to be prevented from making all the discoveries? 6. Genuine discovery is rare, inside or outside the classroom.12

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There is no one method or ordered list of activities for an inquiry. T h e models of the learning theorists and the two types of inquiry illustrate that there is a need for the educator, be he administrator, curriculum worker, or teacher, to be aware of the specific nature of the learning activities being used in the curriculum. It should also be noted that inasmuch as the term inquiry is used in an umbrella-like fashion to cover a variety of educational activities, it behoves the researcher, textbook author, and curriculum designer to clearly enunciate their usage and meaning of the term inquiry if credence is to be given to their claims.

Notes
i . N . F. Newbury, The Teaching of Chemistry, 3rd ed., p. 124-5, London, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1966. 2. Newbury, op. cit. 3. John Dewey, Democracy and Education, p. 354, N e w York, Macmillan, 1916. 4. Betsy Baer Kaufman, ' A Contemporary Review of the Inquiry Method of Teaching and Learning: A Study of Current Definitions and Rationales of the Inquiry Method of Teaching and Learning, 1960-1970', unpublished P h . D . thesis presented to N e w York University, N e w York, 1972. 5. E . Klinckman (supervisor ed.), Biology Teachers' Handbook, p. 23, N e w York, Wiley & Sons, 1970. 6. Joseph J. Schwab, 'The Structures of the Natural Sciences', in G . W . Ford and L . Pugno (eds.), The Structure of Knowledge and the Curriculum, p. 38-9, Chicago, Rand McNally, 1964. 7. Schwab, op. cit., p. 41. 8. Jerome S. Bruner, 'The Act of Discovery', Harvard Educational Review, p. 21-32, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1961. 9. Jerome S. Bruner, The Process of Education, p. 63, N e w York, Vintage Books, Random House, 1963. 10. M . Richard Suchman, Developing Inquiry, p. 70-8, Chicago, Science Research Associates, Inc., 1966. 11. Alfred T . Collette, Science Teaching in the Secondary Schools, p. 156, Boston, Mass., Allyn & Bacon, 1973. 12. B . F. Skinner, The Technology of Teaching, p. 109-11, N e w York, Appleton CenturyCrofts, 1968.

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Viewpoints and controversies

After literacy, teaching: paradoxes of post-literacy w o r k

Bernard Dumont

Never in the course of mankind's existence has so m u c h been done for literacy as nowadays. Yet because of the rapid increase in the world's population the number of illiterate adults is constantly increasing, and is higher today than ever before. A s a result, some think, with good reason, that more ought to be done; if their studies and exhortations bear fruit, the record figures reached over the last ten years will be exceeded: each year tens of millions of h u m a n beings, including millions of adults, will learn to read and write. T h e n what? W h a t purpose is served by the efforts of those w h o learn to readj write and count, and of those w h o organize and teach? W h a t do they lead to? Literacy teaching, as is often said, opens the doors of k n o w ledge; but what knowledge? W h a t does such knowledge lead to? If all literary teaching were 'functional', w e should not need to ask such questions: for if literacy teaching is functional the knowledge acquired through training is closely connected with the activities and concerns that m e a n most to the learner in daily life; as functional knowledge is thus put into practice every day, it is kept u p and develops constantly and steadily; at least, w e hope so. But in fact, sometimes because the notion of functional literacy teaching is misunderstood, or, more frequently, because the material or h u m a n resources mobilized are insufficient, the various literacy programmes carried out are not always functional, or are not really so. This is true of both children taught in schools, and adults w h o take literacy courses; but the problems that arise in each of these two age groups differ so m u c h that they need to be examined separately. M a n y psycho-pedagogical and socio-economic studies of the children's problems have been m a d e , but not of the problems which arise at the 145
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conclusion of adult literacy programmes, perhaps because postliteracy work has often been thought a simple affair. In this article, therefore, w e shall look at some of these problems, from the practical standpoint of a person responsible for a literacy programme, or of anybody w h o wants to play his part in the effort to eradicate illiteracy. First w e shall consider what exactly post-literacy work is and try to show the discrepancies between various aspects of the situation and between the true state of affairs and ideas that have been accepted or action that is to be or has been taken. Secondly, w e shall also find numerous paradoxes w h e n w e consider the relations between literacy teaching and post-literacy work and try to see h o w to ensure that they succeed in overcoming illiteracy.

A three-dimensional notion

Post-literacy work can be defined as all those materials and structures which enable the newly literate adult to keep u p , use and develop the knowledge he has acquired and the abilities generated in him through literacy teaching. L E N G T H : THE MATERIAL A glance at this definition shows us thefirstdimension of postliteracy work, a dimension that is a logical and chronological direct consequence of literacy teaching. It is n o w k n o w n that an adult w h o has learnt to read, write and count needs special material'reading material for the newly literate adult'if he is not to fall back into illiteracy. This material comprises: Informative material, generally in pamphlet form, the content and presentation of which are specially designed to give practical information that will help h i m to improve his working and living conditions (agriculture, stock-breeding, technology, hygiene, bringing-up of children, civic life) and also to serve as a transition between the A B C s and 'first readers' used w h e n people are learning to write and the reading material of various kinds produced for the general public; such informative material is an essential stage on the road to adult education proper. Periodicals, either rural newspapers or news-sheets published by firms, which are distributed to the newly literate, or easy-to-read insets or pages in the ordinary press.

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Books of all types, informative orfictional,with or without illustrations, picture stories and strip cartoons, which enable people to acquire the habit of reading. Various widely distributed materials (posters, calendars, pamphlets and brochures), from all of which something can be learnt, and which can be used in conjunction with other information media (radio, films, television), during campaigns intended to reach large numbers of people and dealing with subjects of general interest: food hygiene, h o w to combat certain illnesses and so on. Certain conditions, both qualitative (variety, regularity) and quantitative, must be m e t in the production of such reading material for newly literate people if it is to be really effective. Careful planning is necessary to ensure that the considerable resources required for its production are available w h e n required: pedagogical research, finding authors and encouraging them, seeing that equipment and materials are provided. It m a y not be realized that in certain countries with extremely high levels of illiteracy, the consumptionand in the present state of the economy that means importsof paper m a y be tripled in five years as a result of normal post-literacy work. But in most cases the greatest difficulty lies in the organization of publishing and distribution channels (libraries and bookshops), for most of those that already exist are unsuited to the requirements of post-literacy work. These are all serious difficulties, but they are largely the same as those encountered during literacy programmes and are but an extension of them. A s a result, the teams in charge of literacy programmes are usually quite capable of handling the situation: as long as they have the resources, they can easilyfindextensive bibliographies and in their turn produce valuable information through which the methods used in their work and its results can be disseminated. W I D T H : THE ENVIRONMENT W h e n w e try to add a second dimension to the idea of post-literacy work, to widen the concept, and to get the newly literate adult off the beaten track along which he has been led by the reading materials prepared for h i m by the literacy programme staff, w e find a very different state of affairs. For if the purpose of literacy programmes really is to 'demarginalize' the illiterate adult, as w e are so often told, the latter should one day reach the stage where, in his o w n environment, he is on an equal footing with those w h o are not considered as

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marginal, i.e. those w h o have taken and completed a school course. Here other paradoxes begin to appear: taking mankind as a whole, almost a third of adults are regarded as marginal because they are illiterate, and if present trends continue there will still be a quarter in 1990. T h e critical evaluation report of the Experimental World Literacy P r o g r a m m e 1 points out that about 80 or 90 per cent of adults in some countries are said to be marginal because they can neither read nor write; what, then, of the rural areas in these same countries, where the written word has n o place whatever, and never has had, in any aspect of lifethe life of the family, the economy, culture, health, even administration, if one can use such a term in this context. In these areas, which m a k e up the larger part of the countries having the highest rates of illiteracy, and where literacy programmes have been introduced as an accompaniment to economic changes, the effectiveness of a post-literacy programme depends not only on the quantity and quality of reading material m a d e available to newly literate persons, but also on actionvigorous, effective actionto m a k e the environment favourable to the general use of written communication, more rapidly than if it were to c o m e about naturally. Studies and, indeed, experiments on a scale that compels attention have been carried out in some of the m a n yfieldsin which it is possible to contribute to the creation of an environment that is favourable to literacy programmes, for example, on the organization of rural libraries in the United Republic of Tanzania and the participation of adults in the production of their o w n reading material, described by Simoni Malya. 2 But m a n y otherfieldshave not yet been sufficiently or properly investigated. Something more should be said of at least three of these: the presence of the printed word, the radical reorganization of training programmes, and the status of the languages used for literacy teaching. It is difficult for anyone w h o lives and works in towns, where there are signboards, posters and advertisements on all sides, to imagine the almost total absence of the printed word in very large rural areas of countries which have an oral civilizationareas where the majority of illiterate adults live. A n y attempt at literacy teaching will have little impact in such places, unless the people can apply in practice, naturally and as it were subconsciously, the knowledge of writing and arithmetic that they have acquired. T h e visible context of the people's life must be changedsignposts must be put u p on roads and street names indicated in towns or villagesso that there is more evidence

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to show the adult, and for that matter the child, that the written word is a normal part of relations between people, as well as material for individual reflection. Moreover, if the written word is used in this w a y widely enough, the newly literate person will feel at h o m e a m o n g familiar signs, w h e n he is away from the contextnecessarily a restricted oneof the verbal relations he has had. It is generally held that one of the functions of post-literacy teaching is to give adults a chance to reach a higher level of k n o w ledge. However, the arrangements m a d e to enable them to do so have long consisted of the provision of special classes as a transition towards the normal forms of educationexisting school or university institutions. Until very recently, m a n y 'evening classes' in various African countries were of this kindthe lessons intended for schoolchildren were merely repeated for adults. Similarly, the 'social advancement courses' provided in France, were usually mere repetitions for adults of those used for technical college students in the daytime. Behind these practices liemore or less explicitlynot only the force of habit and fear of innovation, but also the conviction that the school system is an excellent means of individual or collective advancement. True, at certain times and in certain contexts some of those w h o started to attend school w h e n they were very young have done well because of it; h o w often have w e heard somebody of importance in the world of education or elsewhere refer to his humble origins as a country boy, and say what great things the school did for him! But, apart from the fact that people have quite different opportunities, because of the rapidity with which changes take place, these arguments do not alter the fact that there are at least two reasons w h y school programmes and courses should not be used for adults without adaptation. First, in the planning and organization of school programmes the rate of progress is based on the stages of average development of a child's personality, whereas adults have already passed through these stagesin a different w a y , it is true, but they have done so; second, school programmes and the methods generally used in them are such that there is little opportunity to take account of an adult's experience of life or turn it to advantage. Therefore, if a post-literacy programme is really to give adults the same opportunities for a full life as people w h o have had a school education, different arrangements must be m a d e for their training, or else existing systems must be radically changed, so as to cater for the particular situations and needs of the various age groups.

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This is being done in the United Republic of Tanzania: in the Folk's Development Colleges the programmes are specially designed for both the n e w literate and people w h o have had a school education, local employment needs and opportunities being taken into account. Likewise, in Mali, the 'further training' courses with a scientific bias, which are intended for the inhabitants of a village or group of villages, provide an opportunity for people w h o have had a school education, those w h o are newly literate and even some illiterate people to obtain reliable scientific information about the problems of daily life. T h e effectiveness of post-literacy work should not be impaired by the choice of the language to be used in literacy programmes. Only in rare cases is this both the language spoken by people in their families, the language most commonly spoken, and the official language of the country, with afixedwritten form and a substantial body of published and available literature. T h e various combinations of these language functions can lead to m a n y and very different situations. O n e of these situations, which has become increasingly c o m m o n in certain African countries over the last ten years, is characterized by the adoption, for psycho-pedagogical and economic reasons, of the language most widely used in society, as the language in which literacy teaching is given. Sometimes the language people speak in their h o m e s is used, but it will not be the official language, which is generally a foreign language used in the school system and administrative life. A dichotomy is thus created between people taught in schools in an official language, w h o get salaried posts in the public or private sector, and adults w h o have taken literacy courses, usually country people w h o can read and write only in their native tongue. This dichotomy has m a n y consequences. T h e most immediate of these, for our purposes, is the adult's reluctance to learn to read and write a language which is not that of the authorities and the well-off and which, in the system he accepts as a model, does not appear to lead to any real opportunity for advancement. This being so, the status of literacy programme languages must be clearly defined and constantly respected if post-literacy work is to be carried out successfully. 'In the present circumstances,' said the Director-General of Unesco, on the occasion of the thirteenth International Literacy D a y , 'literacy work often requires a twofold effort, since, to achieve its full effect, it must be applied to two languages, whose respective spheres of influence must be defined and whose coexistence must be organized.' For example, while the scientific 150

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study of the present state of languages used in literacy teaching and of their evolution must be continued, it is essential to arrange for them to be officially used for certain administrative papers or documents (identity cards, civil status certificates, public notices, court judgements, sign-posting, etc.), to give them certain recognized functions in the school system (in the early stages, as a subject for study, or as a vehicular language) to extend their use in and through the civil service, and to encourage the production and dissemination of material in everyday use (calendars, public transport signs . . .) and of books and periodicals in these languages. Arrangements must also be m a d e for those w h o have been taught to read and write in local languages to learn the official language, and vice versa. If w e consider the above, in which there are factors for the creation of a favourable environment, w e shall see that, as opposed to reading material for the newly literate, the principles to be observed and the practical measures to be applied are only to a small extent the responsibility of those in charge of literacy courses: for the most part they are a matter for decision-making authorities and executing agencies, which are mainly concerned with other affairs than adult literacy teaching and follow-up work, of which, indeed, they m a y k n o w nothing. T h e responsibility for ensuring that the written word is frequently to be seen rests u p o n all those in charge of public administration or production firms w h o , in their respectivefieldsof competence, can encourage or discourage the use of the written word, rather than other modes of communication, at the various stages of their decision-making. Those w h o are in charge of adult education can see to the establishment of middle-level and advanced training courses for newly literate adults, but w h e n it comes to solving problems of equivalence and co-ordination with traditional school or university courses, developing the different types of course properly and defining their role as a preparation for higher education and for responsibility in the community, the decisions and choices to be m a d e are different, and usually of a political nature. A n d the status of the languages used in literacy teachinga matter which is not only extremely technical, but also involves choices in a particularly sensitive area for all parties concernedis something to be decided by the authorities empowered to take action on questions of policy. It therefore appears that, if post-literacy work is to attain its second dimension, it must involve others besides literacy teachers; persons with responsibility in various spheres, particularly political leaders, must play a part in it. 151

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DEPTH: PARTICIPATION This will be even clearer if, continuing our examination of the idea of post-literacy work, w e consider what conditions 'the use and development of the abilities acquired or generated by literacy teaching'. Here w e come to a third dimension of post-literacy work, the dimension which gives it its true h u m a n and social substance: the fact that a person w h o has become literate can, as a result, reach other levels of information and reflection means that he can take responsibility and play his part in making decisions that concern his o w n future and that of the community of which he is a m e m b e r . It is a very profound and legitimate desire of every h u m a n being to 'mind his o w n business'. It has often been said that minding one's o w n business in order to be able to improve things is one of the aims of any literacy programme and the true meaning of the idea of functional literacy. T h e Tokyo Conference on Adult Education, held in 1972, recommended that the functionality of literacy teaching, in the widest sense of the term, should enable all m e n and w o m e n to participate in the definition and realization of the objectives of change 'so that they m a y become active agents in the building of a n e w and better society'. In July 1 9 7 5 , t n e Group of Experts for the Evaluation of Experimental Literacy Projects said that 'the concept of functionality must be extended to include all its dimensions . . . literacy must aim . . . to enable the individual to understand, master and transform his or her destiny'. T h e Declaration of Persepolis, issued at the conclusion of the International Symposium for Literacy, in September 1975, confirms that the need for participation in the decisions of the community to which they belong is one of the most fundamental needs of those for w h o m literacy programmes are designed, literacy being 'inseparable from participation, which is at once its purpose and its condition'. Again, the idea of participation must be understood in the widest possible sense if it is to have any significance. It must embrace all forms of participation from the most elementary forms, in the places where people live and work, to the most important forms, such as those involving the aims of development, and including the definition of the content of training programmes and the choice of certain methods in economic relations. In a rural environment, it should be possible for the n e w knowledge and abilities acquired by adult farm workers through literacy courses to be used, by arranging for groups of peasants or villagers to take over tasks previously done by paid workers employed by the agri152

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cultural services. There are m a n y examples, in various countries, of such transfers of responsibility, atfirston a very modest scale (the distribution and recovery of the necessary sacks for commercializing the harvests in Niger, or the supervising of weighing operations by village delegates in Mali, for instance), but they could be gradually extended to increasingly complex activities. A s peasants w h o have become literate are capable of calculating for themselves the expense entailed in some n e w venture or by the introduction of a n e w production technique (such as the use of fertilizers or various methods of cultivation) and setting them against the figures for the results obtained at the end of a given period, they could, with the assistance of research institutes, conduct experiments on matters which concern them directly. This means that the whole task of getting knowledge to the people can be done in a radically differentand easierway. T h e critical evaluation report of the World Experimental Literacy Programme denounced the view that the newly literate adult still has a certain inability to grasp and understand problems of any complexitya sort of hangover from his illiterate childhood and youth. In this connection w e might mention a programme combining action and research conducted in Mali towards the end of 1977, on the initiative of Unesco, which shows h o w newly literate rural adults can participate in taking decisions regarding development prospects and important demographical questions. In four consecutive issues, the monthly journal Kibaru, which appears in the Mandingo language (Bambara-Dyula) published, in co-ordination with Radio Mali, the answers to a series of questions about the ideas embodied in development and its factors (the respective roles of h u m a n and financial capital in national development; the characteristics of family wellbeing; the future prospects for young people; the objectives and value of education for girls and w o m e n ) . T h e number, variety and quality of the answers received show clearly that newly literate rural adults are perfectly capable of expressing well-thought-out opinions in writingand, it should be noted, in a language that wasfirstwritten d o w n only ten years agoand of taking a very active and real part in the discussion of ideas about the aims and methods of development. If w e are convinced, after studying these examples, that newly literate persons can play an increasingly important part in affairs and that this is an important aspect of post-literacy work, w e shall inevitably inquire w h o can m a k e decisions on the matter and bring into operation the resources needed to apply this principle, and w h o is 153

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responsible for seeing that newly literate people play an increasingly active part. Atfirstsight, it seems that these questions can be answered in the same w a y as the questions concerning the creation of an environment favourable to the use of the written wordthat literacy teachers have m u c h less initiative and direct responsibility w h e n decisions are to be taken concerning the provision of rural education workers or support for scientific, agricultural or meteorological experiments or observations. T h e decision to reassign staff or reorganize structures so as to give the newly literate more responsibility, once they have had a gradual but definite training for it, is in the hands of those administratively responsible for agriculture, meteorology, the commercialization of harvests and so on. D o these authorities in fact do so? Is there any evidence that they are m u c h involved in the study of the effects of literacy programmes on certain sections or areas of the rural population, or that they are called upon to help plan measures to ensure that such programmes are followed up properly? Even in certain countries which, since they energetically pursue a policy of giving national priority to adult education, set u p committees with express instructions to see that at all levels and in all sectors, adult education is co-ordinated with the general development effort and with each individual development p r o g r a m m e , there are agronomists, economists or directors of firms w h o are so absorbed in their technocratic knowledge that they do not see what changes a successful literacy programme could m a k e in the w a y in which they work. A n d in the all too m a n y countries where, even n o w , 'there are m o r e gloomy statements on the subject of illiteracy than vigorously implemented policies'3 and where there is n o real political will, there is even less reason for us to be surprised if w e find technocrats opposing fuller participation by the newly literate in the definition of objectives and the execution of development programmes. O n this question of participation, then, w e must conclude that no official authority, whether directly responsible for literacy prog r a m m e s and adult education or not, will succeed in giving the newly literate a real chance to participate in responsibility, from which they have been previously excluded, unless there is a real political will for it at governmental level. This being so, the success of the newly literate in their quest for greater participation depends entirely on their o w n action, their skill in organizing such action, and the energy they put into it. This is probably the most realistic interpretation of

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the reference which is frequently m a d e to the relation between the success of literacy teaching and deep-seated social and economic change.

Strategic questions: after or before?

T h e World Experimental Literacy P r o g r a m m e did m u c h to gain acceptance for the idea that literacy teaching is not an end in itself, but should be planned and carried out so as to take account of the needs and aspirations of adults and the communities they live in, at different levels: 'There can be n o hope of eradicating illiteracy without an overall view of the situation that extends over a sufficiently long period.'4 This means that the organization of post-literacy work is n o w regarded as an essential part of a real effort to combat illiteracy: literacy teaching that is not accompanied by post-literacy work is self-destructive; its effects are gone in n o time. Therefore the approach, methods and content of literacy programmes should be such as to give adults, as individuals and as groups, a real desire for post-literacy teaching; and this means that care must be taken, from the outset, to ensure that what is taught is useful, that the groups of learners work well together and m a k e progress, that their horizons are widened, and that they discover the pleasure of learning and of overcoming intellectual difficulties. PLANNING If it is agreed that all the above-mentioned dimensions of postliteracy must be taken into consideration, together with all the problems they raise, it will be seen that literacy and post-literacy programmes must be planned as carefully as possible, so that all the factors required for the success of a task of such magnitude will be available at the right time and in the right place. Obviously the first step must be to get a clear picture of the situation, but plans should also be m a d e for enabling the people to participate in the preparation and carrying out of the programmes, and the planning of postliteracy work must be properly co-ordinated with all other educational work and with the general or regional economic or social development plans. Above all, in this, as in any activity that requires planning, in thefirststages definite targets must be set, to be attained by a specific date.

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So it will be seen that post-literacy work, instead of coming afterwards, should be considered and defined before the actual literacy programmes are begun, and that, since it takes time for certain preconditions to be fulfilled and for certain extremely difficult arrangements to be m a d e , post-literacy work should begin before literacy work not only at the planning level, but also at that of operational activities. Consider, for example, the time it takes to prepare people's minds, take decisions and obtain practical results in the field of language status, or in that of the organization of publishing, or again in that of the reorganization or establishment of institutions that are suitable for adult education: it is easy enough to see that one must begin with certain aspects of post-literacy work. NON-PLANNING While it is obviously desirable to plan the work of literacy and postliteracy teaching as a whole, such planning cannot be expected to meet all requirements. T h e actual situations that literacy teachers have to deal with are so complex that it often proves necessary to treat plans with a degree of elasticity such that they become unrecognizable. This happens, for instance, w h e n those responsible for the literacy programmerealistic and, perforce, modest though their estimates and programmes m a y beare not sure of being able to count on a sufficiently regular supply of resources for proper planning, and also w h e n they are suddenly presented with unexpected opportunities for using exceptional material, h u m a n or financial resources; or again w h e n the person responsible for the literacy programme, mindful of the spontaneous enthusiasm of groups of newly literate people, and anxious to intensify and increase it, has to put to one side other projects he has planned. If such situations, which in fact cannot be planned for, are to be turned to account, normal planning procedures must be m u c h more flexible, and arrangements must be m a d e to ensure that opportunities which present themselves can be grasped at once (and indeed sought and initiated) and that they can be exploited to the full in order to strengthen and extend the literacy programme. In such cases, what has to be done is not merely to plan the use of available resources, but, if one m a y put it so, to plan the unforeseeable! This is also true of aims, and more profoundly true than of resources or methods, in those cases where there is no 'political will', at the highest decision-making levels, for a literary programme and for

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full-scale post-literacy work (i.e. work which has the three dimensions referred to above, and particularly the third). Sometimes this attitude is due less to genuine objection than to more or less sincere scepticism as to whether adults w h o have always been regarded as ignorant and backward are capable of making their contribution and taking on responsibilities which were previously entrusted to executive personnel. It is clear that in such cases a plan which does not conceal the fact that it has ambitious aims for the participation of the newly literate will encounter insurmountable opposition, even before it is put into operation, in its initial stages. T h e w a y to get over this difficulty is to refrain from planning the attainment of all the normal aims of post-literacy work until they have become credible as a result of experiment and achievements that are beyond all dispute.

Paradoxes are inseparable from post-literacy work

In view of all these paradoxes, which are not the fruit of the imagination, but taken from actual experiencethey will be familiar to post-literacy teachersand which reveal so m u c h inconsistency and so m a n y discrepancies and problems that seem insoluble, it is only too likely that the literacy worker will lose heart. This is obviously not the aim of this report. O n the contrary, it should be noted that the greatest danger in adult education campaigns is that the literacy worker as well as those w h o are learning m a y be disillusioned or discouraged w h e n unforeseen and indeed unimaginable difficulties c o m e u p during the course. Awareness of the magnitude of the task to be undertaken and a knowledge of the obstacles to be overcome are essential for those w h o seek and apply the resources needed, and even more so if they are to have the determination and perseverance without which a literacy programme cannot reach the stage of successful post-literacy work and genuine adult education. Actually, it can never be said often enough that literacy teaching and post-literacy work are pointless unless accompanied by economic and social change. A n y group of h u m a n beings resists change, and there is nothing surprising about the fact that literacy programmes come u p against obstacles, some proper to literacy work as such and others connected with the changes which accompany it. All this makes one wonder whether a post-literacy programme can be considered valid and successful if it has not encountered or given rise to the various difficulties w e have mentioned, and whether the

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quality of post-literacy work cannot be judged b y the n u m b e r of paradoxes it has brought to light and overcome. But the reader will probably think that this is carrying a taste for paradox too far.

Notes
1. The Experimental World Literacy Programme: A Critical Assessment, p. 118-19, Paris, The Unesco Press, 1976. 2. Simoni Malya, 'Creating Literacy Surroundings in Tanzania', Literacy Discussion, Vol. VIII, N o . 4, winter, 1977-78 (International Institute for Adult Literacy Methods, Tehran). 3. 'Conclusions and Recommendations of the Director-General to the Executive Board and to the General Conference on the Ways and Means of Implementing the Literacy Programme', Paris, Unesco, 25 August 1978, p. 7 (20 C/71). 4. The Experimental World Literacy Programme. . ., op. cit.

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Elements for a dossier

Learning about interdependence

Lester R . Brown

Learning to l v together i e on a small planet

International understanding, once a humanitarian cieties. Both h u m a n numbers and the level of virtue, is now a dramatic, urgent necessity: economic wealth are increasing rapidly. A 2 per cent annual rate of population growth or a 4 per the interdependence of the different regions and countries of the world and the strain on limitedcent rate of economic growth might not seem resources are such that without understanding substantial atfirstglance. Over a century, h o w ever, the former will lead to a sevenfold increase leading to co-operation there will be disaster. The following article by Lester Brown, head of the and the latter to afiftyfold!Such is the arithWorldwatch Institute, should serve to remind our metic of exponential growth. In fact, the global lily pond in which readers that unless we all become educated to the grave problems facing humanity, the technical 4,000 million of us live m a y already be at least skills and general knowledge imparted by our half full. Within the next generation, it could school and university systems may well become fill up entirely. Occasional clusters of leaves are already crowding against the edge, signalling superfluous. [Ed.] the day w h e n the pond will b e completely filled. T h e great risk is that w e will miss or Teachers in France use a riddle to teach schoolmisread the signals and fail to adjust our lifechildren exponential growth. A lily pond, so the styles and reproductive habits in the time riddle goes, contains a single leaf. Each day available. the number of leaves doublestwo leaves the second day, four the third, eight the fourth, T h e range of constraints that have begun to and so on. 'If the pond is full on the thirtieth affect global society in the last decade is forday', the teacher asks, 'at what point is it half midable. Newspaper headlines have been anfull?' Answer: ' O n the twenty-ninth day.' nouncing a host of problems that only a decade ago would have been unimaginable. Prices of oil A n understanding of the arithmetic of growth is indispensable in today's growth-oriented so- have sky-rocketed, bringing the era of cheap energy to a close. Other important non-renewable materials have become increasingly scarce and costly as well, though their price rises are u n Lester Brown (United States of America). President of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based likely to match the recent fivefold increase in non-profit research organization created to analyse and petroleum prices. to focus attention on global problems. Author of In the Just as worrisome has been the emergence H u m a n Interest and T h e Twenty Ninth D a y : A c of serious stresses on the earth's renewable recommodating H u m a n Needs and N u m b e r s to the sources, the biological systems that provide all Earth's Resources.

loi
Prospects, Vol. IX, N o . 2, 1979

Lester R. Brown

our food and virtually all the raw materials for industry. Since these systems can support only a limited yield or offtake indefinitely, excessive demands can be satisfied only by consuming the biological stocks themselves. Such a situation obviously cannot long continue. Massive deforestation in m u c h of the Third World, the recent failure of the world's fishermen to expand their catch, and the continuing world-wide loss of crop land are all providing ample cause for concern.

Stress on biological systems

T h e world'sfisheriesare a well-documented case of overuse and declining productivity. Throughoust most of h u m a n history there were more fish in the oceans than w e could ever hope to catch.1 Between 1950 and 1970, the world catch increased rapidly, far outstripping population growth and sharply boosting fish consumption. But in 1970 the trend was abruptly and unexpectedly interrupted, clouding the prospects for an ever-bigger catch. Meanwhile, world population has continued to grow, leading to an 11 per cent decline in the per-capita catch. A s h u m a n numbers m o v e d toward 4,000 million, the global appetite for table fish such as salmon, tuna, and cod approached and, in some cases, exceeded the sustainable yield offisheries.Overfishing has led to shrinking stocks, declining catches and soaring prices. M a n y of the world's forests are also showing signs of overharvesting. In poor countries, in particular, where firewood is used for cooking, villagers are decimating local forests. With the average villager requiring a tonne or more of firewood each year, expanding village populations are raising firewood demands so fast that the regenerative capacities of m a n y forests are being surpassed. Under the population onslaught, forests are receding farther and farther from the villages until entire regions are eventually deforested. A s a result,firewoodprices have

soared, fuelling thefiresof inflation in countless Third World countries. In some deforested communities in Africa, what goes under the pot m a y cost more than what goes inside it. Although the daily demand for firewood is the largest claimant on the world's forests, the demand for lumber is also rising rapidly. This continued pressure, combined with the need to replace old houses, is raising total claims on m a n y remaining forests far beyond the level that can be sustained without improved management and a massive increase in tree-planting. A s with firewood, these pressures translate into rising costs. In the United States, prices for lumber have nearly tripled since 1969. A s this happens, the cost of housing goes u p everywhere. T h e average cost of a n e w house in the United States has n o w reached $55,000, up from less than $30,000 scarcely a decade ago. 2 T h e single-family homewhich since frontier days has been regarded as part of the American birthrightis becoming increasingly unattainable for millions of middle-income families. Another clear case of excessive demand being placed on a biological system is that of the world's crop lands. Cities and deserts are encroaching on crop land on virtually every continent. In some countries, such as the United States, the crop land being lost exceeds the n e w land being brought under the plough. In Science, David Pimentel reports that 'each year more than 1 million hectares of arable cropland are lost to highways, urbanization, and other special uses'. This loss is only 'partially offset by the addition (primarily through irrigation and drainage projects) of 50,000 hectares of newly developed cropland per year'.3 In addition to the absolute loss of crop land through abandonment or conversion to other uses, erosion is leading to a thinning of the top-soil layer in m a n y countries and thus to a decline in the natural fertility of soils. Soil erosion is not n e w , but in vast areas the top-soil n o w being lost through erosion exceeds that being formed by nature.

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Anyone w h o has travelled across Africa, up and d o w n the Indian sub-continent, or around Latin America seesfirsthand the consequences of extending cultivation onto land that should either be left in its natural state or cultivated only with special techniques. O n e need not be a trained agronomist or a prophet to see the grim future that continued abuse of the earth's soil resources entails.

The energy transition

In the case of oil, as with renewable resources, there has been relatively little attention paid to the causes underlying the sudden jump in prices. In fact, the decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( O P E C ) to raise its prices was little more than a triggering event that brought the long-term trends into focus. T h e strength to make its decision stick derived largely from the lack of economically competitive substitutes. In the United States, oil production has been falling since 1970, reversing a centurylong trend. This has occurred despite a rapid rise in oil exploration in the continental United States as well as the oil 'bonanza' of the Alaskan North Slope. T h e decline in production already under way in the United States will be followed by downturns in other oil-producing countries. T h e Soviet Union m a y lose its exportable surplus of oil within a matter of years, leaving Eastern Europe heavily dependent on the Middle East and other sources of oil imports. As output begins to fall in some of the older oilfields,the pressures on n e wfieldswill mount. As this process continues, a snowball effect will take hold and a market psychology of scarcity will come into force. If energy alternatives are not available soon at comparably cheap prices, the 1990s m a y witness not onty the end of the petroleum era, but also the end of the profligate economic system it has spawned. T h e sobering reality of oil depletion is only

beginning to permeate public consciousness. Until recently, technology held out two promising alternatives: the extraction of oil from the vast reserves of shale and tar sands, and the development of cheap nuclear power. M a n y believed that the oil that is tightly locked in oil shale or heavy tar sands could be readily extracted. But discouraging set-backs have marred the 1970s. Efforts to develop the vast shale deposits in Colorado and W y o m i n g have been abandoned by m a n y private companies because of the cost. Similarly, some of the firms that hoped to 'mine' the Althabascan tar sands, once touted as containing more petroleum than the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, are shelving the notion. Business Week has described shale-oil as 'a researcher's dream and an economist's nightmare'.4 Events of the 1970s have also altered the outlook for nuclear power. A n international survey in early 1977 reported that the timetables for nuclear power 'are in shambles'. 6 T h e United States Government has dramatically lowered its projections of nuclear-power capacity for the year 2000. 6 Similar reductions in the projections are occurring at the global level. In 1970, the International Atomic Energy Agency projected that some 610,000 megawatts would be on line by 1985 in the non-communist countries. A recent forecast by the Atomic Industrial F o r u m , an industry trade group, projects only 375,000 megawatts by 1985 for the entire world.7 Continuing set-backs in the industry suggest that even these projections are on the high side. At least six obstacles or problems beset n u clear power: the risk of a reactor melt-down or other accident; the danger of nuclear weapons spreading; into the hands of terrorists; the lack of a satisfactory technique for disposing of nuclear waste; the possibility that nuclear weapons will spread; the long-term inadequacy offissilefuel supplies; and, perhaps most importantly cost, including the cost of waste disposal and of decommissioning worn-out plants.

