HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

Lahore, Pakistan 20 27 January 2004

REPORT

BACKGROUND OF THE SEMINAR

The idea of introducing human rights as a subject in classrooms in Lahore and then in other regions of Pakistan first emerged as an action plan at the British Council seminar no. 0203: Language teaching and citizenship in international contexts - Loughborough, March 2003. The British Council-Romania human rights project and Rights in Deed coursebook seemed a good and flexible model to follow. Discussions that followed between Sabiha Khuram, LACAS, Lahore and Ruxandra Popovici, BC Romania, both participants in the above-mentioned seminar, brought forward the idea of a project for developing locally-produced human rights textbook materials that would reflect the specific needs of Pakistan and the South Asian region. Given the political, economic and social situation in Pakistan and in other countries in the region, work in the direction of human rights and citizenship education is an educational priority. Awareness of secondary school students needs to be raised with regard to: the individuals fundamental rights and responsibilities as citizens and, in general, as human beings the importance of developing values such as respect for diversity, for truth, fairness, justice, human dignity and freedom of expression

In order to get first-hand experience of the Romanian human rights textbook project, Sabiha Khuram was sponsored by British Council Lahore to attend the Hornby international school in Sinaia, Romania in July 2003. As an action plan resulting from that seminar and in consultation with two of the Romanian project members: Ruxandra Popovici and Stefan Colibaba, a tighter framework of the project was set up and further stages were designed. In order to enhance the intercultural dimension of the project, contact was established with other educational organisations and associations and the plans for the seminar in Lahore were shared with the chair of the Nepal English Language Teachers Association (NELTA) and the representative of the Open Society Institute (OSI) in Kyrgyzstan. An important common point is that, as of September 2003, Rights in Deed, the Romanian coursebook, is being piloted in

schools in Pakistan and Nepal. The results of the piloting served as a relevant needs analysis exercise for the planned project. The need to train teachers in integrating human rights education with English language teaching and designing materials for this purpose is an obvious priority for all parties involved. Through the tireless efforts of Sabiha Khuram, LACAS, Lahore and with help from all parties involved in the process, the bid for seminar funding, submitted to ELTeCS committee in September 2003, was successful.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SEMINAR

to provide training in human rights education to teachers of English to provide initial training in human rights syllabus design to teachers of English to design an innovative framework for human rights education and English language development relevant to the South Asian and Caspian Basin contexts to provide language development opportunities for the participants to raise teachers intercultural awareness as the basis for teaching English for international communication to encourage further networking and co-operation among participants over the finalising of the syllabus and the implementation in class to create opportunities for future projects at the national or regional level

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

The seminar was a professional event of the highest standard and its success is due to the collaborative efforts of the following institutions:

ELTeCS British Council-Lahore, Pakistan Kinnaird College Lahore, Pakistan Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS) Lahore, Pakistan British Council, Romania Nepal English Teachers Association (NELTA) Open Society Institute Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

PARTICIPANTS

The workshop was well attended by 14 participants from Pakistan, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. (see Appendix 1)

The diversity of individual and cultural backgrounds offered a unique opportunity for intercultural learning.

Some of the participants backgrounds included: teachers of English at secondary school level, university lecturers, director of studies, head of teachers association, school principals and NGO members.

This diversity of roles and of institutional affiliations made a rich and challenging working environment and a very interesting professional experience for all present. The number of years of teaching experience varied, which presented a challenge for the design of the seminar. This also proved to be an opportunity for developing a sharing and learning community. All the participants had general interests in the field of educational projects and specific interest and experience in introducing human rights education in their teaching activity. They interrelated extremely well from the very beginning and co-operated openly and willingly throughout the seminar. Respect and interest for everybodys opinions, readiness to contribute

ideas and solutions and willingness to work in a team were attitudes that underpinned equally the working sessions and the participation in the social programme. It is to the participants credit that the seminar proved a highly professional and enjoyable event for all involved: participants, organisers and trainers.

CONTENT

The detailed programme of the four-day seminar covered the key aspects of human rights education and language development from an introduction to human rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to topics such as: diversity, equality, poverty and issues such as: rights in conflict, mediation and taking action.[see Appendix 2]. Examples of projects and case studies were drawn from the personal experience of the participants. Seven of the participants offered to share aspects of their work in plenary and this was much appreciated by everybody. Of particular interest was the presentation of the results from the piloting in LACAS of selections from Rights in Deed. The Romanian human rights textbook project was presented in a separate session. The seminar was seen as a very good context for sharing lessons, comparing plans, practices and outcomes and also identifying possible areas for future development. The issue of integrating the content of English language teaching, other subject areas, and human rights was also explored.

