Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697795164388.pdf (Guyana)
BRITISH GUIANA .. ··.· ·. )

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., MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

Report of the Second Commonwealth.

Education Conference NEW DELHI, INDIA: i!- 25 JANUARY, 1962.

Presented to the Legislature by the Minister of Education and Social Development.

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BRITISH GUIANA PJ~ i,:; ... MINI STRY OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Report of the Second Commonwealth Education Conference NEW DELHI, I NDIA: 11 - 25 JANUAR Y , 1962 .

Presented to the Le gislature by the Minister of Education and Soc ial Development.

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.. .4 ::- ~ REPORT OF THE SECOND COMMONWEALTH EDUCATION CONFERENCE CONTENTS Report of the Conf erencc ... ANNEx I: Agenda ... ANNEX II: ANNEX Ill: ANNEX IV: Report of the Committee on the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan .
, , Report of the Committee on the Training and Supply of Teachers ... Report of the Committee on Technical Education and the Provision of Textbooks and other books ANNEX V: Report of the Committee on Social Education t"' ANNEX VI: ANNEx VII: Report of the Committee on Education in Rural Communities Report of the Committee on Financial Problems of Education Expansion ANNEx Vlll: Composition and Functions of a Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee (C.E.L.C.)
and ii Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit (C.E.L.

U.)

ANNExIX: List of Delegations I, , :-,..

Page l 15 17 27 49 63 69 79 85 87 iii A% 11.

~~ REPORT OF THE SECOND COMMONWEALTH EDUCATION CONFERENCE r. ' ,_ .

., Origin and purpose of the Conference rn accordance with a decision of Commonwealth Ministers at the Trade and Economic Conference at Montreal in 1958, the first Commonwealth Education Confer,ence was convened a.it Oxford in 1959 with the United Kingdom Government as host.
It initiated the scheme now known as the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan and a variety of other schemes of educational c~operation between Commonwealth countries.

The final ,paragraph of the Report of •the Oxford Conference records: "To ·sustain ,the momentum of the new drive in.
co-operation which it is ,believed ·this Comerence has initiated, the Conferenco recom mends that another Commonwealth Education Conference should be .convened in 1961, ,to take stock of the ,progress made in the intervening period and to make further plans for the future."

2.

At ·the generous invitation of the Oovernmen•t of India, the Second Commonwealth Education ,Conference was convened in Vigyan Bhavan at New Delhi from 11th to 25th January, 1962.
It was attended iby dele gates from all Commonwealth countries except Cyprus, by overseas repre sentatives within the British Delegation and by Sir Philip Morris, Chairman of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee.

The Conference gave an especially warm welcome to the representati'les of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Tanganyika which had attained independence since ,the Oxford Conference.

3.

The Chairman of the Confer,ence was Dr. K. L. Shrimali, Minister of Education ,of the Government of India.
At the Inaugural Session on 11th January the Conference was addressed by ithe Prime Minister of India, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, and reoeived a Messa,ge from the President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad,· in the oourse of which he said: " Co-operation and mutual exchanges ,between the Commonwealth countries in ,educational matters are clearly 1beneficial and neces sary as education is a chi,eif constituent of progress in the intellec tual and cultural dev,elopment of the various countries.
Without the expansion of educational facilities ,progr,ess is apt to ibe tardy and lopsided ; indeed it may.

result in the creation of undesirable stresses and strains to have material ,progress with inadequate education.

Exchange of ideas regarding educational methods as well .as the mutual exchange of facilities will therefore help ,to make progress uniform and harmonious."
In wishing the Conferenoe all success, Dr. ,Prasad e:x:pressed the hope that the spirit of mutual assistance and co-operatiou might be greatly strengthened and contriibute to a strengthening also o.f the bonds of friend ship and goodwill that hold ithe Commonwealth together.

4.

Messages of goodwill were also reoeived from the President of the Republic a( Cyprus and the Prime Ministet' of Malaya.
1 ~ - ~ ~ 7 ~ \ - -----· S. Plenary sessions on that day and the next heard opening addresses by many delegation leaders and ·by Sir Philip Morris.

Dr. V. S. Jha, Director of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit, gave the Con• ference an account P.f his work with particular reference to his extensive tour of Commonwealth countries and the experlenoe gained from it.

6.
6.

The fiI'St task of the Conference was 1JO -review the progress which had been made since -the Oxford Conference in bringing into effective operation the measures of assistance and co-operation then recommended.
Two years and a half is a short time for the working out of plans which demand complicated administrative arrangements and substantial govern ment expenditure, which .require already crowded teaching institutions to find room for more plaoes and courses and which uproot key teachers and admilllfatrat<l'l"S to serve iin what for thom are distant parts of <the world.

7.

The Conference was encouraged by the progress already made.
In the opening 1plenary sessions speaker after speaker referred with pride and pleasure to whiil had already been done under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fel~owship Plan.

A most satisfactory !beginning had also been made in the further training of teachers from the newer Common wealth countries, notably under the Bursary Scheme introduced by the In other schemes of co-operation recommended by British Government.
the Oxford Conference however, pr(?gf¢Ss had necessarily 1been slower, but what had already been achieved in the programme as a whole augured the further development Qf Commonwulth co-operation in well for education.

8.

Progress of all education dopcnds upon teachers and educational loaders ~ where these are lacking the •best intentions are frustrated.
The supply and training Jof teachers and the ,further trainin.g of those who are to occupy key posts <in developing educational systems are there.fore of vital importance, and it is on the iurthet d~lopment of these schemes that the main emphasis should be plaoed in the years ahead.
9. i-n the course of the Conference it became clea,r that the membu Governmenits of the Commonweatth wain,ted co-operaition in education to oontinue a·nd inorea$e and thatt -to ensure this they were prepared to give a.nd take on practical matters in an atmosphere of goodwill.
The schemes of co-operation reoommended at the Oxford Conference were based upon close bilateral arrangements between Commonwea1th countries supple mented by adm1nistrative .machinery which was intended ,to assist rather thain w complicate.
Whereas the conclusions a.bout the establishment of such machineey at the Oxford Conference were tentative, there was no uncertainty a,t this ponterffloe, Clearly the -benefits of oo-<>pera-tion and the experience of arrangements to facilitate Commonwealth co-operation in educa.tion by the normal methods of bilateral contacts have increased confidence.
, On the basis of this experience the Conference decided that the machinery should now ,be confirmed as an instrument which Govern ments could constructively use.

The work or the Co~ference 10.

An agenda .for the Con-ference had been agreed upon by Govern ments through the Commonwealth Education Liaison CommLttee and was adop.ted at the first pie.nary session.

lt ,proposed a review of progress in 2 the activities sponsored by ,the Oxford Conference.
their improvement wherever possible in the light of the experioce gained and a consideration of possible co-operaition in certain other specific matters.

This agenda is attached as Annex I. l 1.

The Conference set up Committees to study and make recommenda- .. ~- tions o.n rhese agenda items as follows : Committee A: The Commonwealth Scholarship a·nd Fellowship Plan.

Committee B: The Training and Supply of Teachers. '
Committee C: Tecbnical Education and Co-operation in the Provision of Te:iotbooks and other hooks.

Committee D: Co-operation in Social Education.

Committee E: Co-opera,tion i,n E:4ucation in Rural Comm uni Lies.

Committee F: Co-operation in the Financial Problems of Education Expansion.

A Steering Commiittee was also established and this.

together with working parties and sub-committees established from time to time.

deaJt with the remaining agenda items.

12.


A brief account of ,the work of each Committee will be found in the following paragraphs.

The full Reports of the six Commibtees wi•th their terms of reference are attached as Annexes II to VII.

The Conference commends these Reports to Commonwealth Governments for careful study with a view to ,the fur,ther developmen,t of schemes of educationaJ co-operation .

Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan 13.


The fian has maoe an impressive star.t and is making an important contribution to Commonwealth co-operation in education.

Scholarships have been instituted ,by a.ll the countries which undertook to do s,> at Oxford and, in addition, by Hong Kong.

Malta, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and lit was natural that a new µndertaking of this kind should require Cyprus.

some time to become ·known and to attain ills full momen~um.
By Lhe end of September 1961. however, there were 650 scholars currently sludying in 14 different Commonwealth oou.ntries and it is confidently expected rbat the target of a thousand current a-wards will be achieved during 1962.

The co-operation which has so willingly been given by the universities of Com- monwealth countries is much appreciated as the Plan could not have operated without their help and encouragement.

14.
14.

T he Plan envisaged scholarships of two years' duration, but in many universities the prized degree of Ph.D. for post-graduate research cannot be obtained in this period.

Extension of ,the scholarship ,period is strongly supported, but 1this means ,that there will be fewer new a wa['ds unless awarding countries are able to increase the resources available.

This would be unfortunate.

15.


This balancing of new needs against available resources is funda mental to the consideration of extensions ;to the Plan.

Some of the developing countries have established quite clearly ,that scholarships a t undergraduate level and awards in professional, technical and other fields would meet ·their present needs more effectively -than awards at postgraduate 32088 A3 3 - .

)/.J 9 1 j - '"' level.


:Benefit oould also be obtained through the provision of short-teOJl visiits by senior educationists, through travel grants to assist senior Common wealth scholars to take adva1ntage of awards offered by other authorities and through scholarships for sociaJ and rural education.

Unless additional funds become available, however, making such provision will eintail reduc tion in the number of postgraduate awards a-nd this is not considered desiraJb.le.
On the other ·ha,nd, a ·principle of maximum flexibility wiithin the ,Plan is oombended so ,that ,the greatest benefit may be obtained by each oountry from the resources available.

16.

There are other forms -of assistance, some from within the Common wealth and some from w1thout, which can be drawn upon to help in a number of these fields and clearly every poss1ble -use should be made of thean.

17.

The educational needs of the Commonwealth increase yearly both in size and in diversity.
1f ,the Plan could lbe both expanded and extended to m,atch.

ithe ,benefits would 1be great.

-The extent to which these benefits will be won depends upon the r-esources which can 1be made a vaila.b.le.

18.

Careful considerati-0n has .been given to the manner in which the administration of the Plan has worked out in ;practice and many improve ments have 1been proposed.

The,se are descr1bed in the Appendix to the Rc,port •of Committee A, which is attached as Annex II.

Training of Teachers 19.


T he 800 teacher training_ awards that have already •been ~ered unde.r sche mes of Commonwealth co-operati-0n in education show that encc iraging progress has been made and there is every ,prospect that it will , ::rease.

T he Conforence noted with ,pleasure India's -0ffer to increase subst.

nt1;illy teacher training bursaries as well as the supply of teachers.

to the developing e-0untries of the C-Ommonwealth.


Australia announced an increase in teacher training a wards and training was also offered by Pakista n 20. k pid educational advance has made the need for teachers very great, but it is not easy fo: developing countries to forecast their needs.

Nevertheless more detailed information sh-0uld be collected and circulated and progress reports should rbe published by donor countries on their schemes of assistance.
It would he helpful if more time could be given for publicising awards -before nominations are made.

21.

Certain difficulties affect the welfare -0f students.

C-0untries sending teachers overseas for training should pay their salaries or dependants' grants or both ulnless s·uch grants are included in the a ward made by the donor country.
They should also in general pay their passages but, if the don-0r country agrees, the recipient country should have the option of acoepting fewer awards with passages included.

Orientation courses can helip students to settle down and international hostels should be pro vided if existing accommodation is insufficient.

22.

Where a course carries no formal qualifications, Governments cannot easily determine what teachers' salaries sho,·ld be on their return.
To assist them, information should be disseminated a~ :ut the e-0ntent of each course, its general standard and the types of certificate available, and the 4 -......----.-----...,,....,-,.....,.....,.._..,,,.------ - - - - -~ J;tl oertificate awarded should describe the content of the course.
Govern ments should recognise, either ·financially or by promoti<;>n, sm:dy s~tis factorily completed abroad._ Teachers equally must recognJ.Se therr obliga tion to return home for service in education after their course.

23.

The need continues for training specialists in mathematics, science and English and the training of technical teachers is vital, especially for rapidly developing countries.
As ,the discussions on social education and on education in rural communities emphasise that these subjects should be included in existing schemes, teacher training awards in these fields are also recommended.

24.

Various.forms of in-servioe training should now be tried to improve the instruction given by serving teachers.

Consideration should be given to providing in-service courses similar to the successful vacation courses conducted ,by British teachers and lecturers in Nigeria.

25.
25.

The Report of Committee B on this subject is· attached as Part 1 of Annex III.

Supply of Teachers 26.

The shortage of teachers 1beyond the ,primary level is worldwide.

The Oxford Conference indicated that teacher supply requirements within the Commonwealth should mainly 1be met by bilateral agreements.

Pro gress in the supply of teachers and other key personnel under such agree- ments has been made by Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and Malaya.

27.
27.

The supply of teachers has so far ·been handicapped by lack of information not only on the resources •of donor countries but also on the needs of developing countries and on the living and service .conditions they can ,provide for teachers.
In this connection, it is desirable that persons with a first-hand knowledge of the countries concerned should participate in interviewing prospective teachers and that inductio·n courses should be given in the receiving country to enable those recruited to adapt them.selves to new cultural backgrounds.

28.
28.

Since ex-perience shows -that the non-graduate teacher of certain developed countries is capable of replacing the graduate in a wider range of secondary school posts, information should be disseminated to convince receiving countries of -~he value of no,n-graduates in secondary schools.

29.

The .advantage of a long contract allowing a teacher to settle down in an unfamiliar ·background must •be weighed against the fear such a contract may produce that tis prospects at ·home may 1be jeopardised.
There is much to be said for an initial two-year contract of service with an option on both sides for further ,renewal.

30.

Links should be established between developed and developing countries or regions to encourage the supply of teachers to the latter.

Such a link has proved fruitful between New Zealand and Fiji.

Other links might well be established between part of a oe.veloped country and a developing area in which it takes a special interest.

31.
31.

In technica-1 teacher training the main need was formerly thought to be at higher levels, but technical teachers for secondary schools and trainers of such teachers are now clearly required.

Some countries urgently s 32088 A4 --.

--~ .. .. - r > I need teachers of technical subjects (not necessarily graduates) who are equipped to teach in teohnical high schools.

Any programme to supply teachers must include technical teachers and the trainers of such teachers.

32.
32.

The Report of Committee B on this subject is attached as Part 2 of Annex III. "

The Teaching of English as a Second Language 33.

The Oxford Conference recommended that the problems involved in the teaching of English as a second language should be studied by a group of Comm~nwealth experts, and a Conference was accordingly held at Ma•kerere Co1lege, Uganda in January, 1961.
Three of the chief needs e.sta·blished at it were: (a) .the supply and training of teachers of English as a second language ; (b) the dissemina.tion of information about Lhe teaching of English as a second 1• lan,guage ; and (c) an examination of the use of English, especially as a second language, and the part to be played in this by regional centres.

34.
34.

Commonwdlth Governments should give consideration to the training of experts in thel teaching of English as a second language, directing special attention to the establishment of a career in this field.

Britain's offer to recruit and train 20 to ~O top-level experts to train those who will later train teachers of English is welcome.

These graduates should form part of a career service and be seconded to teacher training and other institutions.

35.
35.

The establishment of regional English language centres closely linked with universities and training colleges deserves urgent attention.

Research into tnching Endiish as a second language and training of teachers of Englis" frr.;;:.

coult,i::s having common linguistic problems should be the chief f1.rncuo:::: vf these c::nt:-.;s.

36.

A Comwonwealt.h information centre on the teaching of English as a second language should be established in London.
It should collect and disseminate iliformation on the best and quickest means of teaching the subject.

but it should neither conduct nor finance research.

Its head should be a fully qualified top-level expert in the field, bearing full :responsibility in ·his professiona;l field but administratively responsible to the Director of thJ Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit.
Details of the organisation shoJid be left to the Commonwealtih Education Liaison Committee and t*e centre should be financed under the formula applied to the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit.

37.

The Repor•I of Committee B on this subject is attached as Part 3 ot Annex ill. 1 Technical Education 38.

Technical education continues to be vitally important to all Common weal-th countries ff their economies are to be developed a!

'!d standards of living improved.


Some Commonwealth countries have made substantial progress in their ~rovision for technical education and nearly all have made some advance.

~urther expansion is still needed and in many countries this has been planned.

6 ri ~ 39.

More facilities ·are needed for producing technologists.

·technicians · and craftsmen and people of similar levels in such fields as commerce and agriculture.
While it is gratifying to note that those countries which have expanded their provision are prepared to offer places ·to students from small countries, the long-rerm aim should be for all countries t5) provide their own training facilities, particularly for the large nwnbet of teohnicians and craftsmen who will be needed to support the work of technologists.

40.

Training facilities cannot however be provided without an adequate supply of trained teachers.
Some will be provided under the schemes for the supply of teachers, but many more nee4 to be trained.

The offers of India, Pakistan and Malaya to make available in their technical teacher training colleges places for potential teachers from other -countries are therefore a welcome addition to -the facilities already available, some of which may also be expanded.

Australia has atillounced a further increase in the number of training awards.
some of which ·will b_e available for the training of technical teachers.

· 41.

There is now perhaps less urgency to provide regional technical teacher training colleges as advocated by the Oxford Conference.

except where there are groups of small c<>untries none of which is large enough to sustain a technical teacher training college of its own..
The offer of Ceylon to establish teacher training facilities for students · from other countries should however be pursued if adequate support from other countries is forthcoming.

42.

Britain has proposed a scheme of training for technical teachers and has undertaken to provide 40 to 50 bursaries a year for overseas students.
Under this scheme students will be given specially planned addi tionaJ experience in industry and training in a technical college during the first year followed by a year's · course of teacher training.

· All.

these offers should help to increase.facilities for training technicians and crafts men in developing -countries.

43.
43.

The importaru:e of adequate industrial-experience at all levels needs to bt:1 stressed and all Commonwealth countries should consider whether arrangements for making suc'h experience available can be improved.

¥ Some countrits have obtained recognition from professional bodies in Britain for certain qualifications and.

it would be helpful..if the advisory services of those bodies relating to recognition could ··be -a~anded.

45.
45.

The Report of Committee C on this subject--is--attaCilted as Part 1 of Annex IV.

Recognition of qualifications · and comes 46.

The equivalence of qualifications awarded in different parts of the Commonwealth and their recognition in other parts came up for discussion in several Committees of the Conference (see.

for example.

paragraph 22 on special teacher training courses carrying ·no formal qualification and para,graph 44 on the role of professional bodies).
47. in these days of frequent movement.

of trained personnel throughout the Commonwealth this question · of recognition is of growing importance, and in its present condition it can sometimes impede the satisfactory development of Commonwealth co-t6peration in education.

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48.

The Conference appreciates the complexity and difficulty of the In some cases autonomous bodies are concerned, such as uni problem.
versities, other educational institutions and professional organisations many of which have spe(.,1rc.

: powers and responsibilities under their charters.

In others, Governmc!nts are involved directly or indirectly m regard to employ ment in the p:.iblic ~ervices.

Fur the first, it is suggested that Governments should invite the autonomous bodies concerned to study the question and see whether any line of advance can be discovered.
For the second, where Governments are i~volved, it is suggested that they should themselves initiate appropriate !

action with reference to employment as well as to status and emoluments.

The Conference hopes that the authorities con cerned will give sympathetic consideration to both problems.

The matter shou\d be kept under review by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and discussed at a later Conference.

The Provision of Textbooks and Other Books 49.


T here is no doubt that the need for both textbooks and other books in developing countries of the Commonwealth can be expected to increase with the growth of education.

Vigorous efforts are therefore needed to make good the present shortage which may include the supply of printing paper.

50.
50.

Governments and many publishers are aware of this and various m<ethcds of preparing and producing textbooks appropriate to the require• ments of particular countries have been found.

There already exist some ways in which train~ng in the writing, preparation and production oLtext books can be given and Britain hopes to provide 10 to 12 bursaries annually for a ne•v course in I this field.

Other countries should consider what addi tional h p they car give by way of training and technical advice.
The Commor e-.lth Educ.• •ion Liaison Unit _could a'lso assist by circulating informati n about new developments in the techniques of producing text• books.

I 51.

Books must not only be produced but must also actually reach those who need them, ei~er on loan or at low prices.

52.
52.

The lending of textbooks and other books can be best arranged through the development of library services of various kinds and it is important that thes~ services should be developed quickly in all countries and that adequately I qualified staff should be available to make them effec tive.

Information about the training facilities for librarians which exist in many parts of the Commonwealth ·should be made available to all Common wealth countries.

53.
53.

The low-priced books scheme under which Britain helps to ·provide It could university textbook~ in India has been markedly successful.

usefully be extended, and other Commonwealth countries should consider the development, w'ere practicable, of similar schemes.

54.

The free movement of educational books throughout the Common weaJth is a matter which all countries should help to ensure and they should also conside~ whether their internal arrangements for the distribu tion of books could be improved.
55.

The Report of Committee C on -this subject is ' ached as Part 2 of Annex IV.

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u1J'" Social Education 56.


Social education was not considered as a separate topic at the Oxford Conference, but in a paper .presented to the present Conference by the Government of India attention was drawn to the need for properly organised and developed programmes of social education, particularly in developing Commonwealth countries, and the benefits that could be derived from them.

57.
57.

Social education is informal, as distinct from formal, education of men and women as individuals and as members of their communities.

The main emphasis in social education is directed towards adults and their places, functions and responsibilities within their community settings with particular reference to co~on effort and mutual aid.

58.
58.

From ,the discussions which have taken place it seems clear that development of the practice and techniques of social education is at differ:ent stages throughout the Commonwealth.

Some countries have had consider able practical experience in social education and have established formal courses of trairung.

All OOlllllbries have great need for -trained a111d experienced staff to give impetus and direction to social education programmes and some· require in addition teaching materials and equipment.
Through ex changing key personnel, through making ass-istance of these kinds available to those seeking it and through providing facilities for practical experience and formal training iil social· education, co-operation between Common wealth countries coul~ provide the answer to at least part of this need.

59.
59.

Any programme of social education requires the active support of governments, voluntary organisations and voluntary community leaders and it is important that voluntary organisations should be given adequate facilities to undertake their role effectively.

