Global Education and Globalisation In today’s globalised society we have global influences on all aspects of our lives from the food we eat, the clothes we wear to the state of our economy. This era of accelerated globalisation has been attended by both increased prosperity for some and more widespread poverty for a much greater number of the world’s population.

Globalisation has therefore been a bearer of contrasted outcomes that have included a multitude of information sources and communications methods made possible by great innovations in information technology.  More negatively, we have seen unfair trade rules result in the increased economic power of large corporations and greater poverty in the world’s poorest states, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.  There is now a greater democratic deficit in the world’s dominant economic and political decision-making bodies and reduced accountability for the actions that sustain and exacerbate poverty in the developing world.

Global education is needed to address these democratic deficits and tackle the factors that underpin poverty and inequality around the world.  Global education enables individuals and communities to become more engaged with the causes of poverty by increasing their knowledge of development issues and providing opportunities for informed and positive actions.  The Centre for Global Education is the only local provider of global education and for 25 years has offered training services in the formal and non-formal education sectors.  The education practiced by the Centre is based on participation and active learning.  It enables the learner to develop the critical faculties and skills, values and knowledge needed to interrogate received information and challenge unfair power relations. 

The world is entering a critical period that will inform our future development.  Our relentless consumption of fossil fuels and natural resources is threatening nothing less than the sustainability of our environment.  We therefore need to embrace global education as an essential means toward re-orientating ourselves toward a more sustainable and just means of development. 

The Centre for Global Education has been delivering development education over the past 25 years and its achievements in this period include the following:

 ·         Resources: the Centre has produced a succession of high quality, award-winning resources for a range of target groups and sectors like the Big Pic web site (www.bigpic.biz) which supports delivery of Citizenship Education at primary and post-primary school levels.

 ·         Training: the Centre has introduced the first ever locally delivered accredited training courses on global issues for the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and Youth Work sectors.  These courses have strengthened capacity in global education.

 ·         Journal:  the Centre has published the first ever journal in global education published in the island of Ireland and is now in its fifth year of publication; the journal is available on-line at www.developmenteducationreview.com

·         Research: the Centre has commissioned research on global issues (like migration and child labour) and on the impact of global education.  The Centre believes that quality research strengthens practice and enables us to measure our impact on learners. 

 ·         Networks: the Centre networks with development and civil society groups in Ireland, the UK, across Europe and in the global South.  We share our practice and learn from the work of others.  Among the networks to which we are affiliated are: the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA), Dochas, the Coalition of Aid and Development Agencies (CADA) and the Development Education Association (DEA) in London.

 
Please support the Centre

Please help the Centre to sustain its current level of services and enhance its output by supporting educators in new sectors to deliver global education.  Funding for global education, particularly from government sources, has been sharply reduced as a result of the global financial crisis while the need for global education training and resources has never been greater.  Please make a donation to the Centre’s work.  All public support is directly allocated toward the support of education services and any donation, no matter how small, can make a difference.   Many thanks.