Guidelines for Producing Development Education Resources

Description

The guidelines for producing development education resources 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.

The document has been divided into 6 key phases for considering resource production:

Phase 1: Needs analysis and planning

Phase 2: Content, researching world development and educational issues

Phase 3: Presentation style and technical dimensions

Phase 4: Piloting and revising draft materials

Phase 5: Printing, marketing and distribution

Phase 6: The evaluation cycle

A further links section is also included which provides access to a range of sector specific codes and guidelines to assist further research and reading with hyperlinks for onward links.

Further reading

Read: blog post detailing background and context to the development of the guidelines

An audit of Irish development education resources from 2000-2012 presents an overview of resources produced across a 12 year period divided by themes and education sectors https://www.developmenteducation.ie/audit