There is an urgent need for trained voluntary staff and therefore it is proposed that short courses to t11ain voluntary workers in social education should be developed and expanded.

60.
60.

In this field, as in others discussed by the Conference, exchange of information within the Commonwealth and advice on techniques would be of value.

Publications on social education should be ·made available and action should be taken to assist exchanges and to inform countries of what is available.
It is also proposed that information should be available at s.ome central point about courses of training and scholarships available in each Commonwealth country and about opportunities for obtaining practical experience in the field of social education.

61.

Social education should receive high priority in educational develop ment programmes and should take its place in programmes of Common wealth co-operation in education.

62.
62.

The Report of Committee D is attached as Annex V. Education in Rural Communities 63.

Education in rural communities was another subject not separately considered at ·the Oxford Conference, and in the circumstances no compre hensive body of information was available.

The importance of rural education is manifest, for two reasons.

It is the education of the greater part of the population of the Commonwealth as a whole, even if not of each 9 " ' ~, - !
I member country ; and it can powerfully assist, although it cannot alone achieve, the economic betterment of the rural peoples of the Commonwealth.

64.

With this new subject it is necessary first to establish the generally desirable objects of rural education policy.

Educational opportunity for town and country children should as far as possible be equalised at all levels.
This does not mean identity of content as between town and country, but rather that the education should in each case be related to the environ ment.

Pupils in rural areas should be given a knowledge and an appreciation of the rural way of life and should be enabled to prepare for suitable voca tions.

In the cou1ttry, as in the town, a strictly vocational content should be introduced into education only when a sound general foundation has been laid.
Agricultural education should properly be considered as a part of technical or vocational education as a whole and not treated in isolation.

The provision of secondary education for country children is possibly the most difficult single problem of rural education.

65.

The problems of rural education in different parts of the Common wealth have muc1 more in common than differences of latitude, climate or history might suggest.
Consequently there is scope for a useful exchange of experience and ideas between Commonwealth oountries and for mutual · help in other ways.

the facts warrant recommendations concerning 66.
Even at this early stage of joint consideration of the problems of rnnl education, the sysiematic exchange o.f information under the aegis of the Commonwealth Education L iaison Committee, the arrangement of visits by experts to other Commonwealth countries where they have something to learn or something to imp~rt; a recognition of the special claims of rural teachers for in, 1•1sion in teacher training schemes ; conferences of experts on matters of cor 1°n intere:,, : and the specific inclusion of the needs of rural educati .n in the subiect matter of Commonwealth conferences.
67.

T , e Report of Committee E is attached as Annex VI.

Financial Problems of Education Expansion 68.

As delega,ti9ns were unable to commit their countries to promises of financial assistance in the way of capital grants, the financia] problems of education expansion have not been discussed in quantitative terms.
Attention has instead been given to examining what are the most important areas of need ambng Commonwealth countries to discover how far these needs might be met by available resources and within various existing schemes of co-operation, or how t..1r the experience of more educationally advanced countries might be helpful in finding solutions to the various problems posed qy educational expansion.
In addition to the forms of co-operation under discussion at the Conference there are other schemes for mutual assistance in education in which Commonwealth countries are participating.

Some countries have already committed much of their avail able resources for educational assistance to such schemes as the Colombo Plan and the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan.

69.
69.

The particular needs which can be said to fall within the scope of Commonwealth co-operation can be broadly grouped into four categories.

These are briefly the provision of increased opprntunities for education and training at all levels, the supply of teachers in specidl subjects and skills, 10 ) I the supply of specialised equipmeDlt and the production and supply of text-books and other reading matter at moderate prices.

70.
70.

Countries' needs are not identical but, though the order of priorities vari0s according .to regions, these f.our hea:ds cover the most important requirements (other than capital) without whioh all expansion programmes would be gravely hindered.

Most of 1Jhese needs could be satisfied within the framework of existing schemes of Commonwealth educational co operation.

71.

Where schemes of aid are not being fully utilised countries engaged on programmes of mutua!l.
assistance are urged to adjust, by bilateral arrangements, 1:he exis.ting schemes of aid to · meet particular needs more etfoctively.

72.

The Repo1 t of Committee F is attached as Annex VII.

Conferences of Experts 73.

The Oxford Confer.ence recommended the holding of a conference of experts from Commonwealth ooull/tries on the Teaohing of EngJ.is:h as a Second Language, and such a conference was held at Makerere College i,n Ugand1 in January, 1961.
The Report of the Mak.erern Conference is referred to in paragraph 33 above.

74.

In view of the success of the Makerere Conference the present Con ference has considered_ as a general que&tion whether and on what terms it was desirable to hold further oonferences of experts from Commonwealth countries on other subjects.

The Conference has agreed that, in principle and subject to tilie considerations set out below, conferences of experts are a suitabl,e form of Commonwealth co-operation.

75.
The Conference con&iders t hat the following cr.iteria should be taken into account when a proposal to hold a conference .of Com.monw.eaith expe-rts is under consideration_: (a) the conference mu.st offer -I'eaisonable assurance of providing signifi cant and worthv;1hhle result:S of value to 1Jhe .participants and to ,their countries ; (b) it must assist in raising the standards of teaching and educa:tion in the s,pecia-lised field concerned ; {c) in <l.eter:mi.ni:ng pri.orities, preferenoe should •be given to conferences whioh are designed to meet the needs of developing countries and which concentrate on areas where the need for the training of key people is of spooi:al ~mportance ; and (d) care must be .taken not to dup1ioarte the work of international 11gencies and to oon&ider in each case whether a problem requiring :attention might be taken up by countries outside as well as inside the Commonweal-th.
· 76.

The Conference ireoommends that the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee be made responsible for considering in the light of •these principles the subjects on which ex,pert conferences might be held.

The manner of organising '1nd financing each such conference should be decided by the Committee, which will no doubt be guided also by the practical suggestions made in the ,pilpers submitted to ,the Conference, which found ready acceptance.

32088 AS 11 - t , 77.


Of the three specific topics which had been suggested for immediate consideration, the Conference rhas decided agains,t holding a conference on school building in 1962, but recommends instead that the Common wea1th Education Liaison Uni-t should invite Commonwealth countries which have experimented with low-cost school building, whether they have been successful or , .. , .

to prepare papers on their experience for circulation to other Commonwealth countries.

78.
78.

The- remaining two topics- the teaching of science and mathematics and ,the use of audio-visual aids, including television, in education-are referred to the Commonwealth Eduoation Liaison Committee with the suggestion ,that a conference on the former subject , especially if it could be limited to the teaching of science ,and mathemaitics at the secondary level, would be of im.mediaite importance to developing countries.

Administrative Machinery 79.


The Oxford Conference, having agreed upon its recommendations for specific schemes of J ssistance and co-operation, went on to consider whether some form of administrative machinery would be required for them.
T•hat Conference concluded that the normal method of implementing those schemes should be rthrough bilateral contacts between Commonwealth countries, but that additional machinery of an intra-Commonweal-th charac ,ter, modest in size a nd on an ex;perimental basis, s:iould be set up to assi-st the development.
T!he Commonwe:ailVh Education Liaison Committee and lthe CommonweaHih Education Liaison Unit were accordingly brought into existence by j0int action among the Governments concerned, with ,terms of reference as recommended by the Oxford Conference (Annex V of its R epor,t).

80.

Th is Conference was specifically charged with reviewing these arrange ments and recommending what administrative machinery would be required to assist ;ntra-Commonwealth co~opemtion in the future.
Its work on this matter wa s greatly assisted by the Report submitted to the Conference by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and an ea-rly and unani mous decision was taken Lhat, in the period since their creation, the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and ,the Unit had served a most useful purpose and that they should be continued for the future.

81.
81.

In this knowledge each Committee was able .to consider what functions within its own field the Committee and the Unit could usefully perform and this in turn enabled the Conference to determine in more detail what their nature and size should be.

82.
82.

The Conference reaffirms >both the main a:ecommendations of the Oxford Conference on this subject : that ,the schemes of assistance and co-operation should normally be implemented through bilateral contacts between one Commonwealth country and another, and that there is at the same time a need for intra-Commonwealth machinery to supplement bilateral arrangements.
The Commonweahh Education Liaison Committee should comprise one representative of each Commonwealth Government together wiith one representative of the British dependencies undei an ir.depend-;nt chairman.

The concept of the Unit as a Commonwealth agency, at !.he service of each Commonwealth member and jointly financed by all, the general direction of the Committee.

has proved operating under satisfactory.

12 c./t CJ ~ 83.
12 c./t CJ ~ 83.

The Conference was impressed by the demand, arising from several Committees as iafu.-ea.dy recorded in paragraphs 20, 50.

52, 60, 66 and 77 above, for a means -through whioh information ·could be collected from Commonwealth countries and made readily available to others.
The infor mation might be of many kinds: general background information on the conditions of life and of study or employment which teachers might meet if they went o verseas under these schemes ; statistical information on the needs of par,ticular countries for teachers of particular kinds ; detailed information- ,on the programmes cif assistance which Commonwealth countries were ,offering and of the ways in which they were operated ; technical informaition on techniques of text~book production, audio-visual aids, school building and so forth.
There is no doubt that some means of meeting ,this demand must be found.

84.

The Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee should therefore make it one of their principal responsibilities to ascertain what -informaition will be of value to member Governments and -to suggest what would be the most convenient manner for member Governments to obtain it; and, in the words of •the Oxford Conference Report, " generally to act as a centre of reference to facilitate Commonwealth educational co-operation".

85.
85.

On <the remainder of the work of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and ,the Unit, ·the principles of their operation are now sufficiently w,e11 u.ndexstood to make unnecessary so precise a definiti001 as was required at ·oxford when this machinery had to be created.
The Committee's affairs are controlled by .representatives of all the Governments of the Commonwealth and ,the Committee is thus wholly responsive to their lit is therefore sufficient to lay down that the CommHtee and the wishes.

Unit should undertake the functions already· assigned to them and such other functions to supplement the normal bilateral exchanges between mem ber Governments and to develop and improve Commonwealth co-operation in education as the CommiJttee may deem necessary and feasible.
This will enable the Committee to consider.

and adopt jf ,they so wish the ~pecific suggestions affecting administrative machinery which are recorded in the Reports of the Committees of this Conference.

86.

The Conference considers that the location of t:he Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee in London has proved sa,tisfactory and, bearing in mind ·that any newly independent Commonwealth country is likely to appoint its first High ~sioner there, proposes that it should continue to ,meet ,there.
It follows that the Unit will also be in London.

87.

The attention of ,the Conference was dra,wn to a number of mo.re detailed matters.

The present Director of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit was appointed by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee to serve :trom <the time of his arrival in Britain until 31st March, 1962, and the present Deputy Director was seconded by the British Ministry of Education ,to the servioe of the Unit .from the same date for the period until ·this Conference.
The Conference is of the opinion that appointments to ,these posts and other matters concerning the staJing of ,the Unit should be left ,to the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee to determine.

It is the view of ,1Jhe Conference that it · would be wise to let the future machinery evolve naturally out of what has a.1ready been created and found satisfactory.

32088 13 A6 88.
32088 13 A6 88.

A more formal statement of the proposed composiition and functions of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and •t!he Common wealth Education L iaison Unit will be found at Annex VIlI.

Third Commonwealth Education Conference 89.

The Conference proposes that a further CommonweaLth Education Conference should ,be convened not too far in the future, perhaps in 1964.

The date should ;be determined later by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee.
The Conference gratefully xeceived a generous offer by the Canadian 9overnmenrt to aat as host on that occasion and recom mends its acceptance.

Conclusion 90. ,Much of this Report ha.-; so far been concerned- with the r eview and practical working out of the schemes inaugurated at Oxford.

The present Conference was designed to press forward in a practical way towards the achievemeDit of the ideals which ,the Oxford Conference laid before the countries of ,the Commonwealth.

91.
91.

But co-operation will not be a living reality unless the Governments and the peoples of the Commonwealth continue to strive together in a common effort.

There muSlt be a feeling of common purpose and of urgency, and co-operation must grow into new fields.

Governments will always face difficulties in meeting the financial needs of education, which are almost lirrt.itless, and available funds must be deployed to the best effect.
The Conference believes t!hat its discussions consititute a real contribution to these ends.

92.

The Ox.ford Con ference arose out of the Trade and Economic Con ference of the preceping year.

This second Conference has seen and marked the rpn- ·,ress whioh jhas been made in facing the problems which the earlier Confer~ tces identifit',d.
The problems of, the future will be no less .. u.rgent and pressing for the importance of education to economic betterment grows steadily, as does its contribution to the strengthening of the bonds of the Commonwealth.

93.

The devotion of Commonwealth countries rto the ideal of freedom of thought and expression for the individual has ·been a consistent theme at Commonwealth meetings.
It is perhaps at a Commonwealth Education Conference, as at Oxford and now at New Delhi, that this should emerge most clearly.

For~ as the Minister of Education of the Federation of Malaya said at the opening plenary session: " Although each member of •the Commonwealth has its own system of education, they have one common aim a nd that is the important stress laid ion the development of the individual and co-opera tion among the people by mutual consent."

_ 94.
_ 94.

By treating educational ideas and principles as fundamental, the Commonwealth and its peoples are strengthened.

The Conference was privileged to hear ~he reflections of the Prime Minister of India on great themes.

and it is ~appropriate to conclude this Report with a sentence from his speech at the InaugW'aition of the Conference: "Wherever yo go, at the back of it, at the base of it, must lie education.".

14 (I} I 'f, ANNEX I AGENDA 1.


To receive and consider reports on the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan ; and to recommend such measures as are considered necessary for improving its working.

.

2.

To receive and consider reports on the training of teachers ; and to recommend such measures as are considered necessary for improving the working of these schemes.

3.

To receive and consider reports on the supply of teachers to other .
Commonwealth countries for service in universities and in other educa tional institutions ; and to recommend such measures as are considered necessary for improving the working of these schemes.

· 4.

To receive and consider reports on technical education; and to recommend such measures as are considered neces·sary for improving the working of these sohemes.

5.
5.

To .receive and consider reports on -the work of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit and to recommend what administrative machinery will be required to assist intra-Commonwealth co-operation in the future.

6.
6.

To consider the possibility of co-operation in the extension of, or addition to, the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan by providing awards for : (a) basic professional training not obtainable in the student's own country; (b) undergraduate study at universities and colleges of adult education ; (c) study at technical colleges below postgraduate level; (d) short-term visits of senior educationists ; and (e) travel grants.

7.
7.

To consider the possibility of co-operation in the provision of text books and other books, viewed in relation to items I to 4 above.

8.

To consider the possibility of co-operation in social education.

9.

To cons,ider the possibility of co-operation in education in rural communities.

10.

To consider the possibility of co-operation in the financial problems of education expansion.

I 1.
I 1.

To consider in general the holding of conferences of experts from Commonwealth countries, and in particular the holding of conferences of experts on the following subjects- (a) school building ; (b) the teaching of science and mathematics; (c) the use of audio-visual aids including television in education.

32088 A7 15 •lit - ) I j ~ ANNEX II REPORT OF THE CO.Ml\.1ITTEE ON THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSIIlP AND FELLOWSHIP PLAN CONTENTS Paragraph Introduction Administrative machinery .

.

.
.

.

Extension of schoiarships Handbooks on universities Fellowships .

.

.

Undergraduate study, professional and technical awards Short-term visits by senior educationists Travel grants Selection procedure Administration Scholarships for Social and Rural Education Obligation of scholars to return home Conclusion .

.

.
.

.

APPENDIX page 22 AS 32088 .. ~ ' I ,c ,- REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP PLAN [ntroduction At the Second Commonwealth Education Conference, the Committee was established t,o consider reports on the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, to survey its progress, and to make recommendations on measures for its improvement.
The Committee was also invited to consider whether it was possible or desirable to extend educational co operation within th:e Plan or to make additions to it by providing awards for basic professional training not obtainable in the· student's own country, for undergraduate study at universities and colleges of adult education, for study at technical coileges below post-graduate level, for short-term visits of senior educatio.nists and for travel grants.

Administrative machinery 2.


It was decided to review the adrninistative machinery of the Plan.

For this purpose a Working Party representative of all delegations was established under the Chairmanship of Sir Douglas Logan.

The Working Party's recommend!tions can be found in the Appendix to this Report.

The Committee has acoepted these recommendations.

Extension of scholarsh!ps 3.


In discussing the advisability of granting extensions to scholarships beyond two years, there was general agreement that this was an acceptable principle where it was essential to enable a scholar to complete satisfactorily a course of study already in progress,; and it was visualised that this would probably be most applicable to Ph.D. courses.
It was emphasised that this type of +t~n_sion was often desirable, but that where a change of course or an a:dd1t1onal course of study was contemplated, reference should firs t be m~de to the agency of the nominating country.

It was felt by many delegations that it would be undesirable if the granting of such extensions were to place a further limitation on the number of scholarships availalble .in subsequent years.
This implied an increas-e in the overall number of awards and it was r,ealised that this, in turn, would require an increase in financial resources.

Delegations from countries offering awards were not in a- position to indicate that such increased financial resources could be made available at present.
Another point which was stressed was that some of the developing countries, whose needs for ,trained staff were particularly acute, might not wish their nominees to proceed to the Ph.D. -course where a Master's degree wo,ul,d satisfy their requirements and ,intentions for the scholar.
Moreover a greater use of scholarships for s~ort courses of perhaps one year's duration or less would help to balance the effect on the overall number of scholarships produced by extensions of some to three years for the purposes of the Ph.D. degree.

Handbooks on universities 4.

It was agreed that most countries have insufficient knowledge about the courses and diucational facilities of other Commonwealth countries.
18 u7J" I I Fuller information ,about this would enable prospective scholars and the nominating agencies to make their .precise wishes known at the time of submitting scholarship nomina,tions.

This need would best be served if each country offering awards produced its own handbook indicating the courses, fields of s pecialization, research facilities and welfare arrange ments for students within the country.
This information would supplement that contained in the Year Book of the Association of Universities of the Britis·h Commonwealth, and it would be most valuable if it were sent to nominating countries not later than the offer of .awards.

Fellowships 5.

Consideration was given to whether the intentions of Fellowship awards had been sufficiently realised.
Discussion revealed that senior scholars to whom this par:t of the Plan applied were most frequently engaged upon work which made it difficult for them to take up an award unless very long no-tice of it were given.

It was also clear that only people of outstanding attainment were suitable for fellowships and such people were, for obvious reasons, limited in number.

It was generally agreed that these factors accounted for the relatively few fellowships so far taken up.
It was expected that there would be an increase in their number in the future, thoug,h tihe increase would not be large.

Undergraduate study, professional and technical awards 6.

It became apparent from discussions that a number of delegations from the developing oo,untries of t:he Commonweal~h regarded under graduate, professional and technical awards as equally important to, a-nd in some oases even more impoct:ant than, awards for postgraduate study.
It was pointed out that the level of people .likely to make a significant contribution to their own countries was directly related to the stage of development reached 'in that country and that the pressing need in many It was noted that instances was other than for positgraduate scholarships.

there were other schemes outside the Commonwealth Scholarship Plan which made provision for aiwards of this nature and it was agreed that these should be util,ised wherever possible.
It was noted that the essential flexibility of the present Plan allowed for awards of the · type considered in this paragraph and that some had already been made; nevertheless it was hoped that more might ,be done· in this direction notwithstanding the opportunities offered by other schemes.

If these needs were made known at the time o.f submitting nominations, the .awarding counu·ies would endeavour to meet them so far as was possible.
It was generally agreed, however, that it would be undesirable to reduce the number of postgraduate awards now being made under the Plan.

Short-term visits by senior educationists 7.

There were undoubted benefits to be gained both by the sending and receiving countries f:t,oon visits by senior educationists, and it was felt that they might be financed from the Scholarship and Fellowship If this wish could be funds if there were sufficient money available.
realised, the arrangements for visits would be made bilaterally.

Since such visits might cause a reduction in the number of scholarships and fellowships, it wa s desirable to take advantage, wherever possible, of other parts of the Commonwealth education programme and other schemes such :is the British Couneil programme, and comparable programmes in other Commu.n½-calth ~ountries.

19 .. ~ 1---......

.,...

-'---r_,_.,,._..--i- - - ' :fiio: ,.f?

b Travel grants 8.
b Travel grants 8.

The Committee noted that va.rious organisations pr.ovided awards which could be made to senior scholars wjthin the Commonwealth but which frequently were not taken up for want of funds to cover travel exp~:2ses.

It was ~uggested that where such senior scholars were persons who might be invi~ed to accept a senior fellowship under the Plan, the two sets of r-esources might be combined and travelling expenses provided from the Plan.
Notwithstanding this it was considered that other schemes providing travel grants, such as the Commonwealth Universities Inter change Scheme, should be drawn upon first.

These arrangements would be made by bilateral agreement.

Selection procedure I 9.

The delegations from some nominating countries· were concerned about the ·present requirement that nominations should be substantially in excess of the number of awards offered, in most cases double the number of awards to be made.
It was contended that this nractice meant that a number of good candidates would fail to obtain a~ award whilst other candidates, possibly not of so good a standard, nominated for another award, might be successful.

This was disturbing to individual candidates and it caused a certain amoW1t of disruption in the overall planning of ~he developing countries.
These countries also felt that it was of very great importance th~t their sta ted ·priorities, which were related to national needs, should be observed as far as possible by the countries offering ,,warns.

10.

The awarding countries stated that ,an excess number of nominations f::.cilitatcd me placing of scholars and allowed a reserve to cover with drawab.
It also enabled a country offering scholarships to make more awards .i1'.ln were originally offered should there be more places available It was also of great assistance in meeti_ng the than at first envisaged.

problems of the universities, whose agreement to take the scholars had in all cas~s to be obtained.

In some countries scholars showed a marked preference for certain universities which could not always take them: this problem was eased by having a wider field of nominations.
Nev.:: rtheless it was agreed that the nominating countries had a real problem, and it was felt that with growing experience it should be possible to reduce the excess required.

This request would be met by the awarding countries so far as possible.

