Establishing a Baseline for GCE in the ACE Sector

A fine start to the second quarter of the year with the launch event at Fumbally Stables in Dublin for the report “Establishing a Baseline for Global Citizenship Education in the Adult and Community Education Sector”. On the 12th of April Saolta hosted an event with Sara Hurley and Nick Doran presenting the results of a report led by Research Officer Natasha Keenaghan.

The report highlighted the activity, provision and reach of Global Citizenship Education on the island of Ireland. The sector shows a growing number of people accessing training and organisations providing GCE-related activities through a number of different opportunities. Unsurprisingly, short courses and once-off workshops were the most attended across the NGO sector and in community education/Community Development (non-ETBs). While through FEs, ETBs non-accredited courses had the largest number of learners encountering GCE-related activities.

The report concluded with two suggestions for moving forward: Enhancing the quality and effectiveness of GCE, and a whole-sector approach to research participation and opportunities to integrate/embed GCE across the ACE sector. To read the report, you can download it here on the Development Perspectives website

The second half of the morning was dedicated to discussing the report and next steps. Attendees took part in an activity generating conversations and ideas about the collection of data and the (improvement) of research participation for the sector. It recognised some of the obstacles and challenges related to the collection of data such as identifying and reaching the right person in an organisation, managing expectations and awareness of what constitutes a ‘GCE activity’.

Lots of the discussion focused on the importance of using “Plain English” and simpler language, how to support potential respondents and the importance of clarifying the benefits of taking part in the research process. Colleagues from across the sector shared their experiences, opportunities for collaboration and their outlook on the current picture of GCE in ACE and where the potential lies in the coming years.

Many thanks to all for joining and generating such a necessary discussion!

If you would like a hard copy of the report, please get in contact with deborah@developmentperspectives.ie or sara@developmentperspectives.ie.