In/.I. EducG/iorwlDevelopmew, Vol. 6, No.2. pp. 133-14\,1986. Printed in Great Bolam 073g..{)593 /86 S3 00 ....00 Pergamon Press Ltd DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION IN CONTEXT: AN EVALUATION OF THE WEST MIDLANDS - WEST AFRICA PROJECT CLIVE HARBER University of Birmingham. U.K. Abstract- This paper evaluates an in-service development education project for that visited The Gambia and Senegal in 1984. It discusses t.he perpecuves Involved In such a project as well as issues of organisation such as sU .bJect m?des of leadership. It concludes by considering the extent to which the project achieved Its initial alms. INTRODUCTION The 'West Midlands-West Africa, 1984' pro- ject mounted jointly by the Birmingham Development Education Centre (DEC) and the Department of Curriculum Studies, Uni- versity of Birmingham was a course designed primarily for geography who w!shed to enhance their understanding and expenence of development education. It shared this and a number of other aims with courses run previously by the for example , Birmingham and the Wider World courses 10 1979 involved visits to India, Ghana and Columbia and aimed to provide opportunities for: a first-hand structured experience of a developing country and its culture; experi- menting with a variety of teaching exploring the links between the local Birrning- ham environment and the wider world; and collecting resources for use in schools (Braun and Sinclair, 1980). While it shared these aims it also intended to go beyond them. it would provi?e opportunity to expenence countnes. Africa and their cultures. The aim was to VISit one ex-British and one ex-French country to enable comparison. Originally this was to be Ghana and Upper Volta. though early in the planning stage this was altered to Gambia and Senegal. Second. the course would not only collect resources for use in the schools of the teachers going on the study visit but would also commit the teachers involved to sharing their ideas and experiences on a series of short in- service courses for other geography teachers in the West Midlands. Geography teachers were chosen as the target group for in-service work in development education, first because theirs is the area of the curriculum that most frequently deals with 'developing countries', and second because West Africa had been introduced as a case study in the West Midlands 16+ Geography Course, suggesting that the resources, methods and experiences offered by such a project might be of considerable use to other teachers of geog- raphy. The project also provided a follow on to a previous DEC geography project that produced the textbook People Before Places (DEC, 1984). Finally, towards the end of the preparation stage of the project the group also decided to try to write a book based on the study visit. Unlike two previous publications stemming from study visits (DEC , 1979: Braun and Sinclair , 1980) this would not be a book for teachers but a book to be used by pupils in the classroom. However, it would not be a 'standard' textbook with an emphasis on information and 'facts' but a supplementary text to explore the ideas. values and attitudes involved in development issues. EVALUATION METHOD An evaluation of the extent to which a project does or does not actually match these aims and the problem of organisation and planning encountered on the way could prove to be a valuable resource for others planning similar enterprises. Yet those deeply involved 133