Audit of Resources

Introduction

The Audit of Formal Sector Development Education Resources was carried out between May and July 1999. The findings of the research were presented to DFID in the form of a report, of which this is a summary.

Objectives of the Audit

The main objective of the Audit was to provide an overview both of the development education resources (written, electronic and human) available to teachers and teacher education establishments in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland; and of the processes which enable development education to be successfully integrated into schools. In order to achieve this, the Audit was asked to identify: how teachers source materials; areas of strengths and weakness/ overlap and gap within current resource provision; and the relevance of resources to curricula across the UK. DFID’s intention was that the Audit should provide the basis for a rapid follow up assessment of resource availability and suitability in relation to the new curriculums for England and subsequent changes in the other home countries.

Methodology

The following research methods were used in order to complete the Audit:

• Application of existing research: This included research undertaken within the DE field as well as other educational research into usage of educational resources generally.
• Focus group meetings: One meeting was held in each country.
• Questionnaires: A questionnaire was sent out to all DEA members, plus other known organisations. The questionnaire comprised Audit Form 1 (about the organisation) and Audit Form 2 (about materials). Audit Form 2 was also sent to commercial publishers.
• Field visits: On-site interviews were held with staff in 14 educational institutions in the four countries, leading to the production of Case Studies.
• Consultation: A Summary of the main findings was circulated to all Focus Group attenders for comment.

The Databases

The main output required of the Audit was an overview of DE resources (human and material) available to the formal sector. This overview was provided in the form of two Databases which were presented along with the Audit Report.

• The ‘Materials’ Database contains all the education materials submitted to the Audit. It contains many of the materials published by DE organisations, but lacks some materials produced by commercial publishers due to a poor response from that sector.
• The ‘Organisations’ Database captures information about all responding organisations. Most of the DE organisations which work in depth with the formal sector are present.

Curriculum opportunities for DE in the UK

Curriculum opportunities for DE are currently evolving as all four jurisdictions are at various stages of undergoing revisions to their curricula, each searching for greater coherence. All four curricula are looking to place a greater emphasis on sustainable development education and citizenship/community education, and there is also a greater recognition of the importance of the global context and human rights. Another feature of each curriculum is the increasing importance being given to core skills and attitudes or dispositions. However, approaches to all these areas of the curriculum and the degree of emphasis and importance given to each area varies significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Up to the age of 14 there are many opportunities in all jurisdictions for DE which are either explicit or implied in all curricula. However, the post 14 options systems in each jurisdiction preclude many students from encountering DE, even in its broadest sense, since the main vehicle for DE is geography or modern studies. Opportunities post 16 are even harder to identify due to the variations in the curriculum and to the greater focus of subjects.

Material Resources

Materials resources are important because they have the potential to show teachers how DE can be introduced to their curriculum area where previously they saw no relevance. When teachers acquire DE materials, research has shown that they tend to regard them highly and find that they meet their needs well, both pedagogically and curriculum-wise. The Audit concluded that DE materials are needed and they are, on the whole, relevant to the curricula for which they are intended.

That said, previous research undertaken by the DEA has shown that DE organisations do not generally carry out impact evaluation [DEA Evaluation Report: Summary of Key Findings, DEA, 1998]. Research is currently under way to identify performance indicators [Measuring the Effectiveness of Development Education, DEA], which would help practitioners to measure the extent to which materials help to achieve their DE objectives and raise standards in schools.

Another possible source of concern is the lack of market research carried out by DE organisations. Of those organisations which replied to the Audit’s Form 1, only 22.6% of respondents which published materials always undertook market research to identify need for new materials, and over 40% stated that they only sometimes or never did so.

One useful initiative is the DEA’s List of Planned Development Education Publications which informs all DEA members not only of publications about to be published but also about those in the pipeline for publication in the years ahead. This is an attempt to co-ordinate the publications work of its members by seeking to reduce duplication caused by ignorance of other organisations’ work and plans.

Availability of material resources

In all four countries, there is a sense that there is no general lack of DE materials. However, in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, there is a desire for more materials which have a local reference (rather than an English one), and for materials to be better structured and labelled to make allowances for the different curricula for which they are targeted. Other specific gaps identified were a general lack of materials for Science, Maths and Modern Languages and a lack of materials to support INSET training work.

More detailed information on provision of materials for the different curricula can be found in the full report.

Organisational/human resources

Although materials clearly have a role in promoting DE, the importance of materials on their own may be less than other forms of support.

Availability of organisational/human resources

The Audit found that there is a wide and rich range of regional and national organisations providing DE resource support to the formal sector throughout the UK. The bulk of the organisations (and, therefore, human resources) are situated in England, although some of the larger development agencies have separate offices in each country. However many of the England-based organisations do provide services throughout the UK.

As part of its work, the Audit attempted to identify which Education Authorities or Boards are specifically served by regional as opposed to national organisations. The quality of the information gained made it difficult to offer a definitive list of unsupported LEAs/ELBs. However broad areas with gaps were identified; and in some cases, these gaps were also identified by respondents to the Audit Form and within Focus Group meetings. The main regions of England which would appear to be poorly served are North East England, Liverpool and the surrounding area, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire, Bristol, the South-West and the London suburbs [All the lrage organisations are based in central London and do not focus services on London as they have national programmes

However the following caveats apply to this discussion:

• The Audit cannot claim to have identified every source of DE resources and it is possible that alternative DE resource support (perhaps from the Education Authority/Board) is being provided in areas which appear to have no local DE organisation.
• There is no standard measure of the level of service provided. Considering this geographically, such a standard might be based on two key criteria: the actual travelling time to the nearest Resource Centre, and the level of service available at that Centre. A teacher may be prepared to travel up to an hour to visit a large Centre with a good reputation, while a smaller Centre, unable to build up such a reputation, may not even by visited by the closest teachers.
• While the argument for having DE resources available locally is easily made, it is less clear whether such provision has to involve a static Centre (requiring users to visit). There is a tendency to assume that the appropriate model for providing regional resourcing is a Centre, but keeping an open mind on this might throw up alternative means.