1 I.
1 I.

Countries offering awards stated that they already tried to observe · the priorities of the countries making nominations but it was important to ensure a wide distribution of scholars among the receiving universities and the very na ture of these institutions meant that the final decision on all placements was vested in them.

Efforts to meet priorities would continue and the position sho,uld improve as experience in the operation of the Plan increased.

Administration 12.
Administration 12.

The Oxford Conference agreed that arrangements should be made for recording information about awards made under the Plan and for issuing an annual Statement giving this information and a report on the progress of the Plain, and that this responsibility could appropriately be undertaken by the Association of Universities of the British Common wealth The Committee agreed that tr.

:s machinery was adequate in its 20 present form.


The Committee e~ressed its appreciation of the Report drawn up by the Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth and issued by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and re corded the hope that an annual Teport would continue to be issued.

Scholarships for Social and Rural Education 13.

The Report of the Oxford Conference stated that there was to be no limit to the fields in which Scholarships and Fellowships could be awarded.
It was therefore agreed that scholarships could be given for social and rural education on the assumption that such awards would be made on the same basis as any others.

Obligation of scholars to return home 14.

In spite •Of the condition laid down at the Oxford Conference that a scholarshould return ,home on the completion of his scholarship period.
some countries feared that difficulties might be encountered in persuading their scholars to do this or to enter the sphere of work for which their governments bad nominated them for training.

As these countries had normaliy selected <their candidates in terms of their own development pro grammes.

the failure of the scholars to comply with these plans could have serious consequences to the country's progress.
It is a fundamental aspect of the Plan that scholars should, at the end of their tenure, return home.

15.

It was made- apparent that it was for the nominating country when nominating a scholar rto draw up with him an agreement covering its needs and stating the conditions upon which his nomination depended, and to attach such clauses of enforcement as the country considered necessary.
It would be the responsibility of the nominating country to ensure •that the scholar accepted these terms before he was allowed to takP.

up his award.

Conclusion 16.

It was apparent that all delegations felt that the Scholarship and Fellowship Plan bad proved to be a great success.

Tribu,tes to the all round benefits derived from the Plan were paid by many countries.
Tributes· were also paid to the great help which has been given by universities throughout the Commonwealth, without which the Plan could not have succeeded.

The needs of the Commonwealth were increasing yearly both in size and in divers:ty and there was an obvious desire on the part of all members to do everything lthey could to meet these needs, but the avail ability of financial ~esources imposed a limit on the work that could be done.
The Committee was agreed that not only could the Plan as at present operating be expanded with advantage, but ,that there were several directions.

considered in this Report, in which it could be extended.

These would bring benefits to and meet the needs of the countries of the Common wealth.

Such expansion and extension must depend upon finance, and finance was clearly involved in many priorities outside the terms of reference of this Committee.
The Committee contents i•tself with saying that, while an excellent stant had been made, there was scope for further expansion if the necessary xesources could be made available.

On behalf of the Committee.

(Signed) P. J. Baxter, Chairman.

21 'Ii.


MEI t # ,... r r l/ "} I ., APPENDIX Recommendations of the Working Party on the day-to-day operation of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan ' Note: In the paragraphs which follow reference is made only to the scheme of CommonweaLth Scholarships, except that paragraphs (14) and (15) refor to .the .PJan as a 1whole (i.e.

incl,uding Visiting Fellowships a nd other senior awards).
(1) Timetable for competitions · (i) Eaclt awarding country should give as long notice as possible of its general intention to invite nominations, thus enabling nominating countries to give advance publicitty and to make other preparations.

(ii) There should be only two nomination dates, viz.

July 31st and D ec~mber 31st, either or both of which could be used by an awarding country when inviting nominations.

nomination date.
nomination date.

(.iii) An award~ng country should invit~ nominations at least five months before the It is important ,that this invitation be accompanied by a sufficient supply of prospectuses, application forms (if necessary) and information ,regarding facilities for study to enable the nominating country to publicise the awards and to invite applications.

1 (iv) Successful candidates should •be notified of their awards as early as possible.
(2) Application forms (i) As a general rule the form completed by candidates and forwarded to awardi~g countries should be __ provided by each nominating country.

It ds however open to any nominating country to ask an awarding country to supply its own application forms.

(ii) If ·the form is provided by a nominating country 1t should contain all tlhe questions which every .awarding country would wish to ask in order to secure the basic information t-he Latrter requires.
To these basic questions an individual nominating country will be free to add any questions itt requires for its own purposes.

The basic questions 11equired by •the awarding countries will be drawn up by their representatives a,t this Conference, and it is understood, in order to eriable nominating countries to print stocks of their forms, rthat no alteration in •these questions will be requested before the next Commonwealth Education Conference or for at least two years.
(3) References (i) References should be confidential between the referee and the scholarship agencies.

(ii) Whenever possible references should be taken up by the nominating agency.

It may however be necessary in certain countries to ask the candidate to ensure that his referees write to it.he nominating agency.

• 22 - - -~ .. ._......,,....-"!_ 9??


l (iii) It .is desirable that the referees for each candidate (and essential that at least two refere·es) should be persons under whom the candidate has studied or worked.

(4) Medical certificates It should no longer be necessary rto require every c:.rndidate to submit a completed medical certificate with his application to the nominating agency.
When inviting nominations, the awarding country should s-tate whether it requires a medical certificate rto be submitted in respect of ec1ch cand;Jate nominated or only in respect of candidates to whom awards are eventunily offered.

(5) Nominations (i) There is no objection to a nomina..ting country deciding to uomin::i.c~ to severai awarding countries simul- · individual candidate an taneously.

(ii) T,here is no obligation on a nomin:i!ting <.

:ountry to inform au awarding country which candidates.
if any, have bew nomin:ited to another awarding country.

Each awarding country should notify the nomina,ting country as early as possible of its sekctions i ll order to enable the latter to inform other awarding countries concerned.

(6) Deferment of tenure Applications for deferment o.f tenu.re should be considered on their merits.
(7) Leave of absence If any necessary leaye of absence has not previously been guarantet:d, every .effort should be made by a nominating agency, on receiving· infor mation of an awar<l, ,to secure from the employer concerned the release of the candidate from his employment.

(8) Reception of scholars It is generally desirable that a scholar should arrive in an awarding country about fourteen days before he is due to · begin his course of study.
{9) Clothing grants If a clothing grant is included in the scholarship emoluments, the awarding country concerned is urged to decide upon the countries and areas to whose scholars 1t would pay th•e grant rather than to consider the need for the grant in the case of each individual scholar.

(10) Reports on scholars An awarding country should supply to a nominating country, if the latter so desires, annual reports on the progress of scholars from the nominating country.
(11) Return home on expiration of award (i) When a scholar wishes to return home by an indirect route, the final decision as ,to what fare, if any, is payable rests with the awarding country.

23 I _.;._--"-----------,,------..... ~- (ii) When a scholar wishes to delay his return home for a substantial period of time, it should rest with the awarding country, after consultation with the nominating country, to decide whether to If the rates agree to the deferment of payment of return fares.
of fares hdve altered in the meantime, any payment made would not necessarily be of an amount greater than what ,the scholar would have received if he had returned without delay.

(12) Relations between agencies (i) The awarding agency should usually inform the nominating agency of an award at the same time as it informs the scholar.

The letter of award should direct the scholar to inform the nominating agency as well as the awarding agency of his acceptance of the award.
(ii) The awarding agency should correspond direct with the scholar about the offer and acceptance of the award.

(iii) The awarding agency should have no obligation to inform unsuccessful candidates of the result of their applications: the nominating agency should undertake this task if the awarding agency so requests.
(iv) In the event of the premature termination of a scholarship, the awarding agency should, wherever feasible, consult the local representative of the nominating country before the award is finally terminated.

(v) At the normal date of expiration of awards the awarding agency should se~d to the nominating agency a list of expiring awards as a routip.e reminder.

A short report might accompany this reminder if the awarding agen,cy is able to furnish one at that date.
1 (13) Publicity I (i) Publicity directed to securing applications is the responsibility of the nominating agency.

(ii) For the purpose of the UNESCO Handbook " Study Abroad " the appropriate entry for any awarding country should be supplied to UNESCO by that country.

(iii) Each awarding country should, if possible, prepare a booklet outlining the facilities for higher education which it provides together with an indication of the welfare facilities available to scholars.
(iv) Press and other publicity in the awarding country concerning £ts awards should be the responsibility of the scholarship agency in that country.

It may arrange with the scholarship agency in any other country for appropriate local publicity.

(14) Reporting (i) The present procedure under which the Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth records information and prepares an annual report on the progress of the Plan is satisfactory and should be continued.
24 .....__.._ - , C/[I (ii) March 31st is accepted as the terminal date of each annual· reporting period.

(iii) Han interim report is requested for any other purpose (e.g.

Com- monwealth Education Conferences) the Association might be asked to prepare it.

An interim report should.

however.

be requested only in case of urgent need.

· J. ,, (15) Statistks It is desirable to use standard definitions in relation to the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan.
These should be those used in the First Annual Report on the PJan.

.,, ' .

I•• ff' ·' .

.. 25 ~ -.

: --•-.... · ut, ANNEX ill REPORT OF THE COMMITfEE ON THE TRAINING AND SUPPLY OF TEACHERS Introduction CONTENTS Paragraph 1 PART l : 'fRAIN:ING OF TEACHERS Progress since Oxford and present position Information Types of training Technical teacher training Courses of training SelectiQD Preparation ...
Passage and clothing Welfare Recognition and obligations In-servree training Conclusion ... Summaxy of recommendations PART 2: SUPPLY OF TEACHERS Present position and progress since Oxford Measures for improving the position Need of technical teachers at secondary level Summary of recommendations ... PART 3 : TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SEOOND LANGUAGE Progress since Oxford and present needs Training and supply of teachers Regional Centres and needs Information <;entre on the teaching of English a~ a second language .•.
Summary of recommendations 32088 "27 4 6 9 26 27 28 37 53 54 55 58 62 72 74 A 9 t • REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE TRAINING AND SUPPLY OF TEACHERS ' Introduction At the opening Plenary .Session the Conference appointed us to be a Committee with the following terms of re.ferenoe: (i) To receive and consider reports on the training of teachers ; and to (l'ecommend such measures as are considered necessary for improving -the working of these schemes.
(ii) To receive and consider reports on the supply of teachers to other Commonwealth countries for service in universities and in other edudtional institutions : and to recommend such measures as are considered necessary for improving the working of ,these schemes.

2.

We have considered reports on the progress of these two schemes which originated in the :recommendations of the First Commonwealth Education Conferen<;e. We have in addition received a ireport presented by ,the C.E.L.C.
on the Conference on ,the Teaching of Englis•h as a Second Language held M the University College of East Africa (the Makerere Con fen:nce) in January, 1961.

Supplementary papers submitted during our deliberations have also been considered and we have met 13 times.

Nevertheless the scope of the work assigned to us has been so great thait we have not been able 1to devote to all its aspects the detailed attention we could have wished to give them .

3.
3.

Our report falls fnto three main parts: Part 1: Training of TeaoheTs (paragt'aphs 4-27).

Part 2: Supply ,of Teachers (paragraphs 28-54).

Part 3: Teaching of English as a Second Language (paragraphs 55-74).

.PART 1: TRAINING OF TEACHERS Progress since Oxford and present position 4.

In the two years since the Oxford Conference the rapid and substantial progress made in ,training teachers by Commonwealth co-operation has in general been encouraging.
We JlOte with approval the establishment of teaoher training bursary schemes by Britain, New Zealand and India, and the additional training facilities provided by Canada and Australia.

As a result, a total of over 800 additional teacher training awards has been offered in ,the •two years since the Oxford Conference.
These are direct and welcome results of tihe recommendations made at Oxford in 1959 and the speed with which these new arrangements have been made bears witness to the spirit of co-operation which was so evident there and which has continued to flourish.

The staitistics of these new schemes mah satisfactory reading; but what does not appear in the statistics is no kss valuable.

Teachers selected for supplementary training abroad receive muc-h more than a further opportunity of academic study.
The total experience of these 28 ~Jf' students is likely to give them new insights so that they return wi<t:h increased stature to their o,wn country.

Donor countries also benefit from affording training to students fr.om.

abroad.

The visitors stimulate their hos ts to fresh thinking ; above all their very presence in the country stresses ,the importance of educational co-operation and brings before the .public clear evidence of Oommonweailth li!D.ks.
Neveritheless, tlhe,re is a general fee-11ng, in itself a healthy sign, that, both in administering the schemes which have already begun and in extending the scope of co-operation in the training of teachers, there is still room for considerable improvement.

5.

The phenomenal rate of educational advance and the increasing num ber of students in the developing countries• of the Commonwealth make their need for trained teachers at all levels of education very great.
The level at which help is most urgently needed will generally depend upon 1Jhe stage of development each country has reached ; but, since th& younger member countries of the Commonwealth are endeavouring ,to encompass in a maitter of years what the older countries have evolved over decades or centuries, it is difficult for them to forecast with any degree of accuracy what their needs will be five or even three years ahead.
On all sides we have heard of _the introduction of free and compulsory primary education, the raising of the !iChool-leaving age, the improvement of .secondary educa tion, rthe strengthening of advanced work, •the improvement and expa nsion of training college~.

the foundation of new -technical colleges and univer sities; For all these purposes trained teachers are essential.

For years to come some will have to be supplied by developed countries and this question is dealt with.

in Part 2 of our Report.


Information 6.

Within ,the framework agreed upon at Oxford for administering schemes of assistance, present practice r.egard.ing the provision and .exchange of information, both about.

needs and resources, can be improved.

Despite the difficulty which many developing countries experience in forecasting with any accuracy what.
1Jheir fwture needs are likely to be, we appreciate ,that donor countries requke some indication in general outline of the· demands they will have to meet.

This information is essential for three reasons: to ensure that suitable courses are provided for students with special needs; ,to enable admissions to existing courses to be so planned · that places are not wasted ; and to· assist donor countries to make long term plans particularly with ,regard to the tenure of staff.
Recipient countries have .a>ttempted to indicate the types of training required, and -the donor countries to provide information on the content of the courses.

Whait is <:learly now necessary from the recipient countries is earlier and more detailed information as to 1lhe needs, educational qualifications and profes sional experience of ·the candidates, and from the donor countries some thing much more specific on the level of the existing courses offered and on the type of certificate awarded.
This information should be made available bilaterally to Governments likely to be interested, enough copies being sent rt:o ensure that -they are widely available as far in advance as possible of the beginning of the process of selecting candidates to be sent abroad.

The information should :also go to the C.EL.U.

who might produce, dissemj,nate and keep up ,to date literature <Qn needs and iresources.

We recommend thll't more detailed information aibout needs and .
resourc.es 29 32088 A 10 - l I ----- - - " - - -- - -~ for .the training of teachers should lbe collected and made availa1ble.

We also ·recommend -that ,the C.E.L.U.

should concurrently be sent copies of brochures distributed by donor countries to enable the Unit to co-ordinaite infomnation.

I 7.

We commend two features of the scheme of eduo.c1,inal co-operation mentioned in the reports we ihave received on the 1training of teachers.
The first is the Australian practice of sending out survey teams of experienced persons to assess on the spot and pin-point needs -for immediate action on a -bilateral basis °4tween a donor and a recipient country.
The second is the.scheme whereby Britain finances visits of .six to ten weeks' duration by lectqrers and tutors from institutions where Commonweal~h teache-rs are trained -to enable ,them ,to appreciate through personal knowledge the par ticular problems to be faced by those whom they help to train.

So far these lecturers havelmade visits individually.
There may be value in sending them_ in twos and tr,-rees to conduct surveys or appreciations, for we believe that a ,team as a whole can learn and _conrtribute more than can an equal number of individuals.

The need for such visits is great, but in making this suggestion we recognise that, because of difficulties in fitting in such visits during vacations at home and term-time abroad, it will hardly be possible to len~en ,their duration, though their number might be increased.

8.
8.

Statistics whijh ihave already been published of the awards made under the Commonw~lth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan are obviously of g!reat ruse.

We recommend that those coontries which have aff~ded assistance should consider publishing progress reports on their teacher training sC'hemes.

We !further recommend that this information should lbe supplied to and disseminated by the C.E.L.U.
In view of the difficulty of ascertaining how many of tbm;P. who have taken a course of teacher •trainil'lg <1broa<.1 wm, on return home, teach in their own country, we do not recomm.

::r.d a1 lpresen.t ·i.he publicatio.n of statistics of this matter;.

Typ_es of training 9.

The types of training which were suggested as priorities at the Oxford Conference continub to be urgently needed.
In al.most all countries teachers will have to obtain their basic training at home, whh supplementary train ing for experienced teachers being provided abroad.

In this we are broadly in agreement with pie Oxford Co11ference (Report, page 28, para.

4).

We envisage that the nmand for trainers of teaohers, and for specialists in various subjects of it.he curriculum such as science, maithema tics, Englisih, and technical subjects, will continue for a number domestic science, a of years.
Flexibility must, however, be a fundamental aspect of any Commonwealth sclieme of training and already, m the -two years since the Oxford Conferehce, n:ew needs are coming to the forefront in developing coUJl!tries.

We.

have nmed the recommendations made by other Committees of this Conferenoe l on social education and on education in rural areas (Committee D Rewrt, para.

16; Committee E Report, para.

30.)


There is a part to be played by donor countries in training teachers for work in these special .fields a,nd we recommend Lhat a number uf bursaries or training grants should be made available in ~i.lch or similar disciplin~s as well as in illhe subjects and courses mentioned at Oxford.

The spceial question of the training of -teachers of English as a second language is dealt with more fully in Part 3 lof our Report.

30 C/f' l • 10.
30 C/f' l • 10.

The Oxford Confer~nce laid considerable emphasis on programmes for schools and training colleges in arts and science subjects and on tech .

There are other professional fields where help nology and engineering .

could be given by some and received by other countries.

Some countries need to train teachers in the fields of medicine, engineer ing, agricu1ture, In some countries no veterinary science, forestry and other disciplines.
institutions exist where such ,training may be received and unless these coun_tries can have their students trained a,broad, 11:heir development will be impeded.

Technical teacher training 1 l. We have noted the progress 5ince Oxford and the proposals for a new initiative in technical teacher training embodied in paras.

26-28 of the Report of the Committee on Technical Education.

Lack of •time has precluded us from considering these maM.ers in de4Lil ourselves.
We are however convinced that the training of -technical teachers is one of the most important aspeots of teacher training for all countries of t!he Common wealth and more especially for those who are rapidly developing their respective economies.

Our views on the supply of technical teachers and of -those who train them are set out in paragraph 53 of our own Report.
We therefore recommend that, i-n. considering ~h-e overa-11 teacher training needs of developing countries, special note should be taken of their require ments on the training of technical teachers ; -and that priority be given to strengthening the existing departments or institutions which train technical teachers.

Courses of training 12.

Not only trainers of /teachers but educational adminis-trators and inspectors · also can Benefit by courses of study abroad.
For them special courses of the kind provided in Britain are particularly suitable.

Special courses can also be provided for teachers whose qualifications are inade quate to gain them admission to existing supplementary courses.

Never theless some developing countries will prefer to have their students trained on supplementary courses or postgraduate courses where tli.ese a.re avail able, the more so as these courses lead to recogrused qualifications.
On this point we .have further observations in .paragrap'hs 20-22.

We al.so recommend that teachers should have working experience of schools c:r training colleges in the country where they are studying ; and that .

:mphasis be placed on training women teachers.

Selection 13.

We have recommended in para.

6 above that comprehensrve infor mation should be made available about the facilities offered by donor In the first two years of the operation of bursary schemes countries.
deriving from the Oxford Conference it was inevitable that sdection pro cedures were often somewhat hurried.

The efficiency of the schemes will be improved if greater notice can be given in future of the offer of awards and if in addition recipient countries are_ given a longer time in which to submit their nominations for awards.

We are glad to note that steps are already being taken by some countries on these lines.
We see advantage in associating representatives of donor countries with the selection of 32088 All 31 candidates in the recipient countries wherever possible, if those representa tives have up to date information about the facilities available in the donor countries.

We recommend that greater notice should be given of the offer of awards and that recipient countries should have a longer time in which to submit nominations.

Preparation 14.
Preparation 14.

Unless students are given a short course of orientation, they may find themselves uncertain about the standards, attitudes and educational assumptions of the country in which they are to spend a year or more as students.

Such courses of orientation are already provided in some countries before students go abroad and are reinforced by similar courses arranged for students immediately on arrival in the donor.

country.
country.

Their value is, we feel, considerable in enabling students to settle down quickly and ,to deriive ma~imum benefit from their stay in the do,nor country.

We recommend that, w,here they are -no,t a,lready provided, arrangements be made for instituting orientation courses; Passage and clothing 15.

A point of difficulty has come to our notice, conne-:ted with the cost of travel to and from the donor country.
Some but not all of the teacher training bursary schemes are administered in such a way that the total cost of training and maintaining a teacher in the donor country is met by that country, while the cost of his passage has to be met either by his own Government or by the student himself.

The Oxford Confer ence recommended (Report, nage 35, para.
23) that countries benefiting from assistance should normally be expected to bear the cost of travel of their students unless they were relatively small and remote territories which would be uµable to participate otherwise.

We have reached agree ment on the fundamental po_int that the QOSt of passage should not fall on the teacher.

On the question of the financial responsibilities of the donor and recipient countries in meeting the cost of passage, two points of view have been expressed in our discussion.
On the one hand it was suggested that, since the needs for training continue to be very great and since more applications are ~eceived from countries which are willing to meet the cost of their students' passage than there are places available, the recom mendation of the Oxford Conference should continue to be observed.
On the other hand certain countries have proposed that the cost of travel be met either by the donor or by the recipient country, or alternatively that it should be left to the discretion of the recipient country to decide whether to accept a reduced number of awards, provided that the donor country meets the coot- of passage.

We 11.

"eoomm~nd that, in general, recipient countries should undertake to meet the cost of passage, but that.
where both the donor and the recipient countries mutually agree, the recipient should be entitled to have the cost of passage met by the donor, on the understanding that the number of the recipient's awards will thereby be reduced.

16.

