Local4Global
Global Learning in London and South East England
May 2004 – March 2005 and
August 2005 – August 2010
Local4Global
London and South East England – Global Dimension
Co-ordinator
This was a part-time role in supporting schools, local authorities and ITE institutions, with local organisations, on an initial five-year strategic project funded by the Department for International Development.
The purpose was to increase the level of engagement with the global dimension in the school leadership and the curriculum.
Local4Global has now concluded a further two-year phase of funding by the Department for International Development (DFID). The objective has been to ensure a global dimension in the school curriculum. Local development education centres in the London and South East England Regions have been working with teachers and other educators.
Enabling Effective Support
It was conceived in response to DFID’s ‘enabling effective support’ (EES) programme and was based originally on research conducted with schools, universities and local authorities eight years ago. It has undergone changes in personnel and a priority-shift since then but, essentially, it has made a significant contribution to the current high standing of global learning in schools.
The story of the many constituent parts of Local4Global, and the main documentation of annual plans and evaluation, was available online for some time at the archived site www.local4global.org.uk but it now appears to be closed.
Angus Willson was involved, with others in the field of global learning, in setting up the regional programme for London and South East England and, later, he became the part-time coordinator. This has included negotiating with the partner organisations, which are directly working with schools, and national bodies, editing the Local4Global website – and in liaison with the coordinators from other regions and DFID.
Journeys in Global Learning
Stories from schools, universities and organisations across London and the South East of England
This booklet illustrates the activities and outcomes of Local4Global.
View or download Journeys in Global Learning here [PDF 852 KB opens in a new window]
Global Learning Programme
It is now known that DFID is setting up a new Global Learning Programme-England (GLP-E).
The local organisations across London and South East England have continued to meet regularly. Well, those that have survived the harsh consequences of this re-structuring. They are engaged, in various combinations, with different projects.
This site is now closed www.local4global.org.uk
Reflection
Sometime soon I will be ready to write about the success and influence of this government-funded work. My reluctance has been to avoid describing the way it was systematically and viciously undermined by a vested interest who became a significant beneficiary in what followed. It was, and remains, an epic injustice. Furthermore, it played into the hands of further commercialisation of educational support and guidance where budgets are handsomely top-sliced for profit and those who work with integrity and commitment are exploited. For now, I will quote this:
“People say it’s not what happens in your life that matters, it’s what you think happened. But this qualification, obviously, did not go far enough. It was quite possible that the central event of your life could be something that didn’t happen, or something you thought didn’t happen. Otherwise there would be no need for fiction, there’d only be memoirs and histories, case histories; what happened – what actually happened and what you thought happened – would be enough.”
Dyer, Geoff (2009) Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi.
I should be happier presenting a positive outlook on global perspectives, the global dimension and what became called global learning. One way would be to share the enthusiasm from teachers and, especially, the deep insights provided by children and young people. This human aspect sustained us through organisational changes thick and thin. Tucked away at the back of a slender leaflet called “Top Tips to develop the global dimension in schools“, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (as it was called in 2008), was this gem:
10. Promote optimism and action
We all feel disempowered by doom and gloom, and this can leave us feeling unable to make a difference. Greater understanding, especially when it is accompanied by action, can help to turn this situation around. The global dimension helps pupils understand global issues and explore ways of addressing them within and beyond the school. This more often leads to feelings of optimism and a wish to contribute to positive change in the local/global community. The Primary Review Community Soundings reported on a deep pessimism about the world in which today’s children are growing up but emphasised that pessimism turned to hope when people “felt they had the power to act” and that “where schools had started engaging children with global and local realities as aspects of their education they were notably more upbeat”.