Development Education Resources and Methodologies - Schools

I enjoyed the four presentations during this last session on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I missed the Strategic Landscapes: Research and Education Strategy presentation by Austin Gormley, Irish Aid earlier in the morning so probably missed much of the overarching framework and strategy for development education in Ireland, something which I am still learning about.

Timothy Murphy's presentation, Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry (OSDE): Toward Enhanced Democratic Practices explored the potential of OSDE as a tool for engaged discussion and action about democratic policies and practices in the educational system of the south of Ireland. Thanks to Timothy for bringing this methodology to my attention. I wasn't aware of such an initiative but it would appear to have much to offer as a methodological tool for improving learning and teaching about local and global issues. Incidentally, the OSDE website has an extensive range of resources available for download.

The second presentation in this session was Mella Cusack. Mella's presentation, The 3 Ds: Curriculum Development, Teacher Professional Development and Development Education, reported on the outcomes of the joint Citizenship Studies Project between Trocraire/City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee Curriculum Development Unit. This is another interesting initiative aimed at supporting and improving the development of citizenship education at secondary level in Ireland. Part of this initiative is aimed at producing a 45 hour Transition Unit examining the coverage of development issues in the media in the hope that students will enagage in better analysis and action. Mella quite rightly highlighted that any such initiatives and developments, such as curricula development, requires as much commitment to capacity enhancement and continuing professional development for teachers in schools.

Next up was Patsy Toland, from Self Help Development. Patsy described an interesting collaboration between Self Help and Christian Brothers schools to support development education approaches that emphasise student participation, local and global awareness and an action agenda. The prgramme has been well received and is undergoing expansion with additional partners and schools coming on board in 2007/2008. Patsy higlhighgeted some interesting points including the need for a coordinated strategic approach by NGOs with long term aims. Like the previous presenter Patsy highlighted the critical need for capacity enhancement of teachers. This programme highlighted interesting links between schools and local communities that provided spaces for all to discuss issues related poverty, gender and sustainable environments.

The final speaker in this session was Julia Franz from the University of Erlangen-Nuremburg. Julia presented on an intergenerational learning approach for sustainability which posed the question - can this kind of learning which takes place in families take place in educational institutes? Julia described a process that involved people ranging in ages from 4 to 90 years old! One such activity involved groups working together to explore issues surrounding energy and sustainability which involved a visit to a hydroelectric plant, a global networking game, story telling and investigations of local energy use. The activity culminated with the preparation of an exhibition based around the issues the explored and debated. Julia reported intense interaction between the different groups, the diversity of interests of different groups and the problems that this presented in terms of facilitation.

Certainly some interesting work going on in the area of development education in Ireland.

I would be grateful to know if there are any networks or initiatives in existence that attempt to coordinate and monitor the development education activities underway in Ireland.