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T h e difficulty in dealing effectively with any one of these obstacles, m u c h less with all of them collectively, raises serious questions about whether nuclear power will ever fulfil the mission its proponents set for it. A s recently as April 1977, President Carter, in outlining to Congress his long-term energy plan, stated that coal would be a corner-stone of the United States energy programme. But a few months later the National A c a d e m y of Sciences released a study on energy and climate that pointed out that continued heavy burning of coal would almost certainly raise carbon dioxide levels, leading to a warming of the earth. T h e y projected a warming of 6C ( n F ) within two centuries.8 Even a 5C warming of the oceans would raise the sea level through simple expansion alone by a metre. If, as a more recent article in Nature projects, this warming led to a partial breakup of the Antarctic icecap, the ocean levels would rise m u c h farther, inundating low-lying coastal areas and cities throughout the world.9 Both coal and nuclear energy have proved unexpectedly costly to develop, both in terms of direct monetary outlays and indirect safety and environmental costs. Given these prospects, there is little doubt that the transition to the post-petroleum era will be difficult. Societies will have to do more to conserve energy in the future than they have in the recent past. In addition, there is no longer any realistical alternative to beginning a crash programme to develop renewable energy sourcessolar energy in its various direct and indirect forms. These include solar collectors for space and water heating, wind power, methane generators, firewood, energy crops, and schemes to convert urban garbage into usable heat and electricity. O n e of the simplest uses of sunlight is to heat water and buildings. Solar collectors used to heat water are highly efficient and in m a n y situations are already economically competitive with traditional energy sources. A s the price of oil continues to rise and as mass production of

solar collectors reduces their cost further, they will find more buyers. A s of early 1977, a n estimated 2 million solar water-heaters had been sold in Japan. 10 Solar water-heating units are also being marketed on a significant scale in Israel, Australia and the United States. O n e form of biological energy that has traditionally been wasted in industrial societies is waste itself. T h e organic material that composes a large share of urban garbage is combustible, although it is seldom uniform enough to yield a steady flow of heat. Yet, in cities like St Louis, where a $70 million plant has been constructed to burn the city's garbage along with local coal, waste-disposal problems are being solved as energy for electricity is being created. Still another form of organic waste that contains a valuable energy component is cowdung. A n estimated 69 million tonnes is used directly as fuel each year in India, m u c h as buffalo chips were burned by the early settlers in the United States Great Plains.11 However, key nutrients that could be used as fertilizer are lost in direct burning in openfires.A more efficient approach is to convert the cow-dung and other organic wastes into methane through anaerobic fermentation, which leaves a rich organic residue that can then be used as fertilizer. Small biogas plants employing this process and designed for local use are becoming increasingly popular in several Asian countries: China has an estimated 4.3 million biogas plants in operation. Interest in biogas plants at the family and village levels in India has expanded sharply since the 1973 oil-price rise.12 At least one country plans to produce organic materials for conversion into alcohol for use as automobile fuel. Allen H a m m o n d writes in Science that ' T h e Brazilian Government has launched a bold program to replace m u c h of that country's imported oil with ethyl alcohol produced from sugar cane and other crops'.13 T h e admittedly ambitious goal of producing enough ethanol to supply one-fifth of its gasoline needs by 1980 rests o n the Brazilian

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Government's proposal to build seventy n e w alcohol distilleries and to plant an additional 500,000 hectares to sugar-cane. Brazil's plan to obtain nearly all of its automotive fuel from alcohol by the year 2000 makes it one of the few countries to have charted a path to the post-petroleum era. A s efforts to reduce dependence on imported oil gain m o m e n t u m , different countries will look to different substitutes. Countries situated in the higher latitudes are favoured with wind resources; mountainous countries have falling water; tropical countries can produce organic materials for fuel throughout the year, and countries in desert areas have an abundance of sunlight. T h e exploitation of indigenous energy resources m a y lead to a n e w self-reliance and to m o v e security of energy sources than exists today. According to Denis Hayes, 'Brazil's large ethanol program, India's gobar gas plants, and the Middle East's growing fascination with solar electric technologies can all bode well for the future of renewable energy sources.'14

The inevitable accommodation

T h e question before us is not whether w e will accommodate ourselves to the earth's natural systems and resources, but h o w w e will do so. T h e question is not whether the offtake from oceanicfisherieswill be limited. It will beif not by us, then ultimately by nature. There is no question whether the overcutting of forests will eventually halt. It willeither because w e consciously decide to do so or because n o forests remain to be cut. There is no question whether w e will soon reduce our consumption of oil. W e will. T h e only question is whether the forthcoming adjustments will be m a d e sensibly, co-operatively, and with foresight, or belatedly and perhaps catastrophically. T h e changes involved in deliberately accommodating ourselves to the earth's natural capacities and resources suggest that a far-reaching

social transformation is in the making. T h e origins of the change are ecological, but the change itself is social and economic. T h e processes for achieving it are political. T h e changes ahead will paradoxically require both a reduction in the potentially unmanageable interdependencies a m o n g societies and a strengthening of international co-operation in some key fields. A global 'Marshall Plan' to address problems of ecological stress and diminishing fossil fuels is neither a realistic option, nor the best available use for limited resources. In the years ahead, nations will increasingly seek local solutions to problems that are global in scale. This n e w outlook which has already taken hold in some parts of the world will be an abrupt shift of direction after several decades of massively increased economic interdependence. It is being fostered by the complexity and vulnerability of the current economic system, which is all too susceptible to natural disasters and political conflicts. It is also being fostered by the realization that m a n y of the changes that will be required are implemented most logically on a small scale at the local level. N e w methods for increasing food and energy production will likely vary between regions. A fuel-wood plantation that is essential in the Republic of Korea m a y be either impractical or unneeded in Peru. Likewise with aquaculture ponds, biogas plants, intensive vegetable gardens, and even familyplanning techniques. N o particular set of programmes will be universally applicable, nor do any of them have great economies of scale if implemented in a massive way. However, even while efforts to reduce the dangerously high levels of food, energy and monetary interdependence a m o n g countries are under way, efforts to strengthen international co-operation on other fronts are needed. T h e spectacular achievements in suchfieldsas health and communications provide solid evidence of the benefits such co-operation can yield. T h e age-old scourge of smallpox is on the verge of

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being eradicated because the World Health O r ganization skilfully co-ordinated an international attack on this disease. T h e creation of Intelsat and of a highly efficient international electronic communications network is the product of close co-operation a m o n g countries interested in sharing United States telecommunication technology. T h e changes in attitudes, institutions, and life-styles required in our global lily pond amount to nothing less than a social transformation. Increased global co-operation and understanding will be essential in this process. Industrial and traditional societies will share the burden of having to acquire n e w values and discard existing ones. Both o n a technical and political level, sharing of information and ideas will be important in fostering and shaping the changes ahead.

The analytical gap

T h e unavoidable adjustments m a d e necessary by the overtaxing of biological systems and the depletion of oil reserves have received far too little attention. This oversight is due in part to a c o m m o n tendency by analysts to assess the physical limits of a particular system while completely overlooking the social limits to growth. Usually even the economic optimum of any productive system is well below the physical m a x i m u m . Only rarely does the productivity of a cornfieldor an oilfieldclosely approach its physical limits. For example, the oil that can be profitably extracted from an oilfieldm a y only be 30 per cent of the total. Beyond that the energy required to extract a barrel of oil m a y exceed the energy content of the oil itself. While coming to terms with nature, w e must also c o m e to terms with ourselves, frankly recognizing our o w n limitations as w e attempt to stabilize our relationship with nature. While it is tempting to couch discussions of growth prospects in physical terms because they are measurable, the more severe constraints are

invariably h u m a n onesthe limits on the h u m a n capacity to change, the slowness and occasional irrationality of political processes, and the glacial pace at which institutions adapt. In global resource management, social limits can operate long before physical ones come into play. For example, the greatest gains to be realized today from additional fertilizer use exist in the developing countries where fertilizer usage is low. A t a time of global food scarcities, available fertilizer should be channelled to those farmers w h o can use it most productively. But political pressures applied by farmers in fertilizer-exporting countries act to restrict fertilizer exports in times of scarcity and, consequently, to keep world food production substantially below what it would otherwise be. Production, in this case, is obstructed by politics, not nature. Another social limit to resource management, the failure of the users of 'the c o m m o n s ' to organize so as to use resources for their longterm mutual benefit, occurs at all levels of social organization. At the global level, failure to control pollution leads to the deterioration of oceanic life. Clearly, improved communication a m o n g scientists and political leaders in all countries will be an essential element of the process of accommodation. Unfortunately, the 1970s have been marked b y a chain of unprecedented analytical failures. During this period of convulsive change, the divergence between theory and reality has widened. Today, economists are no longer able to recommend policies that will satisfactorily cope with both inflation and u n employment. However, failure to anticipate the major shifts and discontinuities of the 1970s is not attributable to any single discipline or any single shortcoming in analysis, but rather to m a n y . Asking the wrong questions; confusing causes with triggering events; and, overspecialization are all involved. Loss of vision due to overspecialization m a y be the analyst's chief weakness today. T h e

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central problem associated with specialization is that the important problems facing humanity do notfitwithin the confines of any individual discipline, m u c h less a subdiscipline. T h u s , in what educators have called the 'expert society', more and more problems remain unsolved, and more and more are proving unmanageable. Melvin Eggers, president of Syracuse University, has said that education is losing touch with the needs of society. W h e n confronting the energy crisis, he notes, ' W e have petroleum and mining and nuclear engineers, but precious few energy engineers' w h o are capable of evaluating and advising on the overall energy situation.16 Similarly, not too m a n y years ago, the food problem was denned almost entirely in agricultural terms. But to even begin to understand what is happening in the world food economy today, an analyst must be an economist, ecologist, agronomist, meteorologist, and political scientist rolled into one. Moreover, both scientists and the political leaders they advise will need to increase their awareness of the international implications of seemingly national policies. F r o m the burning of fossil fuels to the consumption of meat, one nation's activities have the potential for upsetting the precarious balance on which other nations' life-support systems are balanced. Neither United States Department of Agriculture economists, nor O P E C oil ministers can afford to ignore the wide-ranging and longterm effects of their decisions.

In assessing the role of information, Hazel Henderson notes that 'the rise of n e w participatory citizen movements for consumer and environmental protection, peace, and social justice is grounded in an almost intuitive understanding of the persuasive power of information'.16 It is clear that in the coming years, perhaps more than at any previous time, the role of schools will be a central one. Unless young people begin to develop an early sense of the adjustments that w e will all be facing soon, the m o v e towards realistic solutions will be critically delayed. Student complaints that curricula often lack relevance to the real world are well founded. Daniel Bell recently commented that 'education takes place outside of school, in the influence of media and peer group, while schools . . . have become more vocational and specialized'.17 A s a result, although the s y m p toms of the current stresses have received ample play in the press, their underlying causes are not widely understood. Unfortunately, most of us were educated at a time w h e n resources were more abundant and w h e n there was considerable faith in the capacity of technology to solve problems. Schools prepared us for a rosy future that would contain more of everything. F e w problems appeared insurmountable, and they allfitnicely into the traditional set of academic subjects. But yesterday's studentstoday's adultsturned out to be poorly prepared for the sorts of problems that currently confront the world. T h e result has been a fanatic g a m e of'catch-up' for scientists, economic planners, and ordinary citizens. In their adult years, m a n y are learning lessons that will almost certainly become a part of tomorrow's school curriculum. Robert Heilbroner, for one, sees in the current situation a n e w role for institutions of higher learning. T o his mind, the educational system with its research capacity at the upper echelon and the need to quickly shift priorities are closely linked. H e proposes that colleges and universities 'add a n e w orientation to their

International understanding for survival

In a sense, the most basic challenge that lies ahead is educational. M a n y values, attitudes, and assumptions assimilated during an historically unique period of economic and d e m o graphic growth will have to be jettisoned. N e w analyses and information will play an important role in the shift toward a sustainable society.

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traditional goals and programmes. I urge that they deliberately set out to become the laboratories of applied research into the future. I urge that they direct a major portion of their efforts toward research into, training for, and advocacy of programs for social change'.18 This proposed role would, for example, have these institutions working on such local issues as materials recycling, land-use planning, and public transportation. T h e y would become a source of analysis and information for such public policy-makers as the governor, members of the town council, or even national legislators. In addition, since necessary changes in attitudes, values, and life-styles are called for quickly, the educational task at hand involves 'reschooling' m a n y mature adults. T h e burden of responsibility for informing people of the need for change will shift from the formal educational system to a nonformal oneespecially the communications media. Important issues such as environmental deterioration, population growth, the changing roles of w o m e n , and the threat of nuclear power are given life by print and broadcast journalists. A n d so it will be with more and more issues. O u r awareness, our understanding, and our actions will be influenced more and more by information w e acquire from the c o m m u n i cations media. Those working in the communications media thus find themselves carrying an ever heavier responsibility. Although journalists, editors and media executives have not asked for this n e w responsibility, m a y not wish to assume it, and indeed m a y not be prepared for it, they m a y have little choice in the matter. They are the authorized and licensed purveyors of the information that influences decision-making and shapes our life-styles. This emerging educational role of the media suggests that journalists and editors, like teachers, m a y need to be better educated in the complex ecological, economic and social issues facing society. T h e question is what form the education should take and w h o

should bear the cost. In m a n y cases the needs of those in the media might be better served by intensive short-term workshops on such subjects as energy, population, or environment than by supplemental education in a more formal academic sense.

A planetary bargain

T h e n e w ethic of accommodation has already gained a foothold. In some circles the bicycle is n o w a symbol of enlightenment, and parents with more than two children are viewed as socially irresponsible. In the future, the social conversation piece m a y be a thriving vegetable garden or an ingeniously designed solar-heating system. Physical fitness will be more highly regarded then the expanded girth of the successful business m a n or senior bureaucrat. In all, society m a y come to value more highly whatever contributes to h u m a n welfare and to eschew material acquisitiveness as such. T h e social capacity for such rapid and pervasive change is untested. It is certain to put great stress on both individuals and institutions. Willis H a r m a n , director of the Center for Study of Social Policy at the Stanford Research Institute in the United States, wonders whether society can 'bring about the transition without shaking itself apart'.19 Political leaders must strike a balance between panic and complacency. Leaders need to be in constant communication with their constituents, always explaining the reasons for change. Change must come, but a loss of confidence in public leaders would be disastrous. T h e call for a n e w international economic order is justified and overdue, but it is not in itself sufficient. It needs to be pursued as part of a broader effort to create a sustainable, just society. In today's world sustainability has both an ecological and a political dimension. If the biological foundations and energy supplies of the economic system cannot be secured, then

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the system itself is not sustainable. If gross inequity leads to social upheaval and political turmoil at the national level, as it inevitably must, then the international order will not be a stable one. T h e transformation called for has three componentsreform of the international order, social reform at the national level, and the overall accommodation of h u m a n needs and numbers to the earth's resources. All can take place within the framework of what Harlan Cleveland of the Aspen Institute has termed the 'planetary bargain'.20 A planetary bargain should embrace efforts to address the entire range of threats to h u manity. Falling logically within its compass are such diverse threats as food insecurity, nuclearweapons proliferation, export embargoes, h u m a n rights violations, youth unemployment, oceanic pollution, terrorism, illegal migration, the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and depletion of the ozone layer. M a n y of these threats can be managed only through international co-operation. T h e world stands on the threshold of a basic social transformation. O f that there can b e little doubt. Like earlier 'revolutions', this one could raise us to a higher level of humanity. But unlike others, it must be reckoned with in advance. Whether the impending transformation will be orderly or convulsive depends on our foresight and will.

Notes
1. Yearbook of Fishery Statistics, R o m e , Food and Agriculture Organization. 2. 'Housing Prices Pass $50,000', New York Times, 23 October 1978. 3. David Pimentel et al., 'Land Degradation: Effects on Food and Energy Resources', Science, 8 October 1976. 4. 'Will Energy Conservation Throttle Economic Growth?', Business Week, 25 April 1977. 5. 'Nuclear M a n at Bay', The Economist, 19 March 1977. 6. Nuclear Energy Policy Study Group, Nuclear Power, Issues and Choices, Cambridge, Mass., Ballinger Publishing Company, 1977. 7. Anthony J. Parisi, 'The Nuclear Slowdown: Concern and Elation', New York Times, 5 February 1978. 8. National Academy of Sciences, Energy and Climate, Washington, D . C . , 1977. 9. J. H . Mercer, 'West Antarctic Ice Sheet and C O a Greenhouse Effect: A Threat of Disater', Nature, 26 January 1978. 10. Denis Hayes, Energy: The Solar Prospect, March 1977 (Worldwatch Paper 11). 11. P. D . Henderson,India: The Energy Sector, Washington, D . C . , World Bank, 1975. 12. Vaclav Smil, 'Energy Solution in China', Environment, October 1977. 13. 'Alcohol: A Brazilian Answer to the Energy Crisis', Science, 11 February 1977; Allen H a m m o n d of Science, private communication. 14. Denis Hayes, Rays of Hope: The Transition to a PostPetroleum World, N e w York, W . W . Norton, 1977. 15. Melvin A . Eggers, 'Where Education Is Losing Touch', Business Week, 15 September 1975. 16. Hazel Henderson, 'Information and the N e w M o v e ments for Citizen Participation', Annals of the American Academy, March 1974. 17. Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, N e w York, Basic Books, 1973. 18. Robert L . Heilbroner, 'Second Thoughts on the H u m a n Prospect', Challenge, May-June 1975. 19. Willis W . Harman, 'The Coming Transformation', The Futurist, April 1977. 20. Harlan Cleveland, 'Introduction: Toward an International Poverty Line', in John McHale and Magna Cordell McHale (eds.), Basic Human Needs: A Framework for Action, Houston, Center for Integrative Studies, April 1977.

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Conflict studies and peace educ

have argued that conflicts have always been with us, that the amount of conflict has not appreciably increased, but rather the improvement in world-wide communications through the media and through the increase in international organization has created a heightened awareness of it. That m a y certainly be true in part, but there are other considerations that are cause for increasing anxiety about conflict in the modern world. O n e is that mankind is experiencing an everincreasing rate of technological and social change. Such changes appear to give rise to n e w and unexpected sources of conflict for which laws to protect individuals and groups, and institutionalized ways of resolving the conflicts have not been adequately developed. By contrast relatively stable societies do not normally experience the numerous conflicts associated with convulsive changes. A second consideration is that because of the building of nuclear arsenals by the major powers, and the development of the means to deliver weapons at any point o n the globe, Are conflicts between individuals, groups and mankind is faced with the possibility of exnations really on the increase, or is it that w e tinction if an international conflict should break simply perceive it to be that way? S o m e people out and escalate beyond the control of those involved. W h a t this means essentially is that failure to cope with international conflict has David C. Smith (Canada). Specialist in curriculum within it the inherent possibility of inflicting and international studies. Currently Professor of Edugreater punishment upon the world than ever cation, Department of Education in the Social Sciences, before. A n d for this reason, it is logical to McGill University, Montreal.
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Within the past five years there has been a remarkable growth of interest in conflict studies as a n e w and promising dimension of peace education. T h e interest appears to have stemmed from concerns about h u m a n conflict at several different levels of experience. First, violence within familiesbetween husband and wife, between parents and children and between children themselveshas been considered to be so serious that it has been described by one author as 'an incurable epidemic'. Secondly, within nations there are frequent tensions between various subsets of the population that m a y sometimes seriously weaken national unity, and national economic development; for example, conflicts between regional groups, racial groups, employers and employees, occupational groups, political pressure groups and the like. Thirdly, at the international level, conflicts range from short-lived squabbles between neighbouring countries to long-standing cold wars all of which affect the well-being of the international community.

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believe that w e m a y be more sensitized to the occurrence of conflict and its possible consequences than our forebears. Hence, anxiety about conflict m a y not have arisen so m u c h because of a perceived increase in its occurrence, but because of the shock effect upon people of n e w and unexpected conflicts in a time of rapid change and the very real appreciation of the possible disastrous effects of conflict should it occur on a world scale. Studies of intra-family conflict as well as of conflicts at other levels tend to show that the habits and techniques that people use to handle it are passed on to the next generation. W h e r e the techniques are skilful and creative peaceful ones, the transmission is to be encouraged, but where they involve abuse of and violence against others, particularly against those w h o are unable to defend themselves, clearly some break to discontinue the cycle is required. Those involved with the pursuit of conflict studies in schools are concerned essentially with the building of peacemaking skills in inter-personal and intergroup relations not only immediately to try to improve the quality of life at these levels n o w but also hopefully to form a viable basis for conflict management by individuals in the years ahead and ultimately to help the cause of peace at the international level.

Conflicts also arise over the satisfaction of psychological needssuch needs as group m e m bership, achievement, status, prestige and power. D e s m o n d Morris, in his book The Naked Ape, summarizes these two classes of need as territoriality and social hierarchy respectively. They are, however, interrelated since the ownership of territory with its resources and technology m a y imply status and power (or lack of it) and, conversely, those groups in a position of prestige and power are often in a better position to acquire, or to negotiate from strength, resources from other territories. W h e n tensions arise between individuals over the satisfaction of basic needs certain physiological changes are triggered in the nervous system. Indeed, if the needs are not met, the very survival of the organism m a y be threatened. As tension increases, adrenalin is secreted into the circulatory system which produces a higher level of energy, a tensing of muscles, more rapid breathing and heartbeat and other physiological changes. These changes prepare us tofight,if necessary, for what w e need. W h e n adversaries are in a face-to-face situation, they are able to read the external manifestations of the changes in each other: verbal and nonverbal signals reveal the degree of tension, emotion and aggression. T h e non-verbal behaviour in conflict includes facial expressions that convey aggression or fearfrowning, staring, pursing of the lips, puffing out the cheeks and blowing and the appropriate gestures and postures. D e s m o n d Morris points out that there m a y also b e extensive displacement activity during conflict, that is, activities that allow for the expenditure of pent-up energy but that are not apparently related to fearful or aggressive behaviour. In this category w e can sometimes include smoking scratching, stroking the face, sipping at drinks or nibbling at food even if the person is not thirsty or hungry. In a conflict situation, adversaries attempt to resolve the tension through the verbal and

The nature of conflict

T o be able to develop a workable approach to conflict studies w e must first be able to understand the root causes of conflict. W h e n the causes at any level are analysed, they m a y be seen to fall into two distinct, but interrelated categories. Conflicts arise between individuals or between groups or between nations over the resources to meet the individual or collective basic physical needs of lifefood, water, resources to provide clothing, shelter and energy, and space, including the ancillary resources needed to supply and deliver these materials.

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non-verbal signalling systems. Conflictresolution occurs in one of three ways: through aggression, sharing (such as negotiation) or withdrawal. W h e r e aggression is employed, strong forms of violence and abuse m a y not be resorted to if one of the adversaries withdraws, since withdrawal activity usually reduces the urge to attack on the part of the aggressor. In cases where both parties are aggressive the conflict can lead to mutual harm or destruction. By and large, h o w ever, mankind has developed the institutions and behaviours to resolve inter-personal and inter-group conflict in peaceful, non-aggressive ways except where rapid change gives rise to unanticipated types of conflict with which existing modes of behaviour m a y be unable to cope successfully. Since communication through the complex signalling behaviour and feedback is essential for conflict resolution, a difficulty arises in modern international relations in those cases where there is no direct contact between the adversaries. W h e n tensions escalate to the point of violence, a war conducted by remote control provides little opportunity for the h u m a n signalling system to be used. Further, where tension reaches the stage of war, the parties m a y have already decided to recall their ambassadors or to sever diplomatic relations completely. Unless a 'hot line' can be used in such circumstances, open violence m a y irreversibly develop.

S o m e assumptions about conflict studies

In considering h o w conflict studies can be planned and organized, it is helpful if w e are clear about the assumptions upon which these studies m a y be based. Whether w e are thinking about conflict between individuals, groups or nations, w e shall asume that conflict is a p h e n o m enon necessary to the growth and development of individuals and societies as a whole. Conflicts occur all the time and, inherent within them, 172

are possibilities for stagnation or growth and change, depending upon h o w they are resolved. W e need to develop healthy attitudes towards conflict as an aspect of the reality of the world w e live in. W h a t this means it that young people need to k n o w that conflict is a more or less permanent aspect of their lives. T h e y therefore need to k n o w more about the origins of conflict, to be able to anticipate it and to be able to develop peaceful means of coping with it. In considering conflicts that involve groups or nations, w e will assume that there is a reciprocal relationship between the individual members or citizens and the representatives or leaders of the groups. W h e n individual members have an informed awareness of conflict and its resolution, it is assumed that they can influence, or attempt to influence, the actions of their leaders in ways that are acceptable to the larger group. People w h o are skilled in clarifying national goals, able to analyse conflicts and to generate constructive solutions m a y help to establish nationally accepted norms of conflict-resolving behaviour as part of the cultural ethos. It is then logical that group and national leaders would respond to and reflect the norms of acceptable conflict-resolving behaviour. Inter-group and international conflicts are handled principally, though not exclusively, by national leaders, that is, by diplomats, ministers, premiers and presidents. W h e n quiet bilateral or multilateral diplomacy prevails, there is less fear that a conflict can spread. Most conflicts are, in fact, handled through quiet diplomacy. However, w h e n quiet diplomacy falters, leaders are sometimes tempted to enlist the support of their constituencies in an attempt to strengthen their negotiating position in the conflict. Through propaganda, they are each able to s u m m o n moral approval or to enlist concrete overt support through the mass media. W h a t then happens, in effect, is that each side has escalated the conflict through a system of closed thinking: more parties and more people are involved. T h e only way in which such escalation can be pre-

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vented is, on the one hand, a better educated and informed citizenry in matters of conflict and, on the other, through leaders committed to non-violent conflict resolution.

Educational objectives

In developing a programme of conflict studies, it is necessary to be as clear as possible about what objectives w e are trying to attain. If w e think initially about the content of what is to be learned, w e can discern at least three kinds of knowledge. T h efirstis to be able to understand some of the basic concepts underlying a study of conflict management. Such concepts as provocation, tension, communication, co-operation, trust, escalation, alliance, de-escalation, aggression, violence, negotiation, mediation, arbitration and the like would be included. Concepts such as these are the intellectual tools with which students can engage the study of conflict. Another knowledge objective is to obtain a fund of conflict/co-operation situations and experiences upon which w e can draw for the study of conflict. There is perhaps a tendency for people to repress and to forget unpleasant conflict experiences and a resulting predisposition to deal with conflict situations on an ad-hoc basis. However, being able to examine the kinds of conflict w e have personally encountered or observed, or seen reported in the media, is afirststep towards learning about the array of circumstances, the types of conflict, the range of solutions and the consequences of different types of action. Once a fund of experiences has been built u p , students can begin to learn a third type of knowledge: the processes by which conflicts develop and m a y be managed constructively. Through induction they m a y recognize that m a n y conflicts exist only at the level of latent hostility, but that events m a y trigger feelings that raise the conflict to the manifest level. At this point, learning ways in which individuals

can manage the conflict whether it is through bringing n e w information to bear upon the problem, persuading the adversary that a certain line of action is really in their mutual interest, or calling for a third party to assist with discussions can help to forestall its ever reaching a crisis point. If, however, a crisis is reached, knowledge of the ways of de-escalating conflicts to enable a return to normal relations is vital. A second area of objectives is one that includes the intellectual skills that are needed to think clearly about conflict. These mental operations are the kinds of abilities that are brought into play w h e n a person attempts to cope with actual conflict. T h e y include first of all, the ability to recognize w h e n conflict situations occur. Very often people are not concerned about a conflict until it reaches crisis proportions w h e n positions have hardened and finding solutions becomes more difficult. Recognizing h o w to avoid being drawn into an irreversible situation can help to prevent escalation. Closely related to the ability to recognize conflict situations is the ability to articulate essentially what is at issue in a dispute. Frequently, the participants do not discern clearly what the crux of the issue is, particularly w h e n the initial issue becomes overlaid by subsequent events which tend to cloud and complicate the basic issue. Participants in a dispute sometimes bec o m e so preoccupied with their o w n position that they fail to appreciate the position and the frame of reference of their adversary. H e n c e it is necessary to teach students that the participants in a dispute have different perceptions and perspectives of the conflict situation. Finally, the intellectual skills objectives include the ability to conceptualize a variety of solutions to the problem. Being able to generate alternative solutions is a skill crucial to finding productive ways of managing conflict. A third area of objectives consists of those that lie in the affective domain, and of particular importance is the clarification of values relative

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to conflict resolution. Implicit in every option considered in resolving a conflict is a value position, which becomes apparent w h e n the consequences of implementing the option are studied. T h e nature of a conflict can, in this w a y , be seen as a values conflict in which one set of consequences is weighted against another. While a trade off, or choice of values must often be m a d e , peace education requires that w e develop a commitment to consider all of the possible value alternatives and particularly that w e value those solutions that are alternatives to aggression and violence. T h u s our knowledge of conflict as a process, our intellectual skills in applying that knowledge to real situations that confront us, and our commitment to values of equality and justice in making decisions about conflict are all essential objectives in conflict studies.

Content

H o w can conflict studies be m a d e a part of the school curriculum? A n d of what essentially should it consist? T h e easiest, but not necessarily the most successful way, is to create one or more self-contained units which focuses on conflict as part of the social science curriculum. Such a unit m a y well draw upon the experiences students have in other disciplines but it can be organized to assume that the students can m a k e and will continue to m a k e , connections with their other studies. T h e other basic w a y of bringing conflict studies into the curriculum is to review the various subject disciplines, or interdisciplinary studies, in the school and to ask where the resources, the conceptual ideas and methods basic to those areas m a y contribute effectively to an understanding of conflict. For example, the study of conflict in drama and literature, the occurrence of tensions and wars in history, competition and co-operation a m o n g animals in biology, the questions of choice in moral and

religious instruction, and the study of judicial systems in law. T h e combined and cumulative effect of such an integrated approach could have a very powerful impact upon the students' understanding of conflict. If w e consider some of the possible structures for creating a sequence of studies in conflict, there are at least two that are popular in the current literature. O n e is to begin with interpersonal conflictespecially as it has been experienced by the individual learnersto proceed to a study of conflict between groups and then to extend these understandings to the more remote and complex types of conflict in international affairs. Such a scheme could be extended, if desired, in both directions to include intra-personal conflict (conflict within ourselves) and inter-galactic conflict. T h efirstof these topics falls into the domain of psychology and the second is in the domain of science fiction. Such a scheme has been justified on the grounds that it begins with the k n o w n and familiar and proceeds to the u n k n o w n , yet it also moves from the relatively simple to complex types of conflict. Both of these justifications are based upon fundamental learning principles. Theoretically, students could begin the study of interpersonal conflict in the primary school eventually reaching a detailed study of international conflict at the senior levels of the secondary school, studying conflict in increasing levels of depth and sophistication. Another type of structure that has been proposed is to organize the study of conflict around the different techniques of conflict resolution. B y such a structure, one can begin with discussion as a technique (which includes collective bargaining, conciliation, diplomacy and negotiation) examining the kinds of give-and-take procedures in settling disputes at the interpersonal, inter-group and international levels. This phase could be followed by the study of withdrawal as a technique, where one participant gives in to a stronger, or more persuasive, adversary. Again, the technique can be applied

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to all three levels of conflict. T h e third phase would be the study of aggression as a response which would include the theories of aggression as well as the acts and results of aggression by individuals and the study of violent acts by groups and nations. Whatever approach is used, the basic objectives enumerated earlier can be pursued. Fortunately there is an increasing array of accessible resources for the study of conflict. For example, the teacher can ask the students to draw upon personal experiences with family and friends that can be recorded in a private diary. Also, the immediate happenings in the classroom, in extra-curricular activities, and in the school generally m a y provide a ready source of latent or manifest conflict. Resources of a secondary nature m a y also be readily available. Motion pictures and television programmes of a dramatic nature m a y be excellent media for the study of conflict. Similarly, newspapers containing reports on conflict situations, comics, cartoons, or columns on interpersonal or consumer problems provided ready material. Through reference to and analysis of any of the above sources, students can be introduced to the basic concepts in conflict studies, can acquire a variety of examples and models, and can learn the variety of methods of conflict management. In m a n y schools it is quite possible for resource persons in the community at large to share their rich experiences with the classes: counsellors, mediators, lawyers, policemen and judges are such examples. In addition, other teaching procedures such as role-playing, rolereversal, and simulation can help students to attain a better understanding of conflict and to practise acquiring the intellectual skills necessary for conflict management. These same resources m a y be used to help students understand the values implicit in the alternative ways of handling a given conflict. Comparing the consequences for both parties, of any particular solution helps to clarify the

value differences between the parties. Values in conflict resolution m a y also be studied at another quite different level by comparing ways in which conflicts are resolved in various cultures. W h e r e such an exercise can be undertaken using simpler non-industrialized societies, differences in cultural values can be brought sharply into focus. Such treatment can help students to understand the relative nature of cultural values as well as the very real problems of resolving conflicts between societies having markedly different social and cultural values.

Conflict studies in perspective

This author's view is that conflict studies are only a small, contributory part of peace education and that peace education itself is only one factor, albeit a significant one, in the development of world peace. At its heart, peace education m a y be conceived as an attempt to understand the reality of our world, a commitment to sharing the total resources of the globe and to developing a life of equality and justice for all. W h a t this means is that our major problemsfood supply, population, resource distribution, energy supplies, disarmament and the quality of the environmentmust be studied and engaged at every possible level, personal, institutional, national and international. Conflict studies is no exception and m a y be a good example of the w a y in which a major problem can be studied at the different levels. At the same time, there must be a commitment to resolving conflicts in such a w a y that the cause of justice, liberty and peace is advanced. There are both factors that impede the spread of conflict studies as afieldwithin peace education, as well as factors which favour its development. O u r knowledge of conflict and of conflict management is imperfect, but it is growing. M u c h research is needed to determine the actual effects of conflict studies o n

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h u m a n behaviour. F e w teachers have encountered conflict as an academicfieldof study and hence they are often apprehensive, less sure of themselves, in dealing with it. A s schools gain more experience with it, and are nourished by ongoing research, it will likely become a more viable and significant area of study. At present j however, conflict, as a continuing world problem, is examined neither as intensively nor as extensively at the school level as other major world problems, and it needs to be given higher priority in peace education programmes. A second, more general difficulty is that nations are in different states of readiness to adopt and implement programmes of peace education. Mutual understanding, the mutual appreciation of cultural values, and reciprocal benefits from national conflict resolution imply that nations are equally prepared to pursue and equally committed to the goals of peace education. But clearly, nations are at different levels of development in programmes of peace education, a fact which certainly makes more difficult the realization of peace. T h e unevenness in development shows clearly the need for all to realize that the welfare of the whole world is dependent upon the welfare of the individual parts, and that the global community as a whole must be responsible for helping its individual members. Gloomy as some of these considerations are, there is cause for some optimism for the spread of conflict studies. T h e very fact that total war can no longer be a real solution to the problem of global conflicts, forces nations to think about the alternative methods of conflict resolution. T h e reassessment of what constitutes realistic solutions to problems at the global level m a y have some benefits of transfer to the consideration of conflicts between smaller en-

tities. Hence, it is not too far-fetched to believe that while peacemaking skills can be learned from the personal level and u p , they m a y be substantially reinforced from the international level and d o w n . Another factor favouring the spread of conflict studies is the growth of c o m m u n i cations over the globe. T h e multiplication of international organizations, the improved opportunities for travel, and the spread of other types of communications networks m a k e possible the sharing of experience in conflict management and the more likely universal commitment to the goals of peace education. As communications improve, the unevenness in development and preparedness to adopt and implement programmes of peace education will tend to disappear. Further encouragement for the growth of conflict studies and peace education can be found where programmes of education have clearly contributed to the peaceful development of relations between nations. Nowhere is there perhaps a better model in the contemporary world than in the role of education in helping to establish peaceful relations between the countries of Western Europe since 1945. T h e longitudinal study of changes in perceptions and goals within Western Europe could well serve as a model for comparative studies. H o w ever, ways need to be found of accelerating the process by which education can assist in the transformation of hostility into friendship and, especially, before, rather than after, the outbreak of violence. O n balance, there seems to be good reason to believe that conflict studies within the larger endeavour of peace education holds the promise of enormous good, if it can be pursued with energy and imagination.

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Education for international understanding

In January this year the film Holocaust, describing the persecution and annihilation of the Jews during the Nazi period, was broadcast on television in the Federal Republic of Germany. During four evenings the incriminating past was revived. T h e younger generations were horrified: 'Did you k n o w that?' ' W h y did you tolerate it?' ' W h y did you not oppose?' are the questions posed to parents and teachers. A n d the elder generation is shocked: they realize that they did know but did not have the courage to try to change things. People are concerned. T h e rising percentage of viewers32 per cent thefirstevening, up to 47 per cent in some areas for the last onethe innumerable telephone calls and letters to the broadcasting centre testify h o w affected, h o w horror-stricken about itself the G e r m a n population was. W h y were they suddenly so impressed? For thirty years they knew the facts: they are taught at school, documentary films, discussions and m a n y books bear witness of them, but all the time they tried to escape their past. It is as if suddenly they had realized what it really meant.

T h e y have been confronted with the truth in a different manner and face it differently: they have allfor thefirsttimebeen touched and deeply moved by the fate of the Jews. They have identified themselves with the victims and suffered with them. This time they have not evaded the question. H o w could this film achieve what all the hundreds of other films shown before did not? Holocaustno matter if, artistically, it was a good or a bad filmdid stir u p the feelings of those w h o saw it. It appealed to the emotional and moral side of the deed in a deeper way. T h e hundreds of documentaryfilmswhich were even more realistic in content did not c o m e across in the same way: they were informative, disgusting and perhaps instructive. But they did not m o v e , they did not have the cathartic effect of Holocaust. Holocaust has certainly a special meaning in the Federal Republic of G e r m a n y , where people are confronted with their o w n deeds. But Holocaust still exists and is not bound to a certain folk or a certain generation. Tolerance towards people w h o act and feel in a different way still does not exist; prejudices still lead to oppression and destruction of minorities. W e cannot achieve deep-rooted feelings for Ingrid Classen-Bauer (Bolivia). Currently at the justice and for the dignity of h u m a n beings by Teacher-training College in Lneburg, Federal Republic keeping the question on an intellectual plane. of Germany, she has worked in Bolivia and at the Unesco Institute of Education in Hamburg. Has zuritten Certainly information is essential, but it is just thefirststep. Often teaching for international on education in Bolivia and curriculum development.

