Praxis Project

BACKGROUND

The Praxis Project, is housed at the Centre for Global Development (CGD) at University College Cork (UCC) and funded by Irish Aid. Research shows that there is insufficient provision of GCDE in third level education, which is why the Praxis Project is funded by Irish Aid. SDG 4.7 aims to ensure all learners acquire knowledge/skills needed to promote global citizenship.

The Praxis Project aims to integrate ‘Development and Global Citizenship Education’ (DGCE) into pedagogy, research and capacity building activities across University College Cork. The mission of the Praxis Project is to provide quality Development and Global Citizenship Education to UCC students, staff and local communities and to develop UCC as a centre of research excellence, knowledge exchange and publications in this field.  

Specifically its objectives are to:

• Integrate DGCE into UCC pedagogy at all academic levels;
• Establish UCC as a centre of research excellence in the field of DGCE;
• Ensure that UCC staff and students are enabled to engage in sustainable action for social change relevant to DGCE
• Build DGCE capacity of UCC staff

The Praxis Project’s three-year plan supports the establishment of UCC as a leading proponent of DGCE across all Colleges.

CURRENT PROJECTS 

The Praxis Project runs a university wide module which is open for free to all students and staff at UCC; University Wide Module UW0012 Global Citizenship and Development Education. (It is also open to the general public for a fee of €100 which may be reduced for people who are unemployed or who have special needs.)

Students explore the theory and practice of DGCE using theoretically-informed, action-based learning. The module critically explores themes of global wealth/poverty, human rights, social justice, sustainable development, geopolitics, aid, financial justice, power, social movements, women, indigenous and refugee rights, local and global governance and intercultural communications.

Digital Badge: Praxis Global Citizenship and Development Education (Third Level Staff) Award All staff, academic, administrative, technical, maintenance, lecturers, researchers are welcome to apply.  Part-time and Full-time staff may apply. A fee of €200 applies to non-UCC staff.

This badge will introduce participants to the theory, themes, values, methodologies and practice of Critical Global Citizenship and Development Education (DGCE). It will facilitate them to contextualise this learning within their disciplines, pedagogy, research or other third level work and support them to develop cross-disciplinary collaboration and civic engagement skills, with a view to taking informed, collective action towards a just society.