Mick Waters launching DECSY’s next 40 years of work

DECSY held its 40th Anniversary celebration at Sheffield Town Hall on 23rd October. This was attended by over 40 people, including the Deputy Mayor, DECSY staff and trustees, teachers and supporters. DECSY promotes Global Learning and works with educators to increase understanding of complex global issues and enable them to confidently bring global perspectives into their teaching. Current projects include Gender Action and the Schools Linking Programme as well as training focusing on Sustainability and Climate Change – developing a whole school approach – and P4C (Philosophy for Children).

The main address was given by the celebrated educationalist Mick Waters. Mick looked back at the last 40 years of education and how DECSY had played a part in supporting teachers to help young people make sense of the changing world. For a film of Mick’s address please see here.

Mick started his talk with images of some of the key events from 1984 which included the AIDS epidemic, the first computer game, the miners’ strike, the single ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ and the advert for Apple Mac based on George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother ‘–  all issues relevant  to DECSY’s work in development education. The background to these events included social unrest and a cost-of-living crisis, as well as an uneasy relationship with Europe, issues which resonate still today.

Mick went on to show how over the following  years central government began to take a more centralising  role in education, with examples such as the National Curriculum, the Literacy and Numeracy strategies and the promotion of academies. There was a focus on marketisation and competition with high stakes accountability and the advent of league tables as well as the establishment of Ofsted to ensure compliance. With growing managerialism, there was a danger of headteachers being seen as no more than branch managers, with teachers as operatives and pupils as units of production. The challenge. given that we live in a changing world, was and is how to get schools to engage deeply with an agenda beyond exam and test results. He then went on to praise DECSY’s work over the years and the projects and publications that have helped teachers to connect to, and teach about, often contentious issues in the wider world, such as migration, the climate crisis, gender and mental health and wellbeing.

He urged people to read ‘The Case for Global Learning’ and to use some of its ideas to respond the Curriculum and Assessment Review (responses needed to be submitted by 22 November). He felt there was an opportunity with an Education White Paper due next year to think about what and how children learn.

He considered that children need a better understanding of complex global issues such as inequality, conflict, climate change, migration, gender and different world views and that schools should see addressing these as core issues, not add-ons or only to be addressed in emergencies. He asked us to remember that children and their development should be central to the point of schooling.

To conclude, he invited those present to consider some questions for DECSY going forward:

• What and how much can DECSY do?
• A platform for belief or an offer or a commitment? Is DECSY a concept or a resource or both?
• Relationship with schools?
• Relationship with MATs and LAs… and ITE?
• Should DECSY align with other organisations?
• How to connect with teachers… and pupils?
• What should be the core agenda?

Feedback from groups of participants included:

• Supporting teachers with pedagogy – focus on creating valued safe spaces to develop skills such as critical thinking (media/AI etc.)
• Challenging toxicity – flip narrative to hope
• Maintain promotion of P4C (Philosophy for Children)
• Helping teachers and pupils make sense of the world and engage with the issues of our time: Identity – Racism – Islamophobia – Decolonisation – Climate change – Interdependence with each other and all life
• Core values: Equality – Justice – Respect
• Both what (now outdated) and more importantly HOW children learn: more emphasis on collaboration – discussion, debate, oracy – interactive learning to encourage thinking, not reproducing someone else’s thinking
• Importance of global education – ability to adapt and work flexibly
• Aligning goals of schools/teachers/LA/MATs to DECSY’s outcomes/impacts
• Make a video showing successes of DECSY
• Make good use of social media: Vibe – Language – Energy

And the practicaiities…

DECSY hopes that it will be around for another 40 years but the current funding climate is very challenging. If you have any contacts, or ideas about sources of funding or working in partnership, please email info@decsy.org.uk