75 years of British Council support for english in Africa

British Council Support for English in Africa – Past, Present and Future

Paul Woods, English Manager Sub-Saharan Africa, British Council

The Early Years

• British Council, first known as ‘The British Committee for Relations with Other Countries’ was established in 1934.

• The Committee brought together a coalition of interests, from government departments, industry, the arts and science, to actively promote an understanding of Britain across the world.

• Before this, there had been minimal commitment to the cultural promotion of Britain.

• After the Wall Street crash of 1926 came economic depression and increasing competition between European powers. Arguments for the promotion of cultural relations between Britain and other countries began to gain support.

The Allied Centre, Liverpool, which was opened in April 1941 for refugees, exiles and overseas service personnel

• In 1934 Germany and Italy were getting increasingly militaristic and aggressive. By contrast, the British thought that a more desirable way of spreading and strengthening influence would be through the development of cultural relations .

• The British Council Charter defined its purpose as ‘promoting abroad a wider appreciation of British culture and civilisation [by] encouraging cultural, educational and other interchanges between the United Kingdom and elsewhere’

• At first, British Council arranged for lecturers and books to be sent overseas, as well as arranging visits to the UK.

Early partnerships and world war

• Funds were very limited in the early years; British Council managed with a budget of a few thousand pounds, whereas French, German, and Italian counterparts had budgets stretching into the millions. Initial progress was consequently slow.

• Offices were soon established in Egypt and several European countries, relying often on partnerships with local organisations or associations. The outbreak of war put an end to the British Council’s work in large areas of Europe. But the war also provided impetus for cultural relations to become a tool to strengthen relationships with other countries.

UNESCO• During the war, new offices were

opened in Ghana and Nigeria. • In 1942, the British Council invited

representatives of Allied nations to a meeting to discuss co-operating on education matters. This resulted in the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME).

• Then in 1945, the movement started by the creation of CAME led to 37 countries founding UNESCO).

Arriving in Mexico for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education, which established UNESCO: Sir Ronald Adam, Chairman of the British Council (second from left)

The Suez Crisis • After World War II ended, many barriers to cultural relations work came

down and partnership opportunities increased. British Council expanded to include new offices in Kenya and Sudan.

• Following the Suez Crisis in 1956, the Council’s work in Egypt was suspended and London-appointed staff had to evacuate Syria and, for a brief period, Jordan, (though the local staff in Jordan carried on the work).

• Although British Council work did not resume in Egypt until 1959, assistance was given to Egyptians wanting to study in the UK. Many functions that the British Council had fulfilled continued under the direction of the Egyptian authorities. This included English language classes and a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

English language teaching becomes core

• Around 1960 language teaching, in association with the BBC, became a core element of British Council’s work. The two organisations also began to explore the potential of using television for language teaching. A series of 39 TV programmes for teaching English was produced and shown in non-Anglophone African countries including Algeria, Congo, Gabon, Cote D’Ivoire and Morocco.

• A new Department for Technical Cooperation was set up in 1961, responsible for British aid to developing countries. This led to important changes for the British Council.  

• Throughout the rest of the 1960s and up until the 1990s, British Council became responsible for education programmes and student training schemes in developing countries including Africa.

• During this period many students from Africa studied for MAs in Applied Linguistics, funded by the UK government.

The importance of reciprocity

• In southern Africa, the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Rhodesia in 1965 caused the British Council representative to be withdrawn. As the crisis deepened a number of southern African countries broke off diplomatic ties with the UK, although most allowed the British Council to continue working.

• This was partly because of the emphasis placed on reciprocity and partnership, according to which newly independent nations increasingly

requested the provision of English language teaching.

1970’s – partnerships• British Council supported the work of Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO)

during its early years.

• By the mid-1960s this support had increased and the British Council was invited to act as the overseas arm of VSO engaging with more than 1,000 volunteers, many of them teachers of English.

• Since then, British Council has maintained strong links with VSO; Sir David Green, the Director-General between 1999–2007, was previously Director of VSO. Currently, collaboration with VSO continues in the Global Xchange partnership, supporting the development of “active global citizens”.

• In the early 70s the British Council provided support for the ACE (Aid to Commonwealth English) scheme, under which British ELT experts were sent to work in universities and teacher training colleges in Commonwealth countries, including Kenya and Uganda.

British books for children displayed in the British Council office in Rabat, Morocco, 1979

E.C. Pugh Officer, serving as Radio Adviser to the Ministry of Education, visiting a local transmitterstation in the southern Ethiopia in 1976. The Council was helping Ministry of Education develop a country-wide broadcasting system to boost formal and non-formal education.