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understanding is based on a description and analysis of different international social systems. T h e aim is to develop a critical attitude in young people, w h o should be able to discern the political and economic structures which are the causes of conflicts, violence and wars. This is right, but is it enough? During the Nazi regime people knew about the existence of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Theresienstadt or Treblinka. Perhaps they did not know about the details of what happened there, but they were quite aware that some terrible crimes were committed. S o m e did not dare to opposemany did not care. Today w e know about crimes and oppression in m a n y parts of the worldbut often w e do not care to do anything about it. T o know about injustice and to analyse the roots and causes of it does not change attitudes and behaviour. W e take note of them, perhaps w e are momentarily horrified, but w e do not act to have things changed. T h e following small example m a y illustrate this fact: A n exhibition was prepared by students of the Teacher-training College in Lneburg, arranged around the ten principles of the rights of the child. It documented the misery of millions of children suffering from hunger, disease, malnutrition and poverty. O n e of the aims of the students was to collect some money to contribute to the work of international aid programmes directed to help these children. Although m a n y people came to see the exhibition and stated that they were impressed, the m o m e n t they were asked to give some money or to help children in distress in their o w n surroundings they were more cautious. T h e s u m collected was minimal. It is certainly trueand the students were well aware of itthat collecting money does not change the problem but, on the other hand, does that justify not doing anything? Can a mother whose child is starving be comforted if w e tell her that w e must first work on the roots of evil rather than cure the symptoms? A Chinese proverb says: 'Give a

starving person afish,and he will be satisfied for a day. Teach him to fish, and he will never be hungry again.' Yes, but w e have to provide him with somefishso that he does not starve before he can learn! In the process of teaching international understanding one must try to get young people personally involved. They should not only take note of injustice, but also be moved to action by the fate of the victims of disease, hunger and oppression. T h e more one identifies oneself with the lot and the suffering of the oppressed, the more one will commit oneself to doing something about it. T h e 'experience-centred curriculum' currently being tried out in several Unesco associated schools is such an attempt to sensitize young people, and to teach them empathy. 1 T h e exercises in perception, communication and action were devised in 1972 by a group of teachers from eight different countries in a Unesco-sponsored experimental project in H a m b u r g . T h e intention was to develop a n e w approach to education for international understanding based on the assumption that a deepened understanding of h u m a n behaviourincluding one's ownis essential in order to bring about changes in attitudes and behaviour. Through the awareness of one's o w n behaviour and that of others, young people arrive at a better understanding of their motivations and feelings. Consciousness of oneself opens the possibility for change. Understanding of the motivations and feelings of their classmates leads to their fuller acceptance. T h e understanding of oneself and others in this approach is born from a shared experience. Each unit begins with an 'experience situation', shared by all members of the group. T h e game or experiment takes about twenty minutes. Afterwards the participants describe and analyse their reactions, their feelings, their experience and become aware both of themselves and of the m a n y possible ways to react to the same situation. T h e curriculum does not impart

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knowledge in the form of specific content, but is intended rather to stimulate certain kinds of behaviour necessary for international understanding. A n example to illustrate these theoretical considerations is the unit 'Blind Trust'2 which has been successfully used with students at the Teacher-training College in Lneburg, but which is equally well suited for other age groups. T h e members of the group concerned are divided into pairs to share a c o m m o n experience. O n e is 'blind'; that is, he has his eyes blindfolded; the other is the leader. T h e pairs are told to walk around for about ten minutesthis can be indoors or outdoors or both, if possible. T h e instructions provide that no one is to talk during the whole exercise andespecially with younger childrenthat the walk should not turn to an obstacle course for the blind partner. T h e leader should try to be as imaginative as possible in finding a variety of experiences for his partner, such as trying to identify objects by touch, being left alone for a few minutes, running on smooth ground or being exposed to a variety of sounds or temperatures. After the ten minutes is u p , the pairs switch roles and continue for another ten minutes. T h e trust walk is generally a stirring experience for the participants, with emotional effects like feelings of fear, helplessness, trust or mistrust in the leader, responsibility for another's safety and guilt if there be an accident. Atfirstthe teacher should stay out of the discussion. Later on he can help explore the m e a n ing and significance of the participants' feelings, using for instance the following concepts: W e are all born with total trustand then, what happens? T h e effects of past experiences on trust and mistrust. Unfamiliarity and mistrust: increasing mistrust of those more unlike oneself, e.g. opposite sex, different social class, different culture or race.

Relationship between trust and mistrust, dependency and independence. Dependencywhat are our reactions to being dependent? These are a few suggestions for one line of discussion, but there are m a n y other possibilities. In a seminar on this socio-affective approach, held in M a r del Plata, Argentina, in 1976, the subject of non-verbal c o m m u n i cation became a central line of consideration: the participants reflected on h o w emotions are communicated through bodily posture, m o v e ment and tension. Another possible theme is 'sensitivity to the environment', e.g. h o w did one's awareness of the environment change with loss of sight? T h e discussion of these concepts goes beyond the experience itself; however, this time n o longer o n an abstract, theoretical level, but starting from personal involvement. Each participant knows from his or her o w n experience what is being discussed and is able to feel empathyto identify to a certain extent with those w h o are dependent, like the handicapped, small children or sick and elderly people, or even developing countries. Rachel Cohen has used this approach with younger children at the primary level in France. 3 It can also be used with pupils at the secondaryschool level or even with adults. In Lneburg it is used in teacher training, as not only the pupils but also their teachers have to be sensitized for questions of international understanding. T h e lines of discussion and the depth of understanding will certainly vary according to the group, but the experiences have their effect independent of age or intelligence, as they appeal to the affective rather than the cognitive level. T h e psychological considerations to use this approach in the primary level are:4 First of all, the younger child sees himself as the centre of the world. His main interests are always around his o w n life; he is hence 'fully disposed to accept activities where he is the

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centre, the point of departure and the destination'. Second, the younger child isfirstand foremost a sensuous being; in other words, his discoveries of the world outside himself are m a d e through touching, hearing, smelling, gesturing, vociferation rather than through verbal communication as it is with adults. Third, the activity of the child forms the basis of its cognitive and conceptual acquisitions. This principle has led modern educators to adopt n e w methods for primary education, allowing children to experiment, to manipulate, to be active. T h e experience situations and the ensuing process in the sequence actionanalysisconcept matches their o w n mental process. Finally, the importance of play for children. Very easily the young child enters into play situations, since both his nature and his imagination allow him to participate freely in the game. Rachel Cohen points, furthermore, to the role of language: the child is encouraged to describe what he has done and w h y and learns to express his feelings. This approach develops his powers of judgement, analysis and criticism. S o m e of these criteria are equally valid for elder pupils, even if it is in a modified sense. Very often the teaching of international understanding is faced with a dilemma: until the pupil has achieved a certain level of understanding, the whole subject is too remote and confusing to be of real interest. A s David Wolsk points out: in the absence of real interest, what is learned will be too superficial to be effective in forming or changing attitudes.5 In experience situations, interest is immediate. Participants actively explore aspects of the theory and process of individual development and behaviour, the formation of attitudes, values and beliefs; decision processes in themselves and others; group, institutional and social relationships. Abstract concepts, which are basic in international understanding, like 'co-operation', 'communication', 'competition', 180

'guilt', 'power-fear', 'aggression-empathy-love' become meaningful. T h e unit called 'Group Pressures'6 m a y help illustrate some of the processes which are described: T h e experiment is arranged while some pupils are absent; the remaining pupils estimate the length of seven lines drawn by the teacher on the blackboard. For thefirstthree lines, the fifth and the seventh, the pupils have been instructed to try to judge accurately, while for the fourth line they are to overestimate and the sixth they underestimate. T h e class then sees h o w m u c h they have influenced the judgement of the 'unaware pupils' w h o come back into the room and, in the discussion which follows, relate h o w they felt during the process. T h e discussion can explore the kinds of situation in which people's judgements are influenced by different kinds of groups. If possible, it should include the examination of the feelings of those w h o have successfully influenced the 'unaware pupils', as well as the feeling of the latter. W h e n talking about group pressures and conformity to group norms, the psychological as well as the sociological levels of analysis can be considered, according to the age of the group. This experience can thus provide a good opportunity for clarifying the different perspective points of these two fields. There are m a n y historical periods where concepts of group pressure seem applicableas it was in Germany during the Hitler period. F r o m the psychological side one can discern h o w pressure creates anxiety. W h y is it so? O n e can explore h o w people themselves vary in their ability to work efficiently under pressure. Are there differences in the effects one feels of pressures coming from school compared with those from parents of peers? T h e y m a y find out that agreement with another person typically strengthens a relationship, while disagreement can weaken it. T h e sociological dimension concerns such things as the various ways in which society sets

Education for international understanding

up systems of rewards for conformity to stated norms and punishment for deviation. But h o w do the norms themselves develop? In this context one can continue by discussing the rules of classroom behaviour; in other words, discipline. O n e can invite the children themselves to define the rules and discuss their classroom life, in order to lead them to awareness and appreciation of the validity and effectiveness of the rules.7 Although a project like this covers intellectual, affective, moral and socialfields,the child will comprehend it, globally, since he has experienced it in action. O n e of the advantages of this approach is that it involves all the pupils, the brighter ones and the slow learners, the expressive ones and the shy ones. David Wolsk attributes this complete involvement to three factors:8 First, the experience situations are easy: they have no complicated rules and they do not imply a certain m o d e of thinking. Second, everyone is on the same level for discussion since all have shared the same experience and can describe it without a special vocabulary. Third, there are no 'wrong' answers: every answer is valid and contributes either to the description or to the analysis of the situation. T h e result is increased motivation, a good atmosphere, less frustration and boredom, and hence less aggression. T h e relationship between teacher and pupils improves. F r o m the teacher's point of view there are similar advantages. Most of the experience situations require little or no advance preparation or equipment. Furthermore, the games, experiments or demonstrations cannot 'fail'. N o experience situation will develop in exactly the same way with different classes. It is important to have an open-ended discussion. A question like ' W h a t happened?' or ' H o w did you feel about it?' is usually enough to start the discussion. T h e sudden need to express something m a y induce a m o o d of humour, of fantasy, anger,

wonderment or pleasure. T h e pupils view the discussion as 'fun' and not as 'learning', although they do learn. For the teacher w h o is not familiar with this approach and w h o fears the discussion might lead to nowhere or take the class away from the point he wants to stress, there are a few guidelines he can bear in mind to bring the discussion back. H e can focus the discussion on: T h e decision processes, like: considering the processes involved in thinking in alternatives and eliminating all but one; the kinds of information or previous experience which influence the decision to eliminate a certain alternative; changing former decisions, w h y , etc. T h e feelings involved in making decisions and anticipating the possible consequences. T h e influence one decision has on the other. T h e information used and the kinds of u n k n o w n information which could have been useful for the decision process.9 T h e description of a third unit m a y illustrate what is meant. 'Four hands on the clay' illustrates beautifully some of the processes involved in cooperative decision-making between two people. In this experience situation the group works in pairs. Sight and sound are eliminated; that is, the participating members are blindfold and not allowed to speak. T h e pairs sit opposite each other but do not k n o w w h o their partner is. A large block of clay, soft enough for moulding, is placed on the table between them. T h e teacher might have some criteria as to h o w he arranges the pairs, e.g. having a girl and a boy, two boys and two girls sitting opposite each other; pairing an expressive pupil with a shy one, two dominant and two weak characters, etc. W h e n the pairs have been guided by the teacher to their respective places, their four hands are placed on the clay and they are asked to mould something together. There is to be no laughing, no talking and no noise whatsoever. T h e participants do 181

Ingrid Classen-Bauer

not see each otherhow will they communicate? They have aboutfifteento twenty minutes to make a decision and to perform the task. As with all the units, a question like 'What happened?' or ' W h a t was it like?' opens the discussion. This question, however, should not be posed until the partners themselves have had about three tofiveminutes to talk to each other after the experiment and to look around to see what the other pairs have made. T h e ensuing discussion can focus on three aspects: decision processes, communication and feelings. H o w was the decision reached as to what to make? W h o made the decision? W a s it a group decision or was there a leader? Did it develop from interaction with the partner or was a choice m a d e beforehand? W h a t determined the choice? W h a t were the kinds of communication that took place, if any? Did the communication stop at a certain point? H o w did the partners try to make themselves understood? W e r e feelings being communicated? H o w ? W h a t did they feel at the beginning, during the process and at the end of the experiment? W h a t influenced the change of feelings? W h a t was it like to work with an unknown partner? Would there have been a difference if they had known the partner? These and similar questions will lead the group to reflect on verbal and non-verbal communication processes and thus serve as a startingpoint to continue work on this subject. T h e same is valid for the subject of information and decision: using information and applying knowledge in decision-making is an important fact to reflect upon. T h e members of the group can be asked to think about a recent important decision, the information which was used as a basis for that decision and h o w it was valued, h o w m u c h confidence was put into what sort of information, etc. W a s there enough information? H a d more information been desirable? H o w does one feel, if one has to make a decision and does not have enough information to foresee the consequences of that decision? T h e socio-aflective approach has been used
182

successfully since 1972 in several countries, such as Argentina, Belgium, Cyprus, France, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Poland and the United States. T h e general reactions towards the programme are positive, as might be illustrated through the assessment of the introduction of this method in Argentina by Ins Aguerrondo: 10
With a view to gaining an initial impression of participants' attitudes to the socio-affective method, an initial questionnaire was issued on thefirstday of the seminar. It emerged from their replies that participants had c o m e to the seminar without a very clear idea of what the socio-affective method entailed, a large majority of them having reservations and negative feelings about it, due primarily to the difference in the approach used. O n c e work had begun and a few of the 'experience situations' had been tried out, these reservations were transformed for the most part into feelings of misgiving, as well as enthusiasm generated by the prospects opened u p by the method and by its feasibility of application. This fact in turn affected the willingness of participants to join actively in the seminar's activities. A m o r e open attitude to change resulted. . . . O n the last day of the seminar, participants were asked to fill in a second questionnaire . . . with a view to obtaining a certain amount of systematic comparative information for the purposes of the evaluation process. T h e replies give an insight into the reactions and feelings experienced throughout three weeks of useful and uninhibited discussions.... Generally speaking, it m a y be concluded that the units w o n a large measure of acceptance: 61 per cent of participants considered them to be 'extremely' positive, while 30 per cent found them 'fairly' positive. . . . T h e work of propagating the method began as soon as participants returned to their schools, through reports to their principals and talks with their fellow teachers. It is clear from replies to the questionnaire that the general attitude taken by principals to the socio-affective method in particular and to the education for international understanding project in general w a s positive. T h e majority of them were willing to see it applied.

Although this approach is just one possible way to sensitize teachers and pupils for questions

Education for international understanding

relevant to international understanding and that it has to be complemented by other more factual information, it is nevertheless a positive approach which merits consideration in m a n y school situations.

2. T h e whole method is explained more exhaustively by a main initiator of the whole project, David Wolsk, op. cit. T h e unit 'Blind Trust' is explained o n p. 23 et seq. 3. Rachel Cohen, ' T h e Socio-affective Approach in Education for International Understanding at the Primary Level', International Understanding at School, p. 3 et seq., Paris, Unesco (Unesco Associated Schools Project, Circular N o . 33). 4. Ibid., p. 4. Notes 5. Wolsk, op. cit., p . 8. 6. Working documents of the initial workshop on the I. T h e concept of empathy, a feeling of oneness with topic in January 1972, Unesco Institute for Education another, can be looked on as having two interrelated (Document P R G 3.01/II 'Units', p . 24). parts: (a) a feeling of safety and relaxation with others 7. Cohen, op. cit., p . 5. that comes with self-confidence, and (b) a skill that 8. Wolsk, op. cit., p . 10. can be learned, an increased sensitivity and concen9. Ibid., p . 12. tration on the totality of verbal and non-verbal mess10. Ins Aguerrondo, 'Project Outline: Assessment of the ages coming from another. Definition by David Socio-affective Method in Argentina', International Wolsk, An Experience-centred Curriculum. Exercises in Understanding at School, op. cit., p . 25 et seq. T h e Perception, Communication and Action, p . 9, Paris, conference itself is described by Ingrid Classen-Bauer Unesco, 1975 (Educational Studies and Documents, in International Understanding at School, op. cit., N o . 17). p. 37 et seq.

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Learning in a world of change: methods and approaches in the classroom

World Studies Projecta curriculum development project based in Londonhas, accordingly, given particular attention.1 Its main publication, a handbook for teachers entitled Learning for Change in World Society, is a compendium of classroom activities, games and exercises, so to speak, of things to do next M o n d a y morning. This article outlines the hypotheses about teaching, and learning, and about encouraging and supporting change in the school curriculum, on which Learning for Change in World Society is based. With regard to theories of teaching and learning, the World Studies Project has been influenced b y three main bodies of theory and practice:first,the writings of Paolo Freir about conscientization,and those of various other educators, mainly inspired by Freir, w h o have worked as village-level change-agents in developing countries;2 second, the writings of Carl Rogers about experiential learning, and those of other social psychologists similarly concerned with group dynamics, sensitivity training, h u m a n relations training, encounter groups, group learning, etc.;3 third, the writings of Jerome Bruner and others about the structure and function of good teaching materials.4 Robin Richardson (United Kingdom) .Former secondaryWith regard to strategies of supporting and school teacher and director of a research in moral and encouraging curriculum change, the World religious education, since 1973 he has been Director of Studies Project has adopted what is sometimes the World Studies Project. Author of Frontiers of E n called a 'client-centred' or 'problem-solving' quiry, Images of Life, Learning for Change in World model, as distinct from a 'research, development Society and World Studies. How} H o w to get students to sit u p and take an interest. H o w to give students a sense of selfconfidence and of their o w n value. H o w to prevent them from becoming depressed and demoralized by the enormousness of the issues being studied. H o w to simplify, yet to avoid expounding a biased and partial viewpoint. H o w to handle, both in theory and in day-to-day practice, issues such as the law of the sea, h u m a n rights, the new international economic order, disarmament and peacekeeping, the world environmentissues which are politically controversial, and whose principal features are liable to change overnight. ' H o w ' questions such as these are frequently asked by classroom teachers in the general field of education for international understanding, development education, global education, world studies, peace education, multicultural education, and so on. Such ' h o w ' questionsalso sometimes k n o w n as ' M o n d a y morning questions'often seem in practice more difficult and more urgent to teachers than any other kind of question. It is to ' h o w ' questions that the 184
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Learning in a world of change: methods and approaches in the classroom

and diffusion' one. 5 T h e latter ('R, D and D ' ) involves building theories at the centre (particularly theories about aims and objectives), and also creating teaching materials at the centre, and then communicating these from the centre to the periphery. T h e problem-solving approach, however, involves close consultation with practitioners in the periphery (that is, in this instance, with classroom teachers), and trying to provide appropriate supportas teachers work on, and research into, problems selected and defined by themselves. Further, it involves putting practitioners in the periphery in contact with each other, and helping them to put collective pressure on decision-makers at the centre. It is consonant with the values of 'bottomupwards' development, with its emphasis on grass-roots self-reliance and trust in the capacities and wisdom of ordinary people, as distinct from 'trickle-down' development. 6 Learning for Change in World Society aspires, within a problem-solving framework, to be both a survey and a resource. O n the one hand, it is a survey of ways in which creative and selfreliant classroom teachers, in secondary schools in m a n y different countries throughout the world, are currently working to solve or manage the everyday problems of teaching. At the same time it is offered as a resource for those very same teachers, and for the m a n y others w h o wish to join them. H o w questionsquestions of methodology and pedagogyare of course not the only major questions in curriculum development. There are also, to put it briefly and colloquially, questions of w h o , w h y , what for, where, what, well and so what: questions to do with the characteristics and existing knowledge and attitudes of the learners (who questions); justification and rationale (why?); aims and objectives (what for?); school organization and timetabling (where?); content and subject-matter (what?); evaluation and assessment (well?); and practical implementation (so what?). 7 These various questions are logically distinct

from each other. But they are also, of course, closely bound u p with each other. It is difficult or impossible to talk or think in detail about any one of them without touching also, if only by implication, on some or all of the others. T h e answers one gives to any one of them are likely therefore to affect, and to limit the range of, the answers one gives to each of the others. Yet none of the questions is in practice (as distinct from in logic) inherently and consistently more i m portant than any of the others. It is perilous, therefore, to separate one question outas does this article, and as does the handbook to which it refers, Learning for Change in World Societyfrom the group as a whole. T h e reader's patience is requested. In due course I shall, in fact, discuss educational aims and objectives, and it will suggest that the methodology outlined in the main body of the article is particularly relevant to the acquisition of certain crucially important values and attitudes in the general field of education for international understandingself-respect, respect for others, respect for the perceptions and interests of people in countries and cultures other than one's o w n . T h e methodology is relevant also, it will be argued, to the acquisition of certain very important skillsparticularly social skills in personal relationships and small groups, and in institutions, and political action skills in local, national and international politics.8 T h e structure of the article is as follows. First, it is suggested that the metaphor of life cycle can be applied to a course of study in school. (It can also, incidentally, be applied to a conference or workshop or seminar for adults.) It seems helpful to envisage the life cycle of a course as having three distinct phases. These are then described in some detail, with particular e m phasis being placed on the first. There next follows a discussion of educational aims and objectives, particularly with regard to values and skills, and this is linked through a chart, at the end of the article, to the earlier discussion of methodology.

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M a n y readers of the article are no doubt unfamiliar with the book, Learning for Change in World Society, which is in the background. A brief descriptive note, before the theoretical outline of methodology starts, would therefore be useful. T h e book is slightly unconventional in appearance: it is size A 4 with a spiral binding, and has m a n y illustrations, several of the latter being only obliquely, not directly, related to the text. (One exasperated reviewer complained that the book looked like a film catalogue.) A s already mentioned, the book is mainly a c o m pendium of activities, games and exercises. These include the following: an exercise in which students plan their o w n course; a g a m e in which students discuss h o w to allocate m o n e y a m o n g various projects concerned with social change; some non-verbal games dramatizing the concepts of trust and mistrust, co-operation and conflict, division of labour, economic cycle; several questionnaire-type exercises which require students to categorize, and to make selections among, conflicting views on various issues (violence/nonviolence, the nature of peace, the causes of poverty, techniques of social change); several fables; short stories about moral dilemmas faced by people w h o have to choose between pursuing either their o w n interests or those of people in other countries; an exercise on bias in textbooks; surveys of the mass media and of the links between the school's o w n neighbourhood and world society as a whole; and notes on the use of visual material (Bruner's concept of the iconic m o d e , and Freire's of the codification of significant reality)posters, cartoons, wall-charts, films, slides, photographs, collage, flow-charts, topic-webs, mental m a p s , etc. T h e book is designed to be used by teachers in a variety of school subjects: history, geography, social studies, humanities, civics, religious and moral studies, environmental studies, and so on. It has in mind the 12-16 age group a m o n g students. It can also be used in outof-school situationsyouth clubs, youth or-

ganizations, conferences, etc. A n d although this was not consciously intended at the time the book was compiled, Learning for Change in World Society has also been m u c h used in adult educationin the educational work of churches and overseas aid agencies, for example.

The

l f cycle of a course of study ie

A s mentioned also above, Learning for Change in World Society is a compendium of ideas, not a structured curriculum. It is a book which teachers can dip into, picking and choosing according to their interests and needs, and according to the particular situation in which they are working. But certainly the book can be used, if a teacher so wishes, for planning an extended course. It is useful to envisage a course of study as having a life cycle, and to apply to it concepts developed in biology andmore especiallypsychology and social psychology. At a certain point in time, within the context of a relationship between two or more people, a course is conceived. S o m e time later it comes into actual and visible existence, separate from the minds of the teachers w h o conceived and planned it. It then unfolds in time, rather as an organism or a personality unfolds, with certain experiences necessarily preceding or following others.9 Eventually it ceases to exist as a distinct entitybut its influence lives on. O n e of the most famous reflections in world literature on the h u m a n life cycle is that of Jaques, in Shakespeare's As You Like It: he notes the movement from physical dependence ('mewling and puking in the nurse's arms') through socialization ('unwillingly to school') and independence ('jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel'), towards care and responsibility ('wise saws and modern instances'). Scholars in the behavioural sciences of the twentieth century have similarly identified vari-

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Learning in a world of change: methods and approaches in the classroom

ous ages and stages through which each individual must pass in the course of his or her life. O n e seminal suggestion is that there are eight main stages, each with its o w n distinctive tension. In thefirststage, according to this view, the tension is between trust and mistrust. T h e later stages include tensions between autono m y and doubt, intimacy and isolation, and creativity and stagnation.10 With regard to a course of study in school, it seems helpful to think of the life cycle as having three main phases, each divided into two sub-phases. First, it is a question of establishing an appropriate climate. Second, the students are developing their knowledge and understanding. Third, students are drawing together for themselves the various threads of the course. Keywords to describe these three separate phases in the life cycle are climate, inquiry and synthesis. T h e two sub-phases with regard to climate are to do with the provision of, respectively, security and challenge. T h e main two aspects of inquiry are experience and study. T w o separate ways of synthesizing what has been learnt are through the statement of general principles and the formulation of specific plans. T h e overall structure of such a course is shown in Figure i.11 Alternatively, the six sub-phases can be shown as a series of six tensions, as in Figure 2. M u c h of the rest of this article is an explanation of, and commentary on, these two figures. In order to provide concrete illustrations for what is inevitably going to be a highly

Anxiety Complacency Abstraction - * Triviality- Opportunism Inaction - <

-+-*--__ -+.

Security Challenge Experience Study Principles Plans

FIG. 2. The life cycle as a series of tensions. theoretical discussion, let us imagine a course on the specific subject of h u m a n rights. W h a t do these termssecurity, challenge, experience, etc.mean with regard to studying h u m a n rights?
FIRST PHASE: CLIMATE

T h e basic task in thefirstphase of a course is to establish a secure and supportive, but also open and challenging, climate. This overall task can be broken upfor the sake of theoretical analysis in an article such as thisinto eight smaller tasks. T h efirstfour of these relate mainly to the establishment of security, the second four mainly to the creation of challenge. T h e eight are as follows: establishing and valuing the knowledge and opinions which students already have; getting to k n o w and trust others, and to respect them as potential resources; getting a sense of initial self-confidence through the successful completion of simple tasks; getting a sense of the whole; adopting a problemcentred and action-oriented approach to the

Climate

Inquiry

Synthesis

Security

Challenge

Experience

Study

Principle's

Plans

FIG. I. The life cycle of a course of study.

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subject-area; realizing that the subject-area is ideologically controversial; being stimulated and challenged by one's o w n ignorance; taking a measure of responsibility for designing and managing the rest of the course. Here are some further notes on these eight tasks, applied specifically, for the sake of concrete illustrations, to the subject-area of h u m a n rights and fundamental freedoms. Basic tasks Establishing and valuing the knowledge and opinions which students already have. Students do not c o m e to a course on h u m a n rights as completely empty vessels. T h e y already have some relevant knowledge, however rudimentary, and they already have various opinions and mental imagesabout fairness, law, freedom, foreign countries, authoritywhich will affect h o w they perceive the course, and what they will learn in it. T h e y will feel more secure, and therefore more highly motivated, if their present knowledge and opinionshowever inadequate, in the teacher's vieware accepted and valued at the start of the course.

distorting the underlying complexitycan be accomplished by themselves. There is a detailed reference to such tasks in the next section of this article, under the general heading of'Exercises and Activities'. Getting a sense of the whole. It is useful, to recall a c o m m o n metaphor, to get an idea of the w o o d as a whole before beginning to look at individual trees: orin another metaphorto see a situation in long-shot before zooming into closeups. In a course on h u m a n rights it is useful, indeed invaluable, if students can have an overall idea of the concerns and content of the Universal Declaration of H u m a n Rights, say, before they begin to look at any particular part of it in detail.

Adopting a problem-centred and action-oriented approach to the subject-area. Courses in schools about contemporary world affairs are sometimes rightly criticized because they seem to be depressingly about nothing but problemsmisery, slums, starvation, repression, terrorism, disasters. It is invigorating and motivating, however, to focus on 'problems to be solved or m a n aged'as distinct from 'problems which overGetting to know and to trust others, and to respect w h e l m us'. It is additionally valuable if the them as potential resources. Students are unlikely, problems which students have in their o w n livesfor example, in their relationships with at the start of a n e w course on h u m a n rights, to each other and with authority, and in their be more interested in the subject itself than in prospects for the futurecan be referred to, each other, and in the impressions they are implicitly or explicitly, near the start of a making on each other. T h e y needfirst,before course on h u m a n rights. engaging in serious study, to find out more about each otherparticularly, each other's opinions and perceptionsand to feel reasonRealizing that the subject-area is ideologically ably confident that they are not going to look controversial. It is perhaps not too oversimplifoolish in front of each other, or to be the obfying to observe that there are three main jects of hostile criticism. clusters of views with regard to h u m a n rights, as also with regard to most or all other contemGetting a sense of initial self-confidence throughporary world issues: conservative, liberal and the successful completion of simple tasks. H u m a n Marxian. Each of these can combine with a religious faith or with agnosticism, and with rights is an extremely complex topic. It is commitment to a particular culture or society. nevertheless possible for students to be given Certainly in the world at large, and very probintellectual tasks whichwithout denying or

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ably in the students' o w n country, there are disputes as to what h u m a n rights are and should be, and disputes also about practical policies to create a fairer and securer social order, at local, national and international levels. It is an important challenge to students to be reminded that they are studying issues on which the h u m a n race does not agreeand on which it is most unlikely to agree during their lifetime.

task itself. There has to be a continual tension between security and challenge, not a switch from one to the other. Those eight tasks require, by and large, something other than a traditional teaching style. T h e y requireto put it colloquiallysomething other than chalk, talk and textbook; orto put it more academicallysomething other than didactic teaching and deductive learning. Positively, they require students to work in small groups or in pairs, with a great deal of interBeing stimulated and challenged by ones own ignorance. T o be reminded of one's o w n ig- action, discussion and negotiation a m o n g themselves. A n d they require various highly strucnorance can beindeed perhaps customarily tured exercises and activities. ismerely demoralizing. Hence the continual emphasis, in the notes above, on giving students Examples of such exercises and activities, a sense of self-confidence, and of their o w n with particular reference to studying h u m a n value. But security without challenge is merely rights, include the following. Students are given complacency. It is vital that the introduca collection of news cuttings, and asked to rank tory phase of a course should containamong them in the order in which they find them other thingsstimulus, questioning, provointeresting; or a collection of photographs, and cation, challenge. asked to list the questions which these raise; or a series of facts, and asked to pick out the three Taking a measure of responsibility for designing which theyfindmost significant; or a n u m b e r of and managing the rest of the course. It is desirable personalized short stories, and asked to rank these in the order in which they seem to raise that the introductory phase of a course should really important issues; or several quotations close with students seeing for themselves, and from the Universal Declaration of H u m a n stating for themselves, the questions which they Rights, and asked to arrange these in a flown o w wish to investigate in further detail. Ideally chart, to show which rights are in their view they should feel accountable to each other as connected to, or derived from, which other well as to the teacher, and feel that they will rights. in due course be interested to tell each other, and to hear from each other, what they find Those activities all involve categorizing, out in the inquiries on which they are n o w comparing, contrasting, reasoningbasic intelembarking. lectual skills which will be required again later in the course. Students continually have to give reasons for their choices, and they expect and Exercises and activities require reasons from each other. It is helpful at this early stage, however, if the various items T h e eight tasks described above were necesscan be given to the students in a form which arily presented in a temporal sequence. First, permits the categorizing to be physical as well as it was implied, establish what is already k n o w n intellectualfor example, each separate quoand thought. Second, do this. . . . Next, do tation, fact, photograph, story, etc. should that T h e n , . . . Finally,. . . But the reality ideally be printed on its o w n separate piece of is that several of the tasks can be performed paper or card. T h e sorting of the items then more or less simultaneously. It is the emphasis involves (even though, admittedly, only very which changes over time rather than the basic

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minutely) the muscles of the body as well as the reasoning of the mind. This physical involvement acts partly as a substitute for, but also partly as an actual stimulus to, mental activity and theoretical discussion. It is as if the nervecells of the brain and tongue are unblocked or unfrozen by the movement in the hands. Another type of activity which helps to unblock or unfreeze people's minds is the drawing of pictures, and/or the interpretation of pictures. With regard to the general subjectarea of h u m a n rights and fundamental freed o m s , students can be asked to draw their image of justice, order, law, oppression, etc. O r , more concretely, they can be asked to draw particular examples of these abstract ideas. Either way they can work within a particular genrea poster, flow-chart, postage-stamp, cartoon, strip-cartoon, collage, wall-chart, and so on. In all these instances a student m a y say, though of course seldom if ever in these exact words, 'I do not k n o w what I think till I see what I draw.' A n d certainly it is the case that students can m u c h more readily learn from each other, and communicate to each other, if they have pictorial illustrations created by themselves as visual aids.
INQUIRY PHASE

B y and large such direct experience is not practicable for school students. Most of the world's schoolteachers would probably say that it is in any case not desirable. It is nevertheless possible to arrange what might be called an imaginaryfieldtripthat is, a certain kind of simulation exercise. Most certainly students can 'visit' an international law court, or a prison c a m p , or a society other than their o w n , or a political campaign, within the context of a simulation exercise. Another imaginary situation which teachers sometimes use, in order to focus on issues of social justice, is that of a small band of survivors after some major disaster. Within the context of a g a m e it is possible for students to experience for themselves the problems and tensions of creating and administering just laws. Such a game or exercise calls on their experiential knowledge, not just their cognitive knowledge, of fairness, authority, personal identity, etc. Clearly, a simulation exercise is m u c h more structured than afieldvisit: but in both instances it is possible for students to have an experiencefirst,and to reflect on the experience, developing concepts and generalizations about it, only later. This is true also of a case-study: a case-study in this context being a presentation of'raw' evidence about such-and-such a specific situation. T h e evidence has, certainly, been collected and selected by someone other than the students. But it is nevertheless possible for students to draw their o w n conclusions from it. This is particularly the case if the evidence is in the form of photographs, slides or film, and of original documents. Study In the second part of the inquiry phase students encounter concepts and generalizations created not primarily by themselves but by othersin particular, of course, scholars and decisionmakers. T h e encounter can in thefirstinstance be through a fable or metaphor, or parable.12

Experience and simulation A s noted in Figure i, the inquiry phase of a course has two main aspects: experience and study. In schools it is usually difficult, and often impossible, to arrange for students to have direct experience of the realities which they are studying. H o w , for example, can students have direct experience of international h u m a n rights? Are they to visit international law courts, and take part in their deliberations? C a n they or should they engage in campaigns to create a more just social order in their o w n country, or in other countries, or between their o w n country and others? 190

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With regard to h u m a n rights, and concepts of law and order, there is the following simple little story, for example, to illustrate the idea that laws and contracts are not inevitably and inherently oppressive, and that the function of a just law is to create and guarantee individual freedom and creativity, not to restrict them:
There was a huge roof-top playground. It was on top of a huge block offlats.Round the playground there was a high fence. T h e fence was m a d e of iron bars, and very strong. T h e children playing in the playground were very happy. T h e y danced, they skipped, they chased each other full-pelt all over the playground, they sang songs, they painted pictures. O n e day M r s Freebody came to the playground. M r s Freebody was an official. She was pleased to see the children playing, and skipping and chasing. 'But h o w dreadful to fence them in!' she said. 'Children are not animals, to be kept in a cage! Children must be free! Remove that fence! So the fence round the roof-top playground was removed. But the children no longer played there. They just sat huddled in a little group, trembling, in the middle of the playground. They no longer danced, they no longer skipped, they no longer chased each other full-pelt all over the playground. They no longer sang songs. T h e y no longer painted pictures.13

In addition to using fables, or instead of using them, teachers can translate abstract ideas into diagrams and flow-charts. But primarily the study phase of a course of study can be entirely traditional: it involves deferential reading of books and other printed material, and making notes; and listening to lectures and talks. (What is not traditional, however, is that the topics for study are, ideally, chosen by the students, not by the teacher.)
THIRD PHASE: SYNTHESIS

T h e third phase of a course, like each of the two earlier phases, has two separable aspects. In this instance they are to do with, respectively, working out general principles and pro-

posing specific plans. T h e general principles can be expressed in visual diagrams, or through various kinds of dramatic presentation, but should also, of course, be expressed in discursive language. In the 'real' world, outside schools, statements of general principles are often presented in the form of discussion papers, reports, manifestos, etc., and are often written collectively by groups of people rather than by individuals. Written work in the school classroom can similarly be presented in the form of reports, and by groups rather than by each individual student. Finally, there is a sub-phase concerned with plans. W h a t , in the light of what students have learnt, and of the general principles which they have agreed on, do they consider should actually be done? It is not out of the question that students should at this stage write letters to decision-makers in the 'real' world, and that they should try also in other ways to exercise political influence, locally, nationally or internationally. Certainly they can 'take action' within the context of a simulation exercise. Regardless of whether the action is real or simulated, it is important that students should reflect on it, and try to improve, through such reflection, their theoretical understanding of local, national and world society. In other words, they need to return to the 'principles' subphase, and also to the 'study' phase, and indeed to all the earlier parts of the course. Another way of putting this point is to say that the structure of a course is spiral rather than linear. Figure i was useful here for the sake of preliminary clarity. But Figure 3, with its spiral structure, is more accurate. Figure 3 not only shows the overall structure of a course, but also captures some of the tension which m a y be present at any one time. For the three main activitiesmaitaining a secure and stimulating climate, engaging in inquiry, drawing threads togethertake place simultaneously, not one after another. This is certainly the case if one considers the students
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Climate (second cycle)

F I G . 3. T h e spiral structure of a course of study.

as a whole rather than one individual. In every group, at any one time, there m a y be a number of people w h o are primarily seeking, say, a secure climate while there are others w h o are primarily wishing to draw together some general principles. This complexity can be shown in a further kind of diagramthe type k n o w n sometimes as an cepigenetic chart'.14 There is such a chart here in Figure 4. Butfirst,it is appropriate for this article itself to go back on its tracks, and to re-visit a point emphasized in its opening paragraphs.

cational objectives involves distinguishing between (a) concepts, (b) attitudes, and (c) skills. Alternative terminology refers to (a) knowing and thinking, (b) feeling and valuing, and (c) acting and doing. T o make progress in thefirstof these spheres, knowledge and understanding, is to develop concepts and mental images of the world which are progressively more accurate and more efficient. In other words, it involves acquiring language: 'all education', it has been said, 'whether in school or out of school, consists of increasing understanding of language and increasing ability to use it to adjust to external relationships and events, to extend the range of choice within them, andfinallyto influence them'. 16 With regard to values and feelings, here is a brief check-list derived from the 1974 Unesco Recommendation in Education for International Understanding. Students should be developing: Confidence in themselves: their o w n ability to make sense of complex events and trends, and their o w n ability to control their immediate environment. Respect for their o w n culture and society. A desire to protect their o w n interests, and those of their o w n society. Confidence in, and respect for, the general ability possessed by h u m a n beings to understand and to control their environment. Respect for cultures and customs different from their o w n . Respect for the rights and interests of people in other countries. Respect for democratic processes, both within and between countries. A desire to help those w h o are suffering from poverty or injustice, both in their o w n country and overseas.16 A slightly different check-list of values, focusing on the classroom situation itself as well as on participation in local, national and international politics, has been compiled by the Programme for Political Education, based in London. 1 7 Its seven items are as follows: willingness to adopt

Educational aims and objectives

It was said that this article would be about classroom methods and pedagogy, not about other aspects of curriculum planning, for example objectives, content, evaluation, implementation, etc. A n d so it has been. But the chart in Figure 4 cannot be understood without a reference to, and brief discussion of, the vitally important matter of educational objectives. W h a t , actually, is a course in the field of education for international understanding trying to achieve? O n e conventional w a y of discussing edu192

Learning in a world of change: methods and approaches in the classroom

a critical stance toward political information; willingness to give reasons as to w h y one holds a view or acts in a certain way and to expect similar reasons from others; respect for evidence in forming and holding political opinions; willingness to be open to the possibility of changing one's o w n attitudes and values in the light of evidence; valuing fairness as a criteria for judging and making decisions (i.e. regardless of whether the outcome will personally benefit or harm oneself); valuing the freedom to choose between political alternatives (goals, methods, values, parties or groups); toleration of a diversity of ideas, beliefs, values and interests. T h e Political Education Research Unit has also drawn u p a brief check-list of skills, including political action skillsability to participate in group decision-making and to effectively influence and/or change political situationsand communication skills. T h e latter include the ability to express one's o w n interests, beliefs and viewpoints; the ability to participate in political discussion and debate; and the ability to exercise empathy, i.e. to imagine what it might be like in someone else's shoes. T h e fundamental hypothesis of this article is that values and skills such as these are best learnt in a course of study whose structure approximates to the three-phase modelclimate inquiry, synthesiswhich has been outlined here. T o design a curriculum does involve, certainly, rigorous thinking about aims and objectives. But also it involves very careful attention to the process of learning, not just to the outcomes. Figure 4 brings together these two separate aspects of curriculum planning, process and outcomes. T h e six main cells in the diagonal, from the bottom left-hand corner to the top right, refer to the process. T h e y correspond, as can be readily seen, to the six sub-phases which have been outlined in this article. T h e horizontal dimension refers to timethere is a shifting emphasis over time from security, to challenge, experience, study, principles and

plans. T h e vertical dimension refers to aims and objectives. T h e course progresses not only from 'security' towards 'plans', but also from one level of knowledge, values and abilities to another. In Paolo Freire's terms students m o v e from 'nave consciousness' at the start of the course towards 'critical consciousness' at the endthe latter being a dynamic amalgam of n e w concepts, n e w values and n e w practical abilities. T h e point of presenting Figure 4 as a twodimensional chart, with several different cells, is that this form permits a course of study to be analysed at any one time, and important weaknesses and contradictions to be identified. If all goes well there are two movements over timefrom security towards plans in the process, and towards improved concepts, skills and attitudes in the outcomes. But it is almost certainly bound to happen that certain students are 'ahead' of the process: for example, they m a y be in the cell marked with the figure (1); and it m a y happen that others are 'behind': they m a y be in the cell marked with afigure(2). In addition to charting a course at any one time Figure 4 can also be used to m a p each individual's path through the course. For n o individual does in fact follow the ideal path, directly from bottom left to top right. Everyone meanders. Alternatively put, and recalling the key notion in Figure 3, everyone moves in a series of spirals, continually re-visiting points touched on earlier, and deepening and extending his or her knowledge. Near the start of this article there was a brief recollection of the main questions in curriculum planning: w h o , w h y , what for, where, what, h o w , well, and so what. This article has mainly been about just one set of the questions, those to do with h o w , with methodology and pedagogy. Towards the end it has also touched on questions of what for, of educational aims and objectives. T h e other questions have been ignored.

