Guidelines for Producing DE Resources

The Guidelines for Producing Development Education Resources are offered to development educators, teachers, youth workers, writers and development workers in non-governmental organisations as a stimulus tool for planning and producing resources.

The Guidelines were jointly produced by developmenteducaiton.ie, the Development Education Working Group of Dóchas and the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) following a national consultation in spring 2014.

The guidelines have been designed to act as a supportive and practical tool for anyone to use – whether a teacher, a youth worker or development education workers in adult and community settings – rather than as a prescriptive set of instructions.

Some of the key supporting characteristics of the guidelines include:

• To recognise that anyone can produce a resource

• To support reflection on the ‘needs’ and ‘demands’ of target audiences, potential and actual impact of a resource. Make evaluation a permanent feature of resource development (before, during and after production)

• To learn from others: knowing resources already developed can assist in seeing ‘what’s out there’ already. Education practitioners have a lot to contribute to the development of a resource and can field test take-up

• To use a range of tips, suggestions and examples in project planning (such as curriculum link choices)

• To consider the four key dimensions of development education as potential indicators for building a resource: i) knowledge and ideas, ii) values and perceptions, iii) capabilities and skills, iv) experiences and actions

• To make decisions about content, context and driving narrative or voices (what perspectives are presented – i.e. African, Latin America, privileged, European, Male, official position, female, economic, child etc. )

• To make decisions about educational approaches and learning outcomes – choosing appropriate indicators to fit the overall outcome of the resource.

More information on the Guidelines.