Development Education in a European Context

Abstract

Agreement on the importance of Development Education (DE) within the institutions of the European Union (EU) has been evolving from as far back as 2001 when the Council of Europe requested a greater understanding of what it termed ‘global interdependence’. Since then there has been dialogue around the nature of DE across the member states and a series of substantial moves to create a DE framework which would operate at a transnational level, yet could be supported through European Commission resources in Brussels. This dialogue culminated in the Commission’s working document of December 2012 under the title ‘Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) in Europe’. As protocol would have it within the policy-making structures of the EU, it has taken ten years for the Council resolution on DEAR to reach its policy implementation stage. DE has also been subjected to the general policy framework and indeed the ebb and flow of the broader European integration process.