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FinishPlans v. Inaction

(1)

Principles v. Opportunism

III

Study v. Triviality

Experience v. Abstraction

Challenge v. Complacency

Security v. Anxiety Start

(2)

\
Start

me

,
Finish

FIG. 4. The relationship between process and outcomes. Perhaps the most serious omission, in this particular context, is with regard to so what? questionsthose which are to do with implementation. H o w actually can the individual teacher introduce change into his or her classroom? H o w can a headteacher or school principal encourage younger colleagues to be increasingly conscious of, and open to, social change in the world at large? H o w can educational administrators outside schools, at national and local levels, stimulate and support curriculum development within the generalfieldsof education for international understanding? Questions such as these are particularly complex and important for teachers and administrators w h o are sympathetic to the view that m u c h so-called education in schools functions to 'domesticate' people rather than to 'liberate' them. 18 Perhaps one thing which is required, to encourage and support the implementation of change, is a handbook similar to Learning for Change in World Society, but geared to courses and workshops for teachersincluding courses and workshops in individual schoolsrather

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than to work directly with students. There is already such a book available in the United States: Handbook for Global Education: A Working Manual by Jon Kinghorn and William Shaw. 1 9 T h e World Studies Project is proposing to compile and publish in 1979 a broadly similar handbook for the British situation. Other countries perhaps need such handbooks also. T h e ideal handbook, it has been suggested in this article, is both a reflection and a resource: a survey of what creative and self-reliant people are already doing, and a stimulus for others to join them. T h e ideal handbook is also, like the ideal educational programme, unfinished.20 Always there are things to add to it. Partly these are to do with updating it. But mainly they are to do with testing, and improving or rejecting, its hypotheses. Similarly, perhaps, articles about education ought to be unfinished. Their closing words should typically be, in effect or even sometimes entirely explicitly, that there is still m u c h to be donestill m u c h action-research to be engaged in. In a world of change such actionresearch involves not only detached academics but also administrators and teachers. Also, no doubt, it involves students, and a school's local community. T o recall that at this point is, certainly, to leave this article unfinished.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Notes
9. 1. T h e World Studies Project was set up in 1973 by the O n e World Trust, an educational charity organization based in London. In the period 1976-^79 it is being financed mainly by a grant from the Department of Education and Science, which is the British Ministry of Education. During 1979 it is receiving a grant also from the Ministry of Overseas Development. Learning for Change in World Society wasfirstpublished in 1976, and reprinted in 1977 and 1979. Information about current activities and other publications is available from: World Studies Project, 24 Palace Chambers, Bridge Street, London S W i A 2 J T . 2. For example, P. Freir, Education: the Practice of Freedom, London, Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative, 1976; Educao como Pratica da Liberdade, Rio de Janeiro, Paz e Terra, 1967; P . Freir,

10.

11. 12.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, N e w York, Herder & Herder, 1970, and Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1972; D . Millwood (ed.), Conscientisation, a folder of documents published by the World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1975; and K . Bhasin, Participatory Training for Development, Bangkok, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 1976. For example, C . R . Rogers, Encounters Groups, N e w York, Harper & R o w , 1970, and L o n d o n , Allen Lane, 1971; A . Blumberg and R . Goliembiewski, Learning and Change in Groups, Harmondsworth (United Kingdom) and Baltimore (United States), Penguin Books, 1976; and Unesco, Group Techniques in Education, Paris, Unesco, 1977 (Educational Studies and Documents, N o . 24). For example, J. Bruner, Toward a Theory of Instruction, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1967; J. Bruner, The Relevance of Education, London, George Allen & U n w i n , 1972; and R . A . Hodgkin, Born Curious: New Perspectives in Educational Theory, London and N e w York, John Wiley, 1976. These distinctions are outlined in, for example, L . Stenhouse, An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development, London, Heinemann, 1975. T h e case for 'bottom-upwards' development has been argued during the last few years by, in particular, the journal Development Dialogue, Uppsala, D a g H a m marskjld Foundation. There is a discussion of 'what' questions: that is, questions about content and subject-matter, in R . Richardson, 'Studying World Society: S o m e Approaches to the Design of Courses', The New Era, Vol. 58, N o . 6, L o n d o n , World Education Fellowship, 1977. Copies are available free of charge from the World Studies Project, whose address is given in Note 1. Several Unesco documents and recommendations over the years have emphasized values and skills such as these. See, in particular, Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace, and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1974, and the Tbilisi Declaration, October 1977, published in Connect ( U n e s c o / U N E P environmental education newsletter), January 1978. For a discussion of the concept of life cycle applied to marriage, and to marriage guidance and family counselling, see A . C . R . Skynner, One Flesh: Separate Persons, p. 26-63, London, Constable, 1976. E . Erikson, 'Eight Ages of M a n ' , Chapter 7 of Childhood and Society, N e w York, W . W . Norton, 1950, and Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1965. T h e basic structure of Figure 1 is derived from an idea in Skynner, op. cit., p. 28. For an extended metaphor illustrating the theories of fairness developed by John Rawls, see B . W r e n , Education for Justice, London and N e w York, S C M Press, 1977. There is also an interesting discussion of ways in which fables illumine concepts of h u m a n rights and justice in M . Soriano, 'Children's Books and H u m a n Rights', Prospects, Vol. VII, N o . 2 , 1977, p. 204-25.

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13. This fable appears in a pictorial booklet compiled by the World Studies Project for 15-16-year-old students: R . Richardson, Fighting for Freedom, London, Nelson, 1978. 14. T h e term is Erikson's, op. cit., p. 264 of the Penguin Books edition. 15. B . Crick, 'Concepts and Curriculum Development', in B . Crick and D . Heater (eds.), Essays on Political Education, p. 81, Brighton, Falmer Press, 1977. 16. This check-list appears in R . Richardson, 'Teaching About Interdependence', Change and Choice: Britain in an Interdependent World, London, Ministry of Overseas Development, 1979. 17. See B . Crick and A . Porter (eds.), Political Education and Political Literacy, London, L o n g m a n , 1978, and B . Crick and D . Heater, op. cit.

18. See, for example, P. Freir, 'Education: Domestication or Liberation?', Prospects, Vol. II, N o . 2 , 1972; and papers by H . Gintis, S. Bowles, P . Bourdieu and M . F . D . Young, in R . Dale, G . Esland and M . M a c donald (eds.), Schooling and Capitalism: A Sociological Reader, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976. 19. This book arises from the work over the years of the Institute for the Development of Education Activities ( I D E A ) . Full details are as follows: J. Kinghorn and W . Shaw, Handbook for Global Education: A Working Manual, Dayton, Charles F . Kettering Foundation, 1978. 20. ' A work of education, like a work of art, comes into being as it develops and it evolves in a way which is by definition unforeseeable.'D. Dolci, ' T h e Maieutic Approach', Prospects, Vol. Ill, N o . 2, 1973.

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Jzsef Margcsy

Education for peace and international understanding in the training of teachers

S o m e years ago in Switzerland w e were talking about the Associated Schools and an outstanding specialist said it was 'not so m u c h the schools as the educators themselves that should be associated' for inculcating the ideals of peace and international understanding. H e was right, for even though the policies of any individual country m a y be well designed, and its educational programmes rich and varied in both form and content, if the educatorat any teaching levelis not a convinced adept of the practice of peace and international understanding, one cannot count on success. At any rate, one cannot and should not wait for some kind of action from 'above'. T h e school inspectorate and the Ministry of E d u cation are far away, but during classes w e , the educators, are present, and it is w e w h o are directly responsible for educating the youth of todayand tomorrow's adultsand w e cannot relegate the responsibility to someone else. O u r individual work is therefore extremely important. Obviously, it is highly desirable that the rules and initiatives of the central authorities are directed towards promoting the good cause and the educator also is convinced of the necess-

Jzsef Margcsy (Hungary). Professor, Director of the Nyiregyhasa Higher Teacher Training College and Co-ordinator of the Associated Schools' activities in Hungary.

ity of peace and international understanding. (In higher education the autonomy is generally greater, so this paper m a y be better received there than in the more restrictedfieldof elementary or secondary education.) Aspirations for peace and international understanding form an indivisible whole. If w e are ready to accept some kind of gentlemen's agreement between nations in the sciences, in the sports or in art, but in other respects w e despise and discriminate against particular peoples, nations or civilizations, w e cannot do a good job. Similarly, w e cannot leave aside any one people, nation or civilization; w e must accept all together and at the same time, admitting with a natural grace that some are more likeable than others. If w e place even one country outside the pale, w e open the door to discrimination. Similarly, it is impossible to range achievements of 'great' countries above those of 'small' onesespecially since the latter are often little known, if at all. Consequently, the road to international understanding can never be a one-way street: a constant flow of activity is necessary in the interests of mutual insight and comprehension. It follows from the above that, on the one hand, the ideal of international understanding can spread only in a country where national understanding is the rule a m o n g regions, nationalities and minorities. T h e

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educational system will then be conducive to understanding, and not the reverse. O n the other hand, w h e n implementing these ideals in practice, on should remember that 'charity begins at h o m e ' . In other words, one should not try to initiate relations with people of some far-away continent to prove one's sense of world-wide solidarity, but build a bridge of peace and understanding with youth of neighbouring countries, even those whose historical past is not consistently marked by peace and amity with one's o w n country. A n eminent nuclear scientist was right in saying that the practice of peace and understanding starts with our neighbours and work associates and our relationship with them. If the above concerns h u m a n behaviour and education in general, it is twice as true of the education of future teachers. Even if the circumstances of education are different from country to country, the final goal remains the same. W h a t should be the main characteristics of teacher education for peace and international understanding? T h e content,firstof all, should be wide-ranging, extending to all fields and subjects of teacher education. In literature and the history of art, so as to get rid of provincialism and narrow-mindedness greater attention should be paid to the broad currents and international interdependence evinced in the work of writers and artists of a particular country. This should be done even w h e n influences from outside are stronger than those originating in one's o w n country. T h e important thing is to include creations of other continents in the international overview; and this is not only a question of studying the folklore. (Indeed, folklore studies present a danger: some popular customs or artistic creations in faraway countries are still regarded as strange or exotic circus attractions, and a despising attitude then becomes prevalent. This kind of feeling of superiority should be avoided and even countered

in education for international understanding.) Training of history teachers should be i m bued with similar aims. Education for internationalism calls for singular objectivity, and w h e n studying one's o w n national history and assessing its historical value one needs critical (i.e. self-critical) judgement in regard to its shortcomings at least as m u c h as awareness of its achievements. There are great possibilities in language teaching, especially in teachers' education, where, besides the language, the civilization and culture of a people can also be shown. Linguistics itself can be of great help: the historico-etymological examination of language groups and families, differential linguistics and such subfields as socio-linguistics and ethno-linguistics will all contribute to acquiring a sympathetic understanding of other countries and their people's language system and cultural environment. Geography and its companion sciences m a y help those whose mental horizons are limited to their o w n country and continent to broaden their outlook and see further afield. T h e student w h o is accustomed to ideas of distance and width will be more open to the thinking of other peoples and a spirit of internationalism. Those w h o k n o w what has gone to make u p the present face of our globe, those w h o have studied the descriptive and historical teachings of geography can more easily appreciate the importance of peace and the necessity of international understanding. Similarly, all branches of biological sciences can provide pointers to the close relationship of m a n and his environment and to that humanized world w e all hope to see, in which the only question is: H o w can w e live together and with nature, and h o w can w e best protect our environment, the biosphere, in the interests of all? Mathematics, physics and chemistry offer quite a few possibilities, particularly during their historical presentation. History of the sciences has internationalist implications since

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Education for peace and international understanding in the training of teachers

every new result, discovery or invention builds on an earlier result by research workers of other nations. T h e unbroken, continuous character of research and science is expressed in the following words by the Hungarian writer, Imre Mada'ch (1823-64) in the third scene of his famous verse play, The Tragedy of Man; c Yes, thy body disintegrates, but thy life will return in a hundred forms and thou wilt begin anew without having to start everything over again All that thou hast felt, learnt, experienced here on earth will remain thine for millions of years.' T h e examination of philosophy will bring the same result, since from Aristotle to Erasm u s , from St Augustine to Albert Schweitzer great thinkers were, and are, great humanists also, friends of creative peace and exemplary believers in international co-operation. T h e same is true of the great figures of education science: Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Makarenko. A n d then, is there any greater pleasure than knowledge of the great figures of the universal musical heritage; is there a better possibility to develop a friendship with other countrieseven without the knowledge of languagesthan through their songs, musical instruments and popular music? Hardly any! T h e n w h y do w e not educate future teachers to bring up their students in this spirit? With regard to physical educationeven at a high level, for taking part in major c o m p e titionsfuture teachers should be brought to recognize the beauty of physical endeavour raised to the highest pitch. G a m e s must not be allowed to engender hatred, the noble contest a chauvinist fanaticism and enmity at the international level. T h e education of teachers should form principles: it should instil a personal conviction concerning peace and international understanding. If individual subjects are taught in the manner described above in teachers' training colleges, the future educators will adopt an internationalist mould of thinking and behav-

iour and they will keep it throughout life in and outside the school. T h e Latin proverb is right w h e n it says that a capite piscis foetet (it is the head of the fish that rots first). In our case, it is natural that a higher educational establishment will have the right influence on its students in this domain ifbut only ifits president, dean or director himself is impregnated with the ideals of peace and international understanding. His influence is then transmitted to professors and students, and through them to their practice schools and their pupils too. T h e teaching should be analytical and synthetical: it should analyse the inner core of the subject, yet it should relate the details to the whole. W h e n the student teacher has full m a s tery of the details of his speciality, his pupils also will not comprehend it narrowly, but in its essence, in broad perspective, encompassing its international aspects as well. T h u s teachers' education should be at the same time both differentiated and integrated. W h e n the future teacher assimilates one subject in sufficient depth and with this knowledge establishes its relationship to other branches of knowledge, he will then be better able to understand such general world problems as m a n and his environment, water and energy resources, the relationship between society and industrialization, improving the status of w o m e n , nutrition, literacy training and h u m a n rights. In this way he will be in a position to transmit to his pupils the fruits of his knowledge and professional education, in their international connotations. I would like to emphasize here that I reject the superstition according to which elementary education is regional (provincial or parochial) in scope, secondary education, national and only higher education gives a possibility for an international view. O n the contrary, at every level, in every type of school, the achievements of foreign countries should be presented and our world-wide interdependence stressed. If teachers approach this task in the

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right spirit and with wisdom, then the international concept will not become some kind of countryless, emotionless, estranged cosmopolitanism because the principles of patriotism and internationalism are discussed, defined and experienced together at one and the same time. A consequence of the above ideas is that education for internationalism should be started in kindergarten. This means that in teachertraining courses an internationalist spirit should be emphasized from the veryfirstlevel. (It is no real difficulty that in some countries teachers of children aged 3 to 6 or even 6 to 10 do not receive their training in teacher-training colleges.) In the case of graduate teachers, w h o receive their pedagogical training after graduating, in the form of shortened initial or in-service courses, the emphasis on internationalism should occur during their university education where it can be based on their specialized subject fields. Whatever the exact form of teacher education, it is essential that students should not confine themselves to acquiring knowledge which can only be used for inculcating ideas of peace and international understanding in school, as part of the regular curriculum, but that they should also bear in mind the need for similar action outside the schoolin youth clubs, cultural centres, and so forth. Beyond the general pattern, where the future educator is a propagandist in the service of education for peace and international understanding inside hisfieldof specialization, one can imagine specialization in this subject, with students choosing education for peace and international understanding as a majorfieldof study. T h e centre for this education would be either the education or the philosophy department both of which already encompass a number of different disciplines. Obviously, other solutions m a y be equally valid. In consequence, higher educational establishments should invite all their teaching staff to call students' attention to phenomena of de200

scriptive or historical charactersynchronic or diachronicwhich, according to the inner logic and possibilities of the speciality, can be useful from the point of view of education for peace and international understanding. Less desirable is the set-up where only one m e m b e r of the teaching staff is designated for this kind of teaching. Another, looser, yet very useful solution is to accommodate native and foreign students together in dormitories whenever possible. T h e personal relationships formed in this way will themselves be conducive to education for peace and international understanding. Concerning methodology, and in the customary setting of higher education, class lectures offer a possibility not only for the clarification of basic scientific problems, but also for drawing attention to major interrelations and those developments and trends in the history of science which illustrate the relationship and continuity between the results achieved by scientists and groups of different nationalities and epochs. It is primarily in the natural sciences that w e must fight the view that great discoveries are inimical to international peace. These discoveries can in fact ensure a quieter, happier life for mankind, depending on their use. (A variety of examples, from dynamite to nuclear power, fromfireto the internal-combustion engine, can be adduced to prove this point.) Ill-will or blind fanaticism can turn the most peaceful object into a deadly weapon (it is possible to kill with a knife for peeling potatoes, the shady branch of a tree, even with ski boots or in a romantic mountain stream). Seminars in small groups can go into details of problems touched on in class lectures: discussions, talks, research projects carried out by students under the guidance of their professorthis detailed investigation can take various forms. Mandatory or elective special classes can focus attention on specific results achieved in regard to peace and international under-

Education for peace and international understanding in the training of teachers

standing, with greater, more intensive, student participation than is possible in the case of class lectures or seminars; such classes can discuss questions bearing on the history of science or the international implications of the discipline in question. Major themes, like the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies, h u m a n rights (in a world-wide context) or individual countries' life, civilization and economic situation, can be presented from a n u m b e r of points of view, drawing on selected participants' original research and analytical and written work. Student teachers can be greatly helped and encouraged to think in a mature internationalist manner by a variety of extracurricular activities, such as the writing and discussion of special dissertations, the activities of student clubs and scientific research groups, debates about international themes, international student camps, academic exchanges, international seminars and s u m m e r meetings, or travels abroad with the assistance of international student organizations. Sometimes they are asked to compile anthologies, under the direction of a professor, of selected items or excerpts from the work or correspondence of artists, scientists and writers regarding peace and internationalism. These independent activities are not superfluous even if publishers and international committees often do similar work. A worth-while venture of this kind is La Paix, Invincible Espoir (Brussels, 1978), compiled by Madeleine de Vits, responsible for the French-speaking Associated Schools in Belgium. A similar result can be expected from exchanges of information based on newsletters, bulletins and other documents issued and distributed by students. Teacher educationat almost every level, and in most countriesis directly linked to practice schools where future teachers do their student teaching. In the best of cases the practice school will be a Unesco Associated School where the student teacher begins by observing class and club activities but later directs the

work himself. (The work done at Leicester Teacher Training College (United K i n g d o m ) is noteworthy: very good results were obtained in both teacher education and in the Associated School in the course of parallel theoretical and practical work.) In some places the school's educational adviser calls the student teacher's attention to missed possibilities in his particular subject for imparting education for peace and international understanding. I have also encountered m a n y instances where student teachers engaged in outside activities tooe.g. club activities in small towns or in city districts, work in cultural centresand in one case student teachers even organized literacy and language courses for immigrant workers, thereby facilitating their integration and helping to restore their h u m a n dignity, in no egoistic spirit but from genuine feelings of international solidarity. G o o d results can be secured by getting in touch individually or collectively with such international organizations as the United Nations (and its network of associations), the International R e d Cross, the youth organizations responsible for issuing international student and travel cards, etc. A good exercise also for students consists in taking part in the distribution of publications like the periodicals of the United Nations and Unesco or the sale of Unicef cards. T h e preamble to Unesco's Constitution begins by declaring that 'since wars begin in the minds of m e n , it is in the minds of m e n that the defences of peace must be constructed'. A m o n g the three main areas of Unesco's activity education takes pride of place. Obviously, educational work lends itself naturally to dissemination of the idea of peace and to the deepening of international understanding. This task calls for properly trained educators, w h o , both in their professional work and in their personal behaviour, should be impregnated with these ideas from training college or university on. In order to accept and transmit these ideas a
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certain vocation, enthusiasm and faith is absolutely necessary, and not everybody has the necessary qualities. T h e ideas of peace and international understanding comprise, however, a rational core, a scientifico-conceptual basis, a philosophical logic and historical truth of their o w n , and these can be assimilated, can be taught. If w e can arrive at that point in our teachers' education, w e shall be m u c h more advanced than w e are n o w . T h e purpose of this brief article is to give some help in reaching this goal.

Bibliography In the following list I would like to call attention to a few recent works in which the interested reader will find some useful ideas in connection with our subject. Obviously, m y list is not exhaustive. F A U R E , Edgar et al. Learning to Be. Paris, Unesco, 1972. Especially Chapter 9: 'Roads to Solidarity', p. 235-64. A B R A H A M , Herbert J. World Problems in the ClassroomA Teacher's Guide to Some United Nations Tasks. Paris, Unesco, 1972. Since major world problems form the subject of the various chapters in this book, it can be very useful in higher-level teacher education also. European Seminar on the Development of Education for

International Understanding Through the Unesco Associated Schools System. Bangor, United Kingd o m , 16-22 July 1974. T h e activity of Working Group III is especially noteworthy: the relationship between teachers' colleges and associated schools is discussed, and the Leicester experience is described in detail. Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (adopted by the Unesco General Conference at its eighteenth session, held in Paris, on 19 November 1974). Section VII analyses the duties of teachers and the problems of their pre- and inservice training. T H O M A S , Jean. World Problems in Education, Unesco/ I B E , 1975. (Studies and Surveys in Comparative Education.) Especially Chapter 7 , C A Crisis in International Co-operation?' T h e question mark refers to the problems; the author is confident in the future of co-operation and that a solution will ultimately be found to these problems. Meeting of the Consultative Group on the Extension of the Associated Schools System to Universities. Paris, 22-26 August 1977. T h e final report ( E D - 7 7 / W S / 1 3 6 ) throws light on the useful and objective work done by this meeting of experts and makes some practical suggestions for promoting education for peace and international understanding. T h e reports and proceedings of recent Unesco conferences of ministers of higher education are also useful: they touch on the problems examined in this paper, but their conclusions are mainly theoretical.

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The Danish Unesco Schools Project

O n i January 1979 the Danish Unesco Schools Project entered its nineteenth year. T h e project, which was established under the auspices of Unesco's Associated Schools Project and is still associated with it, was designed with the aim of fulfilling the obligations undertaken by the K i n g d o m of D e n m a r k as a m e m b e r of the United Nations and of Unesco to advance the cause of international understanding via the teaching given in schools. T h e project is headed by the Danish Ministry of Education's Primary Education Department and is closely associated with the Danish National Commission for Unesco. T h e project comprises three activities: courses and seminars for teachers; recommendation of suitable teaching materials; and projects in individual schools and classes. T h e term 'courses' comprises in-service training courses lasting two to five days. These permit teachers to gain n e w ideas and facts and to bring their knowledge up to date. Topics dealt with m a y comprise descriptions of a single country, its population, its daily life and the problems it currently faces. T h e countries

Kamma Struwe (Denmark). Taught history to teacher trainees and at the University of Copenhagen. Currently Educational Adviser and General Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education and Supervisor of the Unesco Associated Schools Project.

most recently included in courses have been the United Republic of Tanzania and Peru. Other courses include some such topics or themes as h u m a n rights in some specific connection or other, the arms race vis--vis disarmament, problems of world trade, and world food supplies. Finally, such courses m a y cover religions of which little is known in D e n m a r k such as Hinduism or Islam. Efforts are m a d e to ensure that all topics are illuminated by persons with a thorough k n o w ledge of them, derived either from their o w n studies or from personal experience. Teachers taking part in such courses enjoy having a few days off work for learning and for intellectual contact with colleagues. T h e question-and-answer sessions frequently prove to be a highlight of the programme, providing teachers with an opportunity to increase their understanding of topics in a way which would never be possible through reading alone. Every year the Unesco Schools Project announces three to eight courses of this nature in the teachers' association journal, and the fifty or sixty teachers accepted for such courses receive leave with full pay from the local municipal authorities. T h e cost to the teacher of board, lodging and teaching is borne by a State grant to the Unesco Schools Project. Groups of people capable of shedding personal light on the topic under discussion are invited to such seminars. A report is frequently
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published on conclusion, permitting others to benefit from the papers and subsequent discussions. Meeting experts from m a n y lands acts as a great inspiration for the Danish teachers taking part. Like their young pupils, teachers need to hear of n e w ideas and opinions from people rather than always from books and published articles. A very special type of seminar is represented by those held abroad. For example the Polish National Commission for Unesco has frequently extended invitations to its seminars in Cracow, at which teachers from the Scandinavian countries are able to learn about Polish history and culture and the problems facing Poland today. T h e aim of these activities is to enable teachers to teach about other cultures and about other countries and the functions and problems of international co-operation. This sector of its activities can be considered as an unqualified success. There is always an eager stream of teachers applying to take part in these courses, and the questions and answers brought out on the various occasions testify to the high level of instruction given. Those reading papers include university lecturers w h o have specialized in the topic under discussion. Danes w h o have worked abroad in governmental, private or international organizations and have thus gained experience which teachers would otherwise have no easy access to, andas mentioned above occasional experts from other countries. There have in recent years always proved to be participants in these courses w h o have visited the Asian, African or Latin American country under discussion; w h o k n o w authors writing in languages not generally understood in D e n mark, or w h o have specialized knowledge and whoin addition to being teachersproduce teaching materials. T h e second group of activities engaged in by the Unesco Schools Project has proved m u c h more difficult: the procurement of teaching materials for pupils aged 8-17 and work on problems of global format.
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Inspired by Unesco's activities, thefirsttask of the Unesco Schools Project was to analyse critically the textbooks in general use. T h e main impression gained by a review of a large range of history and geography textbooks was that their abbreviated and concentrated form was unsuitable for propagating an understanding of foreign cultures and of populations living in conditions totally different from those k n o w n by the pupils in their daily life. International co-operation was rarely described, and it became obvious that the abbreviated form employed by the textbooks would m a k e it difficult to use them as a basis for the understanding of international cooperation. However, at about that time (i960) teachers were increasing their use of supplementary reading-matter in addition to the current geography, history and current-events textbooks. Attempts were therefore m a d e to satisfy the proposals m a d e in the suggested curricula for i960 that n e w topics capable of awakening a greater interest in Danish schoolchildren in conditions in Asia, Africa and Latin America and interesting them in international co-operation should be taken up by publishing new, short booklets discussing the topics proposed within the confines of sixteen, thirtytwo or forty-eight pages. For some years n o w the Unesco Schools Project has issued a small catalogue of information about other continents and on international co-operation. This catalogue provided the reader with information regarding easily available books in Danish containing background information for teachers, and booklets comprising information supplementary to the textbooks suitable for pupils of various ages. T h e Unesco Schools Project arranged exhibitions in teachingmaterials centres and teacher-training colleges on easily available literature. Danish public opinion was provided from all sides with information regarding n e w M e m b e r s States of the United Nations, problems of development,

The Danish Unesco schools project

and culture previously k n o w n only to a few specialists. For example, the United Nations Association and the Unesco National Commission published with success pamphlets on the arid zones, the campaign against illiteracy and international co-operation (a small leaflet describing international co-operation in thefieldsof air traffic, the postal services and health) areas of daily life in which international co-operation is of benefit to all. Efforts were m a d e to use some of the material issued by Unesco such as a description written by Japanese schoolchildren of the everyday life of their family. Several of these small publications were a great success among Danish schoolchildren. N e w methods of work in the schools, in which group projects and individual work with booklets on various subjects were attempted instead of class work based on one single textbook, m a d e it easier for teachers to introduce n e w themes into their teaching. Nevertheless, teaching was still confined to the written text, which means that the pupil or pupils must be motivated for reading and the relevant booklets must be available in individual schools. T h e staff of the Unesco Schools Project concentrated their interest on two types of teaching materials:fictionalbooks for children and young people, and the use of ethnographical references in teaching. M o r e children and young people will read novels with enthusiasm and interest than they will a section of a textbook or a so-called supplementary booklet. T h e staff, therefore, collected a list of titles of arresting, wellwritten books presenting a true picture of present-day conditions in countries other than D e n m a r k . Attempts were m a d e to find books with the desired qualities for children and young persons. A project on books for children and young persons was included in Unesco's prog r a m m e . At the last seminar of the International Board of Books for Young People in D e n m a r k , in August 1977, it was resolved to

bring out a list tf 100 titles for the Year of the Child comprising books from all over the world giving a true picture of living conditions today, making it easier for children and young people to build up a knowledge of, and interest in the group of people or country described. For pupils not motivated for reading, the director of a Danish m u s e u m proposed that a box containing objects used in the everyday life of a foreign country should be sent out to school classes, enabling children to build up a picture of life in the country concerned via tools, clothes and household utensils supplemented by colour slides, wall posters and tape-recordingsan overall view normally obtained only by visiting the country. This, of course, lies outside the possibilities open to most children and young people. T h e Moesgaard M u s e u m just outside Aarhus, in Jutland, has established a collection of twenty boxes illustrating everyday life in twelve different countries of the world. T h e first countries covered were Afghanistan and northern Nigeria. Half a score of other countries were subsequently added to this list. T h e boxes are sent out with a guide to the teacher of the class intending to use the box to build u p a mental image of the everyday existence of, for example, a nomadic family in Afghanistan or a family living in a village in northern Nigeria. Working on this material has proved very popular among schoolchildren w h o , without having to read very m u c h , become familiar with an environment which was previously totally foreign to them. Children learn to respect and admire tools and household articles m a d e by handfrequently with great ingenuity and sense of beautyand thus build u p a respect for people w h o often have to m a k e do on considerably slimmer resources than are available for themselves. T h e danger inherent in material of this nature is that it m a y contribute to the production of a romantic infatuation with the idea of the simple life in sparsely populated areas of the world. But the advantage is that

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pupils learn to recognize the difference between life in pre-industrial society and that in their o w n industrialized community. Through their o w n questions and with supplementary literature the teacher can help the pupil towards comprehension of the values inherent in the lives of the people being studied and of the problems with which they have to contend. These teaching materials are of the greatest interest and value because they appeal not only to pupils w h o are interested in reading but to all the pupils in the class. In addition, the few collections w e have m a y act as a model for teachers with m u s e u m s near their school or for schools wishing to build u p collections of their o w n . Finally, the Unesco Schools Project has carried out a series of projects between 1961 and 1978 with the aim of giving Danish schoolchildren an experience where cultures and environments with which they were unfamiliar were described, or else they were informed about international co-operation. These series included projects in association with 'International Years' such as W o m e n ' s Year, the Year of the Child, etc., or projects associated with charitable collections for, e.g. building schools in foreign countries. T h e most popular of these projects are the visits of teachers from schools in other countries. During the 1960s, Unesco sent out people on scholarships to M e m b e r States, including Denmark, to study international teaching. For m a n y teachers and their pupils these teachers' visits were an exciting and inspiring event. T w o Thai teachers visited classes which had studied the history and culture of Thailand, and for both teachers and pupils alike it was an exciting experiencevia the m e d i u m of the English languageto have the work the pupils had done criticizedor admiredand to obtain supplementary information. High-ranking educationalists from India, Malaysia, the United Republic of Tanzania and other countries of the world have visited Danish schools. School work, for example learning about the geography and

history of India, gains an entirely n e w significance for a 14-, 15- or 16-year-old w h e n he or she is face to face with a person from the country concerned, w h o can answer questions outside the h o m e teacher's range of experience. In addition, representatives of these countries can provide information genuinely capable of giving the task of learning a foreign language or mastering the topic concerned the aspect of building a bridge to a n e w world. M a n y of these guests to our country have expressed gentle and tactful criticism of teachers and teaching materialscriticism which is taken into consideration and remembered just as would be any Danish colleague's perhaps more caustic remarks. T h e favourite areas of study for Danish children for m a n y years have been India and the United Republic of Tanzania. T h e Unesco Schools Project invited two teachers from the United Republic of Tanzania to stay in D e n m a r k for a month and visit our schools. W o r k had been done on the geography, history and modern evolution ofthat country throughout the schools concerned, and the visit of a Tanzanian teacher served at one and the same time to confirm that their efforts in school formed a basis for communicating with a person coming from a distant country and to inspire them to learn more, because they could understand that this 'Project Tanzania'which had enabled them to learn more about this country than about all the others taken up in the course of a year's teachingwas nevertheless just a starting-point for getting to know a foreign country. It is impossible to make any general assessment of the Unesco Schools Project's 'special projects': they are too diverse and heterogeneous. Three factors, however, are a precondition for the success of any project: pupil interest, the teacher's resources of knowledge and ability to plan, and teaching materials that cover thefieldproperly and are suited to the pupils for w h o m they are intended.

