CEC Reports
CEC Internal ReportsThe Annual Report for 2008/09 can be seen by clicking here (248 kb). The Executive Chairperson's address "Looking Ahead at 50" can be seen by clicking here (79 kb). The draft CEC "Three Year Plan 2009-2012" can be seen by clicking here (269 kb). Reports from previous years can be downloaded from the CEC Policy Documents page on this website.
Reports, lectures, etc.
CEC has a series of lectures and conferences as well as commissioning research on educational issues in the Commonwealth. The following is a list of reports which can be downloaded from this site. Go to the descriptive section below.
Hon. Ms. Simone Testa de Comarmond
The 2008 Gladwyn Lecture by Lord Kinnock of Bedwelty "A manifesto for a New Public Diplomacy"
Celebrating 60 Years of Educational Progress and Challenges in Education in Sri Lanka
India - 60 Years of Educational Progress and Challenge
Ghana 50 Years of Educational Progress and Challenge
Islam and the Education of Women and Girls in the Commonwealth
Climate Change in the Commonwealth
CEC Spring Conference 2007
UPE - Why some countries fail
Hon. Ms. Simone Testa de Comarmond
The presentation described how the partnerships between the Commonwealth, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and other civil society organisations in promoting the education of girls and women in
The meeting took place with the support of the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealt Secretariat in March 2009.
The 2008 Gladwyn Lecture by Lord Kinnock of Bedwelty "A manifesto for a New Public Diplomacy"
After years in politics in the
He started his address on international cultural relations with one assessment, among many others, of the alterations swirling around our World, and everyone in it, in the early years of the 21st Century.
Celebrating 60 Years of Educational Progress and Challenges in Education in Sri Lanka
The text of a lecture by Dr. Harsha Aturupane, Head of the World Bank in Sri Lanka given in Parliament in November 2009. This can be downloaded by clicking here (166 kb). A response by Professor Angela Little of the University of London Institute of Education can be downloaded by clicking here (16 kb).
India - 60 Years of Educational Progress and Challenge
A summary of the address by Professor Krishna Kumar, Director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training, Delhi, India can be downloaded by clicking here (34 kb). A response by Dr. Marie Lall, University of London Institute of Education, can be downloaded by clicking here (33 kb).
Ghana 50 Years of Educational Progress and Challenge
The text of the address by Dr. Kwame Akyeampong, Centre for International Education, University of Sussex and the former Director of the Institute of Education, University of the Cape Coast, Ghana. Click here (140 kb)
Islam and the Education of Women and Girls in the Commonwealth
This was the subject of the CEC Annual Conference in June 2007. The report comes in the following parts:
Part 1: Setting Scenes
Part 2: Commonwealth Experiences
Part 3: Inferences and Indications for Commonwealth Action
The main contributers were Shaheen Sardar Ali, Fatimah Kelleher, Haleh Afshar along with Kasturi Sen, Maria Jaschok, John Oxenham, Oley Dibba-Wadda, Azim Nanji, Basil Mustafa, Fauzia Ahmad, Elizabeth-Claire Mikkelsen, Richard Bourne and Andrew Firmin. The main Chair of the conference was Baroness Pola Uddin of Bethnal Green and Tower Hamlets. She finishes her Foreword as follows:
"We mustn’t allow ourselves to be bogged down by only talking about the distinctions between the poor and the rich, the deprived and the included, and between one and another faith community, as if all lead parallel and different lives. Such language only seeks to divide. It does nothing to reduce degradation or encourage the cooperation required everywhere to build confidence and empowerment. Only with time and extensive education will women resolve these situations, working in harmony together across communities, countries and world regions."
The report was developed by Rosemary Preston with Fauzia Ahmad and John Oxenham and was based on the CEC Annual Conference 2007. The whole project was supported by the British Council (for the conference) and the Commonwealth Foundation (for the preparation and production of this report).
The report can be downloaded from this website in two forms: The first, without illustrations and 533kb in size can be downloaded by clicking here and the second, with illustrations and 1.58mb can be downloaded by clicking here.
Climate Change in the Commonwealth
A member of the CEC attended the Commonwealth conference on "Preparing for Change: Adaptive Strategies for Climate Change and Disaster Management in the Commonwealth" The report by the CEC representative at this conference held in the Seychelles can be obtained by clicking here (26kb).
CEC Spring Conference 2007
This conference was attended by a wide range of the Council's membership, and had contributions which covered a wide range of areas. Two of the contributions can be downloaded from this website - and others will be added when available. The basic conclusions from the conference, which are still open to debate by members of the Council through the website email, were summarised as follows:
In the light of our interests, resources and capabilities, we should
1. keep the biennial CHOGM and the triennial CCEM as our main constituencies for influencing educational policy and focus our activities on making our contributions too substantive to be ignored;
2. strengthen our connections with Parliament, government, High Commissions and Commonwealth Secretariat as our main channels of influence;
3. bolster efforts to revive understanding of and enthusiasm for the Commonwealth in the British public at all levels.
To do this, CEC will need to involve larger proportions of the membership in its activities, not necessarily in formal or long term roles, but morelikely in occasional, limited tasks. A scoping study of the interests of our members and a mapping study of their geographical locations could be initial steps for the purpose.
Contributions from the conference:A Historical Introduction by Lord George Thomson of Monifieth, and Influencing Policy by Tim Boswell MP and by David Levesque from the Department for International Development
Civil Society as partners in Commonwealth Education Mark Collins, Director, Commonwealth Foundation
Challenges to education in the Commonwealth in the next decade or two
Steve Packer, formerly from the EFA Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO
The Commonwealth and its Member Governments: Unlocking the Potential
Stuart Mole Director General, Royal Commonwealth Society
UPE - Why some countries fail.
A research paper investigating why, having nearly attained Universal Primary Education, some countries were unable to sustain it.
A research team from the Council for Education in the Commonwealth investigated some possible reasons why UPE in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia had been almost achieved, but had not been maintained. The work was presented to Ministers at the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape Town, South Africa.
A full report has been published and is available to CEC members for £5 plus £1.50 for postage and packing. (The full published price is £20.) Please email CEC if you wish to take advantage of this offer.