The Development Education Centre opened its doors in 1975 in the Gillet Centre, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. A Resources Shop provided a focus for the centre that served educators from across the West Midlands. Core support came from partnerships with Oxfam, Selly Oak Colleges and City of Birmingham Education Dept. There was a range of activity. Curriculum work with local teachers emerged as a strength, and also a challenge.
In the 1980s this evolved to the network Tide~ [teachers in development education] offering 'space' for teacher creativity through a variety of projects. Tide~ was also established as a charity and company managed by educators elected from the membership. This Trustee structure continues.
In 2004 Tide~ global learning opened a new base in central Birmingham at Millennium Point. This, and a wider range of financial support including DfID's development education fund, enabled the further development of a distinctive style of work. Over the years thousands of local teachers, many of whom now have senior leadership positions, have contributed to the network and to the materials such as those featured in this website. The development of learning resources led by classroom practitioners also offered CPD opportunities linked to gaining confidence in leadership roles and, for example strategies for addressing curriculum change.
The Tide~ approach received wide recognition, not least from DfID. In particular DfID was interested in the Forward Thinking initiative. We were commissioned to set up a consultation that led to the Enabling Effective Support [ESS] initiative with a programme in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and each of the regions in England.
Funding for the centre in Millennium Point was secured locally but running costs were linked to DfID backing for the Tide~ initiative: 'West Midlands Coalition for global learning'. Post election in 2010 this funding was unexpectedly terminated in a way that made it very difficult to secure alternatives, and the centre was forced to close. Since then the main work focused on an EU funded project 'Young people on the global stage: their education and influence' involving work locally and in Spain, The Gambia and Kenya. See Lenses on the world. When that project was in its final phase it became clear that Tide~, like many other NGOs, might have been forced to cease its activities. That led to a consultation and much debate … and proposals to seek new ways forward. See '2020 Tide~ Vision'.
The consultation also highlighted a synergy in style and thinking between Birmingham Education Partnership [BEP] and Tide~. As Tim Boyce [Director BEP] put it - "We want system leadership that is informed by the global which means engaging with that complexity and thinking afresh about the implications. I greatly value Tide's legacy and its approach to facilitating teachers collaborating and learning. They make a great addition to our work."
A joint project worker was set up with BEP. There were a range of activities, for example Young Leaders sharing Global Perspectives. The project ended due to funding. This led to new discussions about a rethink, and the idea that we should explore ways of establishing a new structure which could sustain core activity without dependency on funders, to develop a Hub with ongoing work and a base that might later support a more substantial programme and the ability to fund project worker posts.
Making Tide~ publications available free to download was the first step.
This was backed by setting up the Elephant Times on-line magazine, developing the website and then the launch of a new framework - The Connecting Dialogues initiative. Progress was in some ways contained by Covid but this also gave time to reflect: to reflect on what we were learning locally and globally from the Pandemic; to revisit our own publications and others with a global learning theme; and most importantly use contemporary books to focus group thinking - for example 'How to stay sane in an age of division' by Elif Shafak and 'Empireland' by Sathnam Sanghera.
Connecting Dialogues is in its early stages. The opportunity of the Commonwealth Games dominated work in the first phase. Work on the Educational implications of Climate Change is the main programme for Autumn 2022. However work is also developing on The Global Pandemic and on the Ireland & Britain themes.
Tide~ is seeking people, though this work: to revitalise the network approach; to develop new roles for the website; to establish the Elephant Times magazine; to grow a new sustainable core structure and membership. See Tide~ Network Hub.