The large number of handouts distributed during the sessions was considered a welcome opportunity for the participants to reflect on ideas from the sessions in the context of the busy schedule and short duration of the seminar.

The input sessions and the interactive sessions alternated. There were chances for the participants to share opinions and comment on issues emerging from the plenaries during group discussions. Time was rather short and all participants expressed the need for longer discussion and debate time. The plenary sessions were open to comments and immediate reactions from the participants. The group work activities and the role-play tasks gave the participants the chance to think strategically and recap on issues from the main sessions.

The session on human rights education and management delivered by Dr. Iftikhar Elahi, Director British Council Pakistan, was very well received and seen as a welcome consolidation of work done so far.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the session in which participants met upper secondary students from LACAS. The session was thoroughly prepared in advance and useful areas of interest were identified for the discussion. In addition, the students were invited to raise questions of concern to them. By so doing, the students, the direct beneficiaries of a human rights education programme, had their voice in the seminar and this was greatly appreciated by everybody. The atmosphere was relaxed, the students expressed their opinions fluently and openly on a variety of issues.

A main strand of the seminar was the discussion about a human rights education syllabus appropriate for the participants contexts. Some of the main areas identified are attached [see Appendix 3].

As a developmental exercise, the last day of the seminar was devoted to principles of materials design and of task design. The participants were involved gradually and repeatedly in selecting texts and designing tasks to be used in their lessons. This sequence of activities ensured the coherence of the seminar content and provided a solid balance between principles and practice. An open questions and answers session was fit into the programme to clarify some of the issues from the presentations, help the participants reflect on the process, express their own thoughts and relate ideas from the sessions to their own contexts. Time for individual reflection and planning was allocated in the programme as well.

OUTCOMES

The experience of exchanging ideas with others in the profession and finding out about achievements in the field has been mentioned as one of the main benefits of the seminar.

The raised awareness of cultural diversity among participants was a most beneficial outcome.

The daily sequence of activities prepared the participants for the last session in which they had to present their projects in relation with the content of the seminar.

Participants were free to choose their working mode on this task according to their own interests and preferred working styles: individually for their own contexts, or in groups.

The final projects of the participants were:

Development of an activity book on human rights education and language learning in the South Asian context (Shireen, Louisa, Benish and Raju)

Writing a human rights textbook for secondary schools in Pakistan Sabiha, Naheed, Ayesha, Qaisera, Asma and Khalid

Mind your language research on the use of language in promoting citizenship rights (Faryal)

A teacher training programme to raise language teachers awareness of human rights issues (Tazanfal)

Introducing human rights education in the language school curriculum (Tom)

Raising teachers and students awareness of human rights through language development (Shelba)

The presentations were delivered in plenary and were clear and to the point. All speakers without exception showed in-depth understanding of the process of project design and project development and the need to place this in the wider context of education reform. The steps of all action plans were: title of project; objectives; stages and activities; deadline; responsibilities; possible setbacks and evaluation of achievements. The graphic presentation of the projects proved strategic and logical thinking. The general feeling was one of commitment to change, confidence and willingness to take action. The pattern of partnership was recurrently expressed in the session and is one of the main outcomes of the seminar: partnership between regions in Pakistan, between private and state sectors, between education specialists in the same country, between institutions in the same country, and regionally (Pakistan and Nepal) Finally everybody expressed a willingness to keep in touch and drafted potential plans for future joint projects. The seminar team will look into ways of creating an electronic discussion list and linking it with groups who share an interest in the same topic. This will ensure that experience of the seminar will be cascaded to colleagues in the participants

countries as well as in other countries. Our participation in the seminar is in itself an example of how commitment to HRE issues can go beyond borders and bring together people with different professional experience who share in the basic values and beliefs of humankind.

ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL PROGRAMME

The seminar was hosted by Kinnaird College, Lahore. The working conditions were excellent. Equipment, stationery and computer access were provided easily and this contributed to the smooth running of the seminar. Excellent lunches were kindly provided by the college throughout the seminar. In addition, on the first day of the seminar, an opening dinner was offered by the Kinnaird college for all the participants. The participants had the privilege of a special insight into the history and culture of Lahore by going on a guided sightseeing tour of Lahore Fort and Badshahi mosque and the surroundings, by making a trip to Wagha border, a visit and lunch hosted by LACAS to a private club, and a great reception at the British Council venue.

