What are global learning and development education in the secondary school?

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 encourages critical examination of global issues and awareness of the impact that individuals can have on these.  Development education began in the late 1970s, with volunteers and aid workers returning from overseas placements wanting to change the way people learned about development and less economically developed countries. Centres specialising in development education have existed across England since then, working with local schools and communities.

Global learning is the application of development education by practitioners, teachers and pupils - it is probably already happening in your school. Many programmes have existed over the years and many continue to run. The GLP aims to build on your school's existing work in this area rather than introduce completely new ideas and principles.

Global learning approaches support school improvement. A report on global learning in secondary schools found that it created a ‘sense of common direction and responsibility, with increased cross-curricular collaboration and increased usage of current world events and issues' amongst teachers.  Additionally, a study in Wales found that global learning supported the development of the school ethos and supported schools in working better with their communities. Global Learning aims and objectives also tie in with, and complement, the skills and concepts at the heart of the new history curriculum.