We consider that, where appropriate, an award should include a grant for the purchase of warm or tropical clothing as the case may be.

Such grants are already paid under certain of the schemes inspired by the Oxford Conference.

32 Welfare 17.
32 Welfare 17.

A student who .is worried about his surroundings, his accommodation, his family or his financial position canlliot derive fuJJ benefit from his studies. '

eLff I this connection we note 18.

Suitable aocommodation should be rprovided for all students studying abroad, preferably where they can live tog~ther with students of the country in wliioh they are studying and also with other Commonwealth s.tudents.
Study abroad should be an enriching experience and an oppor tunity to cement the .bonds of friends.hip and Commonwealth co-operation.

Accommodation should be arranged for students so that these ends may be ·achieved, whether in private homes or in existing halls of residence.

The need is general during the first year of the student's course.

Much is already 'being done to achieve this, but we recommend that, where in sufficient hostel accommodation is available, donor countries should giv<!
serious consideration to providing international hostels for this purpose.

Ln two deve].opments with app-reciati'o-n.

The BritiSih Government has aJlocated the sum of £3,000,000 for the pro vision of about 5,000 hostel-places for oversea~ s,tudents, some of whom are likely to be teachers -in training.

The Government of India has earmarked the sum of £350,000 for the construction in Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta of three International Hostels to accommodate 600 students.

19.
19.

A particular difficulty which affects the welfare of students is that.

a1bhough the grants pa.id to them by the countries in which they train are meant to cover only the cost of their fees, maintenance and incidental expenditure, including Jo.c:arl travel, not all sending countries pay their salary and/or grants for the maintenance of their dependants.
This has caused some bursars ro send home pan of their grants to maintain tiheir families witli the result that the bursars are left with inadequate- means for .

.a reasonably fuH life or even for -subsistence.

We recognise that considerations of finance may make it difficult for some sending co-untr,ies to pay salary •to a teacher on secondment as well as the salary of his substitute.
Nevertheless we consider that the value of a course of training abroad will be to be a considerable extent vitiated if the student is constantly worried aho'Ut ,the welfare of 'his dependants.

We therefore recommend that countries should pay salary (and/ o,r provide de.pendants' grants where applicable) to teachers who are seconded for training abroad, unless the awar;d made by the donor country specifically makes provis,ion for dependants.
The financial arrangements which have been made should be explained clearly -to the student before he leaves his own country.

To ensure that time is available for ,these arrangements to be made before his departure, the recommendation made rin para.

13 above, which would speed up the procedure for making awards, should be helpful.

Recognition and obligations 20.

The qualification conferred on a student will affect his position on return ·home after completing his study.
Where he has obtained a qualification recognised in his own country, it is relatively easy for his Government to determine what his salary should be.

Where, however, he iha-s followed a special course, it is hard to determine what salary he should receive.

Ln order to make ,this task easier, we recommend that as 32088 A 12 33 ~ .s.

u '~.
u '~.

\) ~- -- --i-- - - i much information as pos.sibl,e about the coU1'se fol1owed, the certificates awarded and the standard attained should be made available to recipient countries and that :tihe certific::ites should state in detail the content of the courses followed.

· ... 21.
· ... 21.

The Oxford Conference recommended (Report, page 28, paragraph 6) that those teachers sent on special courses carrying no formal qualifications should be told in advance what recognition in terms of salary and status they might expect {)n return to their post for which such further training was relevant.

It may not be possible for the Government of a developing country where.
·the educational system is fluid ,to tie its hands and to promise promotion @r higher salary on return, but we ·expect that it will be ,unusual for such benefits not t-o follow, in due course, the successful tenure of a Commonweal<th bursary.

It is naturally important that returning students sihould benJfit financiaJ:ly at least as much as if they had either remained in continuous service at home or had followed a comparable course of study under different fina,ncial auspices.
We recommend that empldyers should give positi¥e rncognition, either financially or in respect of promobion prospects, 1:o teachers who return to their service after i:he successful -tenure of a Commonwealth bursary.

22.

We recommend rthat those who are fortunate enough to be selected and rtrained abroad should accept an obligation to return to their own countries to teach or to work in their own educational service.

In-service training 23.


At the Oxtord Conference the main emphasis on the trammg of teachers was on fuJll-'time training.

We have in our deliberations given considerable thought to a new aspect, that of in-service training which is urgently needed in develorping countries in -order to catch up with the backlog of unqualified teachers in their .

sehools.

24.

Two kinds of in-service training have been brought to our notice.
One illustration of t~e first kind is the vacation course which was conducted by 55 experienced teachers and lecturers from Britain for teachers in Nigeria during the summer of 1961.

The success of this course was such that we understand that agreement in principle has been reached on organising a second one in 1962 at the request of the Nigerian Government.

This kind of coursef lasting for about four to six weeks, would be of value in other countries.
~ndia is organising in 1962 about 30 in-service training centres which will offer courses of nearly eight weeks' duration for school and college teachet~.

India would be happy to offer facilitic:3 for par ticipating to neighbouring Commonwealth countries in the ne}.

t and sub req,uent years.

We recommend tie provision of similar in-service courses in developing countries of the Commonwealth.

25.

The sec·ond kind of in-service course is one in which ,.
team of experienced teachers and lecturers would spend from four to s1;: months in a developing country.

Their first aim would be to become <' ~quainted by personal experience with the needs and problems of educati0n in that country.
Once they had done this, they would run a series of short courses for tt.a.ining college lecbur,ers, senior teachers a:nd ed·ucational admin,is-trators who would in turn lpass on their new knowledge and techniques to other teachers in their own country after the team of visiting teachers had left.

34 ~, ~ J We recommend that Common-wea,lth Governments should give serious con- sid~ration to the possibility of sending and receiving expert teams of teacher tramers.

i 1 Conclusion 26.
i 1 Conclusion 26.

T he evidence of every · country of the Commonwealth shows that there is a continuing and growing demand for the training of teachers.

While the work begun by the Oxford Conference bas progressed, much remains to be done.

We were glad to hear during our meetings that Pakistan had decided to introduce a teacher training bursary scheme.
The scope of the training needed is always widening and an annual review of requirements should be made to ensure flexibility in the operation of teache.r training schemes.

Summary of recommendations 27.

The references at the end of each item are .to paragraphs in this Report.

(1) More detailed information about the needs of recipient countries anG the resources of donor countries in training teachers should be collected and made available (para.

6); (2) The C.E.L.U.


should co-ordinate such information (para.

6); (3) Countries that have given assistance should consider publishing progress reports on their teacher training schemes.

and this infor mation should also be co--ordinated !by the C.E.L.U.

(para.

3) ; (4) A number of bursaries or training grants should be made available in rural and social education and similar disciplines, as well as in the subjects and courses mentioned at Oxford (para.
9) ; (5) In considering the overall teacher training needs of developing countries, special note should be taken of their requirements on the training of technical teachers ; and priority should be given to strengthening existing departments or institutions which train technical teachers (para.

11) ; (6) Greater notice should be given of the offer of awards ; and recipient countries should have a longer time in which to submit nomina tions (para.
13) ; (7) Teachers should have working experience of schools or training colleges in the country where they are studying; and emphasis should be placed on training women teachers (para.

12) ; (8) Where they are not already provided, arrangements should be made for instituting orientation courses (para.
14) ; (9) In general, recipient countries should undertake to meet the cost of students' passage, but where both donor and recipient countries mutually agree, the recipient country should be entitled to have the cost of passage met by the donor country, on the under standing that the number of the recipient's awards will thereby be reduced (para.

15) ; (10) Where insufficient hostel accommodation is a vailable, donor co_unt,r,ies should give serious consideration to ,providing mter nationaJ.
:hostels for overseas .students ~a.

18) ; 35 r (11) Countries should pay salary, and/or provide dependants' grants where applicable, to their teachers who are seconded for training abroad, unless the award made by the donor country specifically makes provision for dependants.

The financial arrangements which have been made should be explained clearly to the student before he leaves home (para.
19) ; (12) Employers should give positive recognition, either financially or in respect of promotion prospects, to teachers who return to their service after the successful tenure of a Commonwealth bursary (para.

21) ; (13) Such teachers should recognise their obligation to return to educational work in their own countries {para.

22) ; (14) Developing countries should consider providing in-service courses organised lr,y visiting teams of experienced teachers and lecturers (paras.

24 and 25).
24 and 25).

PART 2 : SUPPLY OF TEACHERS Present position and !progress since Oxford 28.

The Oxford Conference had indicated that very large numbers of teachers were needed-many of them urgently-" for the next four or five years " and that they would be needed at all levels.

Many of the shortages were precise•ly in those subjects in which even the more favourably placed countries of the Commonwealth found themselves in difficulties, e.g., in mathematics, science and in some cases the teaching of English.
29.

We have examined the problem of the supply of teachers and have sought to suggest ways in which the scheme proposed at the Oxford Con ference could be made to work with greate~ efficiency.

30.

Every country is short of teachers and even developed countries have found it difficult to secure teachers for service overseas.

Since donor countries are not in a position to direct teachers to serve overseas.

the aim must be to attract them.


This has meant offering the ·teacher inducements to persuade him to accept overseas service for a stipulated period and to correct the impression that such service is detrimental to a career at home.

The problem has been attacked in various ways by various countries that, despite their own teacher shortage, have continued to send teachers abroad.

These teabhers have _given a good account of themselves and requdsts have been received for the extension of their services.
Neverthe less, it is evident to us that" progress .in the supply of teachers continues to be slow and that it is necessary, where teachers are available in numbers, to appeal!

more effectively to the spirit of adventure, teacher idealism and a sense of Commonwealth cohesion while continuing to plan a program.me of financial inducements and amenities to attract good teachers for all institutions beyond the primary level.

31.
31.

It is· still true in 1962, as it was true at the Oxford Conference in 1959, that a very large number of teachers is needed-many of them with extreme urgency-over the next fe, years.

The main need is for key personnel and, as before, trainers ot .

;!achers are in heavy demand.

On the figures availabie to date, ;t would appear that the need is for nothing 36 ~ .

\ ' "- less (and probably much more) than 1,200 additional teachers for secondary schools and a substantial number for teacher training.
32.

Apart from university requirements, the main shortages ~re in teachers of mathematics, science and English for secondary schools.

~'lost countries need teachers for key posts in English.

Some, chiefly in Africa, require teachers to conduct classroom study in at least three subjects and to supervise physical training, games and scouting.

Requests have been received from the Bahamas, Fiji, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaya.
Nigeria, North Borneo, Nyasaland, Pakistan, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Tan ganyika and Uganda for teachers in the humanities and the sciences at secondary level.

It is not possible at this stage io say with any precision how many are required in each category for the various secondary school subjects, but it is evident that the numbers are very large.

Developing countries need people to train teachers for technical schools as well as for such fields as rural and social education.
Teacher;s for training colleges are also required in substantial numbers.

33.

T h.: urgency of the demand is not restricted to the secondary level.

The requests made by India and Pakistan at university level appear to have been directed only to Britain with very little success.

One of the difficulties in meeting the needs of these two countries is that both tend to ask for teachers with very high qualifications.
It is not easy to persuade such peo,ple to gQ overseas, particll!laruy ·in a period of rapid university expansion in Britain.

The difficulty appears to be not predominantly financial, but psychological and the fear that opportunities for promotion at home may be missed.
Till, therefore, a climate of opinion is created in which, with a satisfactory and flexible plan for secondment, people of the qualifications required can be persuaded to go overseas, it will not be possible to meet in any significant measure the requests of such countries as India and Pakistan.

34.

The Oxford Conference indicated that there were countries whose chief contribution to Commonwealth educational co-operation would be ,in the supply of key personnel.
We have noted with interest the variety of ways and the extent to which assistance has been offered to developing countries by such countries as Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand.

The contribution of these countries has been significant especially having regard to the assurances upon which they can draw for service overseas.

35.
35.

In the fields of secondary education and technical teachers, Britain set up a National Council for the Supply of Teachers Overseas in 1960 and has since taken steps that should improve the teacher supply from that country to various developing countries.
A three-pronged attack on the problem has been made (a) to inspire confidence that teachers' interests wilJ be secured ; (b) to prQ!Yide a ohallenge to teachec, on the need for overseas service ; and (c) to create a climate of opinion among employers of teachers favourable to overseas service.
Among the measures adopted to date to achieve the first objective, some of which are limited to certain categories of teachers, are (i) payment of special allowances to augment salaries ; (ii) terminal grants, i.e., a lump sum paid to the ,teacher when .he returns to settle down in his own country ; 37 ,.

~ (iii) a code of secondment under which a teacher is guaranteed, accord ing to his seniority.
either a comparable post on return or his old salary for a period of two years after his return ; (iv) an interview fund .

that almost entirely finances his flight back to his country towards the end of the period of his service abroad if short-listed for interview for a senior post ; and ( 1v) a ~ for terms ,of appointment ,overseas whose ·dbject is to ensure that full information is 11upphed in the contracts, conditions of appointment.

etc., o!Iered to teachers going overseas.


Wilh regard to the third objective, the new National Council for the Supply of Teachers Overseas in Britain has launched a campaign to inftutnco tho climate of opinion which includes the issue of informative literature for teachers.

· 36.
· 36.

Employer-co-operation has been encouraging in Britain, but since the variotis measures mentioned have only recently been put into operation and lhe National Council campaign was started late in 1961, it is as yet too early to assess their success, In a year's ti.me, it should be possible to make such an assessment.

Measures for improving the position (n) Measures which tbe recipient countries cun take Enltll'ging the ~Id of recruitment I 37.
We feel that receiving countries should consider enlarging the field of recruitment to include more non-graduate teachers.

The value of trained non-graduate .teachers of craft and practical subjects is already widely nppreciatcd : incteed.

they form the source of supply for training coiieges :md sei:ondary scho,,ts in England and Wales.

Countries should now be more fully Jware nf the quality of the non-graduate teachers of academic: subjects trfined in England and Wa.les.

38.
38.

Trnining courses in England and Wales have been extended to three years and admission qualifications are in many cases equal to those of entrants to universitf courses.

The training makes it possible for the students to pursue at least one subject in depth, to have the benefit of supervised •teaching practice in concentrated periods and to pursue studies in child psychology nnd teaching methods.
They are thus well-equipped to teo.eh general subjects in the early stages of secondary school and to · teach their specialist subject up to a senior and possibly to university entrants• level.

39.

One other point deserves a mention.

In the report of tho Oxford Conference, it was stated that difficulties over superannuation sometimes occur.

In Britain.
In Britain.

the period of service abroad which can be nccepted for contributory SCI"jice is limited initially by statute to five years, but there is power to extend this in individual cases.

In practice there is no difficulty about this if there are good reasons for a teacher serving oversens somewhat longer.

Further.

decisions .

:in be rnade about extensions before the five year period ends.

40.

AB indicated ~rlier (pnra.


33) has not been possible for Britain to meet the requirements of so ne cou11Lries in university teachers.

It may 38 ' "' ' .

be possible to meet such requirements by recruiting outstanding lecturers in Britain who may often be able to hold a university chair overseas.

j Exemption from taxes, etc.

41.


Some countries, for example Pakistan, have already taken steps to attract teachers from overseas by exempting them from income taxes and customs duties and by granting them amenities like free accommodation.

We would like this to be brought to ,the attention of other countries.

Participation in interviews by persons with first-hand knowledge of countries concerned · 42.
As Lhe Oxford Conference indicated; teachers selected for service abroad must possess, in addition to formal qualifications and professional competence, the right attitude and ability to adjust themselves to varied cultural backgrounds.
With a view .to securing the very best teachers for overseas service, the participation by persons with first-hand, up:to-date information of conditions of living and service in the receiving country should be obtained whenever teachers are being selected for overseas service.

This will help to speed up selections.

Such information should also be collected and disseminated.

Organisation of induction courses 43 .


With the sarne end in view, we recommend strongly the organisation by the receiving country of induction courses for teachers arriving for service in these countries.

Length of contracts offered 44.

A contract may be either too long or too short to induce teachers to go overseas.
·some countries in Africa are in favour of a fairly long contract of three to five years in which it may be possible for the Principal ,of a college, for instaince, .. lio see rhe fruits ·of hi.s labour.

These countries favour exteins~on:s beyond a ·service · of a five-year period.

There are, however, obvious advantages in a two-year contract since it is not so long as to inspire the.

fear that .

it will break continuity of service at home·.


On the other hand, it has the disadvantage of uprooting the teacher just as he is about to settle down in new surroundings.

45.

We feel that it is of the utmost importance in such matters to be as flexible as varying conditions in various countries demand, but we also feel that there is much to be said for an initial two-year contract of service with an option, on bqth sides, for further renewal.
(b) Measures which the sending countries can take Changing the climate of opinion about the value of overseas service 46.

A major difficulty, as we said earlier, in speeding up the pace of progress in the supply of _teachers is that it is impossible to direct teachers It is necessary to attract them.

This implies an to overseas service.

organised programme 10 change the climate of opinion in which a false impression often exists that overseas !

;ervice is detrimental to a career at home.


The measures described in paragraph 35 above summarise the steps which have now been taken to change the climate of opinion in Britain in respect of the service of teachers overseas.

39 ...... ' I t 47.

Plans for secondment on a short-term basis for university teachers are at present under consideration in Britain.
It is proposed :to set up a small committee with university as well as official membership to explore new ways of increasing the flow of staff by entering into flexible agreements with individual uniJlersities in Britain to supply teachers on short-term secondment tailored to meet specific needs.

The scheme would include payments to ease re-entry to home universities, to stimulate secondment and to encourage links with overseas universities.
(c) Measures which both countries can take Exchange of information and supply of this to the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee I 48.

It is evident that in the supply of teachers, as in the training of teache~s.

a major df ficiency is lack of full and up-to-date information on the needs of developing countries and the capacity of developed countries to cater fo~ these needs.
Australia, as we have seen, has profited greatly from sending I out survey teams of experts to Africa and the Pacific in order to discover .the specific needs of these areas and to pin-point them in terms of her own capacity to meet these requirements.

Often mistakes occur because developing countries are not always clear on the best way to meet their immediate needs.

This is where the experience of developed countries is of speci~l value.
It ·has been pointed out by Australia that results were achieved, in a very short time by personal contacts, and were fruitful for both parties, that would have taken months if sought through correspondence and might well have satisfied neither.

49.

It is also, in our view, necessary to have full information on the content of teacher 9"aining courses so that developing countries may be assured that the full course of training at present given at training colleges in certain developed countries qualifies .
people at the end of the cour<ie for service in secondary schools.

There are various ways in which such information might be supplied on application, but it would be advisable that it should issue from some focal point and that it should be compiled and maintained up-to-date.

Information is also vital, as has been indicated earlier, on the reso]ces of various Commonwealth countries other than Britain on teachers t university level.

50.
50.

Where bilater 1 arrangements are not meeting the need, it would be advisable in our v.iew for the C.E.L.C.

or the C.E.L.U.

to become a central exchange th ough which requests for teachers at univers,ity and other levels can be canalised and met.
It is of the first imporr::mce that the procedure for dealing with requests of this kind should b ~ marked by promptitude and simplicity and i,hould preclude the simultaneous receipt by the different countries of the same requests, either directly or through C.E.L.U .• which has been found to lead to confusion and to wasterl efforts.

We now therefore ~elcome the detailed suggestions set out in the Com monwealth Education Liaison .Committee's Report to the Commonwealth Education Conference.
The importar t point is that a reservoir ef up-to date information should be established to co-ordinate prompt and useful service in replying Ito queries.

MeL ber countries should provide this information to one another a nd send ..he same !information to C.E.L.U., which should act as ~ reference point in this respect.

~"'• .

,.;.

40 ~ i'-.

- .i..,'i~ ~i\ .

- -·· --1 09~ ': 1 Avoidance of waste of time 51.


We cannot too strongly emphasise • in all matters affecting the sup• ply of teachers the need for· urgency in assessing needs and meeting them.

Whatever the method adopted.

whether by sending out a fact-finding ex.pert mission, by purely bilateral correspondence or by using the C.E.L.U.

as a clearing house in the first instance.


it is essential to follow procedures in which unnecessary de.lays are reduced to a minimum and each appllca• tion is constantly under review.

· Establishing links 52.

Two types of link between developed and developing countries or regions have been found effective in encouraging the supply of teachers to the latter.
One type bas been es-tablished in the Pacific region between New Zealand and various Island groups such as Fiji, Tonga, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and Western Samoa.

The wotk of New Zl!nland teachers in the Islands is regularly assessed by visiting New Zl!

:iland inspectors.

The •teachers' prospects of promotion in .their parent service are thereby safeguarded.

Another and looser type of link exists betwee" New Zealand and those countries.
such as Ceylon, the Federation of Malaya and the Borneo territories in which New Zealand teachers are serving under various schemes of technical assistance in which the Government of New Zealand i& pa11ticipating actively.

The looser type of link, in which · a developed country, or part of one, takes special inter~st in tbe educational needs of particular developing a reas, may, in our view.

be capable of more general adoption.

Need of technical teachers at secondary level 53.

In considering.
In considering.

the supply of teachers to various developing coun• tr.ies, mention has been made so far of requirements in both secundary and university education without any special comment on the n~cd for It has generally been assumec1 thal the trainers of technical teachers.

special need of Commonwealth countries in this category will b,; at his;hcr level.

but it is now clear to us that there is a need of trainers of technical teachers as well as technical teachers at secondary level.

In som,~ .
In som,~ .

:•l lln• tries such as Jamaica, there is an urgent need for teachers of technic::il subjects (not necessarily graduates) equipped to teach in technical high schools.

We recognise that conditions vary greatly in technological development from country to country within the Commonwealth and that there can be no uniform rule or practice in the supply of technical teachers or trainers of such teachers.

It will be necessary always to adjust supply to specific needs.
We do, however, recommend that a programme to ~up ply teachers should always include technical teachers and the trainers of (Please see para.

11 and Repor.t on Technical Education.

such teachers.

para.

25.)

Summary of recommendations •: 54.

The references at the end of each item are to paragraphs in thi:s Report.

