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Ministers of Education at the Eighth Commonwealth Education Conference in Colombo recommended the development of practical handbooks covering areas of education which are of interest to member countries. In pursuit of this initiative the Commonwealth Secretariat has devised a common format for a series of Commonwealth Educational Handbooks of which the present publication is one. This volume is designed to assist teachers and their colleagues with suggestions about facilities and services that can be offered through teachers' resource centres.
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During the past fifteen years or so Centres for Teachers have been established in many countries of the world. These Centres have been given differing names - Resource Centre, Pedagogic Centre, Teachers' Centre etc. but, whatever their name, they have usually set out to meet a similar need, namely, support for teachers. In the UK., where the idea of a grassroot orientated Teachers' Centre was born in the mid 60's, they have given teachers a place to meet together as equals to exchange ideas and expertise.
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The pace of change in today's world is still accelerating from day to day. This change is not only one of new technologies but also one of new relationships between youth and adults, populations and their governments, members of the sexes one vis a vis the other and, what concerns us in this handbook, between the pupils we educate and their teachers and between these teachers and those who hold the “power” in the educational system.
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Few, if any Teachers' Resource Centres will be able to undertake all the possible functions of a Centre enumerated in Section Two. The functions outlined are intended to give, a range of options open to those whose task it will be to decide on the scope of the activities of any one Centre. Similarly, the objectives described here are comprehensive and it is expected that very few Centres will attempt to achieve them in their entirety.
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