Friday, 9 February, 2001, Light House, Wolverhampton

Speakers to include:

Marika Sherwood (Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Secretary of Black & Asian Studies Association – BASA, Secretary of the Black and Asian Archives Working Party and Editor of the BASA Newsletter).

Kim Stephenson (Freelance Education Worker), Dee Cook (Professor of Social Policy and Director of Regional Research Institute, University of Wolverhampton),

Marie-Clare Balaam (Lecturer in History, University of Wolverhampton) and Lorraine Dennis (Development Officer, Wolverhampton Lifelong Learning Campaign).

The conference is chaired by Dr Clive Harris, Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Sociology at The University of Birmingham, currently directing a major Education and Social Research Council funded project looking at youth and citizenship with reference to Caribbean and Pakistani Youth in Birmingham and Bradford

BE-ME is an initiative that grew from the Wolverhampton Windrush Anniversary in 1998; the aims being to uncover, retrieve and record the experiences of African-Caribbean and Asian communities in Wolverhampton. This is to ensure that knowledge about their social, economic and cultural contribution is preserved and passed on to future generations.

Phase one of BE-ME has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. To date the project has recorded over 100 in-depth interviews on video and audio.

BE-ME is identifying solutions to the challenges of professional practice and learning in the move towards a more inclusive and humane society, by drawing on the narratives of the pioneers of African-Caribbean and Asian settlement. This approach may well be seen as an innovative means of addressing many of the concerns expressed in the MacPherson Report, the inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The focus for the conference will be built around the theme of designing and developing a curriculum for the 21st Century, which engages with the ethnically plural and diverse nature of British society. One of the key issues based on these foundations empowers learners and practitioners from all kinds of backgrounds.

The conference will attract those working in education at all levels: primary, secondary, further, higher, adult and continuing.

Programme

09.30 Registration and coffee.

10.30 Welcome: Derrick Anderson, Chief Executive and Policy Coordinator, Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council.

10.45 Keynote address: Marika Sherwood

11.30 BE-ME the story so far.

12.00 Questions & Answers.

12.30 Lunch

13.30 Choice of Workshops:

Primary: Kim Stephenson outlines the ways that oral history projects in primary schools can support the curriculum and shares existing examples of good practice.

Further, Adult & Continuing Education: Lorraine Dennis locates the BE-ME initiative within Further, adult and continuing education and demonstrates how BE-ME can inform, steer and guide teaching and learning processes. It will look at the historical legacies of existing curriculum and identify new approaches to curriculum development and design.

Secondary: Marika Sherwood takes a critical look at the History and Citizenship curricula in the light of the recommendations of the Lawrence inquiry: are they designed to include or exclude?

Higher Education: Dee Cook and Marie-Clare Balaam explore the ways of integrating the BE-ME archive to produce a positive and inclusive curriculum and investigate way in which the project can provide the basis for collaborative research.

15.30 Break

15.45 Plenary

The conference is free to individuals and community groups. There is a fee of £25 for those representing funded institutions. Lunch is provided.

Contacts: phone 01902 716055; email frank@light-house.co.uk; fax 01902 717143