(15) As the Oxford Conference indicated, bilateral agreements should be the main way of meeting problems of teacher supply.
In " - .s " ~"" 41 ;,, ,~ ... - - -~ -- t t endorsing tbis recommendatipn, we are of the view that where bilateral agreements do not meet this need, the C.E.L.C.

or the C.B.L.U.

be treated as a central clearing house through which · requests for teachers at university and other levels can be canalised and met (para.

SO), · (16) (i) In order that there should be a greater realisation of the value of the trained non-graduate teacher, up-to-date information should be.
collected and made available on the admission qualifications of the students and on the content of .training courses in developed countries (para.

37).

(i-i) Full and up-to-date iinf«mation on conditions of living and servioe in the reoeiving countries should be compiled and made available to aU :teachers ap.plyLng for :se11vioe overseas (pa.ra.

42).

(17) In the.
42).

(17) In the.

selection of teachers for overseas service, we recommend that the participation of persons with first-hand up-to-date informa ition of the receiving · country is necessary (para.

42).

1 (18) Teachers selected for overseas service should be given by the receiving !country an induction or orientation course to help them to acfjust themselves to a cultural background that may be unfamillar to them (para.

43).
43).

1 (19) In determlilling the length of contract of service, we recommend that, though flexibility is essential, on the experience of the past years there is much to be said for .an initial offer of a two-year contract with an option, on both sides, for a further renewal • ~paras.

44-45).

I · (20) In order to attract teachers to overseas service, assurances should be made that help will be given ,to those who require it in finding suitable posts on return from overseas.
We also recommend that a strong appeal should be made to the idealism of teachers and to the honour of service abroad in a Commonwealth country (paras.

30, 3S and 46).

(21) We recommend that links between particular developed areas and particular developing areas as well as particular institutions should be I encouraged in order to · concentrate the effort of the developed country in supplying teachers (para.

52).
52).

(22) In devising measures for the effective a-nd smooth supply of teachers to the countries of the Commonwealth, we recommend ithat special note be taken of requirements of ~echnical teachers and technical teacher trainers (para.

53).

(23) We draw attention to the importance of early and prompt action both in sending in request.s for expatriate teachers and l.n dealing with itbese requests when received (para.
51), ' PART 3: TEACHING OF .ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Progress since q:dord and pre1ent need SS.

In the inspiring address with which he inaugurated the Second Commonwealth Education Conferenl· .

the Prime Minister of India laid particular emphasis on the importance .f the English language as a medium of communication both amo1..'!

the countries of the Commonwealth and 42 1 ./ I, ,· \. "

inside those countries.

Several speakers mw: ~1lll.F ~ the point by noting that in the pJ.eSent Comamce,.
a~ as mt.

is ~ thirteen delegations from different pans of the wadil,.

om ~ ~ has been conducted in a common ~ l 56.

The subject of English as a se.cond langmge wu d~ -.1i1tllh interest and care at the First Commonwealth &hlatim.

~ ad a recommendation was made that a confetatce o f~ slbtHB.d b e~ vened; This spc:ci:il conference was held at 1lle Univ,emtty Co~ ol East Africa, Mak.

:\·~re College, Uganda in 1961.


The Report o[ aliDe Conference has helped us in our deliberations l)y bringing to noni~ tlhic matters on which action is most urgently uquiied and by reliiewiimig lil!S of the necessity of discussing purely technical aspects of dm imp.crtu!t subject, which were so thoroughly examined at Mabrere... We ha'lc moued these with interest and sympathy' ·and commend -them to the attention.

ol the Governments concerned.

57.


The three needs which chiefly concerned as were: (i) the supply and training of teacher:s of English as a second language ; (ii) the need for the interchange and dissemination of information on the teaching of English throughout the Commonwealth and other countries employing English as a medium of comm.unieali.on and instruction ; and (ill) an examination of the use of English,.
especially as a second language, and the par.t to be played in this by regional centres throughout the Commonwealth.

These .poi.nts are lbrought out m a note on the Report of the Makcrcre Conference presented to our Conference by the C.E.L.C.

• We found this note of great use to ·us in focussing attention on specific needs and opportunities for action.

Training and supply of teacben 58.

The need for assistance in the teaching of English remains great.
despite the efforts being made by -the Coinmonwealth and the U.S.A. Certain countries have, for a number of years, been unable to fill key posts in their trainil:g colleges and schools where high level specialists in the teaching of English as a second language arc needed.

The same shortage is evident in Universities and English language institutes in more than one Commonwea'lth country.
In some cases, it has been necessary to recruit specialist advisers and ·trainers of teachers from English speaking countries outside the Commonwealth.

One of the difficulties of the present si-tuation is the lack of an established and assured career service, operating within the Commonwealth as a whole, in the teaching of English as a second language.
We therefore welcome a proposal by Britain to provide 20 to 30 top level experts to serve on secondment to tram those who will mun teachers of English in Commonwealth countries, making this their lives' career.

Although it may take some little mne to get this career service established, it is hoped that this offer of assistance will give a lead to the establishment of similar career services in other donor countries of the Commonwealth.

43 .. • 59.
43 .. • 59.

In order to train men and women to become trainers of teachers of English as a second language, two methods have been suggested.

The first method would be to take an experienced teacher with overseas service and give liim specialised linguistic and pedagogical training.

We recognise that, to be effective, experience has to be appropriate and training has to take full account of m0dern techniques and methods.

60.
60.

The second method of providing specialists is to enlist able young graduates who are completely at home in English and give them a one-year specialised training as soon as they have taken their degree, which need not necessarily be in English language and · literature.

They should then have a few years' experience of teaching at all levels overseas, so that their abilities as teachers may be assessed by those responsible for their career service.
If they proved suitable, they would then be given advanced training and wouJd b~ ready to act as trainers of teachers of English as a second language when they had reached the age of about 30 years.

The training of thes9 specialists might best be undertaken in regional English language centres and in universities affiliated with such centres on which we have made further recommendations in paragraph 62 below.

1 61.
1 61.

We shall deal with the supply of teachers and research into the methods of teaching English as a second language more fully in para graphs 62 ff.

below.

Here we record tha1t in British lllniversities .some 220 places are occupied at present by overseas and British students specialis ing in courses lasting usually one year in the teaching of English as a second language.

Consideration is being given at present to the possibility of expanding these fabilities in the coming university quinquennium.
Regional Centres and needs 62.

Attention was drawn by the Makerere Conference and by the C.E.L.C.

working· party in their commentary on the Report of that Con ference to the desiral!,ility of increasing the number of special regional centres closely linked with universities and training colleges and dealing with the teaching of English as a second language.
The essential point about these departments or centres is that each serves the needs of several .training institutions having certain linguistic problems in common.

We endorse the recommen~ation that Commonwealth Governments should give urgent consideration to the valuable work which can be carried out by such centres.

· 63.

In Australia, the University of Sydney has established a course for the teaching of English as a _Second Language as part of Australia's response to commitmbnts in South-East Asia.
At least seven necialists in this field from Australia are serving in South-East Asia at present.

Australia has moreo~et gained co1:siderable experience in meeting the needs of immigrants jfrom some ten different countries whose lar.,.uage i, not English.

Australia is ready to share with any interested c0unrry her experience in this fiel~.

.

I 64.

In New Zealand, an English Language Institute was estahli~hed in 1961 at the Victoria University of Wellington.
An expert from A11stralia has be;n recruited to the staff and stud ·nts come from countries of South East Asia who are members of the •.

')\ombo Plan but not necessarily members of the Comqionwealth The New Zealand Government envisages extending the work of this Institute under the scheme for Commonwealth 44 'lit, , f r, ..,..,.

.. .. , _, S -0 I educa~onal <:o-opera:tion a-nd hopes to increase the Institute's capacity by 1963.

65.
65.

In India, the English Language Teaching· Institute at Allahabad, financed jointly by the Nuffield Foundation and by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh, has been in existence for some time.

It was reinforced by t he establishment in 1958 of a Central Institute of English at Hyderabad.

The latter was set up with contributions in money from .the Ford Founda tion a11d the Government of India and with the assistance of three specialists supplied by the British Council.
More specialists are needed, since i.t is hoped to establish English Language Centres throughout the regions of India.

The Central Institute at Hyderabad would act as a clearing house of 1nformati0111 for the oitiher regional centres faside India.

The Hyderabad Institute has run six courses las-ting four months each, directed at training college lecturers, in the methodology of the teaching of English as a second language.
It has also run brief vacation courses for high school teachers· and it is proposed to c;stablish, in the next academic year.

a regular nine-month course devoted to elementary linguistics, phonetics, methods of teaching and literary interpretation.

Trainees who issue from the Institute conduct seminars and thus disseminate the knowledge they have gained.
Their work is urgently needed in view of the increased emphasis on English in India which it is hoped to introduce as a second language at the age of eight or nine years.

66.

-Pakistan : English will play an important part in the new educational system of Pakistan, where it is also the primary second language.

In the new secondary school curriculum.

special emphasis has been placed on teaching English as a functional language.
The use of radio helps pupils to hear speakers whose mother tongue is English, but there is a continuing need for such speakers with special training to fill key posts.

Research is being conducted in Pakistan into the problem of the way .i.ti which the mother tongue of students · affects their use of English.

61.

South-East Asia: With the exception of Hong Kong, the Common wealth countries of South-East Asia are multi-racial and have multi-lingual education systems.
Yet there are few schools in which English is not used as the medium of instruction or taught as the second language from an early stage of -the primary course.

In all these countries the need for the training of teachers of English is growing rapidly and all have training colleges in which the basic training is given.

Reference has been made in para.

63 to the part played by Australia.


There is however a serious shortage of highly quaµfled specialists rto start these colleges and to prepare teaching materials for use in the schools.
It was for this reason that a Conference of Directors of Education held recently in Hong Kong con sidered a proposal to establish a regional English language centre to supplement the work of the training colleges, to run special courses and seminars, to prepare and test materials and to do research in co-operation with the education departments of the universities.
lt was recommended by that Conference that an English language teaching expert should be invited to survey more fully the need for such a centre, to define its functions and to advise where it could best be located.

68.
68.

Malaya: Among the steps taken by Malaya ,to improve rthe teaching of English was the establishment in 1952 of a training college at Kirkby 45 .., ... ....... ~- ~ .. ... in England by the Malayan Government 10 train teachers by means of a two-year course to give instruction in English in the upper forms of primary and the lower forms of secondary schools.

This college is being replaced by one starting work in January 1962 in Kuala Lumpur.
The need for qualified le cturers to serve in this College is still unfulfilled.

1 69.

Africa: The importance of the English language in the educational systems of Commonwealth countries in Africa is well established, since English is used as the medium of instruction in secondary schools and in some primary ~chools.

For this reason training colleges pay special attention to the teaching of English as a second language and to its use as a medium of instruction.
In addition to teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, research is undertaken in univ,ersity departments of education, for example at Makerere College and the· University College of Ibadan.

Experimental work and in-service training courses are con ducted at special regional centres such as those in Nairobi and Ibadan.

The number of these centres is likely to increase and the greatest need is for experts in key posts in institutions of this kind.

70.
70.

We should like to draw attention to Chapter X of the Report of the Makerere Conference which ,emphasised how much can be done, and is being done, to supplement oral instruction with the use of television, radio, records, tape-recorders an.d other audio-visual aids.

Their use can greatly enhance th9 effectiveness of the class room teacher, who is the backbone of most language teaching.
Fresh instances of the employment of such aids were 9rought to our notice and served to confirm our belief that an Information Centre on all aspects of ,the teaching of EHglish is needed.

1 71.

The problem of testing the attainment of proficiency in English as a second language was noted at the Makerere Conference.
While this is a matter which might be left to indiv_idual Governments to consider, we welcome the offer which has been made by Britain to give help in• devising diagnostic material for use in testing attainment and locating errors in the use of English as a second language.

This offer was made on behalf of Moray House College of Education with the intention that the College and the Department of Applied Linguistics at ;the University of Edinburgh would collaborate in this matter.
Its object would be to produce test items which could be adapted to local linguistic conditions.

lnfo1JDation Centre on the teaching of English as a second language 72.

In addition t1 the ,establishment of regional centres, it seems desir able-indeed essential-that there should be some efficierit mean<; of collect ing and disseminating information about the best arid quickest means of teaching English as a second language.
It will be the object of the regional centres not only t0 train teachers of English but to conduct research into the problems and methodology of this task.

All the evidence before us supports the suggestion made at the Makerere Conference ,11at there should be an Information Centre on the teaching of the Eng!is:, language to serve the countries of the Commonwealth.

We h~ve therefor,,.

endorsed the suggestion made at Makerere t .'


establish a Commonwealth English Language lnformation Centre as a ; ·,essary complement t'o the essential increase in teacher training facilities.

'Ne discussed at length the functions of such a Centre and its rebtions t o other bodies such as lhe regional 46 '-' centres and to English teacb.ing centres outside the Commonwealth.
We also discussed fully the principles of staffing, of control and of finance to be followed in thi, est:i.blisbmoill oi suc.b a Centre.

More than one proposal was made on finance.

A number of proposals were made for the location of such a Centre, and we have borne in mind the suggestions made by the working party of the C.E.L.C.

in choosing its location.

These are: - (a) The Centre would fin<!

sreat advantage in being close to edu~a .


tional in.stitutions already doing ,practical wo.rk and research in the subject; (b) lt would also •be important for the Centre to be close to Lh~ sources of the problem.

that is, to where English is to be tau.ght as a second •language on a massive scale ; (c) The Centre wlll reqwre ,goo_d communications to the who.le of the Commonwea-lth and the U.S.A.; (d) Wherever sl~uated.
the Centre must ,be free · to take a detacb..:d view of its prolblems on a Commonwealth basis and not be in- t-r whelmed •by ·the .particular iproblems of the counLry in which it is located.

73.

As a <result of our discussions we recommend: (i) that the propooed Centre be estaiblished ; .
(ii) that its location 1be i:n Lo.ndon ; (iii) that it should :bo concerned solely ,with coHecting and dis• seminatin:g in.formallion on ,the •best and quickest ~ans of teaching English as a second language 'but should not concern itulI directly with carrying out or Jina:ncing research; (iv) that its Head ,must be a fully qualified, top-level man or wom.

:i tt , rwell mown in the field Off teaching of English as a second in profe.ssionu,1 Jangua,ge.
who should •bear :f.uLl respons1btlity matters; (v) that the Head of the Oc.ntre should •be administratively res,ponsi bl¢ ,to the Direotor of the Commonwealth Education liaison Unit; (vi) that it should ibe left to the C.E.L.C.
to deoide the exact ph}•sical location in London of the Centre, •to see whether it oould share common secrctarfal servioe.s with the C.E.L.U .• to consider the nature oI i-ts association with a,ny iparti<:.ular ur11ive.rsity and tn decide •whether there shouid be an advisory committee of the type mendoned in ·.the Report ·o!

the Makerere Conference, para.


116 : \vii) ,that the Centre be fina.ru:ed in accordance with the same formula as was applied for ftnanoing the C.B.L.U., the cost being kept as low as poss~ble 1by locaiting the Centre in a,n a•ppropriate place in La,ndon.

Summary of recommendations 74.

The references at the end of each item are to paragraphs in this Repo,rt.

(24) Considera-tion should be given by Commonwealth Governments to the training of 1top level e~perts 1in.
the teaohing of English as n s-econd langua.ge to form ,part of a ca.reei- servloo (para.

58) ; 47 ~ -... , .

.

"!

- -~ ~ - - - - - - - - (25) Governments shQIWd urgently con.sider the e.stablis1unent of regional Enlglish language oeintres which should be close1y Jinked with universities and training colleges (pa!l'a.

62) ; (26) A Commonweaith Information Centre on ithe lines indicated should be estalblished in Londo,n 0pa.ra.

73).

On behalf of the Commi!ttee, (Sig.ned) B. Scott Baitemrui, Chairman.
48 C.?lt -f ANNEX IV REl'ORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND CO-OPERATION IN THE PROVISION OF TEXTBOOKS AND OTIIER BOOKS Terms of reference CONTENTS Paragraph 1 PART 1: TECHNICAL EDUCATION The importance of Technical Education Definition of terms Development of Technical Education in Commonwealth countries .. .

since· the Oxford Conference Review of progress of co-operation in Technical Education since the Oxford Conference .

.

.

A new initiative in technical teacher training Conclusion .

.
.

.

Summary of recommendations and suggestions 3 4 6 7 26 29 30 PART 2: CO-OPERATION IN THE PROVlSION OF 'TBxTBOOKS AND OTHER BOOKS The importance of books The need for books Textbooks .. .

Other books .. .

Difficulties of distribution of books Libraries Literature bureaux ... General.

.. Miscellaneous Summary of recommendations and suggestions 49 , .. 31 33 37 45 47 51 56 57 58 62 ' ...... -------- - - - r I I "~ I ., t REPORT OF THE COMJ.
"\-IIITEE ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND CO-OPERATION IN THE PROVISION OF TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER BOOKS TERMS OF REFERENCE 1.

At the first Plenary Session 0-f the Second Commoniwealth Education Conference we rwere appointed as a CQ1ID,mittee with •the following terms of reference: (a) To receive and oonside-r ll'eports on ,technical ed:ucation and to re commend such measures as are considered necessary for improving the ,wru:king of the sohemes.
(b) To consider the possibility of co-operation in the provision of text ibooks and other books viewed in relation to the -Commonwealth Scholaa'Shi.p and Fe11owship Plan, ,the training and sup,ply of teachers and ,technical ed-ucabion.

2.

Our report deals separately witlh the subjects at (a) and (b) aborve and is arranged as follows: 1Part I: Technical Education (paragraiphs 3-30).

-Paitt 2: Co-,operation in the prorvision of text-books and ,other !books (paragraphs 31-{;2).
PART 1: TECHNICAL EDUCATION 3.

Tihe report ·of it.he Committee on Techniical Education at the Oxford Conference emphasised the i-mp011tan.ce of technica'1 education to Common wealth countries endeaNouning to expand their industrial economy.

That importance has in no way diminished and we are certain that Common wealth countiries should co-operate even more in sharing resources to foster -the development of ,technical education.

Definition of terms _4.


The RepoFt of the Oxford Conference contains definitions, for the purposes -of the Report, of the terms "technologist", "techruician" and "oraftsman ".

We saiw no reason to suggest a.ny different definition of these· terms which a,re repeated here f~r con-venience of referen<:¢.
Technologist: a iperson hOtldin-g a degree or equivalent professional qualification in science or en,giineeri:ng, -who is re,ronsi•ble for the application of scientiific lrnowledge and method L,.> industry.

Technician: a person qualified iby specialist technical education and 'practical trainmg to work ru.nder the general d1rection of a ,techno fogisL Craftsman: normaiHy a person ,who Jias served a recognised apprentice ship in a trade, ,and iwho ap1 :es 1his skiills on the shop floor.

5.
5.

The Report of the Oxford Confer ·e noted that ,these terms were not entirely appropriate in fields ether •l!har: those of science and engineer.mg, 50 ' .1 ~?

; 7 --- but tb:u ,hey served fOT p ractica-1 ,punposes to indicate the cOllD.•pa.ralble levels of skill and training in subjects like medical science, pharn:nacy, commerce, agriculture, vete,rinary scienoe and forestry.
We wish to make it clear that the same En,e and that refere:nces to technologists, we are following techniciins and craftsmen in this Report also include references to corre sponding categories in other fields of technical education.

Development of technical education in Commonwealth countries since the Oxford Confe::cnce · 6.
Altho,ugh no major scheme of Commoruwe.a.lth co-operation soldy in the field o,f technical education emerged from the Oxford Coruference, many Commonwealth countries have since bhat Conforence la,unched programmes to expand their own facilities for technical education.

The scale of e.'X pansion and the priority given to it by Common,wealth countries are a measure o,f t:he importance attached· •to technical education.
Britain is ex panding her technical training facilities for technicians and craftsmen as well as for tecbno1ogists iby nearly 50 per cent.

Many other Commonwealth co,untrie.s have already expa,nded or are ex,panding their provision for tecbnicaJ educaition to a similar extent.

Fur-ther expansion is planned.

Some countries have received assistance fir0tm others wit-bin, the Common wealth.
One result ,()If this expansi-0.11 is to increase the shortage of qualified teachers of tech.ruical subjects in a,LJ paa:ts of the Common,wea'1,th.

New ,provision in many countries, however, indudes facilities for bhe ,training •Of technical teachers.

Review of progress of co-operation in technical education since the Oxford Conference 7.
We have consuderetl •the Report of the Commo,nwe,alth Education Liaison Committee eq,titled "Co-operation in Technical Education" in the light of the recommendations .of the Oxford Conference.

Our consideratio!l15 have suggested possi·ble improvements and have 'brought forth offers of increased assistance for a numoor of Commonwealth countnies.

Thes,c are also set out beJow.

8.


The headings to paragraphs 9-25 below are taken from the summary of recommendations and suggestions of the Committee on Technical Educa tion at the Oxford Conference.

The interchange of scientists and technologists and the stimulation which results offer a source of lasting benefit for all the countries, and should be encouraged 9.
Advisers and teachers have been sent by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to a number of developi·ng countries to assis,t with and advise on technica.1 education programmes, and Australia has also provided Visitors' Awards for experienced educators from developing countries for consultation and study of Australian educational institutions and practice.

These visits were valuable but were not interchanges in the sense envisaged by the Oxford Conference.
Some interchanges of this type have been arranged directly between institutions but a diffic..ulty lies in finding funds to meet the additional expenses which are always involved.

10.

It may not always be easy for scientists and technologists to be spared from their key positions in the institutions in developing countries • 51 F ~-1t;?i f';~f-t ~ -~ .

,.

,<)'.

f ~ where their local knowledge and experience are needed and whose develop ment may be hampered by their absence.
But, where possible, inter changes can be valuable and we reaffirm the recommendation of the Oxford Conference and recommend that Commonwealth countries should con sider giving financial assistance to facilitate interchanges of scientists and technologists.

'I Arrangements should be made to provide more places in universities and higher technological institutes in Commonwealth countries for students from small countries which have no such facilities 11.
As a resu1t o~ the recent devel-opment in technical education facilities in Commonwealth countries, a substantial number of additional places has been made available in universii.ties and technical colleges for students from developing countries where training facilities are not provided.