The supply and marketing of resources in the UK

Despite the value of DE resources, teachers, on the whole, are not aware of the range and variety of development education materials available to them. They also have a patchy awareness of the range of DE organisations available to them and tend not to be aware of their local DEC and the other resources it offers. This ignorance can even apply to teachers who are interested in DE and are undertaking DE work in their classrooms.

Factors restricting access to, and knowledge of, DE resources

A key factor leading to restricted knowledge of DE resources is a lack of marketing on the part of the publishers; of those organisations which replied to the Audit’s Form 1, 75.6% said that they did not undertake adequate promotion and dissemination of their publications. This lack of promotion/marketing is often linked to a lack of personnel. In all countries, there is a belief amongst the DE community and elsewhere that an increase in human resources is needed to carry out these activities and to meet new demand and opportunities.

Gaps in organisational geographical coverage, as described above, can restrict both knowledge of and access to DE resources; and Another major factor restricting access to DE materials is school spending on books. In 1997, schools in general spent less than £20 per head on books and in 1996, some geography departments in state schools functioned on £2 - £3 per pupil per year. If teachers of such a significant deliverer of DE have so little money to play with, it is hardly surprising that the DE community experiences an uphill marketing struggle, although hire and loan services offered by regional resource centres might be useful here.

Different methods of marketing

Teachers who are looking out for DE materials still seem to use catalogues and mailings as their main starting point. Despite the oft stated caveat that teachers get inundated with post which they tend to throw in the bin, there would seem to be no better way of widely advertising materials than sending catalogues (or other forms of mail) to specifically named teachers. These targeted mailings still seem to be more appropriate than the Internet, which although a growing medium for communication, is still not well used by teachers.

DE organisations in general find that the most successful means of making initial contact with the formal sector is through ‘face-to-face’ contact (via activities such as resource displays, running assemblies, speaking in classrooms, taking materials into staffrooms, and so on).

Ideas for improving access to, and knowledge of, DE resources

Comments drawn from the Focus Groups and completed questionnaires included a number of suggestions for improving access to, and knowledge of, DE resources. They include:

• Need for a strategic approach: There is general support for improving DE resource supply by a strategic approach at national/inter-organisational level.
• Using existing structures: There are already some strategic DE promotion and dissemination networks and structures within countries: for example, the work of Scottish DEC and the Scottish Forum for DE in Schools, initiatives within the DEA in England, Cyfanfyd in Wales and CADA in Northern Ireland. These structures are good platforms for further developments.
• Working with Education Authorities/Boards: In places, there are good relationships between regional DE centres and the resource services offered by the Local Education Authority or Education and Library Board. These positive experiences could provide exemplars for other regions and countries.
• Linking with web-based initiatives: There are resource promoting initiatives using the Internet run by NGOs and by Education Authorities/Boards. For example, OneWorld On-Line’s DE Web Portal, and the National Grid for Learning which contains four Virtual Teachers’ Centres, one for each part of the UK. DE organisations are keen to link with such initiatives.

The Audit team also sought opinion about a number of ideas for improving the supply of DE resources. These ideas, all at a strategic/ pan-organisational level, arose from Focus Group meetings or from the Audit team’s previous experience, and are detailed below.

NB: The rank score is based on a scale of 0-6, such that if everyone had rated one idea their 1st choice, it would have a rank score of 6.00, and any idea not considered a good idea by anyone would score 0.00. Thus, the higher the rank score, the more enthusiastic the respondents for the idea.

Full details of the different ideas and the debate surrounding their strengths and weaknesses can be found in the full report.

Difficulties

The Audit team’s research has shown that the term ‘Development Education’ creates problems as it is not widely understood by the formal sector. This is exacerbated by the fact that it is not consistently used by DEA members, and that the DE movement throughout the UK does not agree what DE means (although the differences are slight, with a fundamental agreement on the underlying principles and values). It is also possible that teachers are confused by the different roles taken by some of the larger DE organisations within schools (e.g. education, campaigning, fundraising) .

There would appear to be a lack of research into the needs, interests and attitudes of teachers in general, in relation to DE.

• Committed individuals: The field visits confirmed that a common significant factor in those schools and teacher training institutions which have had success in undertaking DE, is the presence of a committed individual. Sometimes, this is the headteacher or an adviser, but more often it is the classroom teacher or lecturer.
• External inputs into schools: Such inputs can be very helpful, providing both practical support and enhancing the credibility of staff who are trying to bring more DE to their work.
• Teacher education: DE organisations in general feel that particular effort needs to be put into teacher training, especially at the initial teacher training stage. This is because the issues involved in DE are complicated and sometimes controversial, and teacher training has a pedagogical basis which is seen as crucial to DE.
• LEA/ ELB support: Although the role of Authorities and Boards has diminished in recent years, it is still possible for Advisers and Inspectors to be influential.