It was our first time in Lahore and all this contributed significantly to our image of the city as a fascinating mix of tradition and modernity, of different faiths, bustling with life, which is proud of its past while looking into the future.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FOLLOW-UP

The following recommendations are made as a result of our experience of working with the team, of several meetings with Sabiha Khuram, principal LACAS and Saima Satti, Director ELT, organisers of the event and the meeting at the British Council with Dr. Iftikhar Elahi, Director British Council, Saima and Sabiha. Our comments express also the participants own views and evaluation of the seminar (see Appendix 4):

1. The organisers, the tutors and the participants should stay in touch and liaise over the endof-seminar action plans and maintain the sharing community achieved during the seminar.

2. The tutors should seek ways of connecting Lahore seminar group with other groups formed as a result of other events with the same focus, e.g. the Hornby Sinaia summer school.

3. BC needs to find ways of cascading the experience of the seminar to other teachers in Lahore and in other regions of Pakistan. It may be worthwhile involving the Teachers Association and teachers networks in the dissemination effort.

4. BC Lahore will enhance its good reputation by supporting consistently work in the direction of human rights education materials which can integrate in a coherent way different sectors of BC activity. A successful project in HRE and language development in Pakistan would be at the forefront of HRE initiatives in South Asia.

5. The British Council is seen to play a key role in supporting LACAS initiative, through the commendable efforts of Sabiha Khuram, of starting a locally produced human rights textbook project. All participants expressed their urgent need to have a human rights education programme and to have materials in this respect. The advantages of locally produced materials are the interrelationship between innovation and tradition, between new methodologies and the consideration of the specific educational and cultural context of the learners. Sabiha has had clear plans for the project (by organising the piloting of the Romanian textbook materials) since her participation in the Loughborough seminar and more recently in connection with the team of authors recruited from the Lahore seminar participants. She also worked together with the team on designing a draft syllabus for the future materials. Sabiha has shown the necessary commitment and skills for managing the project in a practical managerial role.

6. The support of the BC in its upper management role will be needed in the following areas: (i) identifying and setting contractual terms with a publisher.

ii. a systematic programme for specialist training of the authors in:syllabus design, materials development, team work, working with publishers, IT skills, copyright issues, presentation skills, teacher training. The huge benefit of investing in author training is the creation of a local expertise in syllabus design and materials writing.. From the experience of textbook projects in Romania Russia, Azerbaijan and other countries, education reform is strengthened and gains in credibility if it focuses also on developing textbook writing expertise. iii. helping regular workshops of the writing team iv. giving the authors access to up to date materials in the field and to authentic materials as sources for the textbook v. training teachers in using the new materials

7. It is worth finding ways of involving members of the Pakistani HR textbook project in the regionalisation of the project and exploring ways of extending this work to interested institutions (British Council, Colleges, Teachers Associations) in the region of South Asia, in countries such as: Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and also in the Caspian basin area and in Central Asia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The training seminar was a wonderful professional opportunity for us to meet colleagues in Pakistan, Nepal and Kyrgystan to get to know their work, to share experience and also to get acquainted with an old and very interesting cultural environment. We learned a lot and enriched our experience during the visit. On a personal level it was a unique and memorable experience. We feel we have now friends in a part of the world which was, not long ago, little known to us.

Our heartfelt thanks go to many people: Jeremy Jacobson, Deputy Director Networks and Projects ELP Group, Mike Solly, Manager ELT Networks and Services and the ELTeCS team for believing strongly in the event and its outcomes. Dr Iftikhar Elahi, Director BC Lahore and Saima Satti, Director ELT for their support and participation and also for their hospitality. Rukhsana Ashfaq and colleagues in the BC Lahore who helped us before and during the event. Dr. Isabel William and the Kinnaird College team for hosting the seminar so efficiently and for creating the perfect environment for a professional event, for support and hospitality. Mrs Nazi Quershi and the LACAS team for their initiative, for their help and hospitality. Colleagues in BC Bucharest who supported our participation in the seminar and who trusted the mutual benefits of the event. OSI Kyrgystan for supporting the participation of their representative. NELTA for supporting the participation of their representative. Special thanks go to Sabiha Khuram, the event manager. Sabiha is the initiator of the event and her restless efforts, her commitment and her enthusiasm made things possible. Her organisation and managerial skills were of the highest standards. We are thankful for her generosity and for helping us into the wonderful culture of the Lahore area. Finally, we would like to thank the whole team of participants for all their hard work, for their willingness and for making us part of the team.

Ruxandra Popovici BC Romania

Stefan Colibaba EuroEd Romania

With contribution from Sabiha Khuram LACAS, Lahore, Pakistan

10 March 2004