In Britain, some 8,000 students from Commonwealth countries are already following full-time courses in technical colleges ; and more places will be In Canada, many available as technical college provision is increased.
students have been admitted under the Colombo Plan and other schemes of aid.

In Australia and New Zealand, courses of training for technical teachers and other !courses are provided for many students from Common wealth countries with assistance under the Colombo Plan and other programmes of international aid.

India also offer~ places for students from other Commonwealth countries and will in future offer more.

12.
12.

Progress in the provision of training places is not unsatisfactory but more places are still needed.

All countries offering scholarships, other awards or facilities for education, training or research should devote to technical education in the Com monwealth a good proportion of the awards and facilities they may offer 13.

To date, out of a total of 705 awards under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, 413 have been for courses in science, technology and m7dicine.
This is a satisfactory proportion and we hope it will be maintained.

Of the 400 teacher training bursaries offered annually by Britaiti, about 50 are held at technical teacher training colleges at present.

We hor this proportion may be increased.

Gov(!rnments of smaller Commonwealth countries should consider co operating witij each other to establish Regional Technical Teacher Training Colleges ; anJ other countries able to give aid to schemes for this purpose should do s0 ·•· 14.
Consequent upon the develJpment and expansion of technical educa tion several countries have also increased their technical teach~r tTaming facilities to make good the shortage of teachers where resour..:cs perm.it.

In India, no less than 40 training establishments for technic.l teachers In at various levels already exist or are planned for the near , uture.

Pakistan, there are three new large well-equipped polytec:.

ics all of whic;h also provide training for technical teachers.
Malaya, with the assistance of the Government of Canada, will be opening in 1962 a new College to train teachers of technicians and craftsmen.

All these new 52 se,.7 ·~ establishments provide training for teachers of technicians and craftsmen and all these countries are prepared to offer training pla.ces for students from other Commonwealth countries.
New Zealand and Ceylon are also prepared to establish additional technical teacher training facilities, if In view vf the adequate support from other countries is fotithcoming.

de'lelopment of these national colleges and the offer of pl:ices to smaller countries, there is less urgency to establish regional coile;es th:in tbae was at the time of the Oxford Conference.

The possibility d es!ablishing a regional teacher training college was considered at a conf~rence of smaller Commonwealth countries in S.E.
Asia which also condudt:d that in the first place national facilities should be developed and otfrr places to other countries and that the need for regional colleges should b<!

re·,kwed from time to time.

15.

We recommend that, in areas where large numbers of pia.

::cs are now available for smaller countries in technical teacher training colleges in larger countries, the question of establishing regional t,xhnical ,eacher training colkges should be deferred for the time being.
There m:iy how ever be some are1s of the Commonwealth (e.g.

the \Ve,t Ind ies) eitht:r where a national college could not offer enough places [ o r students from other Commonwealth countries or where numbers are so small in any one country that a national college would not be viable.

Such c:ircum~tanccs suggest co-operation between groups of countries to establish .1 r,:gional college in a suitable agreed location.
Postgraduate scholars in science and technology shoidd be encuuraged to take part-time teacher training courses 16.

In Britain, attempts rto encourage postgraduate schoiar, in science and technology to take advantage of part-time teaoher training courses have not proved very successful as most scholars are either [ully occ upied with their own studies or have no intention of undertaking part-time tea..:.hing on return to their own countries.
The help which professionally q u::ilified men can give as part-time teachers in technical colleges while still following their main voca-tion is so valuable, however, that we hope every effort wiU continue to be made to persuade postgraduate sc.holars also to undertake part-time training as teachers.

17.

In India, plans have been made for postgraduate students to under take paid part-rime teaching work which will give useful experience.
The supply of books and periodicals is vital to technical educarion and should be given close and continuous attention by the education autho rities and governments 18.

This point is covered by P,art 2 of our Report.

Commonwealth countries which would like qualifications awarded by their technical institutions to be recognised by professional bodies are advised to consult the appropriate professional bodies to this end 19.
Ghana, Nigeria, Malaya and Hong Kong have succeeded in obtaining recognition from various professional bodies in Britain for certain qualifica tions obtainable in those countries ; other countries have been less success It would be improper to attempt Ito br~g pressure on professional ful.

53 r t ~ J 'I bodies to recognise partic ular qualifications, courses or institutions ; but such ·bodies might h9 asked to consider the e:x,pansion of their advisory services relating to recognition.
We understand that a meeting of Common wealth professional bodies will be held in Canada in 1963 w:hich could afford an opportunity for this.

20.

It would be valuable if Commonwealth countries could have informa tion about which courses and qualifica-tions throughout the Commonwealth are recognised by profbssional bodies (a) in the country in whic,h the courses w~re held or the qualifications o,btained and (b) in other Commonwealth countries.
Students c6uld then be advised about institutions to which ,they might apply for admission.

Arrangements for mu1ual aid in technical education arising from the con ference should normally be made bilaterally between the countries concerned.

and e~ery country should set up permanent machinery to supervise the detailed operation of mutual assistance 21.
Some Commontealth countries have set up maohinery on the lines envisaged by the Oxford Conference; in othe.rs machinery already existed before the Oxford Cdnference and that machinery now also prcvides for Commonwealth co-operation in education.

We recommend rha,t all countries should consider whether their present machinery is adequate.

Experience since th<!

Oxford C6nference suggests that bilateral arrangements are satisfactory.
A small ·• information centre " mif!ht be established in London to give information about facilities for technical education and sources of advice available in the Commonwealth 22.

T.t: .

Commonwea1th Education Liaison Unit is clearly the appro priate bv .. / :o give information about facilities for technical education and sources of advice avai~able in the Commonwealth.
It would also be usefui if the Unit could ke~ a record of bil ateral and o~her arrangements for assistance and could ci;rculate details annually.

Efforts should be made to increase mutual assistance in providing oppor industry for people from tunities for training and experience in Commonwealth countries 23.
Many Com.mon~ealth students have received overseas training and experience in industry in Britain, Canada and Australia mostly through direct arrangements with privaite and public industrial organisations.

Never theless, the need for more opportunities for students to obtain practical training and experience to supplement their studies is widely felt.
The Advisory Committee ~et up in Britain shortly after the Oxford Conference to help with the placing of Commonwealth students in industry does not appear to be widely lknown.

A new "Council for Technical Education and Training for Ovdrseas Countries" is now being set up.

Its respon sibilities include those of t!he former Advisory Committee and full details will be circulated shortly to all Commonwealth countries.

24.
24.

We recommend that approaches be made to industry by Governments to see what additional help could be afforded.

1 54 .... ,-,r,,,.. .

1 .

'lf.

'~'.

Technical education should receive a full share of all tlie_ various kinds of financial and other assistance resulting from the Conference 25.

We mentioned in paragraph 13 of this Report the extent to which awards under the Commonwealth Scholarship and F ellowship Plan and the training of teachers scheme are in the field of technical education.
Direct or indirect assistance towards the development of technical education has also been given by several countries under the supply of teachers scheme and under other schemes not arising from the Oxford Conference.

We are satisfied that technical educaition is receiving a -reason~ble share of the assistance given and we hope that this will not only be maintained but increased.

A new initiative in tedmical teacher training 26.


The reason behind the recommendations of the Oxford Conkrence for the establishment of regional ,technical teacher training colleges (see paras.
14-15 above) was the need to provide an adequate suppl y of trnined staff, who on return to their own countries could themsdves initiate and help with whemes for the training of technicians and craf:tsmen for whom a sufficient nwnber of training places can never be provided in the older countries in spite of all that is being done to help in this way.

The ~J~fors by some countries to make places available in their own technical teacher training colleges for s,tudents from developing countries (see para.
14 ab\.we) will help towards the same end, but there is still room for further co-opera tion in ·this direction.

27.

EX,perience of the British Training of Teachers Bursary Scheme suggests that many teachers from developing countries who apply for training in Britain ait a -technical teacher training college have neither sufficient technical qualification nor adequate industrial experience to bendit from a course of teacher training.

Britain has therefore offered.


to provide a special course of training to meet this situa,tion.

Under this, students woulc receive special training for six months at a technical college in Britain and six months of planned industrial experience before proceeding to a one year course of technical teacher training.

Britain has also offered to provide 40-50 bursaries yearly to enable •teachers from developing countries to attend this special course.

28.
28.

Wt ·::e!come this offer which will considerably increase training opportunities for technicians and craftsmen in developing countries and we commend it to the Governments of ·those countries.

Conclusion 29, Our discussions have confirmed the importance of technical educa tion to all countries, and pal'ticularly the developing countries, of lhe Commonwealth and the need for further development of technical training facilities.
Realities cannot he ignored and limited resources, administrative difficulties and some other considerations .have prevented the recommenda tions o[ the Oxford Conference from being fully implemented.

Nonetheless, nearly all countries have -attempted to overcome, or to assist other countries to overcome, the many difficulties which obstruct their efforts to improve the quality and quantity of technical education.
With further co-operation, we believe tlrnt rtb.e problems confronting Commonwealth countries in th¢ ileld of technical educa>tion can be solved.

·55 ,-i.

'1 Summary of recolll1'endations and suggestions 30.

Our recomme~dations and suggestions are summarised below.

The references at the end of eaoh item are to paragraphs in this report.
(1) The recommendation of the Oxford Conference regarding the inter change of scientists and technologists should be reaffirmed, and countries should consider what financial assistance they could give to facilitate interchanges (paragraphs 9- 10). "

(2) More places for technical training are .still needed and .should be provided (paragraphs 11-12).
(3) The proportion of awards in the field of technical education under the Commonwealth Soholarship and Fellowship Plan should be maintained ~ more awards in this field are desirable un,.b rhe training of teachers scheme (paragraph 13).

(4) Several couittries offer places in their teohnical teacher training colleges to !students from other countries and New Zealand and Ceylon have offered to provide new colleges for this purpose.
In certain areas regional technical teacher ·training colleges may still be needed (paragraphs 14-15).

(5) Every effort 1should be made to encourage postgraduate students to training courses (paragraphs teacher take part.time technical 16-17).

(6) Professional bodies should be asked to consider expansion of their advisory services in relation to the recognition of qualifications (paragraphs 19-20).
(7) The Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit should keep a··record, and circulate details, of arrangements for assistance made between Commonwealth countries (paragraphs 21-22).

(8) Approaches should be made to industry by Governments to sec_ what additional help could be afforded ,to place students for training in industry (paragraphs 23-24).

(9) The share of assistance already devoted to technical education should at least be maintained and prefierably be increased (,para graph 25).
(10) Britain has offered a new scheme of bursaries for a special two year course bf training for t•echnical teachers (paragraphs 26-28).

PART 2: CO-OPERATION IN THE PROVISION OF TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER BOOKS The importance of books 31.

Tqe general development of any nation and its progress in education, medicine, science, tet:hnology and commerce depend to a very large degree on the extensive availability· and use of a great variety of books and periodicals.
These range from the simplest boo.ks for primary schools to learned publications and include general reading material fotr childrcm and adults of all degrees1 of ability, literacy and culture.

In spite of the rapid development of other forms of communication, civilisation is more dependent on the printed word than ever before.

I .

56 .

.- ' / , 5 32.

We were in no doubt about the importance of books and found it difficult to limit our discussions quite so strictly as implied in our terms of reference.
· The need for books 33.

We are unaware of any precise estimates of the need for iJocks in Commonwealth countries : but our discussions made it d ear that th-:r-.

: is a growing unsatisfied demand for reading matter of all kinds.

rang:n/2'.

fr.om primers and simple r"'...aders for children and new literates to literdtur~.

and reference material for general readers and specialists.

34.
34.

It is clear that, unless urgent steps are taken to enlarge the existing supply of suitable b-oo~s and to improve the facilities for their production and distribution, education will continue to suffer.

35.

If books suitable for use in all parts of the Commonwe:1lth could be prepared, many of the problems would be simplified.
Many ot the boc.,ks originally produced for use in a country where English is the mothe r to,ngue ,o.r is used as the medium of instruction may be suitable fur uy~ in •Other countries.

Even then, the content and idiom of b,)oks may pr~v-!nt them from being appropriate to more than a few countries.

Therefor~.

there is need for an increase in the pl'.oduction of material relateu to ,l great diversity of circumstances.
There is also a necJ 1, ,r mvr~ bc·,uk-s, particularly for use in primary schools and for ge11eral r-:aui;;_g, in lun~ L1agc:·; other than English.

· 36.

The problems of meeting the demand for books vary a-:cording w the• nature of the demand and with the circumstarn.

:cs oi the country concerned.

This Report sets out various ways in which the problems may be tackled.

There is no universal solution and it will remain for each country to determine the means most appropriate to its o,,,n needs.
Textbooks Preparation and production 37.

Textbooks, like syllabuses and examinations, should and can be adapted appropriately to contemporary conditions of life in the country In the past, textbooks have often been used in in which they are used.

times, places and conditions for which they were never designed.

It is itherefore necessary that textbooks should be written and produced with the maximum -0.f attention to the local environment.

38.
38.

Books which form an integrated COII!fse and follow a set plan from start to finish are less wasteful than a collection of unrelated books ; but a single individual can hardly have the wide knowledge and experience in teaching that would justify his writing books for every stage of a course.
This suggests the writing of a series of ,textbooks by teams under the general control of an editor, if necessary by arranging for the release of the :1ppropriate persons from their normal duties to write such books.

39.

Textbooks may be prepared and produced in many ways.
Publishers may act on their own initiative or in co-operation with Governments ; or Governments may establish independent groups to oversee preparation and production; and at other times Governments may themselves exercise 57 control in varying 4gree, where the normal pu:t>lishing resources are not available or do not produce the desired results.

Translations 1· " 40.

Where sufficient good books are not available in a particular language of instruction.
a simple remedy might seem to lie in the translation of original works.

It lis, however, essential that care should be exe.cised in selecting books ,or translation and to ensure that the content and treatment of the original are both appropriate to the country in which the books are to be +,ed.

There have in the past sometimes been difficulties in obtaining translation rights, arising chiefly from problems of double ta"ltation and currenr1 y regulations.
We understand, however, that British publishers are now generally ready to make these rights available on reaso11able terms.

4 t 'Wher:e translation does not meet requirements, books much clearly be prepared origina!lly in the language of instruction in the area where they are to be 1JSedl This may mean that the demand will be small and prices high.

In these circumstances, a measure of Government participation and subsidy will be necessary.

Training 42.
Training 42.

Textbook writing has now become a highly developed skill and whatever their subject, textbook writers need some preparation or training in ptoblems of language and communication.

There are also preblems of production in vyhicb co-operation between Commonwealth countries would be useful.

We were therefore glad to learn that in several countries pubJishin¥ home, were providfng training for local people in the techniques of the pr~pan!.tion ~nd production of bOQks.
Britain is hoping to mganise a special course otl training, in conjunction with a university, which will include practical experience in publishing houses, in the writing, prepara tion and productionl of textbooks ; and to offer 10 to 12 bursaries annually for this purpose.

The Ministry of Education publication centre in Jamaica can offer training to one or two persons each year.
New Zealand has an established sch.obi books publication cell'tre at which training can also be offered to people from other Commonwealth countries.

Australia will also be prepared to give assistance and advice.

Prescription 43.

In many countries, books for use in primary and secondary schools are not prescribed!

by any central authority and teachers have a free choice of the textbooks wh.ioh they use.
In some countries it has often been necessary fo~ official agencies to prescribe textbooks for specific purposes.

Such prescription may often be effective in maintaining stan dards of work in the class-room and in meeting shor-t-term need<; quickly.

Where such a system is adopted it seems important to keep the position under.

review, to~avoid the dangc_ri:: of ~ontinuing the use of a _ textbook to m~t the immediate need ·and of excludrng good after, 1t has cea from other sources.
Wherever possible, prescription textbooks availab should allow a· ;;easonable choice.

58 I - L - -~·---.......·-- t "' ...... / s.....) t.. • ' Advisory burema 44.

In India and Pakistan.

prescr.iption of school textbooks and their production under Gov~ent sponsorship has achieved a considetable saving in costs.

In each of these countries.

a bureau has been set up for research into, and to give teohnical guidance on, the preparation of text• books.
If similar bodies were set up in other dev-eloping Commonwealth countries, useful co--operation could be achieved by exchanging visits of experts between such bureaux in different Commonwealth countries.

We also recommend that the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit should colifect from Commonwealth countries, and circulate, details of any particu• larly interesting developments and techniques in the field of textbooks.

Other books 45.

An ordinary reader.


after his formal education is completed, needs to have access to interesting and · well•produoed books and periodicals which are also essential tor the specialist.

Many Commonwealth countries are considering the problem and UNESCO has been making a sp,;:cial st11cly of the subject in South-East Asia.

The pooling of knowledge and experience with-in the .

Commonwealth could be a useful form of co• op<!ration.

46.

As with textbooks.


there is a need for cheap editions of good books whioh will attract the unaccustomed reader and act as a counter to undesirable reading· matter already on the market.

Difficulties of distribution of books 47.

When books for use in any one country are produced in another country, difficulties frequently occur for the school pupil, university student, librarian or general reader in obtaining them when he needs them.

Even when books are published locally.


difficulties occur in distributi_ng them to the remoter areas.

Import controls 48.

Until developing countries are in a position to publish within their own borders a much greater number and variety of books than at present, · they will continue to rely on imports for a large proportion of the books needed.
The practioe of enoouraging the unrestricted movement of educa tional books and ancillary aids by exemption from import duties and licensing procedures which exists in some countries should in the interest of educational development be extended to all Commonwealth countries.

Bookshops 49.

The distribution of books for general reading cannot be fully effective unless a system of wcll•organised bookshops is developed.

Clearly lar&e bookshops are only likely to be established in large towns.
It is there fore necessary to devise ways of bringing books to small towns and villages.

These ways may include the use of mobile bookshops, the encouragement of small traders and the assistance of school authorities.

In certain cases, financial aid may be requirec:1.

Cost of books 50.

The need to keep the oost of educational books as low as possible must be stressed.
The most expensive books are those which are neede d 59 r--, b t for higher education and we were glad to hear of the success of the scheme worked out with India under which Britain subsidises the pro duction of a limited ·number of university textbooks for sale in India at about OQ.e-third of their normal price.

We com.mend the development of similar schemes to other Commonwealth countries. "

- Libraries General Libraries 51.


It is essential for the spread and susrenance of education that public library services be developed quickly and adequately in all parts of the Commonwealth.

Without satisfactory library services much formal and informal education goes to waste and the reimlt is often a relapse into illiteracy.

The means by which such services may be financed will vary from oountry to oountry, but legislation will often be necessaiy for their establishment.
A variety of experience exists within the Commonwealth.

which oould be used where necessary.

Training 52.

In the development of library services it is essential that there should be an adequate supply of trained librari-ans.

Facilities exist in a number of CQmmonwealth ~untries which could be used to general advantage.

For example.

in India there are some 16 courses of librarianship in univer sities and other instituti.ons, oo which students from other Commonwealth countries m~ be admitted.
Similar faciHties exist in other parts of the Commonwealth and information about these can be obtained from the Library Association in Britain.

Advisory services 53.

Tl e provision of a 1ib:rary adviser under the auspices of the Inter Universiq Council ~as stimulated the dev.~lopment of library services in universities assooiaited with the Council.

In a wider sphere.

the British Council has done IDJUch to provide, and to stimulate the provision of.

library services.
library services.

Librarians from different parts of the Commonwealth have been trained through scholarships provided under the Colombo Plan and other schemes of assistance.

We recommend that Commonwealth countries should consider what further assistance they can give in these fields.

54.

There· i,s a greait variety of activity in and through h'braries already It would be to the general advantage throughout the Commonwealth.
of the Commonwealth if more effective means of disseminating information about these activ~ties could be :found.

• • .

\ 'l'' Textbook libraries 55.

Multiple copy textbook Libraries provided through the British Council in India and Pakistan have made expensive text-books available on long loan to many students and coll~ges.
We learned with interest of the experiment in Indi~ of establishing " day scholars· homes" at which multiple copies of textbooks are available to college students for long houn daily.

Detai.iled information about suoh services should be made available and the possibility of Commonwealth co-operation in extending them should be examined.

60 ~ ., ~ ~ ~ ,,... ) j'') Li'terature bureaux · 56.
To prepare diotionaries, to encourage authol"S in writing, to prepare textbooks and to p11oduce translations a.re some of the tasks to be faced in any : ountry which wishes to develop its own language.

To achieve these ends, some countries have set up literature bureaux.

We recommend that information about the operation and success of these be made generaJly available.

General 57.
General 57.

It is essential to the de•veJopment of _the culture of a country that a lively book-publishing trade should be encouraged to develop within.

its own borders, for this would not only ensure that a supply of suitable books will be available but also provide opportunities for training in the preparation and pr-oduction of books and encourage local ta,Jent.
Much of the development in the supply of books for dev~loping countries will inevitably need to be in tihe course of normal commercial relations between publishers and consumers.
We hope that Governments of developing countries will recognise the importance of a flow of good textbooks and other books through commercial channels and do everything possible to encourage this ; and that all concerned with the publication, distribution· and sale of books will do all they can to keep retail costs as low as possible.

Misce,ianeous 58.

Our attention was drawn to a number of other topics that we were unable to examine in de.tail.
These included teaching machines, the conservation of books and the shortage of paper for textbook production.

59.

Because of our lack of information about teaching machines and programmed material, we cannot make any useful comments at tl?-is stage.

60.

Information about the conservation of books is obtainable from UNESCO which has commissioned research into this subject.

Many Commonwealbh countries ailready have information.

61.
61.

A shortage of paper is a serious problem for some Commonwealth countries and this is a matter in which the possibility of co-operation should be considered.

Summary of recomw~ndations and suggestions 62.

Our recommendations and suggestions are summarised below.

The references at the end of each item are to the paragraphs in this Report.

(11) The importance of, and the need for more, textbooks and other books in many parts of the Commonwealth is undoubted (para graphs 31-36 and 45-46).
(12) Textbooks need to be appropriate to the area in which they are used (paragraph 37).