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It m a y seem on the face of it that it is a matter of chance whether all these three factors are present at once. It has been the experience of the Unesco Schools Project that it is important, w h e n holding a course on some current, significant topic, to discuss what teaching m a terials are available to teachers which are suitable for interpreting the matter at pupil level. Teachers need opportunities for exchanging their experiences with regard to which materials were a success andfiredtheir pupils' interest, and which plan of tuition on a particular topic worked best with a particular age group. T h e Unesco Schools Project has therefore, on occasion, adopted the practice w h e n running a teachers' course on a particular topic, e.g. a study of h u m a n rights in connection with women's rights, or the study of a particular countryof inviting all the teachers attending the course to attend a meeting some six months later in order to exchange views on the way in which teaching went at the various levels on the topic concerned, and which teaching materials have proved to work best in practice. Short meetings of this nature for teachers w h o worked together during a course on planning a course of lessons often inspires them to take the same topic up again in a modified form in the following school year. It frequently transpires that the modification most often required is some cut or cuts in the programme, reducing it to digestible proportions, and/or reducing the teaching m a terials which one had intended to use to about a quarter of their original extent and concentrating on the few remaining ones in such a way as to give the pupils the full benefit of the material. While w e are on the topic of the successful effects of a visit from a foreign guest in the classroom, it is worth adding that luck (or chance) plays quite a part here. T h e pupils have to k n o w something about the topic in advance, i.e. the class has to have been interested in the topic which the guest is to talk about, and has to have worked on it. It is impossible for some

foreign visitor to walk straight into a classroom and talk about some topic which interests him and then expect the class and its teacher to start studying the topic de novo once the visitor has left. It would be a remarkable class which could be expected to do this! A guest's visit must therefore befittedin at a point at which the topic has been worked on to a level which the visitor represents or has himself worked on. In such cases the stimulating effect of a visit can be very strongin a way, a sort of reward to crown an otherwise well-founded special project. Looking back, the work of the Danish Unesco Schools Project appears to have fallen into three periods, each characterized in its o w n special way. Initially, D e n m a r k regarded the peoples and strange cultures of other countries from its comfortable position of security as being objects of curiosity and even wonder. W e looked with sympathyand also with great hopeat the problems they had in combating poverty and in building u p respect for h u m a n rights. In a subsequent period, a wider range of problems affecting the world was experienced as being a threat not only to the country in question but also to the world w e ourselves inhabit. These were the problems of rearmament and the fear of war, of lack of respect for h u m a n rights shown by people of different race, creed or culture, as well as a realization of the fact that the gulf between rich countries and poor ones was widening instead of narrowing and that distinctions between the privileged classes and the underprivileged ones in the various countries were resulting in confrontations between groups of people and between ideologies. Such confrontations and clashes of interest led some teachers consciously to adopt fixed political positions while others felt themselves paralysed by a sensation of powerlessness. T h e y preferred instead to turn their backs on such problems or else pronounced them unsuitable for application in the classroomat any
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rate among the younger pupils in the schools. T h e third period has been characterized by a tendency to regard world problems and problems affecting the h o m e country as being to a greater extent interrelated. Teachers have concentrated their teaching in international topics on a series of problems with both local aspects as well as global ones, e.g. the problems of pollution, of shortage of resources, of respect for the rights of individuals in association with, for example, the rights of children, of w o m e n , of various minorities, etc., including those of migrant workers. W h e n w e look back on the initial period and inspect the teaching materials which were produced at the time, w e are struck by the spirit of optimism which was commonly adopted. W e were to learn about the peoples and cultures of distant lands which were fascinating and exciting. This is where w e were presented with the values c o m m o n to all mankind, e.g. in Unesco's series of pictures and books published by the Organization. N e w aspects of h u m a n ingenuity were studied; new concepts of beauty in, for example, household articles, environmental aspects, and art. Poverty, disease and wars were tragedies whichwe hopedthe international organizations would be capable of combating. T h e developing countries whose poverty w e studied would soon be 'ready for take-off'; empowered by technological developments to fight famine, disease, the housing situation, etc., all on their o w n . Violations of h u m a n rights were looked on somewhat pharisaically as sins affecting foreign countries, which the international organizations would be bound to take action against. T h e optimism ofthat initial period m a y have evaporated, but the fact remains that w e learnt the names of m a n y n e w countries of the world and gained some impression of the cultural values possessed by such countries and the conditions under which their peoples lived. W e learnt about m a n y organizations under the umbrella of the United Nations and gained
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some sort of understanding of the fact that all the nations of the world were partners in a global evolutionary policy. B y the end of the 1960s our nave optimism had given way to a realization of the fact that the n e w sovereign States of the world were still having to fight against the economic problems which had characterized colonial countries in the palmy days of empire-building. W e had to face the fact that the international organizations were powerless to halt the arms race and the division of the world into power blocs. Criticism of the existing structure of society began to be voiced by underprivileged classes of people throughout the Western worldthe uneducated, the unemployed, people in low-paid occupations, underdeveloped areas of otherwise wealthy countries, minorities and migrant workers. T h e criticism heard was directed more against conditions and problems in the h o m e country than towards problems of a global nature. S o m e teachers on this basis reached the conclusion that the teaching given in the schools ought to aim at assisting pupils in acquiring political consciousness and the adoption of firm standpoints, while other teachers considered what criteria of comprehensive universality and thoroughness would have to be satisfied for schools to be justified in abandoning their traditional attitude of a principle of neutrality towards politically incompatible points of view. In the most recent, or third, periodwhich w e are still living throughefforts have been m a d e in connection with international tuition to treat world problems to the greatest possible extent from both the local, or national, aspect, as they appear in our o w n country, and from a world-wide perspective, in regard to the way in which these problems are taken up by international organizations. A s examples here w e m a y mention the problems of education, environmental protection, problems of resources, and respect for h u m a n rights regardless of sex, age, race and creed.

The Danish Unesco schools project

T h e advantage of taking the local or national versions of a problem as one's starting-point is that it is easier to illuminate all sides of a problem and see it in all its shades of the spectrum. Everyone wants to protect the Danish countryside and conserve an attractive and clean environmentbut is it possible to create the conditions necessary for the existence of a growing population in a country without the power stations and industrial installations which pollute the environment? Everybody wants to avoid the production and use of modern weaponry and to apply the budgets voted for military purposes to improving social conditionsbut is one country capable of doing this without credible treaties with other countries? Everybody looks with curiosity and interest at the way of life of the people of a foreign countrybut do w e retain this liberality of outlook w h e n people with habits of existence other than our o w n come in as migrant labourers or immigrants and settle d o w n as our next-door neighbours? T h e problems of one's local or national society, of course, can be taken u p in a more realistic manner in one's o w n h o m e environment. T h e risk does, however, exist of becoming rooted there and failing to gain an impression of what is happening in the outside world. It is difficultfor both pupils and teachersto treat world problems realistically without losing that hope for the future which one, to a m u c h greater extent, possessed during the initialnaveperiod. Teachers m a y well sometimes feel that as part of their upbringing in internationalism, children and quite young

people are being pressured into taking up really serious and menacing problems which m a n y more mature adults have turned their backs on. It is therefore understandableperhaps even advisablethat schools take up folk-music; that they begin to wonder whether there are not stories in other cultures which can make people laugh in order to offset all of the realistic, socio-critical descriptions of current affairs; whether other cultures do not possess n e w ideals of beauty. A teacher returning to his school brim full of a vital but frightening topic m a y well forgive his pupils if they say they would rather learn about the fauna of Africa this year and keep the lectures on disarmament talks and efforts towards world peace until the next session. Has the Unesco Schools Projectto however modest an extentcontributed towards widening horizons and increasing the depth of understanding of other peoples in children and young people in the schools of Denmark? W e are unable to prove that it has, because w e are in the happy position of not working alone in thisfield,for the press, television, publishers, groups, parties and international organizations, all have the same aim. Everything does, h o w ever, point in the same directionthat the Unesco Schools Projectthanks to the inspiration and support received from Unesco itself and to the lines of communication established between the Danish National Commission for Unesco and the Unesco National C o m missions of other landshas m a d e a positive contribution.

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D e v e l o p m e n t edi a tool to global ci

in Finland: ip

In Finland, development education is the identical twin of international education. Development education's international frame of reference and aims are stated in the Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms adopted by the General Conference of Unesco in 1974. T h e objectives of international education in Finland have been formulated on the basis of the Unesco recommendation. T h e socio-emotional objectives of education for international understanding are the stimulation of a commitment to the ethics of h u m a n rights; a strengthening of the positive identity and self-confidence of the pupils; a responsibility for oneself and others; the ability to face conflicts and changes; a willingness to promote justice and equality; respect and understanding for all peoples, their cultures, values and ways of life (including one's own); solidarity with less-privileged individuals, groups and nations; and an ability to realize their role and the role of their professions in the development of the

society and in the furtherance of global development and peace. T h e cognitive objectives are to give to the pupils a comprehensive, realistic and functional picture of the world; to develop critical awareness; to realize the rights and responsibilities of oneself and the others in relation to the 'Universal Declaration of H u m a n Rights' and to the prevailing situation in the society; to become aware of the increasing global interdependence between peoples and nations; to study the essential problems of one's o w n society, other societies and then mankind as a whole, and the options to solve these problems; to become acquainted with various forms of international co-operation; to identify the role of one's o w n country in international politics and cooperation; and to be able to relate one's o w n country and it's problems into the global framework and see them in relative perspectives.

T h e operational objectives of education for international understanding are a readiness to joint responsibility and solidarity; the ability to take others into consideration; the ability to work in a group, preference to co-operation instead of competition; the ability to c o m m u n i cate with others (verbally and in writing and to establish rapport in foreign milieux); the ability Helena Allahwerdi (Finland). Secretary for Interto m a k e up one's mind, argue and express one's national Education, the Finnish United Nations Associo w n opinion; preparedness and motivation to ation. Participated in the production of NOPPA, a seek and acquire continuously n e w information television programme series for pre-school-age children and to criticize, analyse, select and synthesize broadcast in Finland.
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Development education in Finland: a tool to global citizenship

it into the previous framework of knowledge (lifelong learning); and abilities and motivation to participate as an active citizen in solving the problems of one's o w n community, country and the world at large. T o put these objectives into effective practice it is essential to apply a global approach in the examination and teaching of all subjects and to relate the national issues and problems with their international dimensions. It is also important to apply a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach in all subjects and faculties and to furnish transdisciplinary links among the international dimensions, aspects and elements in subjects such as history, civics, vocational training, natural sciences and geography and in arts. T h e mainfieldsof action in promoting development education are: curriculum planning, teacher-training, teaching materials for formal education, and mass media for nonformal education. T h e successful combination of both formal and nonformal education is ideal. Real learning needs to become framed by experience in order to result in awareness, understanding and action. Usually formal education omits experience and action and emphasizes only second-hand information and abstract knowledge. T h e nonformalfieldof education is open to development education. Success depends on the skill, motivation and awareness of the teachers and organizers. T h e most important tools in contemporary nonformal education are television, radio, newspapers and books. H o w they educate and h o w they could educate are core problems in development education.

An experiment in nonformal development education for pre-school-age children

T h e pre-school children had until n o w a very small share of children's culture. Finland has

planned very extensive educational and social policy-reform plans which cover and reach the Finnish population unequally due to environmental, economical, social, political and psychological factors. Television covers about 98 per cent of the Finnish population: can television help support the plans and reforms set by the society, or does it have only an entertainer's role? N O P P A , the Magic Dice, was a programme born in 1973 and carefully researched by Professor Pirkko Liikanen in the University of Jyvskyl, w h o asked such questions as: W h a t is the optimum structure of television for a heterogeneous group of pre-school children watching television alone? H o w do these programmes affect the development of children? H o w can development education according to Unesco's recommendation be integrated into each programme? Is it possible to increase the learning and school readiness of children with regular television programmes at h o m e , in the kindergarten or in the school? Is it possible to eliminate the educational and regional inequality of pre-school-age children by well-planned television programmes based on the pre-school and kindergarten curriculum and objectives? Is it necessary to instruct parents and teachers in the use of television programmes to increase a child's learning readiness? Most of the questions have been answered by n o w : although television can be used efficiently to promote development education, it is not a separated, isolated content issue but an integrated one promoting at the same time children's o w n development. Development education in the N O P P A programme series supports and guides the child in learning about near and far environments, cultures and societies, teaches the child to understand the local, national and international contemporary issues and problems according to his ability to perceive information.
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There are aboutfifty-fiven e w N O P P A programmes each year. The duration of each programme is twenty minutes. In each programme there are new concepts to be taught. These concepts, which vary from programme to programme, are selected according to the objectives and theme of each programme. Other tasks are planned in order to increase the strategies of handling information which is related to visual and auditive discrimination, concept formation, auditive and visual m e m o r y and self-concept. The same concepts which are used in daily news media, are reworked for pre-school children. N O P P A has had extensive sets of programmes on basic services, housing, education, nutrition, health, water, alternative energy sources and environmental issues as conservation and pollution. The technical structure of every N O P P A programme is very important for perception by its heterogeneous audience. Each programme consists of the following sequences: the introduction of new concepts by problem-solving, the introduction of new concepts by tic-tack-toe games, film-animation periods supporting the educational objectives, studio periods practising concept formation through games and problemsolving, songs, puppet children: Ali from Y e m e n , Antonio from Ecuador, Felista from the United of Tanzania or Karuna from Sri Lanka, animated or dramatized short stories (national and international, cultural heritage). For successful results N O P P A television programmes are not enough. The contact with the individual child and the adult near him turned out to be a necessity. So the N O P P A working team has produced three multitask books on children: Om Pom Poo, Pirn Pom Poroskki and Tit TU Tiainen. T h e y are financed and published by the Finnish Unicef committee and are sold by mail order. Each book has had editions varying from 5,000 to 15,000, which in Finland means that the books have gained popularity by their small readers. T h e multitask books cost
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8 M k . ; by buying them the parents support the international co-operation and Unicef projects in developing countries. In order to contact the parents and other adults in close contact with children, the M i n istry of Social Affairs and the Finnish Broadcasting C o m p a n y came to help. Small guide booklets for N O P P A were distributed twice a year free of charge from offices in each c o m m u n e (about 50,000). T h e guide gives detailed instructions and suggestions as to what to do with the children before and after viewing N O P P A programmes: concept formation games, role games, activity proposals for music, arts and books, ideas for a letter or a drawing to Ali, Felista, Karuna and Antonio. T h e puppets receive every day by the hundreds letters from their Finnish friends, boys and girls in the country and in the towns. W h a t makes N O P P A a different children's television series? It is not a programme about children for adults but a programme produced for pre-school-age children according to their ability to perceive information. They understand the message, they participate in each sequence. Each young viewer is the most important person. T h e children talk, sing, solve problems, act, tell stories and think all the time during the N O P P A programmes. For adults and older children, N O P P A m a y seem an odd programme. A n d perhaps when children grow u p , the development education introduced in this N O P P A programme series has supported the development of self-reliant, mature and responsible citizens with a global outlook.
Supplementary modern material for formal education

In formal education it is often a problem to include development education into everyday activities in school. Although development education is stated in curriculum plans for the comprehensive school, it is a difficult subjectmatter for the teachers. According to the cur-

Development education in Finland: a tool to global citizenship

riculum plans, development education must be integrated into different school subjects. In practice this means that school-books in different subjects do not contain m a n y elements of development education. T h e teachers complain that there is not enough time or supplementary learning material for it, very often the teachers feel that they lack information and expertise to teach development education. They feel that supplementary material is needed such as u p to-date texts, slides andfilms.Teachers are also ready to participate in courses on development education. With the help of the Finnish Commission for Unesco a handbook for teachers on international education entitled The World We Share was published in March 1978. T h e book provides basic theoretical information on subjects such as h u m a n rights, problems of war and peace (including concepts of structural violence) disarmament, raw materials, food problems and preservation of natural resources, world trade and multinational enterprises, the N e w International Economic Order, international organizations with special emphasis on the organizations of the United Nations system, both multilateral and bilateral development co-operation, the role of culture in development and the interrelationships of Finland and other countries. T h e National Board on Education has recommended the book to all comprehensive schools and adult education institutions. In order to help teachers promote development education, the Finnish Committee for Unicef has distributed kits on development education to all primary and secondary schools for a number of years. T h e themes of the kits are based on vital, contemporary, global issues. T h e approach is a controversial one, whereby the reader must make up his mind and form his o w n opinion. There is factual and statistical background information about the issues and assignments which m o v e the reader towards personal experience, critical awareness and action. T h e learning material in the booklets

is interdisciplinary and the teacher's guide gives tips on h o w to utilize and integrate it into different school subjects. According to the follow-up study these kits are welcomed by teachers and are used in classes. In 1975 the kit on development education was on sexual equality, 1976 on habitat, 1977 on water and 1978 on village technology. Let us take an example from the habitat kit. In the teacher's guide there is a suggestion that the primary schools study slums as a project. First, all the children aged 7-12 start building a slum in the school yard from left-over cardboard, plastics, lumber, etc. T h e construction of the slum takes place during the intervals between different lessons. Children are very active and enjoy the construction work in the school yard. W h e n the slum starts to be ready, the global problem of slums will be discussed in geography, social science, history, fine arts and mother-tongue classes. T h e children learn h o w the slum habitat is a global problem and what it actually means to live in a slum. T h e y read novels and anthropological studies about different slums all over the world. They take an emphatic role imagining that they themselves actually are slum-dwellers living in the huts they have built. They make comparisons with their o w n homes andfindout what is missing in slums and what they have in their homes. Children form slum community-planning boards and study h o w to solve the problems of unemployment, water, sewage, energy, housing, health and education in the slums and what kind of assistance they expect from the local and governmental offices. T h e suggestions are usually very constructive and the children write long appeals to make-believe governments which in their turn cannot do very m u c h to help the slumdwellers. T h e principle of self-reliance and people's participation takes on a n e w dimension. They are not bare, n e w concepts; the children understand to some extent from their o w n experience, the multitude of problems and difficulties existing in slums.

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Sometimes it happens that the children make a protest march to their make-believe government officials. T h e concept of violence is no longer only a concept but bitter reality. In the classes they study newspapers and collect information about slums and about h o w international and national agencies are trying to solve slum problems. They usually identify closely with slum-dwellers and are highly critical if the attempts to solve the slum problems seem to be superficial and shallow. They know from their o w n play experience that the economical, social, cultural and political factors in slums and in the country play a vital role in solutions. N o problem can be solved in isolation from others: unemployment, water, energy, housing, health or education. T h e children also learn that there are no instant solutions, and that solutions take time. During the autumn of 1978 the kit on development education focused on n e w concepts of technology and its role in development. T h e material tries to give an insight into simple, village, intermediate, soft and people's technology in thefieldsof food production, habitat, the use of raw materials, production of energy, traffic, education, health, community planning and environment. There are theoretical descriptions on the positive and negative characteristics of soft and hard technology. T h e starting-point is a basic needs approach in poverty cultures all over the world. T h e technology used to solve the problems of poverty and basic needs should lead towards self-reliance, people's participation, ecologically effective production without waste and pollution, and the creation of employment, and should demandas little capital as possible. T h e material does not prescribe the 'right technology'; the reader must decide for himself which technology m a y function the best way in different economical, political, cultural and social settings to solve people's problems of basic needs. There is n o automatic transfers of technology from one cultural and development setting to
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the other. W e do not k n o w h o w different societies function and meet the needs of their citizens. T h e kit calls attention to problems which arise w h e n comparative development statistics are used in describing gaps in development between the developing and industrialized countries. All systems n o w in use are created to describe the situation and development in the industrialized countries. So w e actually learn of only one model for development and of the technology to promote it: that of industrialized countries. T h e reader must study himself and his o w n society, and ask what is positive and what is negative in it. This is usually very difficult for the readers. Is it possible that our development model is not the best? W h a t are the side-effects: isolation, alienation and loneliness? In the end are technology and material matters the rulers rather than h u m a n beings and their real basic needs? T h e educational kit on technology tries to show that there are other choices: alternative development models, according to which the m a n is the master of the technology and the technology is in his service and not the other way round.

Stimulating critical awareness in adults

In 1977 and 1978, the Finnish Boradcasting C o m p a n y , Department of Adult Education and the Finnish United Nations Association cooperated in producing five television programmes and supplementary learning material with a study guide for study circles on development problems. T h e series was called ' T h e Circle'. Its aim was to motivate adults to be critical about global problems. T w o international United Nations documents: N e w International Economic Order and the Basic Needs Strategy, the historical events leading to them and paths to alternative development were the main issues. T h e programmes were planned in such a way

Development education in Finland: a tool to global citizenship

that the viewers had to get involved and participate in problem-solving throughout. There were direct questions and sequences which described specific development problems. T h e viewer had to form his o w n opinion. T h e programmes tried to describe developmental problems on international, national and individual levels, emphasizing that the role of technology, planning and education are vital to solving development problems and that there is an information gap between the development planners on political and practical levels. There are groups in every society which live outside national and international planning: these groups live in u n just poverty cultures, and can be reached only by alternative development strategies. Without personal experience, motivation and involvement, our television viewers can hardly understand the structures of injustice. Generally the attitude towards people w h o cannot help themselves is one of indifference or dislike. T h e television programmes tried to acquaint viewers with poverty cultures, and to make them understand that solidarity among ordinary, professional people is necessary to overcome the problem of poverty. T h e ordinary people must give their support to the political solutions of development problems; otherwise nothing happens. There is no international problem which does not have a national counterpart and reflection of a development problem which exists

everywhere. Popular participation is necessary and this in turn means that people have a right to k n o w about and understand the multitude of international, national, local and individual development problems. International development problems exist in different forms on national, local and individual levels. If one is privileged, it takes courage to face these problems in near society and environment. A n d this is a must in order to understand the same problems on an international level. A n d it is not an easy matter to start from the problems at h o m e . T h e five television programmes and the supplementary learning material were used in local, adult educational study circles, in teachertraining colleges as part of development education studies and in vocational colleges as part of social study courses. Television can easily support formal education if the planning is done in co-operation with formal education institutes and authorities. T h e problem of planning h o w to reach all the groups w h o can utilize the television programmes is not yet solved: it is difficult to fit the television programme times to the programmes of formal education. U p to n o w , it is u p to the teacher, w h o can decide to use programmes or not. O n the other hand informal study circles have sprung u p all over the country, and programmes serve them, formal groups and individual viewers.

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Education for international understanding i Japanese schools n

Japan is in a unique position regarding the question of education for international understanding: it participated actively in the Second World War, which it lost through the tragic events of which we are all aware. This dual heritage, from the war and then the post-war period, is clear in the two following articles which describe from very different viewpoints the role of education for internation understanding in the national context. Reading them, in either order, should in our point of view not so much open a debate (who is against peace?') as on the contrary, stimulate thought on future action. The first article describes the evolution and current status of education for international understanding within the official school system. The second, theoretical, puts forth the point of view of those who work within the peace movement in Japan and who feel something more and different is needed from the formal school system. Such contrast, even tension, between two attitudes equally but differently aiming towards the same goal, is an excellent illustration of the fact that even though education for international understanding and peace, through its efforts, its successes, or its inadequacies, is more than ever a question of foremost importance, it is one that no educational system can pretend to have definitively settled.

It has been said that the Japanese in general lack an international sense and have an isolated attitude towards the outside world, a feature which m a y be explained mainly b y the fact that Japan is an island and that the society consists of one race. Throughout Japanese history, the Japanese have had relatively little cultural contact with other countries. Before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Japanese culture developed through adopting mainly Chinese or Korean culture; after that, Western culture became the model. In the pro-

cess of adoption, the Japanese accepted i m ported goods, technology and knowledge as they were and paid little attention towards their o w n . In the past, most Japanese did not have direct experience with foreign societies or cultures or contact with foreigners. Since the Second World W a r , this situation has changed drastically. With the increase of close international co-operation and transportation, the n u m b e r of overseas Japanese and tourists has increased; they have been able to experience other life-styles in foreign countries and it has become possible for m a n y people from different social classes to go abroad. M a n y Japanese have begun to recognize the Teruo Sato (Japan). Specialist in Japanese history need for international understanding, and thouand social studies education. Subject specialist in the sands of teachers are sent to foreign countries Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
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every year as a part of their in-service training; they share their knowledge with students after their return. For these reasons there has therefore been m u c h improvement in teaching international understanding from year to year. H o w ever, the main trend is still the acquisition of facts about the rest of the world. At present, the aim of education for international understanding is mainly one of understanding humanity itself rather than foreign politics or economics. Study focuses on ways of living, customs, and cultures of foreign countries. T h e final goal is to afford young people an opportunity to gain a deeper k n o w ledge of international affairs (not only to understand foreign life, customs and culture) so that they will be better able to co-operate with people from other countries. Curricula in the elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools1 all include courses designed to foster international understanding, but it is particularly in social studies programmes (namely, world geography, world history, international politics, international economics) that students learn about foreign countries and their people. If, however, w e define education for international understanding as 'systematic instruction designed to create international understanding', then, it has actually been limited to a very small number of schools. Nevertheless, the number of schools where education for international understanding has been taught is increasing because the need has been recognized by the society as a whole and by the government. A description of these activities follows.

elementary schools, eleven lower secondary and eight upper secondary schools. Experimental research carried out in the early days has been replaced by practical research aimed at finding ways to teach international understanding in the whole curriculum more effectively. In addition, the themes of studies have also been changed from three major areas, namely, ' T h e Study of H u m a n Rights', 'Understanding Other Countries and Races', and ' A Study of the United Nations', to current topics, such as 'Understanding of E n vironmental Problems', or 'Limited Natural Resources of the World'.

Japanese schools overseas

In the last ten years, the number of Japanese w h o work in foreign countries has rapidly increased, and at present there are fifty-five Japanese schools in forty-six countries. O n e of the problems c o m m o n to these schools is the need to adapt the Japanese curriculum to a different cultural setting. T h e curriculum is also expected to make use of the different cultural circumstances in its educational programme. T h e following is an example of such a

T A B L E I . A one-month course plan from June to July 1978 Class level Class 5

Subject Greek agriculture and the life-style in Greece School life and the family life of pupil's of Pefki, thefirstelementary school T h e remains of Pef ki, Athens Greek myths

Comparative subject Japanese agriculture

The

Unesco Associated Schools

Class 6

Education for international understanding in Japan was begun by Unesco Associated Schools. T h e Unesco Associated Schools began in 1953 with four lower secondary and two upper secondary schools, and have at present four

Japanese pupil's school life and family life

Class 7 Class 8

T h e remains of Nara Japanese myths

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bicultural curriculum: a social studies class at a Japanese Community School in Athens (see Table i). W h e n the students study Greek society or history, teachers have the students m a k e c o m parisons with the Japanese counterpart so that they m a y clearly see the similarities and the differences between the two countries. This method of comparative study seems to be very effective for students.

Experimental schools for students w h o have returned from abroad

upper secondary schools. They have a nationwide organization and since 1952 have held an annual meeting to discuss their international education programmes and to present practical case-studies. T h e National Federation of the Unesco A s sociation in Japan in 1954 founded a prize for educational activities in international understanding, and has awarded it each year to the club that has the best programme. In addition, the Science and International Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture holds an annual Workshop on Education for International Understanding at Schools.

Even though students w h o have returned from abroad are different from each other, in age, period of stay in a foreign country, and so on, w e can see several points which are c o m m o n to them all. Typically, these students have adapted themselves to ways of life somewhat different from Japanese ones and it is often the case that they are not good enough in their o w n language. In these experimental schools some research has been carried out on ways of facilitating the adaptation of returning students and at the same time on h o w to m a k e use of their experience and knowledge for other students. O n e of the experimental schools is Oizumi Elementary School which is attached to Tokyo Gakugei University. Pupils are asked about the rules in the schools they previously attended; similarities and differences are studied between the Japanese system and other systems.

Broadening the curriculum

General school curricula

Both elementary schools and secondary schools are making efforts to include gradually the teaching of international understanding in scholastic subjects, in moral education and in special activities such as club activities or school events. However, there is m u c h progress still to be m a d e . T h e 200 Unesco Clubs are very active in

In Japan, it is often said that education for international understanding must be started at the kindergarten level, with the use of other nations' flags, foreign songs or games. At the kindergarten level or at the lower levels of elementary schools, opportunities for these kinds of education are provided from time to time. At the higher levels of elementary school, some subjects, such as Japanese language, social studies or moral education refer to foreign affairs. However, the purpose is not mainly to educate pupils to understand foreign affairs but try to promote their interests in other cultures. At the lower- and upper-secondary-school levels, international understanding is closely related to the curriculum as a whole. S o m e examples are shown in Table 2. T h e term 'related subjects' in this table means courses which are closely related to international understanding. (Physical education is also related to it, although it was omitted.) T h e term 'contents of studies' in Table 2 should be based on such ideas as respect for h u m a n beings, the establishment of peace, and the understanding of h u m a n beings through cultural understanding.

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Education for international understanding in Japanese schools

T A B L E 2. International understanding and related subjects Contents of studies Increasing interdependency of the world International relations, such as trade and cultural exchange Universal problems such as population growth, the food crisis, natural resources, environmental problems and oceans T h e relations between international situations and Japanese politics, economics and foreign politics Knowledge about the various races and cultures of the world Study of other countries from the points of view of geography, history, social systems, industry and traditional culture Discussion on the political, economic and cultural problems of nations or regions Related subjects

Social studies

Social studies, English language, Japanese language, fine arts, music, h o m e economics, special activities Social studies

International organizations and their functions Major treaties that involve international organizations or the whole world International organizations and treaties of which Japan is a m e m b e r To understand how Japanese culture has been formed, developed and affected by other cultures T h e relation between early Japanese and East Asian cultures: the sixteen thand seventeenth-century European cultural influence o n Japanese culture; European and American cultural influences o n the modernization period of Japanese culture Contemporary cultural exchange between Japan and other nations To consider the Japanese role in the contemporary and future world A s a s u m m a r y of the learning of international understanding T o nurture positive attitudes towards the expected roles

Social studies, Japanese language, fine arts, music, science

Social studies, moral education, special activities

As seen in Table 2 , in the Japanese curriculum, education for international understanding is related to all subjects and all educational areas. However, it is social studies that have been most closely related to international understanding. In Japanese language, English language, fine arts and music classes, the instructional materials sometimes include information about other countries, while in science classes, students touch on foreign elements when they study the Western history of science. B y looking at the social and cultural backgrounds of the nations which appear in the instructional materials, the students' understanding of other countries will be enriched. T h e purpose of moral education is to increase the student's re-

spect for h u m a n beings, love for humanity and develop a peace-loving mind, all of which should be the foundation for international understands ing. Therefore, moral education is very closely related to international understanding. M o r e over, special activities play an important role because they help students develop international understanding through actual experience. T h e sequence through which international understanding develops is generally considered to be as follows: 1. 'Interests' in the world surrounding Japan and in h u m a n cultures. 2. 'Understanding' of the world and culture. 3. 'Transformation of consciousness' to include the world and other cultures.
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4. Formation of an 'attitude' of international harmony and co-operation. T h o u g h every subject includes these steps, each subject emphasizes different ones. For example, in Japanese language classes, step 3 is emphasized through such memorable readings as Canadian Eskimos, or The Diary of Ann Frank. For another example, special activities, such as volunteer activities or cultural exchange activities, are useful primarily to form the internationally co-operative 'attitude' in the student. In Japan, it is rather difficult to foster international understanding, since relatively few people have direct contact with foreigners. In order to have students learn about different lifestyles and geographies of foreign countries, teachers have been using audio-visual aids such as slides, films and television.

language classes, pupils wrote about 'impressions of the Unesco village', and in moral education, they discussed ' W h a t I can do for Unesco'.
LOWER-SECONDARY-SCHOOL LEVEL

Some examples W e will present noteworthy case-studies which were conducted at the elementary-, lowersecondary- and upper-secondary-school levels.
ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL LEVEL

T h e Tezukayama-Gakuin Lower Secondary School has tried for a long time to create international understanding between students, by holding an annual Unesco badge contest. T h e school's Unesco Committee presents to the students twenty-seven discussion questions. Beginning and intermediate students had to answer five questions; advanced students had to select one question and write of their impressions of international understanding. T h e committee evaluated each report on a pass/fail basis and awarded badges according to degree of achievement. T h e following were some of the questions included: For the beginning level W h o founded the R e d Cross? W h a t was its original purpose? W h a t has it been doing? Where were the first Olympic G a m e s held? W h a t is the purpose of the Olympic Games? List places where the Olympic G a m e s have been held. List more than ten countries that have joined the United Nations and check the national flags and their origins. List names of Nobel Prize winners, nationality, achievements and years prizes were w o n . For the beginning and the intermediate levels Study more than five Specialized Agencies of the United Nations. Choose a specific country and discuss serious problems facing that country.

T h e Nishitoyama Elementary School, in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, set up a special one-week programme called 'Unesco W e e k ' . Pictures, posters and newspapers from all over the world were posted on school bulletin boards. During the week, pupils went to see a Unesco village located in Seibuen, Tokyo, and saw a film entitled Children of the World. They also collected old postage stamps and money to send to Nepal. With the school's system of intercommunication discussions were held on the purpose of Unesco, experiences of teachers w h o had been to foreign countries, and a message was c o m municated from the Unesco Committee. In classes, teachers talked about Unesco and foreign countries. For example, in Japanese
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Education for international understanding in Japanese schools

For the intermediate and the advanced levels Select one topic which often appears on radio and television, and in newspapers and magazines; keep a record of it for discussion. For advanced level

Choose one theme concerning international understanding, such as h u m a n rights, and examine it. Study world-wide distribution of natural resources and h o w those resources are traded between countries. Keep a diary in English. The results of the contest in 1977 was as follows: T A B L E 3. Results of the Unesco contest held in 1977
Class 7 Successful applicants At beginning level At intermediate level At advanced level Total number of students Class 8 Class 9

160 o o 225

17 118 3 222

5 9 66 223

Teachers indicated the following points for improvement: Students tended to copy rather than analyse or organize what they had read in books; teachers should help them organize their papers. Criteria for deciding the level of international understanding have to be clarified. Questions have to be more carefully prepared. L O W E R - S E C O N D A R Y - S C H O O L LEVEL At the Ichijo Lower Secondary School in Utsonomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, students in Class 9 social studies classes examine the industrial differences between the Southern and the Northern hemispheres from the point of view of international co-operation. This topic was included in the unit of'Japanese Economics

and World Economies'. T h e instruction takes the following course: Before instruction, teachers prepared the following topics: W h a t are the industrial differences between the Southern and the Northern hemispheres? List the developing countries in each continent. W h y are undeveloped economies still in existence? Is it necessary for developed countries to aid developing ones? H o w can developed countries support developing ones? W h a t areas of economic co-operation should be explored? In addition, teachers posed the following question to students in order to ascertain their interest: ' W h a t would you most like to k n o w about the industrial differences between the Southern and the Northern hemispheres?' For instruction, students were divided into groups; each group chose for study one theme out of those listed above. T h e group presented theirfindingsin front of the class. T h e projects were evaluated on the basis of several factors. Teachers evaluated h o w well each group researched the theme; h o w well students understood the importance of developed countries financially supporting developing ones; whether students recognized what Japan's responsibility infinancialaid.
UPPER-SECONDARY-SCHOOL LEVEL

The Yoshide Upper Secondary School, in Shizuoka Prefecture, is a C U L C O N (United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and E d u cational Interchange) experimental school which has a short-term exchange programme with American high schools. In March 1978, ten female students went to the United States for about one month. Before they left Japan, the school held an orientation programme of fifteen hours about the United States, including geography and society, history and tradition,
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politics and economics, culture and life-style. T h e history and tradition section discussed American Blacks and Indians after the Civil W a r , the economic and social reasons for the Civil W a r , the race problem after the reconstruction period, and a comparison between the American Blacks and Japanese-Americans. T h e culture and life-style discussion was composed of such items as: W h a t kinds of influences have religions exerted on American society? W h a t are American communities like? American self-government; and the American spirit of independence. School life and family life: there were discussions to compare Japanese and American school and family life and to discuss the characteristics and the origins of the American way of life. O n e topic was the differences between the American view of the occupation and the Japanese view. In order to evaluate students' understanding of the United States, they took an identical test before and after the orientation. Also in the discussions, students talked about what they learned or what had interested them most. Another activity concerns upper-secondaryschool Unesco Clubs organizations, which in Japan are attached to the National Federation of the Unesco Association in Japan. A total of ninety-five upper secondary schools joined the federation and opened up a conference to about 200 upper secondary schools all over Japan. This conference is held annually, to discuss various activities to be adopted by uppersecondary-school Unesco Clubs. Each upper secondary school's Unesco Club has been very active. During the past twentyfour contests, the following themes have been awarded the Prize for Educational Activities for International Understanding: Traditional Profile of Japanese Family Life (pictures); Political Opinions of Farmers in Remote Rural Areas (research paper); Problem of H u m a n Rights in Japan (research paper); Racial Problems in the World (research paper); Asian E d u cational Systems (display); Cultural Treasures
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in Okinawa (research paper); Environmental Destruction (research paper); Visit to a H o m e for the Physically Handicapped (report); India (research paper); 200 Nautical Mile Problem (research paper); Life in a H o m e for the Aged (research paper). S o m e c o m m o n points could be discerned from these themes. First, the upper-secondaryschool students were strongly interested in h u m a n rights and social security both in Japan and in foreign countries. Second, students used contacts with foreign students for research or visited old people in homes for the aged. These students' personal experiences significantly contributed to the growth of international understanding. Although education for international understanding in Japan has developed in various ways, the number of schools that pay special attention to this type of education is still limited. M a n y schools that have recognized the necessity of education for international understanding have not yet m a d e special instructional efforts in this direction, in part because most teachers consider international understanding and its methods to be difficult. At present, a new curricula for elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools is being put into practice: it will start in elementary schools in 1980, in lower secondary schools in 1981, and in upper secondary schools in 1982. In the n e w curricula, international understanding is stressed more in every subject. Moreover, students will have fewer classes and will be expected to do more self-motivated work. A s for the education for international understanding, the n e w curricula facilitated a more systematic way of teaching.
Note
1. T h e Japanese school system consists of elementary (six years), lower secondary (three years) and upper secondary (three years) schools and universities (four years).

