About the journal
Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review is a biannual, peer reviewed, open access, online journal published by the Centre for Global Education, a non-governmental development organisation based in Belfast. It aims to celebrate and promote good practice in development education and to debate the shifting policy context in which it is delivered. It provides a space for education practitioners to critically reflect on their practice, share new research and engage in debate with their peers. Each issue of the journal features in-depth contributions on key aspects of development education such as pedagogical innovation, research, methodologies, monitoring and evaluation, the production of resources, enhancing organisational capacity and strategic interventions in education policy. Policy & Practice is informed by values such as social justice, equality and interdependence and is based on the Freirean concept of education as an agent of positive social change. The journal web site receives in excess of 150,000 visitors per annum from the global North and South and successfully combines quality contributions from academia and civil society. Journal editor Stephen McCloskey can be contacted at stephen@centreforglobaleducation.com.
About the project
Building Capacity in the Development Education Sector in Ireland is an Irish Aid-supported capacity-building project in the North and South of Ireland with the aim of enhancing practice, improving communication and strengthening capacity in the development education sector. It also aims to increase opportunities for reflection on practice and networking among practitioners. The project consists of three key activities:
- a biannual development education journal: Policy & Practice: a development education review;
- an annual conference;
- and two development education seminars per annum.
Each component was organised to attract the widest possible spectrum of development and development education practitioners and academics, through conference workshops, seminar discussion topics and journal themes. The conference provides practitioners with a day-long event to network with others and debate current development education practice.
The seminars are shorter, more in-depth events that serve as a launch for each issue of the journal. Seminar facilitators included journal contributors, practitioners, and academics to stimulate debate on current development education events and research.
The journal serves as a more formal vehicle for discussion and debate. It features contributions from development and development education practitioners from the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the European Union, North America and the developing world. The diversity of contributors helps the sector to widen their understanding of the delivery and effectiveness of development education at local and international levels. The journal publishes articles on current research initiatives, methodologies and good practice and enables readers to learn from the knowledge and experience of others.
About the Centre for Global Education
The Centre for Global Education (CGE) was established in 1986 by eight development agencies to provide education services that enhance awareness of international development issues. Its central remit is to challenge dominant stereotypes and commonly held perceptions of developing countries which are prevalent in our society. It aims to use education as a means of challenging the causes of poverty and inequality in both local and global contexts by working with all sectors of education. In addition to the Building Capacity in the Development Education Sector in Ireland project, the Centre for Global Education also delivers the Making Connections Project, which delivers a new accredited training programme for the ethnic minority sector on global education, and houses the Global Dimension in Schools Northern Ireland project, which supports teachers in Northern Ireland to deliver the Northern Ireland Curriculum by incorporating global perspectives into their learning areas. The Centre houses the only designated library on international development issues in the north of Ireland and provides resources for schools, the tertiary sector, youth organisations, black and minority ethnic groups and other key sectors in civil society. The Centre’s resources can be accessed through library membership. For more information about the Centre for Global Education and its projects, please visit the Centre for Global Education website: www.centreforglobaleducation.com.
About our funders
Irish Aid is the Government of Ireland’s programme of assistance to developing countries. The overarching objective of Irish Aid is the reduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion in developing countries. Irish Aid believes that it is also important that people have an awareness and understanding of global development challenge beyond just an awareness and understanding of what the Government is doing to combat international development issues. To this end, the Development Education Unit of Irish Aid was developed in 2003. The Development Education Unit provides support for development education which has a crucial role in enlarging public understanding of development issues and which introduces the integration of development education into the education system in Ireland. For more information about Irish Aid and the Development Education Unit, please visit the Irish Aid website: www.irishaid.gov.ie.