[Education For Tomorrow: No 100, 2009]International newsCubaPedagogia Conference 2009, Havana If you want to visit a developing country where all the Millennium Education goals have been reached — and far more — try Cuba! With all their children in school, provided with free uniform and food, and guaranteed further education, apprenticeship training or employment when they leave, the Cubans are justly very proud of their education system. As Cuba's popular revolution reaches its 50th Anniversary this year, we were pleased to take part in their celebrated international education conference — 'Pedagogia' — organised principally by the Cuban Education Ministry and Cuban Education Union in partnership — and with various other partner organisations largely from Latin America, UNICEF, UNESCO This year the Conference attracted over 3000 delegates mostly from Latin America, but including delegates from Africa and Europe. Main themes The main themes were identified as: The science of education The education of the whole citizen Teaching real history Active scientific education at all levels Information Technology in the classroom Education and culture The fight against illiteracy, and what follows The integration of the agencies of socialisation — the family and the school Education, values and attention to diversity & equality Physical, artistic and social education Health and sex education Evaluation of the quality of education The priorities for education in Cuba and Latin America There were four plenary sessions each day — with about 800 delegates attending each to hear speakers and presentations — and to set the agenda for follow up workshops by posing questions. A programme of visits to schools and institutions of good practice was also available which ran throughout the Conference At the same time as each plenary there were about 30 pre-planned workshop groups running — each attended by 20 to 50 delegates, which heard presentations, took Q&A and formulated proposals. The colleagues from UK made a number of presentations. I made two, one on the neo-liberal agenda for education, the other on solidarity work of unions, and the specific value of the Cuban experience in that work. The exhibition area consisted of stands and stalls representing the various phases of education, particular educational institutions from Latin America etc. There was also a 'poster wall' area where participants could use a bit of space to make their points, and which were the focus for very animated discussions. 'Pedagogia' delegates come from wide variety of education settings — teachers, education administrators, politicians etc. The agenda is set through a process of consultation, and the outcomes may become the subject of new education initiatives, which have to be agreed first independently and then collectively by all social partners — the Education Ministry, the Education Union and Local Government. 'Why would they do that?' We pointed out that initiatives in education in Britain — whether to do with the role of teachers, the curriculum, structure of schools etc — come 'top down' from government, and are imposed on teachers, often against our professional judgment, using punitive performance management and school inspection mechanisms. This was met by much bewildered shaking of heads from our Cuban comrades — comrades from both the Ministry and the Union. 'Why would they do that?' they asked. 'It simply wouldn't work.' Socialism in action must look like good common sense to those who have grown up with it! The opening and closing sessions took place in the Karl Marx Theatre, and were a mix of entertainment — largely by children and students, speeches and spontaneous attention seeking from various delegations! We British — all NUT members, but all, except me, there through a variety of educational routes — were very restrained. I was very warmly welcomed by the Education Minister, and given the seat next to her at the theatre for the opening ceremony, and at the dinner we organised for our hosts. The NUT is held in very high regard by both the Cuban Union and the Ministry. The Conference was a serious education conference and at the same time an expression of solidarity amongst the educators gathered there — all who wished to recognise the role of Cuba in the developing world — having met the Millennium Development Goals without aid, and despite blockade — and now providing educators, scientists, engineers, builders and health workers throughout the developing world to assist others to find their own way to do the same. Bill Greenshields http://news-education.cubasi.cu/ Australia Fighting SATs Down Under THE divisive and damaging educational policies of standard tests and published league tables are not unique to Britain. Less than an hour after the NUT conference in Cardiff voted to boycott SATs, I met fraternal delegate Angelo Gavrielatos, President of the powerful Australian Education Union (AEU) in a nearby pub named after Welsh national hero Owain Glyndwr. Over a pint, he tells me about his own members' fight against what he calls the commodification of education, a policy perpetuated by Australia's supposedly progressive and anti-neo-liberal Labour prime minister. Gavrielatos says that the former government of John Howard was defeated in 2007 because of its draconian anti-trade union laws, dubbed "work choices." His vanquisher Rudd promised to replace these laws. Gavrielatos says: "The new laws are a marked improvement, but there are areas which remain problematic for the trade union movement, because they haven't gone far enough in restoring the balance. "Regrettably, the Rudd government is still operating in an education-as-commodity paradigm." Rudd has travelled the world, most recently to the G20 summit in London, where he provided an analysis of the failure of the free market, identifying the "extreme free-market ideologues" who have shaped the neo-liberal agenda which underpins the global financial crisis. Gavrielatos says: "The contradictions are stark, because, in education, he continues to pursue neo-liberal policies — the marketisation and commodification of education." One example of this is the Australian federal government's education funding system, which is so skewed that two-thirds of funding flows to private schools, which educate only one-third of students. The Rudd government has committed to continue this policy until 2013. Another is its "transparency agenda," where, through the imposition of national tests, it is trying to create a regime of school league tables. In a not-so-distant echo of the British government's position, the Canberra government claims that the release of test results is necessary to help parents make an informed choice about which school to send their children to. "This government continues to import failed education policies from the UK," says Gavrielatos. "They refuse to take note of all the independent research and evidence clearly exposing the failure of such policies. "This choice agenda is in fact a no-choice agenda, because parents won't be choosing schools. Rather, schools will be choosing parents." As a result, the AEU has made it clear that the government must take action to prohibit league tables. This May will see the second year of national testing for Australian schoolchildren. Should the Rudd government fail to reverse its plans, Gavrielatos warns, the AEU "will have no option but to boycott the administration of tests." "If league tables are created and published this year, they could very well be the last tests ever administered," Gavrielatos says. "Ultimately, the only guarantee of a quality education for all students is by ensuring a state school of the highest quality in every community." James Tweedie Morning Star 13/4/09 |