Glenn D . Hook

Japan: Political or apolitical education for peace?

It is extremely difficult to reach any kind of consensus on the elusive concept of peace. S o m e tend to view it from a strictly apolitical perspective, insisting that peace should not be mixed with politics, the two being like oil and water. Others instead adopt the position that without peace there can be no politics, and vice versa; hence, political tools are indispensable to bring into existence domestic or international peace. These two opposing points of view underlie m u c h of the thinking on education for peace in Japan; that is, peace education and education for international understanding. T h e idea of c peace education' still conjures u p the antigovernment movement in which Japanese teachers were involved during the late 1940s and early 1950s w h e n , as a result of the victory of M a o Tse-tung in China and the outbreak of the Korean W a r , United States occupation policy shifted from one of fully demilitarizing Japan to that of gradually rebuilding her as a bastion against c o m m u n i s m . In response to such reactionary trends, Japanese teachers,

under the guidance of Japan's Teachers' Federation, participated in the peace m o v e m e n t and sponsored meetings on questions of war and peace; for example, there was a conference held on problems of peace in 1949 and, in 1951, at the federation's first annual meeting, the question of h o w to develop peace education was discussed in relation to problems of war and peace. T h e federation's slogan, 'Don't send our pupils to war again!', has helped shape the basic orientation taken by the various movements that have developed in the post-war period to promote peace education.* O n e distinctive feature of peace education in Japan, therefore, is this close connection with peace action. In short, to create a politics of peace it isfirstnecessary to destroy the politics of war, peace education and peace action both being accepted as legitimate tools in achieving this goal. M a n y of those involved in education for international understanding, in contrast, take

* The peace-education movement as such came into existence between 1968 and 1970 after an evaluation of children's attitudes towards and knowledge of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The Hibakusha ('survivors' of the atomic bombing) took the lead in the movement. A short introduction can be found in H . Ukita, C A Glenn Dawson Hook (United Kingdom). Foreign Preliminary Introduction to the Peace Education Movelecturer, School of General Education, Okayama ment in Japan', Peace Research in Japan 1974-J7S, University; Research Associate, Institute for Peace published by the Japan Peace Research Group. InforScience, Hiroshima University. He has written in mation on the group's publications may be obtained both Japanese and English on peace and peace edufrom Professor Y . Sakamoto, Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. cation.

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Prospects, Vol. IX, N o . 2, 1979

Glenn D . H o o k

as their starting-point the idea that there should be no involvement in politics and that education should be neutral. T h e idea of neutrality in education is, in essence, the idea that government officials are simply neutral agents w h o carry out the policies of the people's elected representatives, so that their role in certifying school textbooks is not judged to be an infringement of this neutralism. Neutrality in education is thus the upholding of the status quo. A s a consequence of this basic position, education for international understanding in Japan has generally been carried out within the framework of the school curriculum in line with the government's orientation to problems of peace and war and the development of friendly international relations. In fact, education for international understanding is included in the Ministry of E d u cation's Teachers' Guidelines, a set of regulations stipulating the content of education which teachers must follow, and is so part of the education curriculum. There is, among those involved in the peace movement, opposition to the content of the ministry guidelines. T o summarize, to the peace-education m o v e ment peace is not simply a matter of education in the classroom, but a matter of developing a broad-based movement having as its central aim the promotion of peace by both educational and political means. In contrast, those involved in education for international understanding take as their focus the classroom, particularly in Unesco Associated Schools. W e can see from the above, then, that although peace education naturally includes education for international understanding and that education for international understanding is naturally an integral part of peace education, 'peace education' is associated with an antigovernment stand and education for 'international understanding' with a pro-government stand. This has had a profound effect on the development of education for peace in Japan as the government, through the Ministry of
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Education, exercises control over the content of education. This can be clearly understood by considering the textbook certification system. Initially this system, started in 1948, was intended to protect pupils from exposure to the pre-war and war-time text materials that had been utilized by the military in their war efforts. In the early post-war years, the ministry adopted a positive attitude towards education based on peace, international solidarity, democracy and basic h u m a n rights. These principles are, in both word and spirit, a reflection of the Japanese Constitution and the Basic L a w on Education, both promulgated in 1947. T h e constitution states in the preamble:
W e , the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet, determined that w e shall secure for ourselves and our posterity the fruits of peaceful co-operation with all nations and the blessings of liberty throughout this land, and resolved that never again shall w e be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people and do firmly establish this Constitution. . . . W e , the Japanese people, desire peace for all time and are deeply conscious of the high ideals controlling h u m a n relationships, and w e have determined to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world.

A n d in Article 9:
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. T h erightof belligerency of the State will not be recognized.1

In the preamble of the Basic L a w on Education is the idea that education should be based on the ideals of the constitution to contribute to

Japan: Political or apolitical education for peace?

world peace and the welfare of mankind. In addition, the ministry published in 1947 a handbook to help schoolchildren understand the Constitution's n e w principles, emphasizing exactly the same points as those involved in the peace-education movement today. For example, that from n o w on Japan 'will not wage war', that it 'must get on well with all countries', or that it 'must not forget the principles of international pacifism'. It states quite clearly, moreover, that two things have been decided in the constitution to ensure that Japan will never again wage war:
T h efirstis that Japan will never have anything with which to make war, either an army, ships or planes. F r o m n o w on Japan will not have an army, navy or air force. This means Japan's renunciation of war potential. Renunciation means to give up. Yet there is n o need to feel helpless. Japan did the right thing before any other country. In this world, there is nothing stronger than the right thing. T h e second thing that was decided is that if a conflict occurs with another country, Japan will not through war try to defeat or get its o w n w a y with that country. W e will rather calmly carry out discussions to reach a decision. This is because to wage a war is to enter a plight in which you ruin your o w n country. Furthermore, even if w e do not go so far as a war, it was also decided in the constitution that Japan will never threaten another country by using its o w n power. This is the renunciation of war. A n d if Japan gets along well with other countries and makes friends with all the countries in the world, then Japan will prosper.

Everyone, let's make sure that another terrible war like the last one doesn't occur again, that w e don't ever make another war. 2

This interpretation of the constitution, however, disappeared from view with the intensification of the Cold W a r and the gradual rearmament of Japan. T h e references to the cruelty and meaninglessness of war in the textbooks also became less frequent along with other references to the dark side of war. T h e type of change that has occurred over the years is clear from the examples in Table i.3 As can be seen, there has been a change in the nuance and meaning of the passages concerned. Indeed, certain words or phrases have always been eliminated by the time the text reaches the pupils. It is never, for example, a Japanese 'invasion' of China, but rather an 'extension of Japanese power or influence'. In conducting education for peace, therefore, teachers labour under the difficulty of following the Teachers' Guidelines and employing textbooks that have been censored by the Ministry of Education. This is of particular significance in the case of peace education because of the primary importance in teaching children about war and peace. T h e following goals of peace education make this clear:
1. T o let pupils k n o w the inhumanity, ruthlessness and fultility of war and help them in becoming aware of the supreme virtue of peace and thereby entertaining a deep respect for h u m a n life.

T A B L E I. Changes in references to negative aspects of war in textbooks Before M y only son died in the Pacific war. . . . I told him, 'It's the Emperor's order, go out and fight for your country without thinking about whether you'll return alive.' At present the equipment of the Self Defence Force is equal in war potential to that of other countries. T h e Police Reserve Force in 1954 became the Self Defence Force composed of the army, navy and air force. After M y only son died in the Pacific war. . . . I told him, ' G o out andfightfor your country . . .'

. . . the equipment of the Self Defence Force has increased. T h e Police Reserve Force became the Self Defence Force having land, sea and air defensive strength.

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Glenn D. Hook

ignorance and prejudice Japanese teachers during the last war deceived pupils into believing that it was Japan's role to lead the 'children of Asia', that the Japanese were naturally superior and that any invasion of Asian countries was justifiable and praiseworthy. T o the peaceeducation movement, therefore, any education that has as its goal peace or international underThese goals should be achieved within the standing must take as its starting-point the study framework of: (a) studying the various concepts of the wars in which Japan has been involved. of peace throughout the world; (b) developing a sensitivity to peace among children and inAs noted, however, the Ministry of Education cluding peace education in each school subject; changes the content of the textbooks so that (c) passing on the experiences of war to future Japan's involvement in wars is hardly described. generations through the study of the atomic This is also true of those involved in edubombing of Japan, air-raid experiences, the war cation for international understanding. T h e imin Okinawa and the post-war Okinawan situportant difference, however, is that teaching ation; (d) scientifically studying the causes and about Japan's involvement in past wars and the characteristics of the Second World W a r , the danger of nuclear war is not given the same Sino-Japanese war and the Russo-Japanese war high priority. Instead, study about the culture, in order to build a correct understanding of customs, thinking and behaviour of people in Japanese history and build solidarity with the foreign countries; h u m a n rights; the United peoples of Asia; (e) building knowledge through Nations and, to some extent, environmental and science, politics, economics and culture of the development problems, are of prime concern. growth and effects of weapons, nuclear weapons, In short, studying about the points of difference weapon technology and the realities of the between Japanese and foreign peoples is of far nuclear arms race under the pretext of'nuclear greater concern than is passing on the m e m o r y deterrence'; the resulting effects on the deof Japan's actions in war. There is here quite pletion of other societal resources; (f) studying clearly a lack of consensus on h o w to bring the peace movement and peace action by first- about a peaceful world. O n the one hand, hand investigation or experiences in anti-base preserving the m e m o r y of the warJapanese movements, anti-pollution movements and so atrocities, the b o m b and its continuing effects, forth, with the hope of developing faith in the arms race, the suffering of the Hibakusha humanity and a belief in the future; (g) studying and so on is of primary significance in prothe Japanese Constitution from the perspective moting peace; on the other hand, it is important of the situation existing between the State and to increase the pupils' knowledge and underthe people in terms of the constitution, examstanding of foreign countries, h u m a n rights and ining the significance of the principles of democthe United Nations. There are naturally overracy, h u m a n rights and pacifism; understanding laps, but there always remains a fundamental h o w the development of democracy and h u m a n difference in outlook; simply put, the former rights is reflected in the content of the constiopposes while the latter accepts the existing tution and studying the legality and status of order. T h e resulting differences can clearly be the Self Defence Force. seen by a comparison of the types of projects carried out by the Unesco Associated Schools It is important to note that these goals are and those of the teachers involved in the peacebased on a reflection of the past war. T h e undereducation movement. lying idea is that through education based on
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2. T o study the causes of war and let the pupils recognize in concrete form the decisive factors of m o d e r n war by the use of scientific analysis. 3. T o hold out hope for peace by studying the people's efforts to bring about a peaceful world and convince the pupils of their responsibility in building peace and international solidarity.4

Japan: Political or apolitical education for peace?

There are n o w twenty-three specifically designated Unesco Associated Schools involved directly in education for international understanding. Like Associated Schools in other countries, the Japanese schools hold Unicef weeks, Unesco weeks, greeting weeks, have club newspapers and so forth, and generally try to improve the pupils' international understanding in the areas mentioned above. This m a y include exchanges between Japanese and foreign students; for example, the upper secondary school attached to the Akita Economics University established ties with Canadian students; or, in line with the study of h u m a n rights, m a y include the creation of projects dealing with, for example, President Carter's h u m a n rights policy. T h e following is an example of one of the projects carried out at an associated primary school in Shinjuku, Tokyo. 5 T h e aim of the project was to increase the pupils' knowledge and understanding of the United States of America and its people by studying about Americans w h o live in cities (three hours), on farms (two hours) and about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (three hours). T w o hours were also devoted to the study of the Japanese w h o live in the United States. A pre-survey was conducted to discover what was the children's image of the United States. Pupils m a d e references to the presidential election (43 per cent), American football (31 per cent), previous presidents (19 per cent), the Second World W a r (17 per cent), and so on. There was thus hardly any interest shown in the country's size or the people living there. T o increase the children's knowledge, slides, photographs and reading materials were used along with a comparison of the two countries national anthems. T h e evaluation of the project was as follows: Since, compared with the life of people in the country, life in the city is more complex, it is not effective to try to teach the children about the city in general terms or the life of the people in general terms; rather, it is necessary for them

to come to an understanding of the city by becoming acquainted with the life of the people w h o live there. Overall, the project was judged effective in promoting interest in both Japan and the United States; secondly, it showed that there was a lack of prejudicial attitudes among the pupils, perhaps because of the continuous efforts m a d e to promote international understanding, through, for example, the regular visit to the school by foreigners;finally,it proved possible to tie the study to other subjects such as music and language. W e can see from the above example that the perspective taken is divorced from concern with the atomic bombing of Japan, the plight of the Hibakusha, or the role of Japan during the war. In fact, in the list of projects of the Unesco Associated Schools mentioned in the 1977 report of the Conference on Research into School E d u cation for International Understanding, only one m a d e any specific mention of war-and-peace issues. Obviously, the schools have carried out m a n y projects over the years but war-and-peace issues have been of minor importance. T h e perspective taken by those involved in peace education is clear from an examination of the reports presented at the annual National Symposium on Peace Education or in the quarterly, Peace Education. T h e majority of the reports deal directly with h o w to teach children about war and peace and the nuclear issue in the full range of school subjects. T h e titles include, for example, ' W h y M a k e O u r Pupils Read Children's W a r Literature?', ' H o w Should W a r be Treated in Social Studies?', 'Peace E d u cation and the Bombing of Fukuyama', 'Peace Education and the International Nuclear Situation', 'Today's Nuclear Problem: H o w D o W e Teach about the Nuclear Powered Ship, the MutsuT. These are just some of the examples from the 1976 symposium. In the quarterly Peace Education, too, primary emphasis is placed on issues of war and peace: 'What's Happening to Children's Image of W a r ? ' , ' H o w have
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Glenn D. Hook

Teachers Taught Children about War?', ' H o w D o W e Teach Respect for Peace and Life?', 'Peace Education and the Local Peace M o v e ment', and so forth. Moreover, there have been continuous efforts devoted to producing supplementary published materials. O f particular importance has been material concerning the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.6 For example, HiroshimaThis is Our Cry, for teaching about the cruelty of war and the importance of peace through the study of the atomic b o m b ; HiroshimaThinking about the Atomic Bomb, a reader to stimulate thinking about the problems of war and the atomic b o m b that deals with the purpose of dropping the b o m b and the growth of the peace movement; and To the People of TomorrowPeace Essays by Hiroshima Children, a collection of essays dealing with the war. T h e cartoon book, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen), the story of a young boy in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing, people's art on the war, poems and songs such as Ningen o Kaese (Give Back the H u m a n Race) are also used. There is also an English supplementary reader, Let's Cry for Peace, and others which are often used in English classes. O n e example of the type of peace education carried out is that of an upper-secondary-school teacher of English.' Because of the lack of suitable material for teaching about peace, teaching was carried out by using a supplementary text, ' A Student's Mother Tells of Her Childhood During the W a r ' , in Peace on Earth, and asking the children to (a) write d o w n what they felt after reading the story and to (b) write down what their parents told them in reply to the question, 'What was it like during the Pacific War?'. T h e answers to (a) can be summarized as follows: there was a lack of commodities in the war; the war was cruel and another war should not be started; and there was a questioning of for just whose benefit a war is started. T h e best answers to question (b) were typed and handed out to the students as text material
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to be read forfifteenminutes at the beginning of each class. This way of teaching about war was judged fruitful in improving c o m m u n i cation between parents and children, between the children themselves and in helping build respect for peace. At the same time, an English edition of the Japanese Constitution was used. Prior to the class, a survey was conducted on whether the pupils had read the constitution on their o w n (a majority, 54 per cent, had only read it in social studies class), whether the Constitution was discussed at h o m e (hardly ever, 54.8 per cent), from w h o m had theyfirstheard about the Constitution (from the teacher, 82.5 per cent), and so on. T h e project was evaluated as increasing the pupils' interest in and awareness of the details of the Constitution. It prompted one pupil to comment: '. . . the content of the Constitution is magnificient... there could be nothing better than society accepting the Constitution in its true form'. T h e final example of education for peace is teaching about racial discrimination.8 In Japan, this is not simply a matter of increasing factual knowledge and understanding of the problem of apartheid in South Africa, but also involves the problem of discrimination against Korean, Burakumin, 9 Ainu 10 and other minority groups resident in Japan. T h e example here is a comparison of teaching pupils about the Koreans in Japan and apartheid in South Africa, that was carried out in a Japanese lower secondary school. A pre-survey indicated that the pupils' opinions regarding the reason for the existence of a large Korean minority in Japan could be divided as follows: (a) it was easy to come to Japan for study or work due to geographical proximity, or, (b) Koreans emigrated to Japan in ancient times, or, (c) they came as a result of Japan's colonial policy. After studying about Korea and explaining that m a n y had been forced to come to Japan to work in mines or munition

Japan: Political or apolitical education for peace?

factories during the colonial period and that Japan is responsible for the plight of m a n y Koreans, an essay exam was given at mid-term to test the students' understanding of the problem. T h e results showed that 43 per cent of the pupils could give the correct reason for the existence of the Korean population in Japan, 18 per cent answered vaguely and 39 per cent could not answer or gave the wrong answer. In the case of apartheid, the results of the mid-term examination showed a higher degree of understanding of apartheid in South Africa than of the Korean problem in Japan: 59 per cent gave perfect or near perfect answers, 9 per cent vague answers and 32 per cent could not answer or gave the wrong answer. T h e possible reasons for the difference in effectiveness were suggested to be: There is a difference in the textbook description of the issues. T h e apartheid questionnaire might have been easier to answer. T h e students m a y have been accustomed to the test. T h e difference in teaching method (e.g. the historical approach was used in the Korean case, photographs and so forth being more important in the case of apartheid). Students m a y find it easier to study racial discrimination in remote places more objectively than that found around them. T h e results of this project indicate the difficulty of teaching about peace issues, for even though the teacher was conscientious, there still remained approximately one-third of the pupils w h o were unable to understand the issue. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is difficult in Japan to reach a consensus on peace. Most of the efforts of the peace-education movement could be equated with the idea of peace as the absence of war. This would be referred to as the concept of negative peace in peace research.11 In contrast to this, the concept of positive peace is used to refer to a peace that includes justice and equality. Accordingly, a

major point of focus in peace research over the past years has been the problem of North-South disparities. This problem receives no attention by the peace-education movement. In the sense that some of the projects carried out under the auspices of education for international understanding are concerned with the countries of South-East Asia and other developing countries; therefore, education for international understanding more than peace education can be said to be tied to the trends in peace research. However, 'development education' can hardly be said to form an integral part of the education curriculum.12 Here, too, the school textbooks are far from satisfactory in the coverage given to the problems faced by the developing countries. T h e overall emphasis is primarily economicthere is little mention of developing countries except in abstract terms pointing out their poverty and the economic and technological aspects of development. There is, furthermore, a low awareness of the development problems they faced. T h e delay in the development of Africa, for example, is attributed to the topography and climate.13 Also, the terminology is inconsistent and sometimes value-loaded. Even in the same book expressions such as backward countries, on the one hand, and lessdeveloped countries and developing countries, on the other, are used interchangeably. W h y is it that the North-South problem does not receive a central place in the textbooks, in peace education or, at present, in education for international understanding? In the first place, few officials in education seem to have m u c h interest in these countries other than in economic terms; they are placed a poor second w h e n compared to the more detailed discussion of the United States of America and Europe. In Japan, in fact, it has never been considered very i m portant nor academically fashionable to be an expert on Latin America, Africa or other Asian countries; and it is still to the United States and Europe that Japanese eyes are turned. S E D O N C , the peace-education movement, as 229

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w e have seen, is almost exclusively concerned with the question of the atomic b o m b and the role of Japan in wars up to the present. T h e role of the Hibakusha in promoting the peace-education movement is here crucial, since the boundaries of peace education have consequently been drawn in terms of their very narrow, though very important, life experiences. T h e type of thinking involved can be seen by a c o m m e n t m a d e by one of the participants at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in M a y 1978:14
I was so surprised w h e n I heard the call so solve the arms problem to help the poor in the developing countries. Even if I could agree, I a m not sure such an idea is part of Japanese thinking.

It is certainly not, as yet, part of the thinking of those involved in the peace-education m o v e ment. Thirdly, if the North-South problem were a major focus in education for international understanding, then this would surely be reflected in the Teachers' Guidelines or school textbooks. A s it is, criticism is levelled that international understanding is simply being promoted to facilitate Japanese trading and other business activities.16 Under the heading 'Trade and International Co-operation', of the Ministry's 1977 Teachers' Guidelines, for example, there is the affirmation that pupils should be m a d e to understand that c . . . international co-operation is important for ours and the world's economic development', but nowhere does it mention the problem of North-South disparities.16 This does not m e a n that the problem of North-South disparities will not be dealt with in Japanese schools, but it clearly does m e a n that there is still a low level of interest and awareness among educators concerning the threat to peace posed by the North-South problem on the part of the Ministry of Education, the peace-education movement and those involved in education for international understanding.
23O

It is clear from the above that education for peace in Japan is not only under the restrictions imposed by the textbook certification system, but also under restrictions imposed by the world views and reality definitions of those involved in the education process. At the same time, education for peace is a reflection of the horizontal transmission of the idea of international understanding from a European context and the vertical transmission of the peace-education movement's idea of 'peace education' within a Japanese context. In the nuclear age, even if international understanding is successfully promoted, the problem of disarmament will still remain. Without international understanding, however, the fear, prejudice and ignorance that gave rise to the arms race cannot be erased. Finally, unless the North-South problem is fully integrated into education for peace, there cannot be a peace that includes full justice and equality. Yet until w e reach a point at which there is peace which includes justice and equality for all, education for peace cannot be said to have reached its true goal. It is in striving to reach this goal that hopes for future peace lie. Whether it can best be reached by political or apolitical means is a decision that m a y not be able to await the flow of history.

Notes

1. Hugh Bortn, Japan's Modern Century, p. 49O) 492, N e w York, Ronald Press, 1955. (Italics added.) 2. Atarashii Kenpo no Hanashi (The Story of the N e w Constitution), p . 18-20. Ministry of Education, 1947. 3. For a f l e discussion, see Glenn D . Hook, Peace ul r Issues in Japanese Text-Books', Peace Research in Japan 1977-78, p. 61-2. 4. Hiroshima Institute of Peace Education, Annual Report 1974 (Japanese). 5. Conference on Research into School Education for Inter national Understanding, 1977 Report, Ministry of Education (Japanese). 6. Other important works include, for example, A Record of the A Bomb Experience, the Children of the A Bomb, HiroshimaHope for the Future. Information on English-language teaching materials (films, slides,

Japan: Political or apolitical education for peace?

7. 8.

9. 10. 11.

photographs, books and other written works) can be obtained from the Hiroshima Institute of Peace E d u cation 8-1 Nakacho, Hiroshima 730 (Japan). See Peace Education, Vol. 7 , 1977 (Japanese). See Katshiko Sakuma, 'Discrimination: H o w is it Perceived?Teaching on the Koreans and Apartheid', Peace Research in Japan, 1976, edited by the Japan Peace Research Group. Descendants of the outcastes in the Tokugawa period (1600-1867) w h o still suffer from discrimination. Aboriginal ethnic minority found mainly in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. For a discussion of negative and positive peace, see

12.

13.

14. 15. 16.

Johan Galtung's numerous articles in the Journal of Peace Research, e.g. Vol. 1, 1964. A n attempt is n o w being m a d e to promote development education in Japan, though it is still very m u c h in its infancy. See United Nations Information Centre circular, 10 January 1979. 'Aiming at a N e w Development Education', Japan Overseas Co-operation Volounteers, 1977, p. 25 (Japanese). Asahi Shimbun (Asahi newspaper), 6 June 1978, p. 4. Peace Education, op. cit., p. 13. Teachers' Guideline, Ministry of Education, July 1977, p. 30.

23I

Trends a n d cases The International Year of the Child Discrimination and inequalities b e t w e e n the sexes at school
Fay E . Saunders
In most countries, parents, educators and the public at large would probably react to the suggestion that discrimination and inequalities exist between the sexes in respect of educational opportunities either by rejecting the proposition out of hand or by arguing that there have always been and always will be particular and specific roles for m e n and w o m e n in the organization of any society. T h e y might add that education should prepare young people for these roles. A closer look at what actually occurs in the u p bringing and education of children in the m a jority of countries reveals that 'organizational' barriers have in fact been removed in m a n y places in recent times at various levels of the formal educational process but that this is not true of the 'attitudinal' barriers. Certain attitudes die hard among most of those on w h o m rests responsibility for preparing the young to contribute to society while providing them with the best and widest opportunities for personal development and realization of individual potential. Although m u c h progress has been m a d e in m a n y countries, the achievements have not perhaps been as marked as they could have been because of the great influence exercised in the child's education by the h o m e and community. It is in the h o m e that the inculcation of ideas about sex roles is so effective, and, therefore, even before children arrive at school, they have a clear appreciation of the role they will play in the scheme of things. This subtle but very lasting influence continues after they enter school and play an ongoing role in their development. T h e concept of appropriate behaviour and attitudes towards other people has been thoroughly established by the time children enter the formal process of education. A n d from their earliest experiences at school, the role learnt so well at h o m e is continually reinforced, often unconsciously perhaps, by m u c h of what takes place at school. Teachers acknowledge that this is so and a c o m m e n t from the United States of America is pertinent here:
T h e elementary schools present us with a faade of equal education for boys and girls. Classes are coeducational and the curriculum appears to be the same for both sexes. . . . Sex-typing would appear to be a relatively minor concern or occurrence. Nevertheless, sex-typing occurs in the elementary schools. It permeates all aspects of the curriculum, classroom organization, the structure of the school, teacher behaviour with children and the extracurricular milieu. Furthermore, although this traditional sex-typing is detrimental for both sexes, it is particularly damaging for girls. Rigid designation of one set of interests and behaviours to only one sex limits the potential of each.1

Perhaps the most marked examples of discriminatory practices and unequal opportunities are to be found in some developing countries where few provisions for education for girls exist at any level at all. In 1976, it was estimated that 79 per cent of the 712 million girls in the world under 15 years of age were to be found in the developing countries.2 O f these, the majority Fay E. Saunders (Jamaica). Educator. Secretarylive in rural areas where the problem of eking General of the Association of Jamaican Teachers and out an existence forces most families to retain former Vice-President of the World Council of Organizgirls in the h o m e to perform the household ations of the Teaching Profession. 233
Prospects, Vol. IX, N o . 2,1979

Trends and cases

chores and this occupies the greater portion of their time. In addition, time for education is not considered necessary since w o m e n are traditionally seen as 'producers of food as well as life-givers'. A s a result, very few girls have access to education or skill training. Indeed, a United Nations report (1976) states that agricultural training for girls as compared with boys was in the ratio 14:86 although w o m e n make u p one-third to one-half of the world's agricultural labour force.3 Even in countries where educational opportunities do not present a problem, the old idea of giving education to the boy rather than the girld, if it comes to a choice, dies hard. This is the case in some countries of Africa where the burden of maintaining the family, particularly in rural areas, continues to rest very heavily on w o m e n and girls. Indeed, in spite of tremendous progress m a d e in providing educationeven compulsory educationin places such as Nigeria and Kenya, the percentage of children admitted into primary schools continues to be low and the higher the grade the lower the proportion of girls. E n rolment patterns for the 6-11-year-old group show that in 1975 in m a n y developing countries (twenty-two in Africa, two in Latin America, seven in Asia) fewer than half of the children were enrolled in school. T h e picture as regards girls' enrolment was even more dismal, with forty-one developing countries enrolling fewer than half the girls in this age group. In fact, in 1975, there were 30 million more boys than girls aged 6-11 enrolled in school.4 T h efiguresin Table 1 give the percentage of girls enrolled over the total n u m b e r of girls in 1975 for the age groups 6-11 and 12-17, which generally correspond to primary and secondary education for the major regions.6 While there are a n u m b e r of factors which account for thesefigures,the most important is probably parents' beliefstill prevalent in m a n y countriesthat education is not necessary for girls. Within recent years, more and more anxiety 234

T A B L E I. Girls' enrolment ratios by age group, 1975

Age group Region
6-11
12-17

Africa Latin America North America East Asia South Asia Europe Oceania

USSR

43-3 78.2 99-3 99.2 49.8 95-7 86.7 99.0

23.5 54-4 95-2 80.4

22.5

79-5 70.8 82.5

has been expressed, especially by teachers and w o m e n , that the formal process of education should be reorganized in such a w a y as to provide experiences at all levels for boys and girls, based on genuine choice in which the only criteria are interest, ability and the will to succeed. N o society can any longer justify, on the basis of traditional sex roles alone, the failure to provide opportunities for the full development of all its members. It is worth noting that changes are taking place, in real terms, in a wide variety of ways and at different rates, depending partly on the milieux and partly on the disposition of parents, pupils, teachers and society at large to acknowledge that inequalities do exist and that it will be to the benefit of all concerned if changes, properly identified, are in fact implemented. S o m e of the most farreaching changes are taking place in the developing world. This m a y be attributable, in part, to the desire of such countries to divest themselves of as m a n y practices as possible which are considered to be related to their former colonial status. In addition, it is obvious that their extensive development plans are geared to the full training and use of all their h u m a n resources. For example, in Singapore, teachers report that
girls . . . are not excluded from technical and science subjects. In fact, their attendance and performance in technical workshops on basic electricity, metalwork

Trends and cases

and woodwork are compulsory in the lower secondary classes. T h e girls are never automatically channelled into courses with Domestic Science subjects. . . . In certain secondary schools, boys are encouraged to become members of a special H o m e Economics Society for boys.6

At the tertiary level also, young w o m e n frequently choose courses in practical electronics (e.g. television and radio repairs) to the extent that it is not unusual for the proportion of w o m e n in such courses to exceed that of m e n . O n the other hand, in Sweden, a country long recognized as being in the vanguard of positive action for sexual equality, 'not all parents are happy about their boys baking cakes'.7 A major factor in the perpetuation of discriminatory practices in several places is the fact that some of those most influential in effecting changes are unaware of h o w deeply engrained are their o w n ideas of the traditional sex roles and expectations. Hence, while they openly deplore such practices, they themselves unconsciously continue to inculcate the very things they claim to abhor. O n e Korean teacherleader, w h o is very sensitive to the 'remnants of male chauvinism' in her culture, insists that 'discrimination between sexes with respect to the objectives and contents of education is no longer found except that the curriculum . . . includes such special subjects as are suited to women only, that is sewing, cooking, etc.'.8 Similarly, while m a n y teachers in different countries have been making vigorous attempts to remove needlework as a compulsory subject for girls at certain levels, there are others w h o resolutely resist these attempts. It is probably in the area of the school curriculum, particularly at secondary level, that the unequal opportunities offered to, and provided for, boys and girls become most evident and are most widespread. T h e disadvantages arising from this perhaps most affect girls. It is not sufficient to aspire to a particular career or occupation if the necessary academic foundation is lacking. T h e consequent frustrations and

disillusionment (especially w h e n it is noted that others have the necessary opportunities) often result in a retreat to the traditional role. Further, while w e are not suggesting that equal opportunities should be synonymous with identical opportunities, the c o m m o n practice of deliberately planning curricula solely on the basis of sex is a direct violation of the concept of the right of the individual to education. For unless education is so designed as to fulfil the needs and aspirations of the individual as well as to provide the base for effective living in a society, the whole education exercise can be little m o r e than a sham. Freedom of choice should be the only factor in determining educational programmes once the individual has the ability and the basic tools of learning, is knowledgeable about the choice he or she is required to m a k e and is motivated in a particular direction. T h u s pupils w h o wish to follow the traditional feminine or masculine orientation should be free to do so just as they are free to take different or even unorthodox directions without being m a d e to feel guilty or inadequate. In the majority of societies, the traditional role determined for a boy from the earliest stages is that of family bread-winner. T h e education provided is, therefore, geared to prepare him for this role. Schools guide h i m in this direction and he is encouraged to pursue certain subjects which will provide the foundation for higher and further education. H e soon discovers the specific qualifications for which he must aim. This is particularly the case at the secondary stage w h e n he is expected to study certain 'boys' subjects' such as mathematics and the sciences. In a survey carried out by the Department of Education and Science in England and Wales 9 it was recorded that at the fourth andfifthform levels of secondary schools, 90 per cent of the boys and 71 per cent of girls were offered physics as an option. O f these, 47 per cent of the boys and 12 per cent of the girls actually studied the subject. Similarly, 70 per cent of the boys and 76 per cent of the

235

Trends and cases

girls were offered the choice of chemistry with 27 per cent of the boys and 17 per cent of the girls accepting the offer. O n the other hand, tradition dictates that girls should pursue subjects of a more 'feminine' or generally cultural nature. This, it is argued, will better equip them for their role as housewife, mother, helpmate and assistant. Hence, girls opt more frequently for such subjects as modern languages, music and art. It is interesting to note, furthermore, that even where girls are not restricted in subject choice, they have been so conditioned that m a n y reject the 'boys' subjects' in order not to appear 'unfeminine' and possibly even, subconsciously, to avoid competition with their male counterparts. There are other considerations, too, which often limit choices where there m a y seem, at first glance, to be no curriculum differences. In some countries, there are still a number of single-sex educational institutions, both public and private. It is not u n c o m m o n in such institutions to find fewer facilities for certain subjects than in co-educational institutions. In m a n y girls' schools, provision for the study of science and mathematics is not as extensive as in co-educational or boys' schools, whereas in boys' schools, modern languages, music, drama and other cultural pursuits receive less than adequate attention. It is also worthy of note that funds and facilities for physical education for boys, in both single-sex and co-educational schools, are usually m u c h greater than those provided for in girls' programmes. In addition, the emphasis placed on organizing and projecting physical education activities for boys can very readily be judged by the attention given to this facet of school work in the media in m a n y countries. Single-sex schools do, however, continue to have a number of advocates even in societies where equalization of social roles between the sexes is at a very advanced stage. It should also be recalled that in places where strong religious traditions prevail, girls either receive an edu-

cation in single-sex schools or not at all. Still, arguments stressing the harm which single-sex schools can do to the functioning of the individual in adult life continue to be put forward ever more vigorously by several groups, especially teachers and young people themselves. That they are making an impact is evident in so far as curriculum differences have lessened quite considerably in an increasing n u m b e r of countries. In the United K i n g d o m , the growth of the middle school (for late childhood and early adolescence) provides a good opportunity for a definite policy aimed at minimizing difference. It is also encouraging to note that greater care is being taken in the preparation of reading schemes at all stages, in an effort to eliminate the marked sex differences which were so typical, especially in the earlier years of schooling. In addition, reports indicate that m a n y secondary schools are responding favourably to changing attitudes on the part of parents and employers and under pressure from young people themselves. In developing countries, the need to m a k e the fullest use of all h u m a n resources has probably been a very important factor in the drive to overcome the severe shortage of trained personnel. F r o m Nigeria comes this comment:
T h e question is still being asked: W h a t are girls educated for? and. W h a t should be included in their education? There was a time w h e n it was believed that it was enough for a girl to be educated to be a homemaker, that is, a good wife and mother. She was, therefore, subjected and conditioned to a curriculum which would result in a mass production of h o m e makers. T o a large extent, some w o m e n still prefer the protected life of the h o m e , but grumble at the chores that the role carries with it. O n the other hand, there is growing a levelling-up of interest, with m e n wanting to be involved in the preparation of their families. I have lived to see in m y o w n society, young fathers looking after the baby and preparing the family meals, whilst the young wife goes to college to study for her degree.10

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Trends and cases

Closely allied to the problems caused by differing educational programmes between the sexes is the matter of career and vocational guidance. Firstly, it would seem that insufficient attention is given to this in m a n y school systems. Secondly, guidance is often provided by persons whose attitudes and traditional orientation to the world of work perpetuates and extends the obvious inequalities and latent discriminations in the curriculum. It is fair to admit that in an increasing number of countries, there have been efforts to furnish information about a wider range of occupations for girls but the tendency to underplay certain types of careers for both boys and girls along restrictive sex lines is still quite prevalent. There is some evidence, too, that unduly early specialization combined with a guidance programme initiated at too late a stage tends to result in the choice of a career normally distinguished by a sexual stereotype. This has been further reinforced by school systems which make no effort to change the status quo. Further, the whole scope of guidance and counselling programmes needs, in too m a n y places, to be seen in far wider terms, making provision for young persons to develop greater understanding and acceptance of themselves and their capabilities. F r o m this, more realistic career goals can be set. It is encouraging to note that there has been a considerable development in this area of school life and that, from all indications, the tendency to present a more useful and wide-ranging prog r a m m e continues apace. T h e efforts of schools could be greatly assisted by employers w h o should be actively involved with the school and other community groups in providing a better understanding of the problems and of the need for change in sex stereotyping as far as employment is concerned. It is obvious that teachers play one of the most important roles in the full development of the individual child. It is, therefore, critical in any consideration of h o w discrimination operates within the school for their attitudes, per-

ceptions and expectations to be examined as to the part played in differentiation processes. T o recognize that these have far-reaching effects is not to detract from the contribution which the majority of teachers m a k e to the overall process of education. However, teachers like all other h u m a n beings, are the products of the societies in which they have lived and reflect the conditioning inherent therein. It is, therefore, to be expected that, unwittingly perhaps, they pass on to their students the ideas and attitudes which are a part of their m a k e - u p . At the early stages of formal education, the vast majority of teachers are w o m e n . T h u s , they are very likely to expect their girl students to behave, learn and respond in the manner which is second nature to themselves. T h e y also expect the boys to respond and to show interest in the way they have 'known' that boys behave. A study carried out a m o n g Canadian secondary teachers revealed a 'tendency for teachers to use their o w n behaviour as the n o r m for their particular sex on the dimensions "activepassive" and that these internalized norms fit the socialized stereotypes (male-active and female-passive)'.11 Further, it was pointed out in the same study that 'teachers observe noticeable traditional sex role differences in the classroom and feel that students want to be treated accordingly. This evidence suggests that teachers m a y be shaping sex role behaviour along traditional lines'.12 T h u s teachers provide learning experiences in keeping with pre-determined concepts. For example, boys are provided with mechanical toys and girls with things which pertain to a domestic role. T h e differentiation in treatment is even manifest in what pupils are required to do around the classroom and school. A group of African teachers observed that in some places, especially in rural areas, the girls 'are treated as if they were there to serve the male students and teachers'.13 Further, in order to ensure success for the boy w h o is being prepared for higher studies and for earning a living, the teacher devotes more time and 237

Trends and cases

attention to him than to her girl students. It has also been observed that girls whose scholastic achievements are comparable to those of boys, are more likely to be influenced by social pressures and are often diverted from their goals because of misgivings and lack of confidence resulting from teacher attitudes. It also happens quite frequently, whenever restrictions have to be m a d e in the provision of programmes or facilities for programmes, that girls' programmes are thefirstto be considered. T h e discriminatory practices which are due to teacher attitudes are those which will be the most difficult to change. There are those w h o believe that they will only disappear with time as societies themselves respond to change. While there is, of course, validity in this argument, teachers can assist in accelerating changes b y recognizing their need for reorientation and by being ready to carry out their o w n personal self-examination to ascertain h o w their attitudes and perceptions are in fact determining the development of their pupils. It is to be hoped that action will then follow to dissipate those attitudes which m a y be having a less than desirable effect. Teacher-training institutions should also m a k e it an integral part of their pro-

grammes to assist students to appreciate this problem and its implications and provide adequate opportunities to overcome it during this vital pre-service period of preparation.
Notes
i. Betty Levy and Judith Stacey, 'Sexism in the Elementary School: A Backward and Forward Look', Phi Delta Kappan, October 1973, p. 105. 2. Information from the United Nations Population Division concerning 'United Nations Population Estimates and Projections as Assessed in 1973'. 3. United Nations, Youth Information Bulletin, N o . 20, January 1976. 4. United Nations Population Division, op. cit. 5. United Nations, op. cit. 6. Fay E . Saunders, 'Sex Roles and the School', Prospects, Vol. V , N o . 3, 1975. 7. ibid. 8. ibid. 9. United Kingdom, Department of Education and Science, 'Curricular Differences for Boys and Girls', Education Survey, N o . 21, London, H e r Majesty's Stationery Office, 1975. 10. Pumla Kisosonkole, ' T h e Influence of the Educational System on the Role of W o m e n ' , Report of the Seminar on Women in a Technological Society, organized by the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession, July 1975, p. 24. 11. Francis A . Ricks and Sandra W . Pyke, Teacher Perceptions and Attitudes that Poster and Maintain Sex Differences. 12. ibid. 13. Saunders, op. cit.