(13) The writing, preparation and production of tex,tbooks can be dealt with in many ways; the release of appropriate persons from their normal duties to write textbooks should be considered (paragraphs 38-39).

(14) Translation of textbooks may sometimes be appropriate (para graphs 40-41).

61 .. .........

I l " (15) There is a need for more training in the writing, .
preparation and production of textbooks ; Britain has offered bursaries for this purpose (paragraph 42).

--, (16) Prescrirtion of tcxtb-ouk.s may be necessary but care is needed - to avoid dangcn (paragraph 43).

(17) Exchanges!

of visits between bodies concerned with the prepara tion of ter"tbooks and the circulation of information by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit about developments in the technique of producing textbooks would be valuable (para graph 44}.
(18) P.:s~ibuu~n of educational books and material needs to be improved (paragraphs 48--49).

· (19) The cost of educational books musit be kept low ; further schemes -like the present British scheme for low-priced university text books in India should be considered {paragraph 50).
(20) Public and textbook libraries (and, where appropriate, literature bureaux) should be developed ; training should be provided for librarians and information should be exchanged about develop mcn ts in different countries (paragraphs 51-56).

(21) Commonwealth co-operation is desirable to overcome a shortage of paper in some countries (paragraph 61).

I I On behalf of the Committee,.

(Signed) Alexander Oppenheim, Chairman.


62 S17 ANNEX V REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL EDUCATION CONTENTS Paragrnph Introduction The aims and purpose of Social Education The practice of Social Education The priority of Social Education Co-operation in Social Education Training in institutions Voluntary workers Teaching material and equipment The need for continuing, machinery Recommendations ... l 4 7 11 13 14 18 21 24 26 63 - ...

L.!
L.!

;..-J:< ...- 7 ' - -!\1»~•f• pp ' )~ REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL EDUCATION Introduction At the opening Plenary Session of the Conference, the Committee was appointed with the following terms of reference : "To consider the possibility of co-operation in social education."

2.

The subject of social education appears on the agenda of Common wealth Education Conferences for the first time.
It is therefore necessary to set out in some detail the aims and purpose of social education and why the subject is included as an item on the agenda for the Second Conference at New Delhi.'

3.

The subject' was introduced by the Government of India whose back ground paper, supported by papers submitted by the Governments of Britain and Canada, was of invaluable help to the work of the Committee.

The aims and purpose of Social Education 4.


Social education is informal, as against formal, education for men and women both as individuals and as members of their communities.

expressed through i~eas and methods which are used to ensure for them a fuller, more useful and productive life.

The main emphasis in social education is directed towards adults and their places, functions and responsibilities in their community settings with particular reference to common effort and mutual aid.

5.
5.

There is an urgent need to consider social education as an important aspect of education, particularly in those countries in which a large section of the population has had little or no formal schooling.- · Quite· apart from the opportunities provided for formal education, there is a continuing need in all countries for adult education.

Rapid social.
Rapid social.

economic and polit~cal change is affecting the social structure, traditions and customs in many countries and in order to avoid undue social dis ruption people should become aware of these changes and so be prepared to meet the problems arising from them.

6.

Social education is of the closest concern to Governments but it cannot be carried out by Governments alone without losing its identity · and force.
Although Governments may and should foster social education as a matter of policy, and although they may provide funds and facilities and trained workers, the demand for such education must derive from the people themselves.

Hence the importance of the principle of ·voluntary service and the vital role of voluntary organisations in social education.

The practice of Social Education 7.


The way in which social education is practised in countries within the Commonwealth differs according to the stages of development of the communities and the techniques and methods adopted by Governments.

Therefore, although a common term is used, it does not necessarily mean that there is common practice.

The techniques of social education differ 64 'V - ,.
s~-1 ) ~ not only between countries but also in accordance with the needs and nature of the particular group or society with which they are concerned.

These techniques and methods are evident in group work with communities, in youth work, ~n women's activities and the use of mass media and extension services for imparting knowledge.

8.

Many of these activities are fostered best by voluntary organisations with the support of local and central governmental authorities.
Social educa_tion encourages the emergence of local leaders who inspire voluntary effort.

Social education plays an important part in working groups, in trade unions and co-operative movements and in other special-interest groups.

9.

An integral pare of social education is the eradication of illiteracy.
With the increase in primary education, adult literacy campaigns assume added importance not only to improve individual knowledge but to avoid t he conflict which frequently arises between literate children and illiterate parents.

However, literacy is not an end in itself but is a means to the end to which social education is directed.

10.
10.

In many countries there is concern about the need for fuller participa tion by women in the life of the home, the local community and of the country .through an expansion of facilities for education and training, both formal and informal.

The importance of this in a rapidly developing community cannot be over-emphasised.

The need for training at all levels in hoine economics has been recognised in many countries but the oppor tunities for such training are far too limited.
The priority of Social Education 11.

There was complete agreement in the Committee about the need for social education .and it was generally considered that social education should receive a much higher priority in educational development pro grammes.

Unless special attention is paid to social education, economic and social development programmes will continue in a state of imbalance.
Social education needs not only government financial and administrative support but also the active participation and co-operation of the people.

Countries will find different ways of administering.

these services but there must be strong central direction and support.

12.

The Committee recommends that social education should be included in the programme of Commonwealth co-operation in education.

Co-operation in Social Education 13.


The task of social education in helping people to meet the demands and solve the problems of rapid change is a formidable one.

It cannot be undertaken solely through assistance under a Commonwealth educa tion scheme.

All countries are making efforts to a greater or lesser degree to intmduce programmes of social education.

Some bilateral assistance has been made available under other schemes.
The Committee agrees however that Commonwealth co-operation in this field should be encouraged.

Training in institutions 14.

Social education is still a developing field in which there is a short age of people who have both training and experience and who can plan 65 ....-.

\ r) ~ " - and direct programmes particular.ly in kss <.kveloped pa rts of the Com monwealth.
It is felt that experienced and mature persons should be sent from these countries, where they would already be in positions of leadership· in the communities to which they belong, to gain overseas training and wide~ experience specially suited to the needs of the com munities in which they work.

The training that they undertake ought to be of one or two years' duration and take the form of special courses without necessarily leading to a formal qualification.
Such training could be undertaken in institutions offering formal qualifications.

15.

A great amount of useful work can be done in the field of social education by community leaders working through official agencies and/or with voluntary organisations.

1t is felt that training and experience for such people would offer the necessary background and experience to broaden their outlook and understanding.
Such tra ining is available in various Commonwealth countries but there is a need to increase the num ber of available courses and places.

Simultaneously there must be scholar ships or other assistance available so that advantage may be taken of them.

16.

There is also a need for formal training in university departments of social study and in colleges and institutions providing courses in adult education and home economics.

Such courses might be of one, two or, in some cases, three years' duration.
Men and women who are preparing for .

social education work in their own countries and have already given evidence of their suitability for it could be sent to these courses ...

The Committee proposes that provision be made through existing schemes of scholarships and assistance for teacher training for those seeking formal training in social ed ucation.

17.
17.

T he spread of the work of social education would be helped by recruitment fro~ the more developed countries of staff able to give advice, L'clining and instruction in various a spects of social education, such as women's activities, youth work and adult education.

It is par ticula rly important to recruit dedicated people of the highest calibre to train and inspire youth leaders and teachers in the field of social educa tion.
If possible, arrangements sho-uld also be made between colleges and university departments to enable teachers engaged in social education work to undertake periods of ser vice in countries other than their own.

Voluntary workers 18.

A full programme of social education can only be successfu lly intro duced and carried out if there is full co-operation and co-ordination between Governments, voluntary organisations and voluntary community leaders.
In many countries voluntary organisa tions have been pioneers in this field and Governments, recognising the significance of their role, should give them adequate facilities to undertake their prope r functions effectivdy in this important field.

A part from the need for ht'tter organisation of volun tary bodies, there is an urgent need for tra ined staff.

1t is therefore pm posed that short introductory non-professional cours.
:s in social educatinn including community developmen t. soci:;J welfor-:: anu acL!lt education be developed and expanded.

19.

Some Commonwealth countries already have projec.ts for voluntary service at home and overseas for young people within the field o f social I 66 .S '1 ~ education.

The Committee feels that since this principle of voluntary ser vice is important in such projects, i.t should be officially encouraged and such projects should be e:,,;panded.
It is felt that much more publicity and recognition must be given to the work that is already being done.

20.

Another form of training which should be expanded is the informal temporary attachment of people from overseas to organisations doing social education work which is capable of application overseas and visits of experts from overseas territories to study their particular field in other countries.

With better facilities for financing and supervision, this work could well be expanded.
By co-operation between voluntary organisations operating at the national level, posts for tutors and advisers could be created to assist overseas students and workers who desire visits or attachments to voluntary bodies.

Teaching materials and equipment 21.

Ass.istance is poss.ihle ,through co-operation in respect of teaching materials and equipment.
There is a need in some countries for advice on the techniques orf produciirug teaching mater-ia-ls and for iI1Strucuion In some in the use o,f speoialised equ~pment suoh as a:udio-visua,l aiids.

Commonwealth countiries this field are a,lready av.ailaible.

trainiirug facihties in 22 .. Exchange of ·in,formafroo and a,dvice on techniques is possi,ble and would 1be most 1USci1ul.
Some of the information required is contained within officiail and other technical publications, departmental reports, surveys and the !like.

The Committee recommends that these publicat ions be made avaiJaible wi1thin the Commornwea-lth- and that the Commo-n1yvea,Jti1 Education Liaison Qommi.ttee should take appropriate action to faci,Iitate effectbve exchange.

It wil,l be a matter for individual countries to determine this mat·eriad can· be a:na,de av.ai,laible free of cost.
The most whetherr- important thing is knowledge of the existence of such mate.rials and their availability.

23.

The Committee did not feel that any separate machinery for the · supply of• teaohinig ma-te:ria,Is w ,ais necessary or pr:acticahle at this stage.

Under existing a,iid sohemes some Commonweailth countrJes are sup-plying material for the production oif textbooks and other teaching equipment.
It is hoped that :this will cont!.inue ,boca'l!Se it is a rusefal and practical contr~buti,o.n in aU aspects of education including socia,l edrucation.

The need for continuing machinery the Commonwealth Ediucation Liaison Committee and 24.

The Committee has not oomsidexed separa.

'tely tihe need for corntinua tion of the Commonwealth Educatiolll iL1aison Unit in London, .but it is aware tlhat some o,f the recommendations it has made presuppose exchanges of infomnation between Commonwealth countries.
fn partioulaa-, information is nece5sary about schoJarships and other finanoiail assistance intended for training people in sociail ediucation.

[nfonmation is also requked about courses and ospportmnities for stmdy tours and tihe supply of ex.perts.
25. ,While the Committee env>isageis tihe conti)n,uation of these 8Jdministra tive bodies, iit reoommen,ds that th_e Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee should oonsider ihorw lbest 1to gilve effect to this Committee's proposals as a contiIIIWil,g activity.

67 .---- t ··.)

u , ... v - Recommendations 26.

The references at the end of each item are to paragraphs in this Report (1) Social education should receive a rn:uch higher priority in education~ devieiopment programmes (para.

11).
11).

(2) Social educatioo.

should be included in the programme of Corm monwea1lth co-operation in education ~para.

12).

(3) Commo.lllWealllh oo-.operatio,n Jn social education should be encouraged (para.

13).

(4) Mature persons experienced in sociaJ education work should be sent to other countries for training and wider ex,perience, iin special c0u.r~s not necessarily leading to a formal qualification (paras.

14- 15).

.
14- 15).

.

(5) There should rbe an expansion of courses and -·an increaise in the number of people -underta.k.iing formal training in sooial education (para.

16).

I · (6) .Provision shiould he made in ex,iisting schemes for scho,larships and other financial assistance for those seeking ex,per.ience or formaJ training in social education (paras.

15-16).
15-16).

(7) E~periencedl -staff · should ,be recruited for work i.n developing countrJes where they ca111 give advice, training and Jnstruction in social education ~ara.

17).

(8) Arrangements should ibe made between colleges and university department!

; to .

ena!b:le teachers engaged in social education work to undertake periods of service in other countries (para.

17).
17).

(9) There should be development of short non-profeStSriona,l courses in social edu~ation for trairuing voluntary workers in cOIDlmunity -!eadership (para.

18).

(10) T.h~ ririn<'.i-nlP.

11,f v·o1untary service at home and overseas should be encour~ged.

Projects for young people to give voluntary service in other co11mtliieis shou,ld be expanded (para.

19).
19).

(11) The mformail method oif temporary attachment o.f people from other counliries to vohmtary organisations doing social education wor.k 41S supported.

There should be posts of tutors and advisers in these organisations to assist overseas wo.rkers and students (para.

20).

I (12) There shoo1d be exchailiges of information a:bout social education and exclianges of advfce on techniques.
Publications on soctial education should be made availaible within the Commonwealth and the Cbmmonwea.lth Ediucation Liaison Committee should take appropriate action to fac1lita•te effective exchange (paras.

it-22).

(13) The Coninionwealth Education Liaison Committee should con sider how to give effect, as a continuing activity, to the recom mendations of the Committee on Social Education {paras.

24-25).

On behalf of the Committee, (Signed) C. V. Nunes, Chairman.

68 c'-, r' ....
68 c'-, r' ....

I ANNEX VI REPORT OF THE COMMJTl'EE ON EDUCATION IN RURAL COMMUNITIES CONTENTS Paragraph 1 3 10 14 17 20 32 33 introduction The nature and importance of the problem Rural Education in relation to overall rural development The aims of Rural Education Content of Rural Education Specific organisational problems of Rural Education ...

Scope for Commonwealth co-operation to help individual countries .

.. to deal with the problems of Rural Education ... .

..
..

The implications of these considerations for the machinery for Com- ... .. .

monwealth co-operation .. .

.

.. .

.. .

.. t,9 .

,,. ')

l I " - REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION IN RURAL COMMUNITIES Introduction I At the opening Plenary Session the Conference appointed us to be a Committee y;ith the following terms of reference: "To consider ·the possibility of co-operation in education in rural communities."

2.
2.

We now present our Report In it we have considered the possibility of co-operation in education in rural communities against the background of the social and economic conditions that exist in the various countries of ithe Commonwealth and we have been led to certain conclusions which are discussed in the body of this Report and summarised in paragraph 32.
We have found that although conditions vary widely amongst the countries of the Commonwfalth there are nevertheless many points of similarity in the problems of rural education ,that confront member countries.

In our Report we have F.cussed these problems and have made suggestions as to the manner in which countries might co-operate for their mutual benefit.

Tb'" Nature and Importance of the Problem 3.


In almost all countries of ,the Commonwealth rural communities constitute a large proportion and, in some territories, an overwgelming majority of the population ; and they derive their livelihood directly and indirectly from what remains, and will probably long remain, the greatest single source of employment throughout the Commonwealth, namely, agriculture.

Education in rural communitjes cannot be considered separateJy _ from its social and economic setting.
Although it was not our puipose to enter into social land economic matters as such, we felt that our Report would be incomplete if we did not stress the interdependence of rural education and the overall socio-economic development of rural areas.

4.
4.

We felt it right to proceed on the assumption that it was part of the economic policy of all Governments to promote the development of rural areas through -the promotion of agriculture and allied industries and even by shifting industries to rural areas wherever desirable and possible, in order to diminish the social and economic gap between urban and rural communities.
We felt that education might powerfully assist this process, given a suitable degree of support and priority and a proper adjustment of policy and practice to the special requirements ·of the countryside.

5.

In the course of our discussions we heard many and illuminating accounts' of the problems of various countries and of the ways in which they have sought to deal with them.

We do not here attempt to set out these accounts in detail because they were necessarily brief and partial.
But consideration of them leads to our first broad conclusion and recom mendation: that there is much more in common between the various countries of the CommonweaLth in thls respect than obwous disparities of climate, economic conditions and tradition might lead one to expect ; and 70 ,.

, ) 2) ) that ways and means should be explored of making systematically and generally available to one another the experience of Commonwealth countries.

6.
6.

Some of the problems that were shown to be common to most countries of the Commonwealth in the field of rural education were the difficulties experienced in getting good teachers to serve in remote and rural areas and in retaining their services in those areas once they had undertaken to serve there ; the difficulties of devising suitable curricula and effective in designing and construction of school buil~ings and in obtaining suitable school equipment ; the indifference in many.
cases of pupils and parents.

and frequently a pronounced lack of co-operation on ;the part of parents in ensuring the attendance of their children at school ; a greater degree of conservatism in rural than in urban areas ; and generally an increased resistan~e to change.

teaching methods for rural populations ; difficulties 7.

In the course of discussion, much useful information regarding develop ments in several Commonwealth countries was exchanged.
This informa tion, while too incomplete for inclusion in this Report, has been made available for consideration by the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit as a basis for the more d eveloped exchanges which we recommend in paragraphs 8, 19, 28 and 32 (a).

· 8.
· 8.

The Committee felt that it would be extremely worthwhile for Commonwealth countries to have information about the ways in which common problems of rural education were being treated in various countries.
In particulal" there should be exchanges of informa:tion under the following headings : (a) the nature and the extent of the specific problems of rural education; (b) the relations~ between rural education and overall rural development ; (c) specific organisational problems of rural education ; (d) significant developments in various countries.

Member countries may often find it useful to carry out bilateral exchanges on these matte!s.
There should also be a study of the problems of rural education, ~nd the solutions which have been attempted, in each Com monwealth country.

We recommend that the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee shoul~ eonsider how to give effect to this proposal as a continuing activity.

9.

Visits to other Commonwealth countries by senior administrators in rural education will also be useful.
The attention of all countries is drawn ,to the ,poosibility of awards for short term visits under the existing Commonwealth education scheme.

Countries which would benefit should make arrangements for qualified ,persons in the field of rural education to undertake such visits.

They should also consider arranging similar visits by e~perts to their own ci:.,nntries.

71 ... - Rural Education J relation to overall :al de~elopment · 10.
As has already been stated, education in rural communities cannot be considered separately from its social and economic setting.

In nearly all cases, employmbt opportunities are poorer iri rural communities than in urban· areas.

Eurthermore, ordinary amenities such as the provision of water, electric p 1ower, housing and medical services are often deficient in rural communities.

Schools.
Schools.

are difficul1t to staff, children tend to move to the cities when they leave scho,ol to seek higher wages and there is sometimes an air of depression and general lack of enthusiasm and interest in rural communities.

Such difficulties can be directly attri buteµ to the poorer economic circumstances of these communities and the 1ower level of remuneration generally prev:alent there.
It is neces sary to emphasise that education alone is not responsi_ble for the diffi culties that are experienced in many rural areas, and in particular for the so called "dritt to the town".

Education is but one of the many factors that bear upon the condition of the people who live in rural com munities.
Although h can play a large part in the betterment of the condition of these !peoples, it never,theless remains clear that the difficult circumstances in which they .frequently live can only be improved by an attack on the riluch wider front of social and economic development.

11.

We assumed that it is a policy of the great majority of countries to reduce ,the gap between the standards of living in urban and rural communities.
In moving in this direction, it is essential that programmes of educational development be interli,nked with those of economic development.

12.

In so f.ar as rural · education is interlinked with rural development and overall comm.Ety developmen,t it follows that th·ere is much to be gained from a frequent exchange of relevant experience in community developP,ent.
This is .important if educationists are to be enabled to make a maximum contribution towards their country's efforts to achieve sound overall economic and social growth.

13.

One of ,the functions o f rural education that should not be over looked is ,to throw up a sufficient supply of people who, after further education and training, will work and live in rural communities as, for example, doctors, nurses, administrative officers in public and private employment, technicians and artisans.
Many of these will of necessity hav~ to receive some or all of their ,training in towns ; but a sound rural educational policy!

will aim at providing as much as possible of this training in the kin<i of environment in which they will work.

The aims of Rural Education 14.


In setting out the aims of a pro-gramme of rural educational develop ment the Committee wished ,to make it perfectly clear that in its view rural education should never be regarded as inferior in any way to other forms of education provided in the community.

This leads to a statement of the first objeotive of any sound system of rural education, which is that it should also have the same general objectives as those of good education anywhere.
These aims should be to prepare children to develop them selves to the utmost, to prepare them well for ,the communities in which they are likely ·to live and work, ,to do everything possible to lead children 72 ,.

S ) 9 -- to a full and rewarding life.

·and to develop in them high standards of behaviour and good citizenship.. · · 15.

The second aim is that rural education should be adequa,te in quantity and comparable in quality to urban education.
Particularly at the post elementary stage it i~ important that rural education should not suffer by comparison with similar education elsewhere.

Special attention should be paid to this because the provision of post-elementary education presents relatively greater difficulties in the country than in the towns and it is at this stage ,that yo ung people are prepared for the work they will undertake in the .

community.
community.

I t is vital that their training and preparation should be at least adequate and at the best completely suited to their needs.

It is recognised that Governments gern;rally are aware of the importance of this need and that where these conditions do not exi&t, it is very frequently because of the lack of resources.
It was appreciated that frequently there are factors causing a relatively unsatisfactory state of affairs over which Governments have little control and the Committee th·ought it should point out that intensive efforts should be made to provide good standards of education at the post-elementary stage wherever these do not now exist in rural communities.

16.
16.

The third aim of rural education that has been noted is that it should assist in the development of rural communities without expecting all pupils to live and work in rural areas.

The Committee did not subscribe to the· view that all children living in rural areas should by training or for any other reason be prevented from moving to work in other com munities where their needs might be met better and .their talents used In effect.

the Committee favoured a type of rural to greater advantage.
education that would develop citizens able to take their place in a nation's work force wherever· they could make their greatest contributio~ to the nation's economic and social well-being.

Content of Rural Education 17.

The previous section points out that it is vital for children in rural areas to be given equality of educational opportunity with their counter parts in the towns and cities.

This does not mean.

however, that rural education must be identical in all respects with urban.
Although the object of education is the same in rural as in urban areas.

the content will differ because of differences in environment.

Thus, agriculture should play an important part in rural schools.

As stated in paragraph 16, however, the intention should not be to attempt to make all children in rural areas agriculturists.

