Development Education Research Centre

Director: Professor Douglas Bourn

The Development Education Research Centre (DERC) is one of the world's leading centres for knowledge generation, new thinking, quality output and teaching on development education, global learning, education for sustainable development and global citizenship.

Launched in November 2006 with funding and support from the UK Department for International Development, DERC now draws funding from a number of different sources including the European Commission, the UK government and a range of non-governmental organisations, and works on a range of initiatives of relevance to both policy-makers and practitioners internationally.

What is development education?

Development education is an approach to learning about global and development issues through recognising the importance of linking people's lives throughout the world. It is also based on an understanding of the importance of critical thinking, the need to challenge stereotypes and to give people the skills and confidence to support change towards a more just and sustainable world.

Social justice underpins its pedagogical approaches. Development education is often used alongside terms such as global learning, global citizenship education and global education. It also intersects with education for sustainable development, climate change and climate justice education, peace education, human rights education, anti-racist education and related approaches.

Objectives

• Promote the value of development education, global learning, global citizenship education and education for sustainable development as part of the essential learning in the twenty-first century.
• Promote and encourage critical reflective engagement with the meaning and effectiveness of development education and related areas by the educational community in the UK and internationally.
• Develop an international community of researchers engaged in development education, global learning, global citizenship education and education for sustainable development.
• Develop a body of evidence through a series of published monographs, academic articles and seminars on the contribution that development education practice can make in building understanding of international development and global issues.
• Develop and embed development education, global learning, global citizenship education and education for sustainable development principles and practices across teacher training and other educational courses/initiatives within IOE, and in turn to other similar institutions.