Children of exiles and immigrants

Ana Vasquez

consequently emigrate temporarily or permanently to Western European or North American countries. W e shall not, therefore, take into account Europeans w h o have emigrated to Third World countries. B y exiles w e mean all persons Ana Vasquez (Chile). Former Professor of Eduexpelled from their o w n country and forbidden cational Psychology at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Chile. Currently researcher to return. W e shall deal more particularly with at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. the case of children of political exiles from the Author of several studies on the psychological and southern tip of Latin America (Argentina, Chile psycholinguistic problems of the children of exiles and and Uruguay) n o w living in Europe. immigrants. T h e immigrants discussed here are the rural and urban workers w h o are unable to find work in their o w n country, or only ill-paid jobs, and

238

Trends and cases

Immigrants and exiles are frequently considered as a single group for legal and administrative purposes. They obviously have some characteristics in c o m m o n , but also specific features of their o w n which must be borne in mind in order to understand the difficulties their children encounter in regard to schooling.1 T h e motivation underlying the decision to emigrate is not the same in the two groups. For the immigrant, departure implies a choice (even if dictated by current economic conditions) and some hope of advancement. T h e host country is highly developed and enjoys some prestige a m o n g those w h o are not emigrating. Although emigration is a collective p h e n o m enon, prompted as m u c h by the economic policy of the country of origin as by that of the receiving country, the immigrant sees his o w n situation as a personal phenomenon. T h e exile is under compulsion to leave his country to save his life; his departure is unexpected and often violent. It also frequently implies the loss of his material possessions. F r o m the outset, therefore, there is no hope of advancement. M a n y of the emigrants are just out of prison or refugee camps, with all the psychological trauma that implies. Exile is seen as a twofold defeat, the failure of a collective plan and the collapse of an individual life-plan closely bound u p with it and brought to an abrupt end. T h e notion of time is also different according to whether the people are immigrants or refugees. T h e former leave with clear intentions in mind, and the feeling that they can go back h o m e at any time if they wish. T h e latter have no control over the decision to return. Hence their attitudes of rejection on arrival, and their difficulty in making short- or m e d i u m term plans. Their future in the host country is seen as a temporary solution only, pending a return to their h o m e country. T h e original social background is not the same either. Whereas immigrants are largely rural and urban workers, the exiles from the southern part of Latin America are usually

middle-class people, intellectuals or former civil servants. A m o n g them there are some workingclass people, but they are political and tradeunion leaders and are therefore an 'lite' c o m pared with the great mass of the workers in their country. In no w a y do these differences erase the experience of trans-culturation with which both immigrants and exiles are confronted. Our definition of trans-culturation is the process of adaptation that h u m a n groups or individuals must undergo w h e n they are forced to abandon their traditional way of life and adjust to n e w social and professional relations. It implies confrontation between a dominant culturethat of the host societyand the cultural pattern of the country of origin, which will often be underrated. As far as the right to education for the children of immigrants or exiles is concerned, a distinction can be m a d e as regards their schooling between two major categories of children, according to the age at which they left their country. First there are the children w h o were very young when they arrived (under the age of 6) or w h o were born in the host country. They have little or no recollection of the country of origin. Theirfirstmemories and their first experience of social relations were formed in the host country, conveyed in a language which was not their mother tongue. T h e y usually succeed in speaking the language of the host country without an accent and that language will gradually become the means of expression they prefer to use; they will play, read, write and think in a language which for their parents will always be a foreign language, and in which m a n y adult immigrants, especially housewives, have great difficulty in expressing themselves. S o m e families are deeply affected by this difference, for they feel their children are growing away from them, if they are not losing them altogether. T h e children w h o are older w h e n they arrive often retain strong memories of their early years in their h o m e country, and often

239

Trends and cases

idealize that image w h e n they have to cope with social and school constraints very different from the ones to which they were accustomed. T o understand the difficulties immigrant children have in adjusting to school, it must be remembered that they have frequently undergone traumatic experiences. Migration is usually spread over a period of several years. First the father sets off, then the mother, alone or with some of the children. T h e children often stay behind and are separated from their parents for a relatively long period. T h e family reunion then coincides with the m o m e n t w h e n the child starts school in the host country. Exiles are in a similar position because in m a n y instances the families have been separated and the parents have often been in prison or forced to leave, temporarily abandoning their children. Situations such as these give rise to a number of problems. Families reunited in a n e w environment do not correspond to the ideal image the parents had of them. Person-to-person relationships and the status of each person within the family have changed or are changing. Housing conditions are n e w and disconcerting. M o r e often than not, living conditions are worse than before. T h e lack of space is felt keenly by children from the country or from another type of town. T h e bewildered child has to build up a n e w frame of reference. Moreover, the child (and often the parents as well) cannot as a rule speak the language of the host country, which greatly complicates day-to-day life, and also the administrative formalities that immigrants have to go through on arrival. Children starting school in this context find themselves up against n e w school structures and procedures without being able to speak the language or having any knowledge of the implicit social codes of school life (different taboos, margin of independence within the establishment, relationships with their schoolfellows and hierarchy among the adults). T h e fact that they are unfamiliar with customary school behaviour and the language m a y , with some children,
240

provoke reactions of a paranoid nature, characterized by extreme touchiness with alternate displays of withdrawal and aggression.2 It should be pointed out, however, that such reactions are not always unfounded, for certain circles adopt an attitude of discrimination towards foreigners or speak of them in racist terms. As regards contacts between parents and teachers, parents w h o do not speak the language of the host country inevitably feel deeply inhibited. In addition, immigrants from rural or urban working-class backgrounds as well as exiles from poorer backgrounds do not k n o w on what basis parent-school relationships are formed. At pre-primary and early-primaryschool level, particularly, teachers often c o m plain about the lack of interest shown by certain foreign parentswrongly, for the reasons given above. This lack of communication is sometimes a source of misunderstandings which affect the children's school career. Psycholinguistic problems are, of course, to be found in children as well as their parents. Whether the child enters the n e w school having already started school in his h o m e country, or goes to school for the first time in the host country, he is bound to encounter difficulties in learning the n e w language. Only one sociolinguistic code of behaviour is taught at school, and that is limited to academic requirements; its language is that of the teachers. But the school environment furnishes another, parallel linguistic model and that is the spoken language, often slang, used by the other schoolchildren. In most cases, the parents cannot help their children to acquire communication skill3 (knowing what to say, h o w , to w h o m , w h e n and where). S o m e teachers recommend that parents speak only the language of the host country at h o m e , to facilitate the child's schooling. However, as the parents are not bilingual and speak a language distorted by the intrusion of their native tongue, the example they set is an incorrect one which vies with the language learned at school. This situation gives rise to difficulties, for confusion

Trends and cases

between the two models m a y cause a mental block. Afinalremark to be m a d e is that the linguistic difficulties are linked to the respective status of the mother tongue and the language of the host country. If the mother tongue is rated highly, it can serve as a framework enabling the child to relate words by reference to meanings. F r o m this point of view, on account of their original social background, exiles are better equipped to deal with these difficulties. But at this level of analysis, psycholinguistic problems are inextricably bound up with those caused by transculturation. T h e daily family life of immigrant and exiled children does, in fact, bear the imprint of the cultural structures of their h o m e country. Although schools admit a significant proportion of foreign children,4 they offer only the model prevalent in the host country. Historical and artistic events, traditional festivals of all kinds are presented without reference being m a d e to any equivalent in the cultures to which the foreign children belong. W h e n a child is presented with only one cultural model, it is assumed that that model is the only one possible, with the result that the family model is discredited or even rejected. T h e child is inclined to associate this idea of inferiority with his parents' living and working conditions which, in the case of immigrants, are often the hardest prevailing in the host society. Immigrant parents trying to preserve their cultural traditions are ill-equipped to understand this process and help their children. Exiles tend to defend their culture by trying to explain their situation in socio-political terms and proposing a social and cultural model to their children. However, fundamental aspects of the w a y of life in their country have changed, with the result that the cultural model they propose only actually exists in the exiled community. Children, especially adolescents, are thus aware of the gulf between the present-day situation in the countries at the southern tip of Latin America and the cultural activities of the exiles.

Unable to preserve an authentic model of their original culture, the children of i m m i grants and exiles are in danger of succumbing to a process of deculturation different from the trans-culturation process that affects their parents, rooted as they are in their o w n culture. A confrontation between two cultures is always rewarding, but the loss of one's native culture can only give rise to conflicts and difficulties. According to Berthelier,5 forgoing the original culture for that of the host country is likely to cause psychological disturbances, since the obligation for the individual to appropriate, h o w ever superficially, values which might conflict with those of his h o m e culture is a source of anxiety. Berthelier believes that there is ca range of conduct classified under the usual headings of "behavioural disorders" or "motorial instability" which is no more than the body's way of expressing conflicts that cannot be verbalized'. In particular, he describes psychopathological reactions ranging from a paranoid extreme, in which the host country's culture is rejected and refused, to a schizophrenic extreme in which the reverse is true and the parent culture is disowned. Beardsmore 6 uses the concept of 'anomy' to explain this conflict. T h e child w h o has to switch from one cultural group to another must readjust his patterns of behaviour to the n e w standards. H e thus finds himself faced with an incoherent frame of reference, leading to social isolation, bewilderment and anxiety, as well as the pathological reactions referred to above. Lastly it should be pointed out that this type of conflict is often most acute a m o n g adolescent girls. It is a k n o w n fact that traditional standards are transmitted more rigidly to girls than to boys. Very often, immigrants and exiles c o m e from countries in which the status of w o m e n involves greater dependence and more curbs on freedom than in Western Europe and the United States. W h e n they go to school in the host countries, they become acquainted with a way of life in which w o m e n and girls are m o r e 241

Trends and cases

independent both affectively and socially. T h e immigrant or exiled adolescent girl is accordingly forced to choose between two contradictory models, and this m a y give rise to acute anxiety reactions or the disorders described by Berthelier. A s the most striking difficulties are those of language, several countries have come round to organizing language initiation classes for foreign children. In m a n y instances, efforts have been m a d e to use audio-visual methods for these classes, but it has been found that there are significant drawbacks in this system when, as is often the case, there are children of various nationalities in the same class. It is true that audio-visual methods do not differentiate between the various mother tongues, and the difficulties are obviously not the same for language systems that are similar to that of the host country and those that are not. A Spanish child will not have the same approach to French as a Maghrebian. W h a t is more, grouping children of different ages in the same class further aggravates problems of social integration. Already traumatized children thusfindit hard to submit to school discipline and frequently their only c o m m o n language' is violence. Finally, m a n y of the foreign children do not understand w h y they have been separated from other children of their age and feel they have been discriminated against by being put in a language initiation class. These are the kinds of problem that have prevented wide-scale adoption of such classes, and explain w h y some schools are n o w going over to the solution of putting the children in the classes that correspond to their age group but with extra language tuition. In France they are known as 'multiple admission classes'. Although the difficulties that immigrant children encounter at school undeniably include a language component, learning the language is by no means the only problem, as w e have seen. T h e statistics are, in fact, extremely eloquent. In France, for example, 61 per cent of Portuguese, 55 per cent of Algerian and 44 per cent of
242

Spanish children7 have to repeat their year or part of it. Several researchers have attempted to grasp the exact nature of the obstacles encountered, by setting up interesting experiments. In Sweden, 12 per cent of the population is composed of Finns whose language, Finnish, is totally different from Swedish. Toukomaa 8 studied 700 immigrant Finnish children living in two communities in Sweden. In the first, Finnish was not used at school, all the subjects being taught in Swedish, while in the second, some of the children had two hours of Finnish a week and others attended an experimental school in which they were taught entirely in Finnish, Swedish being taught as the first foreign language. T o u k o m a a compared the results of these different methods as regards learning Swedish and academic learning in general. H e found that the children w h o had learnt their mother tongue more thoroughly were also those w h o spoke Swedish best and obtained the best overall results at school. Those w h o had only a few hours of lessons in Finnish were the ones w h o expressed themselves least well in both languages (semi-lingualism) and had most difficulty in keeping u p with the syllabus. T o u k o m a a concludes that bilingualism among immigrant children requires a sound knowledge of the mother tongue. Along the same lines, Lambert and his fellow researchers9 studied the integration of Englishspeaking children in French-speaking areas in Canada. T h e children were taught in French but from the second year were given an hour's English tuition a day. Not only are better results achieved by learning the two languages, but there is also a change in attitudes. In areas where there are acute linguistic tensions, this type of education helps to broaden people's minds and increase respect for the other culture. In Lambert's opinion, respect for the original language and culture is a necessary (although insufficient) prerequisite for any education that calls itself democratic. Total rupture of the links with the original community is impossible, as is

Trends and cases

complete assimilation into the dominant culture. Rejecting the original culture is liable to engender conflicts leading to anomy, a p h e n o m enon which would not be found a m o n g children living in a balanced bilingual, bicultural situation characterized by mutual respect between the two communities. For five years, Berthoz-Proux 10 has been conducting experiments in France in preprimary and primary schools in which teachers belonging to the same language group as the immigrant children have set u p 'workshops' with the aim of systematically reinstating the language and culture of the country of origin. His experiments have resulted in a substantial reduction of the failure rate at school and a better integration of the children into school life. In this case, the children's age is decisive. T h e younger the children are (4 or 5 years) in the case of children born in France or emigrating at a very early age, the better the results yielded by the 'workshops'. According to Berthoz-Proux, the conflict which often traumatizes the children does not arise from the confrontation between two cultures, as is assumed b y Beardsmore, for there are situations in which such a confrontation would appear to exist without conflict (for example in Switzerland), but rather from the depreciation of one culture and its symbols in relation to the other. T h e most effective way of dealing with the conflict would thus seem to include the revaluation of the immigrant children's h o m e culture. This interpretation takes into account the risk of a n o m y , but seeks an explanation in the process preceding it. A n o m y would therefore be a state affecting children (and adults) w h o had undergone a process of

depreciation of their o w n culture in the face of the dominant culture. Berthoz-Proux's research thus tallies with that of T o u k o m a a and Lambert on that point, but his interpretation of the causes of school failure seems to us to be more coherent, and at the same time provides very real prospects for steps towards ensuring, in the most effective manner possible, respect for the right of immigrant children to education as well as respect for their right to cultural identity.

Notes
1. A n a Vasquez and G . Richard, Problemas de Adaptacin de los Hijos de Refugiados del Cono Sur de Amrica Latina en Francia, Cimade,1978 (brochure). 2. R . Berthelier, Les Enfants des Travailleurs Migrants. Problmes Psychopdagogiques et Mdico-sociaux, C E F I S E M Conference, Lyon, 1976. 3. D . H y m e s , Bilingual Education: Linguistic Versus Sociolinguistic Bases, Georgetown University M o n o graph, 1970, Vol. 23, p . 69-76. 4. In the United States, it is estimated that one-quarter of the school-going population of N e w York is Spanish-speaking, as is one-sixth of the population of the South. In one part of the second arrondissement in Paris, one-third of the children are foreign. 5. Berthelier, op. cit. 6. H . B . Beardsmore, Anomy in Bicultural Education, Brussels, A I M A V , 1977. 7. H . Gratiot-Alphandry and B . Lambiott, Le Retard Scolaire des Enfants de Travailleurs Migrants, report submitted to the symposium organized by the Centre International de l'Enfance, Paris, 1973. 8. P . Toukomaa and T . Skutnabb-Kangas, The Intensive Teaching of the Mother Tongue to Migrant Children. University of Tampere, Finland, 1977 (Tutkimuksia Research Reports). 9. Wallace E . Lambert, M . Just and N . Segalowitz, Some Cognitive Consequences of Following the Curricula of the Early School Grades in a Foreign Language, paper for the twenty-first annual Round-Table Meeting of Linguistic and Language Studies, Georgetown U n i versity, 1970. 10. M . Berthoz-Proux, Langue Maternelle et cole Maternelle', in ducation Enfantine, N o s . 8-9, 1978.

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Book reviews

Richard C . Anderson, R a n d J. Spiro and William C . Montague (eds.), Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge, N e w York, John Wiley, 1977. 448 p. Maurice Chazan (ed.), International Research in Early Childhood Education, Windsor, Berks., N F E R Publishing C o m p a n y , 1978. 227 p. J. A . Keats, K . F . Collis and G . S. Halford (eds.), Cognitive Development: Research Based on a Neo-Piagetian Approach. Chichester, John Wiley, 1978. For generations philosophers have debated the nature of h u m a n knowledge and the processes involved in knowing. Psychologists, breaking away from their parent discipline, sought empirical answers to some of the same persistent questions and, in the last two decades, psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology have become clearly identifiedfields.A s Anderson, Spiro and Montague note, ' N o w h u m a n experimental psychology takes as its proper goal modelling what the mind knows and h o w it knows.' T w o of the books reviewed here, Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge and Cognitive Development, Research Based on a Neo-Piagetian Approach, provide evidence from h u m a n experimental psychology. Both are also concerned with the possible applications of theirfindingsto the education of children and youth. Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge contains papers that were presented and the discussions that ensued at an interdisciplinary conference held in San Diego, California, in 1975. Those present were psychologists, educators and philosophers from the United States. Cognitive Development: Research Based on a NeoPiagetian Approach includes papers from seven authors, all psychologists, based in Australia, w h o hold rather similar views about cognitive development. Their research, however, extends to knowledge in such diverse areas as language, mathematics and history and includes work with children from as young as 4 years to as old as 17. International Research in Early Childhood Education differs markedly from the other two. T h e research presented comes from seven countries: Australia, Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and the U S S R . T h e editor's introduction also includes brief references to the United States and the United K i n g d o m . T h e authors of the chapters were asked to include a general picture of the development of early childhood education in their countries, factors affecting research, the trends in current research and the impact of research on practitioners. Accordingly, the chapters contain m u c h material that is not germane to the topic of knowledge acquisition, although it does have considerable interest for the early-childhood educator. For the purposes of this review I shall ignore the latter and consider only the research that is related to cognition. H . S. Broudy, an educational philosopher at the University of Illinois, provides a framework for e x a m ining knowledge that can be applied to the other topics in Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge and to the other books as well. It is not clear, however, whether those w h o attended the San Diego conference had access to Broudy's material before he presented it at the beginning of the conference. O n e suspects that they did not, for each chapter seems to be a n e w departure, with a n e w set of concepts for the unsophisticated reader to master if he or she is to comprehend the author's intent. T h e sense that each chapter represents a distinct research endeavour, not closely tied to the research of any of the other authors, is reinforced w h e n one examines the bibliographies appended to each chapter; seldom is an author cited in more than one chapter. Links from chapter to chapter are provided w h e n the research draws on c o m m o n theory. Apart from these, however, the authors of this book represent views of knowledge that resemble the proverbial story of the blind m e n and the elephant. Each m a n ' s understanding of the characteristics of the elephant depends on the part of the elephant's anatomy he explores. T h e m a n w h o feels the elephant's tail thinks that the elephant is very like a rope, while the one whose hands encounter the elephant's side compares the elephant to a wall.

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Notes and reviews

A framework for viewing knowledge Knowledge, clearly, has m a n y aspects. H o w one understands the ways knowledge is acquired at school will depend on the aspect under study and on one's view of the nature of schooling. In discussing the types of knowledge Broudyfirstdraws three distinctions. O n e is between structure and process. T h e logic or structure of a given discipline, for example physics, provides few, if any, clues to h o w its key concepts were discovered. Neither does the structure suggest h o w students will learn the concepts most effectively. Broudy makes a second distinction between scientific knowledge, where claims for truth are readily and publicly verifiable, and humanistic knowledge, based on value commitments m a d e by persons in the past as well as in the present. Broudy's third distinction relates to the validity and utility of knowledge. For example, ' W h a t is good physics?' versus ' W h a t is physics good for?'. T h e distinctions that Broudy makes with regard to the nature of knowledge are reflected in his consideration of knowing from the viewpoint of the knower. T h u s the knower m a y be concerned with 'knowing that' or with 'knowing h o w ' . T h e uses of schooling traditionally parallel these kinds of knowing. These uses are either replicative as w h e n the individual recalls the n u m b e r of facts learned at school, or applicative as w h e n the individual learns to read and then continues to apply this skill. Broudy suggests that a third kind of knowing, 'knowing with', provides a third use for knowledge acquired in schooling. This use is interpretive in the sense that schooling enables the individual to bring different kinds of knowledge to different contexts and to interpret them appropriately. This reviewer finds consideration of the 'knowing with' aspect of cognition most interesting. It seems most likely to enhance our understanding of k n o w ledge acquisition not only in schools but also in other situations. It appears, however, that movement in the direction of 'knowing h o w ' has only become possible as research has revealed the nature of 'knowing that'.

'Remembering Information from Text, the State of Schema Approach'. Both chapters present an information-processing approach in which knowledge is arranged in schemata. Schemata are denned as 'data structures for representing the generic concepts stored in m e m o r y ' . A schema m a y be thought of as 'analogous to a play with the internal structure of the schema corresponding to the script for a play'. Furthermore, 'just as a play has roles that m a y be filled by different actors on different occasions so schemata have variables that m a y become associated with, or bound by, different aspects of our environment on different occasions'.

A s an illustration of a schema, consider one identified with the concept of breaking. At least three variables are associated with the schema: the breaker, the object and the method of breaking. In terms of the play analogy, the script m a y call for the breaker to be h u m a n or inhuman, the object to differ in material or in resistance and the method of breaking to differ accordingly. T h u s , the 'break' schema m a y apply to 'John broke the window' or to ' T h e ball broke the window' or 'John broke the bubble'. Another characteristic of schemata is that they can be embedded one within another. T h e 'break' schema m a y be nested in a more primitive action schema of 'do'. Also associated with the schema are subschemata appropriate to answering such questions as W h e n ? Where? W h y ? and H o w ? According to Rumelhart and Ortony there are schemata at all levels of abstraction. A s they put it, ' W e envision the h u m a n m e m o r y system as containing countless packets of information, each packet referring to other packets which normally form its constituents. Such packets represent knowledge at all levels of abstraction, ranging from basic perceptual elements . . . to abstract conceptual levels. . . .' Finally, Rumelhart and Ortony note, schemata represent 'knowledge associated with concepts'. Schemata are not linguistic entries such as are found in dictionaries. Rather they represent knowledge that is encyclopedic in character. Such representation is flexible in a way that 'reflects h u m a n tolerance for vagueness, imprecision and quasi-consistencies'. Flexibility is sometimes an asset but it m a y result in recall that is inaccurate. Spiro in his discussion of 'Knowing that' the 'State of Schema' approach to remembering information from written material, presents what he Five of the chapters in Schooling and the Acquisition terms 'reconstructive theory'. T w o conditions are likely to lead to inaccurate recall. O n e is the relating of Knowledge deal primarily with 'knowing that' and of the text to pre-existing cognitive structures. T h e to a lesser extent with 'knowing h o w ' . T w o are theorboundaries between to-be-remembered information etical; three are tied more closely to school settings. and the prior knowledge become increasingly fuzzy O n e of the theory chapters is ' T h e Representation of over time. T h e second and more important condition Knowledge in M e m o r y ' , by David E . Rumelhart and leading to inaccuracies is the modification by subA n d r e w Ortony; the other, by R a n d J. Spiro, is

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sequent encountered information of schemata relating to the text. Maintaining that most laboratory m e m o r y experiments do not replicate the more typical circumstances for the recall of information, Spiro d e m onstrates a model that enables him to predict the kinds of distortions of text that will occur under specified conditions. A s one of those discussing his chapter noted, 'the model represents an important attempt to capture thinking rather than just m e m o r y ' . Focusing more narrowly on m e m o r y , and coming closer to educational practice, Bonnie J. F . Meyers analysed and reorganized prose passages to see h o w their structure affected recall. H e r results indicate that students need to have an organization of the ideas presented to them. S o m e types of organizing structures are more effective than others. Unfortunately, the questions of whether text intended for different kinds of instructive purposes should be differently organized is not examined. N o r is attention given to the question of h o w individuals differ in coping with text. Olson's chapter, ' T h e Literate Bias of Schooling', underscores the importance of text, that is, of literate forms of instruction. Olson acknowledges that the use of written text is essential to certain forms of intellectual achievement, such as participation in a formal discipline or a highly organized bureaucracy. H e maintains, however, that schools tend to couch all instruction in the language of written text. Such language is inappropriate to m a n y of the goals of schooling. It tends, furthermore, to alienate m a n y children, since it differs markedly from the language spoken in their homes. It m a y even, as Basil Bernstein has suggested, serve to perpetuate class distinctions. Olson argues that schools attempt to translate all kinds of knowledge into the language of the textbook. For m a n y of the goals of instruction such translation is inappropriate, and better means of instruction need to be found. Several of those commenting on Olson's position found it rather extreme. T h e y doubted that the school's reliance on print for the teaching of concepts -was either as extensive or as destructive as Olson implied. Olson's position, however, seems substantiated by one other chapter, ' T h e Acquisition of Knowledge in the Classroom' by David C . Berliner and Barak Rosenshine. Early in the chapter the authors note that the curriculum to be taught is usually denned by the guidelines set forth by State Curriculum Committees. 'At a more specific level, the issue is settled by commercial publishers' (my italics). Reviews of curriculum evaluations reveal that 'what knowledge is acquired depends on the coverage and emphasis of the curriculum in use'. Such evaluations are based on the performance of the class as a group.

Attempts to relate variations in classroom instruction to the individual differences found a m o n g the pupils are fraught with difficulty. Commenting on the Berliner and Rosenshine chapter, Philip W . Jackson cautions that the evaluations of the effectiveness of both curriculum and teaching methods are based on the results of standardized achievement tests. Such tests provide n o evidence of what teachers need to k n o w about their pupils' perception of and attitudes about the knowledge they were expected to acquire. Jackson seems to be emphasizing 'knowing with'. Each pupil brings an inner context for knowing, 'a pattern for construing the importance and relevance' of the learning situation. That situation in turn provides an external context for the acquisition of k n o w ledge. A major task for the learner is to bring these two contexts into alignment in order to go beyond what he or she already knows.

'Knowing with' John D . Bransford, Kathleen E . Nitsch and Jeffery D . Franks in their chapter 'Schooling and the Facilitation of Knowing' concern themselves with the problems in knowing what one further needs to k n o w . Put in the terms used b y Rumelhart and Ortony and b y Spiro, this m a y be seen as a process of modifying and reconstructing schemata so that they are more c o m prehensive and abstract. Bransford and his colleagues suggest that the process can be clarified through the study of the thinking of experts as they solve problems in their o w nfields.In this chapter Broudy's 'thinking with' becomes 'thinking in terms of, a matter of 'decontextualizing'. This view suggests that the facilitation of knowledge acquisition involves more than the teaching of concrete examples of abstract concepts. T h e generation of other conceivable examples of the concept together with instances that are clearly not examples m a y enable the learner to reflect on h o w one thinks in terms of the concept. Something of the w a y this process might work is suggested in a chapter by Alan Collins dealing with a theory of socratic tutoring. Collins analyses the interchanges between student and tutor, trying to extract the various strategies used by the tutor and the corresponding productions of the student. T h e content of Collins's tutorials suggests that the students involved are upper elementary or highschool age. That children need not be as old as that, to be subject to a kind of tutoring, is evident in Katherine Nelson's chapter 'Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Concepts'. S o m e of the dialogues she reports between pre-school children and their parents resemble in some respects the dialogues

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recorded by Collins. T h e content is, of course, quite different. T h e chapter by Nelson is the only one in Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge that considers the thinking of children younger than school age. It seems to this reviewer to provide important information about what children just entering school m a y be 'thinking with'. It does not consider in any detail the transformations in the child's thought structures that occur with further development and with schooling. (Those issues are considered in Cognitive Development: Research Based on a Neo-Piagetian Approach.") Nelson maintains, as does Jean Piaget, that the basic process (for Piaget, the dual processes of accommodation and assimilation) of acquiring k n o w ledge remains the same regardless of the individual's age or developmental stage. In this chapter Nelson concentrates on the 'natural' conceptual systems of pre-school children and contrasts them with the 'context-free' systems of older children. In certain respects her way of looking at concepts corresponds to the view of schemata held by Rumelhart and Ortony. Initial meanings of objects for the developing infant are defined 'in terms of an event structure which contains all the relations and functions of the object in the experiences of the individual'. For example, the meaning of'ball' m a y be embedded in a structure originating in 'mother throws', 'baby catches', 'the ball rolls', or 'the ball bounces', and so on. Larger event structures, or scripts, describe 'the interaction of a number of different conceptspeople, places and thingsorganized around a goal'; for example, playing or eating or going for a walk. 'Knowledge of scripts for recurrent events enables the child (or adult) to predict what, w h e n and w h o in familiar situations.' Even before children can talk they have concepts that only later will be n a m e d . These concepts evolve as children take in recurrent patterns in the world about them, and as they encounter aspects of the world that are novel and interesting. Novel events call for the noting and remembering of salient features to be used to recognize n e w instances. Incipient categories arise as the child groups together things that belong together spatially or temporally. Not until later (around the age of 7) does the child organize the categories in hierarchies and understand the logical relations a m o n g concepts. A s Nelson notes, researchers have m a n y questions about the transition from the temporal-spatial organization characteristic of younger children to the categorical and hierarchical structures found a m o n g older children. ' W h e r e does the n e w organization c o m e from?' ' W h a t is its relation to the earlier organization?' ' H o w does it influence concept formation?'

' W h a t influences does schooling have on its formation?' In posing these and related questions Nelson addresses issues that have troubled m a n y cognitive psychologists. A s Nelson asserts, ' T h e most complete theory of [cognitive] development yet proposed [that is, Piaget's] is still a theory of stage progression and not yet a theory of transformation.'

Developmental changes in knowing Keats, Collis and Halford, in Cognitive Development: A Neo-Piagetian Approach, intend to throw light on both the organization that characterizes the succeeding stages and the factors that precipitate the transitions. T h e authors' approach to these problems focuses on the information-processing capacity of each of the stages. Since all the authors share this approach the book is considerably more cohesive than Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge. T h e authors have also gone to considerable trouble to promote the reader's comprehension of their theoretical stance and the research that relates to it. T h e book opens with G . S . Halford's description of the structural approach to cognitive development, derived mainly from Piaget, although it also includes reference to other researchers. T w o parallel chapters, one by J. L . Sheppard, ' F r o m Intuitive Thought to Concrete Operations', and 'Formal O p erational Thought' by J. L . Seggie provide detailed analyses of the three Piagetian stages of thought. Each of the chapters by Sheppard and Seggie is followed b y a chapter setting forth the author's neo-Piagetian approach and the empirical studies that undergird that approach. J. A . Keats and D . M . Keats in two other chapters examine the role of language in the development of thinking, discussing Piagetian and other views, and presenting related research evidence. M i d w a y in the book and preceding the chapters dealing with formal thought G . S . Halford presents a chapter entitled 'Toward a Working Model of Piaget's Stages'. This chapter describes the stages in terms of systems of differing complexity. T h e remaining four chapters represent applications of the neo-Piagetian approach to thought in mathematics and in history. K . F . Collis describes operational thinking in elementary mathematics, drawing on his o w n exploratory studies. H e also examines implications for the teaching of mathematics. M . S . Jord discusses the nature of thinking in history and reports on an empirical study of thinking in history type material. T h e final chapter is an attempt at integration by Halford and J. A . Keats. This book's careful organization, the generally clear writing, and the thoughtful provision of a glossary

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are helpul aids to the reader of Cognitive Development. Nevertheless, the book, like m a n y chapters in Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge, and like m a n y expositions of Piagetian theory, taxes the reader's comprehension. Thinking about thinking and its development is seldom easy. In the present instance if the reader is to grasp the advantages of the neo-Piagetian approach he or she mustfirstunderstand Piaget's theory and then translate it into n e w terms. T h e authors, like Piaget, describe a stage theory of cognitive development, and label the stages cpre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational'. Their research, however, has not been designed to verify the Piagetian stages but rather to identify stages that can be distinguished by their structural properties. A cognitive structure is defined as 'information stored within the organism about relationships between elements or events'. Such structures can be represented mathematically. At the pre-operational level, cognitive structures are defined mathematically as binary relations or mappings of the form a-b. At the concrete operational level structures can be m a p p e d in the form a, b ^ c , while at the formal level the structure is a, b , c>d. T h e structural properties of the concrete operational level are described by Halford as, 'generality across the same tasks with the same form but different content, ability to draw inferences, recognition of invariance, and integration of the elements into a unified system'. T h e system remains the same regardless of the elements that m a y be involved. N o t until the level of formal operations, however, does the individual develop an awareness of systems and their invariance. T h e authors maintain that their ways of describing stages avoid the problems that are inherent in Piaget's use of the structures of the mathematical group and the semilattice. Although the research strategies of the authors differ somewhat, most involve posing problem-solving tasks that embody different structures or systems to children of differing ages. In this context it appears that children are, at least potentially, able to cope with concrete operational systems at ages somewhat younger than would be predicted by Piaget. T h e tasks, as E . A . Lunzer suggests in his foreword, m a y not represent the variety of problems children encounter in their daily living. T h e tasks also m a y not tap the kinds of structures (abstracted from the individual's actions and permanent features of the mind) that are of interest to Piaget. Despite these possible constraints on the generalizations that can be drawn from the research presented in Cognitive Development, the book contributes importantly to an understanding of what and h o w children and young people ' k n o w with'. T h e chapters

by Collis on mathematics and by Jord on history, as well as some of the research, particularly on bilingual children, described by Keats and Keats, seem more likely to be illuminating to educators than m a n y of the chapters in Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge.