The KELT Scheme• From 1977, British Council developed a

partnership with the UK government through the ODA (now DFID). This partnership supported programmes that included the Key English Language Teaching Programme.

• By the mid-80s there were KELT projects in many countries, including Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia, with about 350 “experts” funded by DFID worldwide.

• These projects covered a wide range of activities - curriculum and syllabus design, materials production, communication skills, teacher training for primary and secondary schools and many other areas,

British Council Teaching Centres

• During the mid-1970s the idea that newly rich countries should pay for their own technical aid and language teaching gained support. Teaching Centres were set up, which had to make a “surplus”, or at the very least cover their costs.

• There was a feeling that this approach would not work in Africa, so new centres were at first confined to Egypt and some other countries in North Africa.

• Today there are teaching centres in Cameroon, Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania.

Kevin Keegan at the DTE (Direct Teaching of English) Open Day, Hamburg, 1978

Communicative language teaching

• The British Council also promoted new methods of teaching. With the BBC, the Council produced a series of teacher training films, called “Teaching Observed” which was widely used in teacher training programmes across Africa.

• The idea that language should be taught communicatively began to gain widespread acceptance. This gained impetus after Henry Widdowson published “The Teaching Language as Communication” in 1978, emphasising the importance of language use, rather than usage.

• A British Council officer, John Munby, published “Communicative Syllabus Design” in 1978. He retired from the British Council in 1997; the book was used as the basis for designing communicative syllabuses for English in

many Africa countries and is still in print.

Relationships in an era of fragmentation

• During the 70s and 80s, British Council worked to break down barriers to understanding and opportunity, notably in apartheid South Africa.

• British Council continued with programmes of assistance to non-violent, anti-apartheid organisations and English language programmes for the non-white community. This included the Molteno Project, to improve language education in black primary schools. Molteno promoted the development of an alternative curriculum, and introduced new ways of teaching young children to read.

• The Council also supported the UN Institute for Namibia, based in Lusaka, which looked forward to the day when Namibia would gain its independence from South Africa.

The end of aid for UK-funded ELT

• In the early 90’s, a new Minister, Clare Short, took over the Department for International Development in the UK.

• She did not think English Language contributed to development, and proceeded to axe EL projects funded by DFID.

• British Council, along with UK academics and EL professionals, organised the LAP 2000 Conference in Lancaster in 1995 to emphasise the economic and developmental arguments for ELT as an agent of change and development

• But virtually no DFID-funded ELT projects continued after 2001. One of the last to be completed was the Secondary and Technical English project in Mozambique.

• Wherever possible, the Council continued to bid to design and implement major donor- or government-funded projects in ELT. One of these was the 5-year ELIP (English Language Improvement Project) in Ethiopia, which was completed last year.

Peacekeeping English• From the mid 90’s the Peacekeeping English project was established . This

focussed initially on countries in Central and Eastern Europe which aspired to join NATO.

• From 2003 onwards, the focus shifted to conflict and post conflict situations, including Africa New projects were set up supporting ‘interoperability’, to enable multinational forces from NATO, the African Union and UN peace support operations to communicate effectively with each other.

• In this way the provision of language training was directly contributing to the

development of a safer and more peaceful world. Projects in Mozambique and Angola have just been completed, and new projects have begun recently in Ethiopia, DRC and Libya.

• Two weeks ago I visited Sudan to design a project to teach English to Joint Integrated Units, composed of SAF and SPLA soldiers who were previous fighting on opposite sides.

Global English Products

• In 2008 British Council decided to move away from low impact local projects to larger scale regional and global products

• For English, 12 new products were developed, 6 for learners and 6 for teachers

Six Learner Products• LearnEnglish Newspapers & Magazines• LearnEnglish Family• LearnEnglish Audio• Premier Skills• LearnEnglish Second Life for Teens• LearnEnglish Mobile

LearnEnglish Newspapers & Magazines

Six teacher products• Global Path• Global Home for Teachers• English for English Teachers course• ICT Skills for EL Teachers course• Teachers Knowledge Test course• Teacher Training Videos and course

Global home for teachers

Teacher Training Videos

Global English Product Portfolio

English Nexus • Network building & events

• Expertise, research and KM

• Policy maker outreach

Engaging with Teachers

• Teacher training

• Online courses to reach wider Teacher audiences

• Global CPD framework

• Communities of Practice

English Connect • Online courses to reach wider student audiences

• Using radio in SSA

• The Teaching business

• The Exams business

English Nexus

Engaging Teachers

English Connect

Any questions?