Rather, the cultural and educational value of agricultural subjects should be stressed, particularly in the early stages.
Similarly, rural schools should emphasise the knowledge of, and interest in, rural folklore and crafts.

18.

The content of rural school education will differ as between the early and the later stages.

(a) At the early stage.-At this stage, no vocational training is either possible or desirable and most of the time must be occupied by basic instruction in subjects such as reading, writing and simple arithmetic.
At this time, however, the cultural aspects of rural education are very important Class-room examples 73 .

,.

should be drawn from the rural environment and from crafts In this way, peculiar to the area as well as from agriculture.

some knowledge and appreciation of the rural way of life will be givenJ It is particularly important that this should be done during tlie early stage, as many children in rural areas do not proceed beyond that level.
.,, -· (b) At the later stage.-More specific preparation for rural vocations is possible, and must be given, at the later stage.

A distinction should bb made, however, between pre-vocational training to be given in the earlier years of this stage, and vocational training proper, which comes later.
The vocational training of the rural pupil is governed by the same principles as apply to any other form of vocational training; its content will therefore depend on In general, the com the economic development of each area.

mittee felt that the dis tinctions which are often drawn between agricultural education and technical or vocational education as a whole are artificial and constitute a handicap to sound educational thought.

19.
19.

In dealing with these problems, member countries may find it useful to draw upon ithe experience of others.

Exchanges of information about curricula and teaching methods will be useful.

Senior administrators in the field of rural education should stµdy developments in other countries, and expert assistance should be provided to countries which need it.

Con ferences of experts on a regional or a Commonwealth-wide basis might be held.
· The subject should also be dealt with by other Commonwealth conferences on related matters.

--- Specific organisatfonal problems of Rural Education 'he organi!

atinnal problerr.s of rural schools differ from those of 20. urban ·tools prim;;: diy because of the lo.y concentration of population in rurai areas.

These problems are more ·serious at the higher than at rthe lower level~.

because costs rise p:oportionately as we go up the educational ladder.
A very impottant problem is that of providing secondary educat~bn for rural children.

It is ,only at this level that rural children will be prepared either for higher education in appropriate fields or for vocations that will enable them -to earn a satisfactory living.

21.

To give rural children ready access to elementary schools, small ins-titutions with one or two teachers have to be located in rural areas.
These schools en~ble great numbers of children to receive education which -they would not otherwise receive were it necessary for them to travel to urban centres.

Special techniques are needed for the organisation of these schools and some countries have made good progress with the devewpment of these techniques.

Other countries may be interested to study them.

22.

The problem of providing adequate secondary education is much more difficult in rural .than in urban areas.
Great care must be given to surveying educational needs and to planning and locating secondary schools to ensure -that every rural child has access to them.

Such access may be provided by the establishment either of nume:::ous small secondary schools or of a smaller number of la::ge, consolidated schools.

In the latter case it ma:y be necessary to provide hostels or transport or both.

Many children will also need financial aid to attenc!

these schools.

74 ,Sr-:>..

I ~~ 23.


In some countries, facilities for post-secondary education are almost non-<!xistent in rural areas.

Steps should be taken to establish more institutions at this level in these regions and to assist promising students from rural areas to avail themselves of the facilities for higher education in rural or urban areas as the case may be.

24.

It has been found difficult in many countries to secure enough suitable qualified people to staff schools in rural areas.
Even where salaries · and conditions of service are the same as in cities, teachers have been found to prefer the urban environment.

Some countries have succeeded in attracting sufficient numbers of competent teachers to rn ral schools by offering incentives in the form of.

higher salaries, prom1)'.1-:-n advantages and good housing accommodation.

These techniques and devices are well worth study by other countries.

25.
25.

Professional isolation also contributes to the reluctance of teachers to serve in rural areas, and it constitutes an important problem in rural school supervision.

Special steps should ,therefore be taken to enable teachers in these regions to maintain contact with other members of the teaching profession, rto avail themselves of in-service training and other special courses, and generally to maintain and improve their professional competence.

26.
26.

The cost of erecting new school buildings in rural areas is often higher than in the cities.

Material and labour are more costly because both frequently have to be brought from urban centres.

To reduce costs the use of local materials should be encouraged and local personnel should be trained to ,take part in the construction.

Architects who are used to designing school buildings for urban areas should take into account the differences which ,exist in rural areas.
They should take advantage of the greater availability of land in these areas to lower the costs of building schools.

27.

The management of rural schools is carried out in some countries by a central authority and in others by local authorities.

Each system has its own advantages.

If the central authority undertakes the task there may be the advantages of greater financial suooort and of a common curriculum.
On the other hand, local responsibility may enable curricula to be adaoted to regional needs and may encourage the members of a rural community to take an interest in attempts to improve the educational system in their area.

28.

In many ways Commonwealth co-operation may help in the solution of these problems.
Exchanges of information on the organisation of rural schools (particularly at the secondary level), on teaching methods, on audio-visual aids, on school building design and techniques and on correspondence courses will be useful in assisting countries which wish to extend and improve the quality of their rural education.

Similar exchanges should be carried out with respect to the staffing and manage ment of rural schools and the problem of reducing building costs.
Senior administrators in rural education will add to their understanding of the problems involved by visiting other Commonwealth countries.

Expert assistance will also contribute to the resolution .

of these problems.

At a later date, it may be useful to hold conferences of experts on these matters 15 ··1 on a regional :or Commonwealth-wide basis.
One subject that has been mentioned as suitable for study by such a conference is the content and duration of primary school courses, and the minimum standards for these that might be considereq satisfactory.

· Other Commonwealth conferences dealing with related subjects should include the organisational problems of rural education in their subject matter.

.... - 29.

We should also like to mention that careful consideration should be given to the use of educational sound.
broadcasting and, when it comes, television, as a potent instrument for equalising educational opportunity as between the toyvns and the countryside.

Individual countries are, we know, paying mucli attention ,to the educational possibilities of broadcasting, and we recommend that experience in this field should figure in any scheme of exchange of information.
Should it be decided at any -time -to hold a conference-on educational broadcasting (or more generally on audio-visual aids in education) we consider that -the needs of rural education should figure specifically on its agenda.

30.

Special attention should be paid to the need for assistance in improving the qu'alifications of rural teachers.

Maximum advantage should be taken of opportunities for assistance in the training and supply of personnel for rural education, including community development.
The purpose of this aid is to imprqve teacher-training facilities to enable countries to produce enough properly trained teachers -to staff the schools in rural communities.

The staff of teacher training institutions should be enabled ito study abroad, and experts from other countries should be made available to institutions which require their services.

Subjects of study shouid include teaching methods and curricula, .

audio-visual aids and co 0 responde,iC'" courses.


These have already been brought to a high stage o. developmlirt in many Commonwealth countries including Canada, AustraLa and New izedand.

As another m',ans of improving their qual-ifica tions, rural ,teach~rs should be encouraged to avail themselves of the opportunity to study abroad under the Commonwealth education scheme and the authorities concerned should give appropriate priority to this need in their use of the bursary scheme.

31.
31.

Education and community development are olosely related .

.

R,ural education programmes should therefore make prO'V1ision for the tiraining of personnel who will contribute to all aspects of community development.

Scope for Commonwealth co-operation to help individual countries to deal with the problems of Rural Education 31.
The several ways 1n which Commonwealth countiries may OO·0i)erate in helping one another to deal with problems of rural education have been indicated in the previous paragraphs, and may be summarised as follows: (a) Exchanges of information.-Member countries may find it useful to carry out bilateral exchanges of information on significant developments in rural education.
In addition, the Commonwealth Educatio~ Liaison Committee should consider how th~ exchange and dissemination of information might best be organised as a continuing process (paragraphs 8, 19 and 28).
76 ,) ;,~ (b) Visits to other Commonwealth countri<!s.--It will be helpful for senior administrators in rural education and other qualified per sons to visit other .countries where significant developments are taking place, and for expert assistance to be made available to countries which need it (paragraphs 19 and 28).
(c) Training and supply of personnel for rural education, including community development.-In order to improve the facilities for training rural teachers, personnel engaged in such activities should be enabled to study abroad, and experts from other countries should be made available to institution~ which require their services.

Similar steps should also .

be taken for community development (paragraphs 30-31).
(d) Recognition of the claims of rural" teachers to inclusion in bursary schemes.-Qualified rural teachers should be encouraged to avail themselves of the opportunity to improve their qualifications by study abroad under the Commonwealth education scheme (para graph 30).

(e) Conferences of experts on a regional or Commonwealth-wide basis.
Exchanges of information and visits of administrators in rural education might well give rise to a recognition of the need for regional or Commonwealth-wide conferences of experts in rural education.

Consideration might therefore be given to holding such conferences at a later date (paragraphs 19 and 28).
(f) Inclusion of the needs of rural education in the subject-matter of any appropriate Commonwealth conference.-The importance of rural education as a factor contributing to the well-being of the peoples of Commonwealth countries merits its inclusion as a specific topic in any Commonwealth conference which might deal wiith relevant matters (paragraphs 19 and 28- 29).

The implications of these considerations for the machinery for Common wealth co-operation 33.
The Committee was agreed that the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee and the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit as at present organised might well be able .

to carry out the work outlined in paragraph 32 of this Report.

It was suggested that the assistance of other existing agencies might be enlisted in giving effect to some of our recom mendations.
Several members of the Committee indicated that there were in existence many organisations that, if approached, would be most likely ,to co-operate in matters of this kind.

On behalf of the Committee, (Signed) B.

A.

Brown, Chairman.

77 ~rss"" ANNEX VIl REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINAJ.~CIAL PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION EXPANSION Paragraph 1 3 8 11 12 15 Introduction • CONTENTS ...
Scope of the work of the Committee Areas of need of Commonwealth countries in respect .of education expansion Value of planning and the stimulation oflocal interest Existing Commonwealth schemes identifiable with needs of Common- wealth countries ...
Recommendations .. : 79 - .. ...-- --- ... ,-,._.·----- - REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINA..~CIAL PROBLEMS · OF EDUCATION EXPANSION Introduction At the opening Plenary Session, the Conference appointed us to be a Committee on the financial problems of expansion of education with the following terms of reference : "To consider the possibility of co-operation in the financial problems of education expansion."

We now present ,the following Report.

2.


Two leading papers on this subject were presented, one prepared by the Government of Nigeria and the other by the Government of india.
The leading paper from the Government of Nigeria had, as its main theme, the more purely financial problems of education expansion which were being experienced by emergent countries a,nd proposed that this Oon· ference should consider how the more highly developed countries might assist these with capital subventions from the1r -treasuries, both to make up deficiencies in !national resources and to underwrite specjfic projects.
It bad been presented to the Conference, however, on the express condition i.hat it m i.:: •·c properly form part of t~e Agenda only if this matter had been ra1:;.P.d by the Nighian Government at the preceding September meeting of Commonwealth finance Ministers.

This matter had not been raised at the said meeting, hence this paper was withdrawn by the Nigerian delegation.

Scope m the work or the Committee 3.


The Committee recognised that ~ducation was a continuously developing activity and oll the countries within the Commonwealth bad programmes for expansion and improvement of education.

All of them therefore had financial problems connected with the implementation of programmes of development in the field of education, though.

in nature and magnitude, they varied from country to country according to the conditions and stage of development of the country concerned.

4.
4.

The financial problems facing the newly emergent countries of the Commonwealth stem chiefly from the gap that exists between their needs in the field of education and resources immediately available.

These countries have embarked on programmes of massive development in various fields of education.

This task, difficult as it is.


is complicated by the fact that these countries are seeking to telescope into a short period the provision of universal primary education as well as adequate facilities for secondary and higher education, including technical education.

5.
5.

The Committee noted with gratification the courage and vision with which these countries had planned their programmes of educational development and also 1the amounts they were spending from their own resources on the implementation of these programmes, which, in some cases, formed a remarkably ·high percC111tage of the w: revenue budgets.

80· .....,.

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-- r· In the opinion of the Committee, expenditure on education was an invest ment in human resources, because education was a highly productive activity as a means of supplying the trained man-power needed for the economic development of the country, as well as an instrument of personal and social development, essential for strengthening the human values which form the basis of society in Commonwealth .

countries.

- 6.
countries.

- 6.

It was clear ·that financial problems of expansion of education c6n· • ceroed both capital and recurrent expenditure.

There was, however, general agreement that since the financing of educational programmes formed an integral part of the overall development plans of the various countries, and since the delegations had come with rio mandates to commit .

their Governments, .

the Committee should not attempt to go into the quantitative aspects of the subject.
· At the same time, it was felt that the Committee could usefully undertake a general examination of the major needs of the various countries and share the experience of educationally more developed countries in respect of the methods adopted by the latter in meeting them.

7.

The Committee noted that in addition to the Commonwealth education.

scheme, there were other schemes for mutual assistance in education in which countries of the Commonwealth were participating.
Some countries had already committed much of their available resources for educational assistance to such schemes as ithe Colombo Plan and the Special Common wealth African Assistance Plan.
Accordingly the Committee agreed upon the following terms of reference : (i) to identify the areas of need of countries of the Commonwealth in respect Qf their programmes of education expansion ; (ii) to indicate the priority between these needs ; (iii) to share the experience of the educationally more developed countries as to how they met similar problems of educational expansion; (iv) ,to determine, in the light of available resources, the nature of the assistance that could mutually be extended by Commonwealth countries.
Areas of need of Commonwealth countries in respect of Education Expansion 8.

From the statements placed before the Committee by the delegations.
it appeared that though the needs of the various developing countries were· not exactly identical, they mig,ht, in relation to the possible scope of Com monwealth co-operation, be considered under the following four broad categories: (i) increased educational and training opportunities at all levels ; (ii) supply of teachers, particu1arly in science and mathematics, and specialists in the fields of technical and higher education ; (iii) supply of equipment of a specialised nature ; (iv) supply of text-books and other reading materials at cheaper prices.
9.

It may however be noted in this connection that while the needs of developing countries would fall under one or more of the above categories, 81 .

the degree of need appeared to vary from country to country.

For example, one country stressed the need not so much for equipment as for teachers · and instructors of :,hich it was desperately short.

Another assigned high priority to the supply of equipment, specialists and visiting professors.

4 - 10.
4 - 10.

Some countri~s ·1 1 :o mentioned their need of capital for construction of buildings requir9u .0r educational institutions : while others indicated their need for assistance in meeting the costs of staffing.

For the reasons already stated in paragraphs 6 and 7 above, the Committee could not go into the quantitative details of these proposals, and it was agreed that sucb issues .

::ould best be settled through bila,teral arrangements between the different countries of the Commonwealth.
V aloe of planning and the stimulation of local interest I 1.

All to.embers were aware of the need to make the most economical use of such resources as were available for educational expansion, and it was noted that through sound planning and the team work of architects, school administratdrs and educational authorities (as the experience of one country showed) it was possible to produce better school buildings at a lower cost.
It was also noted that both in respeot of capital and re~urring costs of educational schemes, it was possible to provide additional monetary or other assistance through measures directed to arousing greater community interest in and support for education: Existing Commonwealth schemes identifiable with needs of Commonwealth countries 12.
As regards the areas of major need of countries of the Commonwealth summarised in paragraph 8 above, the Committee felt that most of these needs were identifiable with the schemes of co-operation already existing within the framework of the Commonwealth or were related to subjects under discussion at this Conference.

These specific subjects, in some form or other, have been examined by other Committees, and the nature and extent of co-operation needed and considered feasible are indicated in their reports.
13.

The Committee was of the opinion that the programme of the Com monwealth Education Conference, together wi,th other schemes of assistance in operation within the Commonwealth, provjded ample scope for co-opera tion in meeting some of the major needs of the various countries in respect In this of training facilities, supply of equipment, teacher-trainers, etc.
connection, the Committee also noted that at least in some cases the resources already available within the Commonwealth in meeting these needs were not being fully utilised.

For example, donor countries found that not all their scholarships and training places under some of the schemes l,t appeared that some countries were being were being fully taken up.
offered awards which they could not utilise at present because, for example, it meant that important trained personnel were out of the country too long.

In the circumstances, ,therefore, it might be desirable to make necessary re-adjustments through bilateral arrangements.

14.

The Committee also noted that in some countries and in certain special circumstances industries had participated actively in educational expansion programmes.
There were instances o.f industries voluntarily contributing special sums of money to education in certain countries.

82 s-',r ~<- r --.. aec:ommendatioDI of , the Committee JS, Jn view of the f.aota 5tiltN aibovo, the recommeJldations of ~• Com• .
-~"""''" a.re a.a lotlows : o> That in development programmes ed~catlon 5lloul'1_ oe &lvcn Wan priority, since it is a productive activity and expend1ture on educa• tion is an illvestment in human resources; (2) Tb.at it would be appropriate tor countries requiring anistance ·jn re~p,~1 ol ,apHlll or ~e~urrent expe~diture necessary for ~cLuca• tional expansion to seek 1t through.
b1latetal arrangements , (3) That countries should give close attention to educational planning in order to make the mosit effective use of the funds available to them, and to that end, among other measures, explore the possibility of ,r,educing const~uctional costs of school buildings : (4) That, as the experience of &ome coW1tries shows that it is possible to obtain additional funds and other forms of' assistance through measures directed to a.rousing greater community interest in and support for education, every effort should be made to arouse community interes,t in this direction : (S) That as regards meeting the major needs of the various countries in respect of- (a) increased educational and training opportunities a.t all levels ; (b) supply .of teachers, particularly in science and mathematics and spe<iialists in the ft-eld of technical and higher education ; (c) supply of equipment of a specialised nature ; (d) supply of textbooks and other reading material M cheaper prices, .
there iis wide scope for co-operation among the Commonwealth countrie9 as indicated in the recommendations o·f the other Committees which ,studied these specific issues, and that all the various sohemes among the Commonwealth countries should be made more widely known and utilised as fully as possible : (6) That a.part from the possibllity of ,expansion of the existing pro g:rammes of co-operation in the field of training facilities and supply of teach,ers and specialists, these programmes might also be made mor,e effective by re-adjustments where posslbl,e, so that they do meet the particular needs of receiving countries.
On behalf of the Committee, (Signed) M. S. Huq, Chairman.

83 ~ ANNEX VDl COMPOSl'nON AND FVNCI'IONS OF A COMMONWEAL'fH EDtJCATION LIAISON COMMITTEE AND A COMMONWEALTH EDUCATION LIAISON UNIT (Paragraph 88 of the Conference Report) 1.

The Committee sha.Ll comprise : (i) a Chairman who is not representative of any Oovernment but acts in a private capacity : and (ii) one representative of eaoh Commonwealth G0verrunent, together with one representative of the British dependencies.

2.
2.

The Committee may invite ,to au.en~ their meetings persons whom they consider to have a contributi,on ito mak,e to the Committee's discussions.

3.

The Committee shall provide a forum for consideration of such matters ·Of prlnci•ple arising out of the schemes of Commonwealth co• operation dn eduoaition as may be referred to it by any member and sha.ll consider any ,wg,gestions for further improving Commonwealth co•opera.tion in education.

4.
Subject to 1lhe functions of re-cording information about awards under the Comm·onwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan and preparing an annual report whlch are assigned rto the Association of Universities of the British Commonwet\,lth, the Committee shall ascertain what informarion will be of value to member Oovernments ,and shall suggest what would be the mos,t convenient manner for member Governments to obtain it; and shaJl a,ot generailly as a oentre of reference to develop and improve Commonwealth oo-opera.tdon in education.
S. The Committee shaiU •undertake such functions as are by agreement assigned to it from time ,to time consequent upon C~mmonwealth Educa tion Conferences, which include inter alia publishing reports on the Com.m-onw~11,lth Scholarship and Fellowshl-p Plan, improving existing arrangements dlor Commonwealth co-operation, preparing material for submission to further Commonwealth Education Conferences and advising on requests froa.

member countries for assistance in concluding bilateral arrangements.

6.
6.

The normal method of implementing schemes of Commonwealth co operatio,n is through ,bilateral contacts between Commonwealth countries.

Subjeot to this, the Committee shall undertake such ,other functions, In extension of or in addition to the functions t'eferred to in the previous paragraph, ,to supplement normal bilateral arrangements between member Governments and to develop and improve Commonwealth co-operation in education as they may deem necessary and feast ble.

7.
7.

The Committee shall establish a Commonwealth Bducation Li.aison Unit and appoint and control its staff, which will include a Director of the Unit who shall be the Secretary to -the Committ.ee and !ts chief executive 8$ 1 officer, a Deputy Director and such other officers and staff as arc ~sary to ,tM due perfomwwe of the Committee's functions.
Note.-N~t by way of limitation but for ease o[ reference, the functions assigned to :the Unit consequent upon the Oxford Conference are set out in ex(enso as follois: .< - ,,.

: r • •J '·" t• r ,.,1 ' II '•· • ",,, ; (i) To receive suoh in.formation as -the G r ~rr 1.nents may have to communicate on the programmes and •>lL •• activities, excluding the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowshi;:- Plan, ansing from the Ccnforence, and to report periodically to al' 1,·mber countries.
1 such reque!lts :is countries may have tound themselves (u) To receive unable t ~ fi.111Jle bilaterally, and to advise where they arc most ; ~(lly to be met.

/ For exam pie.

the unit might: 1 I (a) Help where necessary to clarify requests to donor oountries.

(b) Bring to the .notice of possible donor countries any requests that a,pplu-ently cannot be met from existing facilities.

(c) If requested, give advice on the initiation of new facilities to meet regional needs.
(iii) To bring to the notice of other Commonwealth countries when requested by a donor country any facilities which it has to offer.

(iv) To help find for such countries as request them the services of expert advisers froru any part of the Commonwealth on any aspect of education.

(v) Generally to act as a centre of reference to facilitate Common wealth educational co-operation.

(vi) Any other function which miiht be given to it by the Committee.

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- •· 86 ANNEX IX LIST OF DELEGATIONS The Conference was attended by delegations from the following countries: Britain (including overseas representatives•) Canada Australia New Zealand India Pakistan Ceylon Ghana Federation of Malaya Federation of Nigeria Sierra Leone Tanganyika Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasalanc!.

A Message was received from the Presideut of the Republic of Cypl'us, which did not send a delegation.

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