Knowing at the pre-school level Neither Cognitive Development nor Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge (with the exception of the chapter by Nelson) has a great deal to say about the pre-operational level of thinking, or the pre-school years. Sheppard describes the 'intuitive stage' as one in which the pre-schooler 'lacks basic understanding', 'does not reason logically', 'lacks conservation', 'has little understanding of what measuring length can m e a n ' , and is unable 'to conceive of the whole and the part simultaneously'. This description has been typical of the Piagetian view of the pre-school period until recently w h e n Piaget and other researchers began to specify its accomplishments. Nelson says, ' T o o often w e have viewed pre-school children as deficient (prelogical preconceptual, preverbal) overlooking the real strengths and abilities they use to understand the world.' These differing views of pre-school children, one looking more to what they will become, the other focused on what they are, are reflected in the studies reported in International Research in Early Childhood Education. M a n y studies are attempts to improve the cognitive functioning (as measured by I Q or later school achievement) of children through some kind of educational intervention in their pre-school years. In most instances the programmes that have evolved are directed to children w h o are poor in order to 'compensate for sociocultural handicaps'. Programmes differ in the extent to which they try to build on the interests of the children, or in a more directed and structured w a y to stimulate cognitive processes. T h e results from studies comparing different programmes are often equivocal. In Australia, for example, the Bereiter-Engelmann programme, probably the most highly structured and directive prog r a m m e available, proved superior to the more typical 'free play' programme in some, but not all, c o m parisons. In the Netherlands and Scandinavia researchers have also been interested in the effects of more structured approaches but the emphasis has been on modifying the teacher's role rather than using programmes designed elsewhere as models. In the Federal Republic of G e r m a n y , interest in early environmental stimulation appears to have led to a call for pre-school reform, and the recommendation

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that the age for school entrance should be 5 years. Research is n o w under way to determine whether the effects of this earlier education are better w h e n the 5-year-olds are admitted as a homogeneous group to the elementary school or w h e n they become part of a heterogeneous kindergarten group including 3- and 4-year-olds. In G e r m a n y research has also investigated the possibility that early instruction in reading m a y result in increased intelligence. So far it appears that any gains m a d e by a group instructed early are quickly matched by the group that doesn't receive instruction until entering regular school. O n the other hand) early instruction has not appeared to be detrimental to other aspects of development. Israel also reports experimentation with early reading instruction, conceived mainly as a tool for training cognitive skills rather than as an end itself. In the U S S R , where compulsory schooling does not begin until the age of 7, research is n o w concentrating on the preparation of pre-school children for school work. Experimental programmes are under w a y dealing with reading, mathematics, language and with basic concepts. T h e emerging perspectives correspond with Nelson's view of cognitive development: c T h e pre-school child can learn m u c h . But if he is to be well taught, it must not be forgotten that he is still little, that his powers are still limited, that he has a different emotional state of m i n d , and that he has strictly childlike needs and interests.'

Sociocultural aspects of knowing M a n y countries, particularly those where equality of opportunity for ethnic minorities is an issue, have not limited their experimentation and research to the provision of pre-school programmes. Rather they have tried, in various ways, to reach the parents, particularly the mothers, of the children. In Belgium, for example, researchers investigated the effects of maternal attitudes on the development of children aged 9 months to 2 years. Israeli researchers examined the ways mothers speak to their infants and young children to see h o w the mother's speech affected the children's language development. Israel also has several programmes involving intervention in the h o m e . In the Netherlands an ongoing experimental study is designed to influence the behaviour of mothers towards their babies and to see h o w it affects the child's exploration. In Australia a n u m b e r of programmes have at-

tempted to meet the special needs of Aboriginal children. T h e Aboriginal Family Education Centres and other family-oriented approaches are especially interesting. T h e y emphasize the importance of enhancing parental self-confidence and self-concept to raise the morale and the achievement of the child. Reflection on the experience of those w h o have attempted this leads one writer to specify a dilemma that is posed to educationists. A s this reviewer sees it, this dilemma also has implications that go far beyond the problem of Aboriginal education. T h e dilemma is: 'Adequate cognitive development to enable Aboriginal children to meet the demands of white culture m a y be achieved by either the total destruction of the Aboriginal culture, with all its richness, or by its persistence, or recovery, in its most fully integrated form.' T h e Australian educationists whose work is reported see no middle way out of the dilemma. Neither Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge nor Cognitive Development has a great deal to offer for the resolution of the dilemma. T h e dilemma applies n o less to m a n y ethnic minorities in m a n y countries than to the Aboriginals. T h e chapters by Case and Nelson in Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge and the work of Keats and Keats with bilingual children as described in Cognitive Development are all instructive but they also point to h o w m u c h more w e need to k n o w about the ways of knowing before w e can hope for adequate schooling for all children. ' K n o w i n g that' and 'knowing h o w ' m a y be undergirded by cognitive processes that are identical for all h u m a n beings, despite tremendous variation in the content of what is k n o w n and in what one knows h o w to do. Perhaps the critical process is that involved in 'knowing with'. There is no reason to believe that the potential for 'knowing with' is not also universally shared. Yet this capacity seems to have received less attention a m o n g cognitive researchers than have the other ways of knowing. In general, too, schooling seems less well adapted to the promotion of 'knowing with', than to 'knowing that' and perhaps also ' k n o w ing h o w ' . This reviewer wonders whether greater attention to the content of what children come to school knowing and to what they k n o w h o w to d o , is not essential. Perhaps only w h e n schools value what children k n o w and can do can they effectively help in the acquisition of structures for 'knowing with'.
MILLIE A L M Y

University of California Berkeley (United States)

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Recent studies by the International Institute for Educational Planning ( H E P ) on the relationship between the development of higher education and the employment of graduates

Bikas C . Sanyal, John H . Case, Philip S. D o w and M a r y E . Jackman, Higher Education and the Labour Market in Zambia: Expectations and Performance, Paris, the Unesco Press and the University of Zambia, 1978. Bikas C . Sanyal and Michael J. Kinunda, Higher Education for Self-reliance: The Tanzanian Experience, Paris, H E P , 1977. Bikas C . Sanyal and A d a m Jozefowicz (eds.), Graduate Employment and Planning of Higher Education in Poland, Paris, H E P , 1978. For some years n o w the International Institute for Educational Planning has been engaged in a research project designed to explore the relationship between the development of higher education and the e m ployment market. At the outset, this project, directed by Bikas C . Sanyal, was focused on the developing countries; accordingly initial studies dealt successively with three African countries, the Sudan, Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. But it soon became apparent that an extension of thefieldof comparison would be advantageous. Sanyal therefore turned his attention to a developed socialist country, Poland, where the existence of an integrated planning structure for the economy and the training system, accompanied by a policy of full employment and the reduction of income disparities, directly affects the nature of the linkage between higher education and employment and the way in which it operates. Studies under w a y or already completed (but not yet published) confirm this trend towards geographical and economic extension dealing, as they do, with the Philippines, Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, the Federal Republic of G e r m a n y and the U S S R . T h e first study in this programme, that of the Sudan, was discussed in these columns by Abdel Aziz el Koussy in 1976. W e shall, then, concern ourselves with the three other studies published; but in order to broaden the scope of the conclusions that m a y be drawn, a number of references will be m a d e to the study on the Sudan for purposes of comparison with those dealing with Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. T h e study on Poland, since it has original characteristics and very specific features, will be examined in the second part. T h e studies on the Sudan, Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania are virtually identical in structure and have a c o m m o n purpose. In all three cases, the intention is to examine the extent to which higher education has contributed to socio-economic development, by means of the knowledge, aptitudes and attitudes it has transmitted to its graduates. In order to do this, the authorsfirstplace higher education within the general context of the education system, the economy and society. T h e y then compare the flow rate of graduates in each specialization with the present and future needs of the economy, on the basis of available statistical data. Finally they compare, by means of three surveys carried out directly in the field, students' expectations, the situation of graduates and the wishes of employers. This is an ambitious undertaking, and it leads its authors well beyond their limited initial objective. But the desire to describe the economic and social structures of a country and their development over the last twenty years, in a few dozen pages, comes u p against two problems that the authors have not quite been able to avoid, despite their meticulous approach. T h e y do, indeed, highlight the tremendous obstacles which from the outset hampered the economic take-off of these two countries immediately after independence, i.e. an agricultural system split between a subsistence sector involving the greater part of the population and a plantation sector geared to external interests and dominated by foreigners; very limited industrial activity mostly connected with the exploitation of natural resources for export; extremely inadequate communication infrastructures unsuited to the internal development of the country; an enormous shortage of indigenous qualified m a n p o w e r and the virtual monopoly of key positions by foreigners; a runaway population growth rate. T h e y show the measures taken to overcome these obstacles and, in particular, the magnitude of the effort m a d e as regards training, considered as a prerequisite for development. However, they are compelled on the one hand to be extremely brief and allusive on important points, and, on the other, to rely on statistical data of questionable validity and frequently lacking in consistency. Let us take two examples of this. In the case of

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Zambia, the evolution of copper production and price fluctuations have a considerable influence on growth through the external trade balance. Yet this point is dealt with in a few lines on page 42 and in such a way that the figures given in Table 8 are incomprehensible, and appear to contradict the text. In the case of the United Republic of Tanzania, nofigureconcerning population growth rates is provided and there is n o justification for this omission. Comparison of the flow of graduates with the needs of the economy leads the authors to consideration of the forecasting methods for m a n p o w e r requirements and to projections of future enrolment rates. T h e ingenious w a y in which these calculations are carried out and the clarity of the presentation methods and results are indeed commendable. T h e conclusions warrant examination. In the case of Zambia, they are not, atfirstsight, surprising; w e find both heavy unemployment affecting the largely unskilled labour force and a shortage of qualified personnel; forecasts show the persistence of these imbalances until 1980 1 as well as relative improvement in the supply of graduates. In the case of the United Republic of Tanzania the conclusions are m u c h more surprising. Indeed, the authors note first of all the very satisfactory functioning of planning methods in the past, with usually no more than a 2 per cent difference between the n u m b e r of graduates supplied by the higher education system on the one hand and m a n p o w e r requirements on the other, and a difference of barely 10 per cent at the very most. But w h e n applying the same methods in respect of future requirements, they record the clear incapacity of the education system to meet estimated needsbetween 1975 and 1980 only 63 per cent of the requirements for Category A science-based m a n p o w e r (higher education graduates) are likely to be met; for Category A arts-based m a n p o w e r the figure is 70 per cent, and in the case of Category B personnel (two or three years of higher training), 66 per cent. This divergence cannot be immediately explained because there is no reason w h y methods whose validity has been proved in the past should suddenly be shown to be extremely inefficient. However, thorough study of the text reveals both the reasons for this apparent lack of coherence and the problems created by the use of such methods. T h e divergence in results is explained, in fact, by the use of a different technique in calculating student and graduate flows in the past and for the future. In the past, indeed, if w e have understood the text correctly (p. 137) the Ministry of M a n p o w e r D e velopment first estimated manpower needs which were then passed to the university authorities w h o had to plan intakes on the basis of these objectives

and the internal efficiency of the education system. T h e almost perfect matching of the output of the education system with the needs of the economy merely indicated, therefore, the effectiveness with which the higher education system was able to control its internal efficiency. O n the other hand, forecasts of future flows are m a d e by the authors on the basis of past flows and can easily give results which do not exactly match estimated needs. Nevertheless it is difficult to see w h y such imbalances are likely to develop so rapidly w h e n the authors carry out 'linear' forecasts, i.e. forecasts based on the constancy in time of the structural characteristics of the economy (maintenance of the structure according to level of qualification observed at the outset in each branch of activity, maintenance of the relationship between employment growth rate and G D P growth rate in each branch of activity). Moreover, if w e take into consideration the additional fact that the data concerning manpower are set out in afive-digitcode whose significance is questioned even in the industrially developed countries, w e m a y legitimately wonder what exactly is the value of such calculations, based as they are on very vague and sometimes completely arbitrary data and on the hypothesis that economies, which are only just emerging from the pre-industrial era and are affected by numerous imbalances and a lack of co-ordination, are going to be able to expand without far-reaching structural change. In spite of the precautions taken by the authors and their warning regarding the imprecise nature of the data and the findings, in our view they are over-optimistic about the possibility of applying simple education planning methods based on m a n p o w e r requirements in the United Republic of Tanzania, inasmuch as the needs of the economy as well as the assignment of graduates are determined by the authorities. Conversely, the pessimistic conclusions concerning Zambia could be justified only if based on reliablefiguresand if the hypotheses of the model were verified, particularly those concerning the stability of the manpower structures. O n e last point should be mentioned concerning the analysis of the development of higher education. O n several occasions, the authors of the two studies emphasize the vital role which higher education should play in development through the creation of a highly qualified labour force, and also the need for its rapid expansion. Noting, furthermore, a n u m b e r of geographical imbalances, they recommend (Tanzanian Study, p. 313) or warmly approve (Zambian Study, p. 124) the creation of n e w establishments other than in the capital. But they give no indication of the cost per student, or rather, w h e n they do, figures are shown in local currency, and no comparisons are m a d e

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or conclusions drawn. Data available at Unesco indicate that at roughly the time these studies were carried out, the average cost per student in Africa, for operating costs alone, was $2,958 whereas in North America it was only $2,662, in Europe $1,346, $757 in Latin America, and $556 in Asia. These figures show that both the United Republic of Tanzania with $4,709 and Zambia with $3,780 were well above the African average. Such abnormally high costs are mainly due to the existence of an excessively large n u m b e r of institutions that are too small. This recommendation by the authors therefore seems to us to be potentially dangerous at a time w h e n the needs of primary education are immense. It should at least be m u c h more thoroughly substantiated and probably limited to certain categories of graduates. T h e last part of the studies, given over to comparisons of students' expectations, the situation of graduates and the wishes of employers, is the most original and, in some ways, the most instructive. F r o m the students' standpoint, it can be seen that grants do not constitute any real incentive to pursue higher education. T h e authors conclude from this that the government policy of career guidance by means offinancialaid cannot be effective. But as it appears that in the two countries in question all students admitted to higher education receive aid providing for the complete financing of their studies, these students m a y not fully realize the problem of cost and are therefore inclined to attach to it less importance than it deserves. W e m a y also note the importance of potential employment openings in the choice m a d e by students, and, hence, the small n u m ber of those w h o pursue higher education for its o w n sake. Atfirstsight, future earnings do not seem to be an important determining factor in the d e m a n d for higher education in Tanzania. But w h e n w e realize, first, the magnitude of the civic training effort designed to inculcate in students the conviction that they are paid by the nation in order to place themselves at its service, and w h e n , furthermore, w e see that students are all the more ready to respond to this, since they expect to earn considerably more later on, their apparent lack of financial motivation m a y be interpreted in a slightly different way. A m o n g the mass of information supplied by these surveys w e m a y note the important correlation between the frequency of changes in thefieldof study and the extent to which initial studies and the desires of the student fail to coincide. Here again w e find the difficulties encountered by the centralized planning of higher education, whatever the political regime m a y be. It is n o great surprise to see, either, that graduates are not particularly keen on taking u p employment in rural areas. It is more surprising, h o w -

ever, to note that even in the United Republic of Tanzania where career guidance is very closely m o d elled on estimated m a n p o w e r requirements, the m a jority of those w h o wished to pursue careers in the health sector did not achieve their objective. Finally, the employers indicate that their main recruitment criterion is academic performance and that they generally find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to establish the correspondence between the characteristics of the post to be filled and those of the training received. This would tend to bear out the screening theory, in the form given to it by Michael Spence in his signalling model. 2 Indeed, this author puts forward the hypothesis that the employer cannot k n o w beforehand the performance of any individual in a given post and therefore has to fall back on the use of criteria such as the level of training. But replies to other questions, both from employers and from graduates, show clearly that in the eyes of those concerned this does not m e a n that the question of the training received is irrelevant. These studies are not, then, devoid of problems. O n e could perhaps accuse them of being too ambitious and, hence, of falling short of expectations on several points. But they have two merits which far outweigh their shortcomings. First, they provide a mine of information, by and large well presented and easy for the planner to use, in an area where only scattered data, often difficult to obtain, generally existed. Secondly, and perhaps most important of all, they constitute a point of departure because they have enabled research units to be set u p on the spot, in accordance with the aims of the Institute's work. T h e study on Poland differs from the others in two respects: First, it is entirely based, as far as its information is concerned, on data compiled by official organizations or research institutes in Poland. Unlike the other examples, it did not involve a survey devised and conducted by llP personnel. Secondly, it constitutes a project carried out jointly by the IIEP and the Institute of Science Policy, T e c h nical Progress and Higher Education ( I S T P H E ) in W a r s a w , the latter body playing an important direct and indirect role (research findings), and the IIEP representative dealing m o r e especially with organization and synthesis. This study, then, has a m o r e national character and is not entirely devoid of an element of selfjustification. However, this in n o way detracts from the quality of the work accomplished or from the value of the information that has been assembled. T h e first chapter gives a clear description of the socio-economic framework. It effectively highlights the problems of an agricultural system which is still

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dominated by individual peasant farming where there is considerable reluctance to accept technical innovation. It stresses, quite rightly, the pace of industrialization and the rapid development in the training level of the labour force. Nevertheless it is regrettable that certain difficulties, which are a very real part of the Polish economy, have hardly been mentioned (for instance the magnitude of the external debt vis--vis the Western countries) or completely ignored (such as the inability to achieve any substantial expansion of collective farming). T h e second chapter, following the plan adopted in the preceding studies, deals with the relationship between the training system and m a n p o w e r needs. T h e authors show clearly both the evolution of the situation and the shortcomings of the planning methods. O r particular interest is the description of the transformation in these methods from the days w h e n the 'parallel' planning of education and of the economy took no account of m a n p o w e r needs (which were not clearly identified) u p to the time of systematic comparison, region by region and branch by branch, of qualified m a n p o w e r requirements with the anticipated output of the educational system over a period of ten years. Examination of the methods used to detect imbalances between qualification requirements and the supply of graduates is also very well conducted from a critical angle. But it is only by reading between the lines or by going on to the following chapters that one is able to see h o w such detailed planning is in practice virtually impossible, in Poland or anywhere else. T h e third chapter, devoted to the development of higher education, rightly emphasizes the cultural aim of education and the need to provide sound general training rather than a narrow specialization, showing by this very fact the danger of modelling the growth of the various education sectors on m a n p o w e r requirements defined on the basis of purely technical criteria. T h e description of the development of the education system is very explicit except on two points. First, the place and exact role of the 'post-matriculation, schools' which are to cater for pupils on completion of basic instruction (which, for that matter, is wrongly termed secondary education in the report) are not clearly shown. After reading the report, one is not sure whether these schools will give direct access to university, without competitive entry examinations, or whether it will be possible for students to apply for higher education places without having attended these schools, should they not be winners of the so-called 'educational olympiads'. T h e other obscure point concerns the development of higher education enrolments. T h e report mentions the need to reduce the rate of increase before the end

of the 1980s (p. 146), but the figures quoted d o not indicate any marked slowing d o w n . T h e expected doubling of numbers between 1990 and 2000 is, moreover, in contradiction with recent forecasts in the majority of countries and difficult to justify on the basis of estimates for highly qualified m a n p o w e r needs. In our opinion the most stimulating chapter is the fourth, which deals with the d e m a n d for higher education on the part of students and its determining factors. T h e authors examine here the influence of personal and family characteristics on the students' chances of gaining access to higher education, of succeeding in the career they choose and on what they expect from this training. A s far as admission to higher education is concerned, it is clearly emphasized (p. 155 in particular) that despite the very active policy designed to ensure equality of opportunity being implemented by the authorities, a very unequal proportion of children from the different socio-economic groups sit the university entrance examinations. Such inequalities are attributed to the influence of the family background, which shapes career expectations, and to geographical factors which partially govern chances of access to general secondary education and the university. T h e picture presented by the authors of the success of different groups within the higher education system is considerably less clear. Let us take three examples of points which remain obscure: In the space of a few lines, w e readfirstthat success in the entrance examination is related to the family and geographical background, and, further below that the rate of success is identical for all groups. T h e authors initially present as a scientifically founded fact the view that educational aptitude and intelligence do not depend on social origins; they then explain that the apparent equality as regards success in the entrance examination is due to the fact that only the most able children from modest origins apply. N o w if only the most intelligent of these children come into competition with those of the 'middle' classes and do not enjoy any greater success than they do, this implies that average aptitude is lower in the working-class population. This is a very important point, for studies carried out in capitalist countries show clearly that academic success in the educational system as it is organized varies according to social origin, which sometimes leads to the conclusion that 'capitalist' education is designed to favour children from the 'bourgeoisie'. Observation of the same p h e n o m enon in a socialist country would thus lead to the challenging of the entire education system.

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T h e authors atfirstappear to assert that academic success is the same for all groups (p. 157) and then that it depends, at least in the initial years of study, on social origin (p. 159). It is therefore to be hoped that research in this field will be continued and developed with the twin aim of facilitating the interpretation of data and of enabling comparisons with different political and social structures to be m a d e . T h e last chapter concerning access to employment and the assessment of higher education by graduates and employers is full of very useful information. It shows that the placement system used is, on the whole, satisfactory and that it is sufficientlyflexibleto cater for changing circumstances and different types of situations. T h e authors point out, however, that geographical balance has not yet been achieved; in their view the disparities noted would be considerably reduced if allowance could be m a d e for the unequal development levels of different regions and the variety of their socio-economic functions. Even if this remark is found to be valid, it should be noted that job mobility a m o n g n e w graduates is

considerably increased by the fact that they are often sent to regions far from their place of residence; this shows clearly the difficulties encountered by a planned, but non-coercive policy of m a n p o w e r placement. T o s u m u p , it m a y be said that the study on Poland despite certain shortcomings and ambiguities, is a clear, penetrating and well-documented survey; it not only supplies information but provides material for reflection which should take the reader beyond the limits of this article.
JEAN-CLAUDE EICHER

Institute for Research in the Economics of Education University of Dijon Notes 1. O n the other hand, the existence side by side of shortages and of unemployment among certain categories of graduates, as was recorded in the Sudan, is not observed here. This is encouraging and may reflect the greater importance of the parastatal sector which offers more security of employment than the private sector. 2. See M . Spence, 'Job Market Signalling', Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1973.

Marie Eliou, La Formation de la Conscience Nationale en Rpublique Populaire du Congo, Paris, Anthropos, 1977, 415 p .

Marie Eliou's work describes the ways in which education can help to mould national consciousness in the People's Republic of the C o n g o . In the introduction, the author states the aim of her work as being cto examine, in the context of the C o n g o , the education process in its dialectical relations with the formation of national consciousness' (p. 11). W h a t do the terms, 'national consciousness' and 'education' signify? W h a t realities do they refer to? C a n they be applied to African States that have undergone particular forms of growth? Is national consciousness formed in China, the U S S R or France, in the same w a y as in post-colonial Africa? W h a t are the similarities and differences? W h e r e can education be classified a m o n g the elements that go to m a k e u p a nation? If it comes under culture, to what extent can an education system 'transplanted with its structures and its operation' fit perfectly into a country's cultural heritage and serve as a foundation for, and a means of strengthening, the collective identity of a people? Does not the formation of national consciousness go beyond the restricted field of educational techniques? C a n one assess the role of the State in this problem area?

Marie Eliou starts by tackling the definition of concepts. First, the term 'nation' whose constituent elements she identifies as territory, language, economic life, history and culture. T h e concatenation of these different links gives rise to 'national consciousness, the unifying force above all others . . . the central pivot around which the nation is built' (p. 11). In the case of the C o n g o , the territory is a colonial creation which became an entity after independence and which contains m e n and w o m e n from different cultural and historical backgrounds. T h e language in use, that of the colonizer, carries patterns of thought foreign to the people concerned. History, which is not confined to 'unification in the face of various types of oppression', demands a different perception of peoples in spite of the universalist tendency that advocates homogeneity. T h e culture of each of these different populations constitutes the richest source of differences. Marie Eliou organizes her field of investigation around the school, whose role is 'to give value to the cultural heritage of the community, to ensure that its dissemination is as extensive and as meaningful as possible, and to give life to the linking mechanism

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operating between the constituent elements of national consciousness' (p. 32). In what way do these two groupings (nation and education) illustrate these 'dialectical relations', and crystallize into national consciousness? Marie Eliou replies to these questions in three chapters.

Congolese national consciousness T h e author begins her study with an expos o n Congolese national consciousness. She begins b y putting forward two standpoints: the C o n g o seen as a nation and the C o n g o presented as a multinational State. T h e bases she chooses are participation in a c o m m o n historical experience and economic life. T h e European penetration in thefifteenthcentury and, later, Brazza's arrival led to different reactions on the part of local populations. Those on the coast maintained their traditional economic channels; the Batks took refuge in their tradition; the M'boshi showed their distrust of the invaders. However, the most significant reactions were seen in religion, with the birth of various sects, and then in the emergence of trade unionism, which very quickly became aware of the ill effects of colonization. Economic life, strongly influenced by the colonial administration and the construction of the C o n g o Ocean railway, represented exploitation in spite of the fact that workers were organized and that its establishment offered undoubted economic advantages. T h e colonial administration and the drawing u p of the Congolese Labour Party's programmes were, however, two distinct realities, and presented neither the same advantages nor the same motives for the formation of national consciousness. T h e author explains this remark by showing h o w m a n y obstacles there were, namely ethnic (and therefore, linguistic and cultural) differences throughout the whole State, as created; economic and social disparities which strengthened ethnic differences; the economic structure being in a state of dependence; cultural dependence continuing and aggravating economic dependence. In this context, tribute must be paid to Marie Eliou for her analysis and classification of Congolese literature. She brings to light a host of ideas put forward by writers, ideas which refer, inter alia, to national identity. T h e main themes still had to take definite shape, nevertheless, and the people and the State, politically and economically strong, had to be able to accept and integrate them, using one of their principal instruments, education. This is where the difficulty mentioned at the beginning comes to the fore. T h e African pre-colonial and

colonial past, in its infinite variety, differs from the Russian, French or Greek past, and did not allow collective consciousness to be moulded to any degree whatsoever. T h e colonial period, with its very locally circumscribed measures, was a particular situation which maintained disparities, a useful division as far as colonial policy was concerned, membership of religious movements remaining restricted to certain ethnic areas. Today, however, in the context of a politically unified sovereign State, the trade-union movements are progressing beyond mere ethnic reactions to mobilize the country as a whole. Although, in Africa, the State precedes the nation, its importance remains paramount. According to its objectives, its political and social policies and its basic ideology, the sovereign State defines the kind of citizen absolutely necessary to the country's development, and then goes on to describe the type of education required for his training. According to Marie Eliou, the Congolese State shows signs of a genuine political will to define such a citizen and to set u p the right type of education required for his training. If the 'school of the people' became a reality, it would be an expression of this political will often voiced in speeches.

Education as a hindrance Nipped in the bud, the 'school of the people' has not yet seen the light of day. T h e education system still in existence is that inherited from colonial times. A m o n g all the obstructive forces that the author believes are responsible for this state of affairs, four deserve particular attention. First, the 'transplanted' system. Decree 67/62 of M a r c h 1962 and, later, the measures taken in 1972 put the seal of approval on the system inherited from France, a system unsuitable for a developing country and which leads to an enormous drop-out rate. T h e system adopted being that of an industrialized country, it presupposes 'objectives in line with the level of development of those societies' (p. 153). Secondly, the m e d i u m of instruction is still French. All efforts (e.g. a catechism in Kikongo in the sixteenth century and a grammar in the seventeenth century) have proved fruitless. Deeply rooted prejudices encourage the ideology for which the educational system serves as a vehicle, and present the colonizer's language as the language par excellence. Refuting the usual stereotyped objections about m u l tiplicity and choice, Marie Eliou proposes that African languages should be introduced into the educational system. It is necessary for decision-makers and linguists to work together, because national language problems are so important that they should

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not be left to linguists alone, as they sometimes tend to consider modern languages in the same light as the ancient Indo-European languages. Thirdly, the baccalaurat is still the most outstanding relic of the colonial system. It has encouraged the cult of the certificate and has fostered the rise of a privileged class. Finally, the greatest obstruction is the ideology that is in fact transmitted by the educational system, which is too highly valued due to 'the conviction that the French language and culture are superior and that therefore African languages and cultures are inferior' (p. 162). T o the actual risks involved in this type of education (questionable utilitarianism, cultural a m nesia, problems of identity, loss of culture, cultural emigration) should be added paternalism, a source of collective irresponsibility that the author could have mentioned. Although education does prove beneficial in some respects by training the mind, passing o n a certain type of knowledge, and preparing the individual for a job, the ideology, implicit or explicit, that it conveys leads to the inevitable acquisition of clichs and stereotypes that are extremely dangerous to national identity.

Education as a factor T h e ideology imprint is scarcely diminishing at all, even though individuals m a y emancipate themselves from the transplanted structures, because, as Marie Eliou observes, 'both the knowledge transferred and the patterns of education and training are, in general, foreign to the country and the school is therefore never completely isolated' (p. 250). T h e acquisition of knowledge is an undoubted means of liberation and brings with it 'emancipation, dignity and the confirmation of ability'. However, these efforts seem to be directed to the outside world, as if to show the former colonizers that the Congolese, too, can pursue courses of study identical to theirs. N o w that the stage of searching for identity has been passed, in what w a y can the country's emancipation and the education of the lite help the people w h o expect something specific to result from these two victories? Marie Eliou replies that 'the authorities . . . have to contend with a major contradiction: trying to fit an education foreign in origin into the process of nation building' (p. 251). T h e 'Congolization' of the curricula resembles the grafting of tissue from a healthy body on to a sick one, an expedient that solves nothing and which, in the long run, will lead spontaneously to the rejection of the grafted tissue. Establishing the 'school of the people' constitutes the basic

and radical principle of any n e w vision of Congolese society. A s A b d o u Diouf, Senegal's Prime Minister, stated in a symposium on information: ' T o r n within themselves and in their traditional solidarities by the structures colonization had imposed o n them, Africans, o n the attainment of independence, were given the opportunity to become part of a stable society, which in some respects was n e w to them: a nation. In ten years, national feeling has m a d e enorm o u s progress, hardly imaginable w h e n one thinks of the centuries the old countries took to achieve the same result.1 In a remarkably well documented book, Marie Eliou has stated very clearly the hazards of a transplanted system of education guided by an ideology that falsifies local values and based o n an unsuitable system. T h e author proposes an extensive structural reform which should not stop at a superficial process of Africanization or at a mere revision of curricula, but should try to determine exactly what kind of Congolese citizen education is to produce and then to establish the appropriate system of education. Like most other African countries, the C o n g o shows clear signs of the birth of national consciousness. H o w e v e r , as the survey carried out a m o n g students at teachertraining colleges showed, this consciousness depends on factors that sometimes lie outside thefieldof education. O n e m a y have misgivings about the bipolar method of exposition used by the author, which shows the 'hindrances' and 'obstacles' as of more decisive i m portance than the 'bases' and 'factors'. T h e difficulty seems to stem from the fact that the essay is the result, at one and the same time, of a wish and of an analysis of actual situations in the People's Republic of the C o n g o . Apart from this reservation, one can only agree with the author in her belief that, given the right conditions, an integrated system of education can be the driving force behind the moulding of national consciousness in so far as it can create n e w myths and a n e w ideology around which a people's aspirations can take shape and its national consciousness assert itself.
KAWATA ASHEM T E M

Assistant lecturer at the National University of Zaire

Note 1. Paper presented by Abdou Diouf at a meeting on mass media viewed by statesmen, in Sngal a"'Aujourd'hui (undated), p. 14.

257

Economic Aspects of Special Education

Czechoslovakia, N e w Zealand, United States of America
(Special education)
It is estimated that about 10 per cent of any population is handicapped, and yet this group is often overlooked by educational plannerssometimes because of a lack of k n o w - h o w as regards special facilities, sometimes because of economic considerations. This publication describes h o w three countriesCzechoslovakia, N e w Zealand and the United States of Americadeal with the economic aspects of special education. The studies examine not only the costs involved in providing special education for the handicapped but especially the benefits to be derived from it. The conclusion that emerges is that care and training of the handicapped is not only a moral obligation but can, in the long run, offer incontestable advantages to society. This work will be of value to policy makers, educational planners and school administrators, psychologists, social workers, as well as the families of handicapped young people. 1978 152 p. 2 4 French francs

(uresoo

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION

UNESCO INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION HAMBURG
XXIV/1978/4 General Number

MAINARJTCLES
RichardM. Merelman and Charles R. Foster Political Culture and Education in Advanced Industrial Societies: West Germany and the United States Rivka Herzlich L'attitude et la motivation des lves israliens dans l'apprentissage dufranais, seconde langue trangre Ernesto Schiefelbein Educational Research Networks in Latin America Coimn L. Huallachain Languages of Instruction in Ireland 1904-1977 Notes and Book Reviews Queries concerning special orders and offprints should be sent direct to the publishers: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers P.O. Box 442 The Hague Netherlands

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Contents of preceding issues

Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1978

Hans N . Weiler Towards a political economy of educational planning M . N . Skatkin and V. V. Kraevsky Research into the art of teaching in the U S S R , and ways of applying its findings in practice Viewpoints and controversies Thomas Forstenzer Economic crisis, universities and students in Western Europe Elements for a dossier: Development and education in Latin America Vicente Lema and Angel D . Mrquez What kind of development and which education? Germn W. Rama T h e Project for Development and Education in Latin America and the Caribbean Germn W. Rama Education, social structure and styles of development Gregorio Weinberg Educational models in the historical development of Latin America Carlos Filgueira Educational development and social stratification in Latin America (1960-1970) Abner Prada Towards a realistic approach to rural education Norberto Fernndez Lamarra and Ins Aguerrondo S o m e thoughts on educational planning in Latin America Trends and cases Birger Fredriksen Progress towards universal primary education in developing countries: a statistical review B . T. Likhatchev Development of the theory and practice of aesthetic education in the schools of U S S R

Peter J. Fensham Stockholm to Tbilisithe evolution of environmental education Leopoldo Chiappo Environmental education and the Third World Daniel Vidart Environmental educationtheory and practice Antonio Moroni Interdisciplinarity and environmental education William B . Stapp A n instructional model for environmental education Vladimir S. Romanov Environmental education and professional training Victor O. Ibikunle Johnson International co-operation for environmental education Trends and cases Lawrence D . Carrington Education in four Caribbean States Vijaya Mulay T h e Teacher in the Sky

Vol. IX, No. 1, 1979

Yves Deforge Systems of knowledge production and acquisition Czes/aw Kupisiewicz School reforms in the industrialized countries: trends and contradictions Viewpoints and controversies O. W. Ford Recurrent education for employment and industrial relations: an Australian viewpoint Elements for a dossier: Democratizing higher education Jean-Claude Passeron Democratizing of higher education in Europe: a retrospective view Gyrgy dm Democratization of higher education through admission policies NikSa Nikola Soljan Educational needs and the philosophy of democratization in higher education in Yugoslavia G. R . V. Mmari Admission of mature students into the University of Dar es Salaam Carlos Tnnermann Bernheim T h e problem of democratizing higher education in Latin America Ela Dutt Luithui Education, unemployment and youth unrest: the South Asian syndrome Herv Carrier Will lifelong education democratize universities? Trends and cases Juan Carlos Tedesco Education and employment: the case of the industrial sector in Argentina

Vol. VIII, N o . 4, 1978

Betty Reardon Disarmament and peace education Helen D . Fessas-Emmanouil W h y integrate educational and community facilities? Viewpoints and controversies Luden Morin and Blaise Balmer Socialization or sociability of the child? Elements for a dossier: Educating for a better environment Ignacy Sachs Environment and developmentkey concepts for a n e w approach to education