development, and to realise their potential as individuals and as citizens.
It aims to prepare students for adult life and to help them proceed to further
education or directly to employment.
DE offers a potential means of achieving these overarching aims and is firmly rooted in
the curriculum at both primary and post primary level. According to Honan (2005, p.20):
DE has been a feature of education in the Republic of Ireland for over thirty
years. From its origins as a marginal ‘tag-on’ to the curriculum, mainly
promoted by returned development workers and non-governmental
development organisations (NGDOs), DE today has ‘come in from the cold’
with both its content and methodologies evident across the curriculum at
both primary and post primary levels