Devon Development Education - projects and programmes

Devon Development Education is involved in or promotes a number of education projects which aim to deliver Global Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development.

Food for Thought programme
This is now in its eighth year and is run jointly by DDE and Exeter Diocese. For a 2006 newsletter on the Food for Thought programme click here.

The project is aimed at Primary School children in Devon and Uganda and explores food issues - growing, preparing, cooking, eating and recycling - and particularly focuses on sustainable agriculture/organic methods.

The partner organisation in Uganda is the Kulika Charitable Trust, which has a very strong programme on sustainable agriculture.

Kulika selected two districts for the school links programmes, both with fertile soil but very different in their recent history.

Mubende District is in the centre of the country and has always been relatively peaceful and prosperous. Gulu District in the North is still war-torn.

The programme has nine link schools in Uganda and seven in Devon. The project is co-ordinate by Sue Errington. Contact Sue Errington for further information, phone: 01392 438811.

For an evaluation report on the impact of the Food for Thought programme click here

Find out more about Uganda or about teacher exchange visits or help support this project by donating securely through Justgiving

Play it Cool offers schools in North Devon & Torridge free training for both teachers and pupil educators and provides speakers for schools and public events. The project also offers tailor made classroom sessions for both primary and secondary schools. Click here for further details.

We are looking for 6 - 12 citizenship teachers working at KS3 & KS4 to work together with their students to develop a unit of work on aspects of conflict and how people deal with it.

This project will offer the opportunity to explore conflict and its impact from the personal to the global and will use a Thinking Skills or Philosophy for Children approach. There will be the opportunity for teachers and pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding of the issues through interaction and discussion (by email) with peers in Northern Uganda, Hebron and an urban area of the UK.

This project has been designed by Devon Development Education and Bernie Ashmore, who runs Inspiring Learning, an education and training consultancy based at Dartington, Totnes. Bernie was previously Oxfam Development Education Adviser and Enfield LEA Adviser for Humanities. Amongst other things, he currently runs an MA Teaching and Learning Course at Middlesex University, has run a number of workshops at Association for Citizenship Teachers (ACT) conferences, runs a day on Diversity and Ethnicity for Exeter University PGCE Citizenship course and runs INSET for Colleges, LAs and schools on Thinking Skills and Creativity in Humanities and Global Citizenship.

We are planning a workshop on Monday 2nd or Tuesday 3rd July 2007. This will give participants the chance to learn more about Thinking Skills and Philosophy for Children approaches from Bernie Ashmore and to share practical ideas for taking the project forward in school.

Please email us to express your interest and we will contact you with further details.

Edible Gardens in Schools
Edible Gardens in Schools (EGS) offers hands-on workshops to schools in Devon, to help schools establish sustainable, organic vegetable gardens within their grounds.

The project is developing a teaching resource to go with the practical work, linking work in the garden to the curriculum. Activities include building raised beds, building compost bins and Spring seed sowing.

For more details about workshop visit the Edible Gardens website or contact Rachel

Education for Global Citizenship in Special Schools: an Oxfam funded curriculum development project
This exciting and innovative project aims to extend and improve the provision of global citizenship for children and young people in Special Schools in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

This project has been designed by Devon Development Education, David Weatherly (Global Citizenship & International Education Adviser for Devon County Council) and two teachers from Special Schools (Mill Water School, Honiton, and West of England School for Children with Little or No Sight in Exeter). It is funded by Oxfam for one year.

The project provides the opportunity for staff to plan, carry out and evaluate global citizenship development work in their schools supported by the project management team. Click here for an outline of the project. Click here for a promotional flier about a special summer 2007 conference

Global News
This three year project funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) has now concluded. However, the Global News website offers a wide range of resources and activities that encourage students to take a critical look at world news using the internet as a key resource. Using on-line English language newspapers and news services from around the world, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Post 16 students learn about important social, environmental and political issues.

A series of classroom activities are available through the website and have been designed to address key learning objectives in citizenship, ICT, geography, English and RE.

The White Rabbit Theatre
A Theatre-In-Education company who visit schools with thought provoking fair trade/justice related theatre. The company are committed to raising political literacy amongst students, now an important requirement of the citizenship curriculum.

The creative and interactive drama methods used by White Rabbit enable students to explore complex citizenship issues in an exciting and accessible way.

White Rabbit offer a 15 minute performance, timed to fit within an assembly, and a one hour workshop using the performance as a springboard to explore the issues raised, giving students the experience of learning through exciting theatrical techniques and games.

The group are currently on tour with The Edible Planet: an exploration of the causes, impacts and potential responses to climate change.

For further details visit the White Rabbit Theatre Group website.

DIFD Regional Strategy, to enable effective support for the Global Dimension of Education
In Devon, DDE has taken the lead on this initiative that is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). DDE helped conduct a regional survey to find out what support teachers wanted and which organisations and individuals were offering support for the global dimension of education. From this survey a regional interim strategy was developed, to be followed by a four year strategy. DDE is coordinating the Devon Global Education Network to bring together the three key partners in providing support to teachers and schools:

• Those with a statutory responsibility for education – the three LEAs and three teacher training institutions in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay
• Those who offer support to teachers and schools – providers, both groups and individuals such as DDE, multi-cultural consultants, musicians etc)
• School teachers themselves

European Union Capacity Building project
A regional project, funded by the EU, now in its second of three years. The project seeks to help build capacity for global citizenship in schools in Devon. DDE education outreach worker Jane Murray is working in Plymouth encouraging and supporting school links between primary and secondary schools in Plymouth and in Plymouth’s new link city of Sekondi-Takoradi, a port city in Ghana. More info available from the DDE office/Global Centre

Oxfam Education Resource Centre in Exeter
Between 1991-2003 Oxfam operated an Education Centre in South Street, Exeter, run by a volunteer coordinator and four volunteers. Since the founding of DDE, staff have worked closely with the Oxfam Centre. Oxfam decided to close the Centre in May 2003 due to a change of strategy for delivering education work and so DDE have incorporated the work of the Oxfam Centre into the Global Centre. This has been a successful transition, and the Oxfam resources now make up a vibrant part of the Global Centre.