Introduction
Purpose of this Document
This document has been produced by the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA)
Working Group on Formal Education to provide good practice guidance to IDEA members
working, or intending to work, in or with the formal education sector in the Republic of Ireland.
The members of the Working Group include Development Education (DE) practitioners and
teachers working in both primary and post primary schools. It is intended that this document
will fulfill two main objectives:
• To encourage discussion about indicators of good practice
for DE in primary and post primary schools
• To facilitate the compilation of good practice examples by
IDEA members working in or with the Formal Education sector.
The document is part of IDEA’s work on good practice and should be considered an evolving
document.
This document sets out the context for DE in Irish schools based on recent research.
It describes how DE can be integrated into both the current and proposed curriculum in
formal education. For good practice to develop, other areas of school life also should be
considered, for example internal and external relationships and school policies. This is
reflected in the range of indicators in the document which can be used to measure progress.
The concluding section of the document is a series of case studies supplied by IDEA
members, providing real examples of good practice in DE in schools.
Additionally the Formal Education Working Group has developed a summary of this
document which includes:
• An outline of opportunities for DE in schools
• Summaries of the case studies showing links to relevant indicators
• How to find out more.
The IDEA Formal Education Working Group hopes that both documents will assist the DE
sector and teachers to achieve more clarity on what we mean when we say: DE is good
education, with a global perspective.