Histories of Global Education in Europe
This month, Dr. Eilish Dillon of the Department of International Development has published a chapter in the latest book published by the Global Education Network Europe (GENE), ‘Global Education National Histories in Europe: Volume 1’, edited by Annette Scheunpflug and Liam Wegimont. This book, which was published to coincide with GENE’s 50th Roundtable in April 2024, with volume 2 to follow, brings together short national histories of Global Education in a selection of European countries. These include Austria, Germany, Ireland (Eilish’s chapter), Norway, Portugal and the UK. According to the book’s introduction, authors ‘include those who have been pioneers in Global Education at national level, as authors and academics, as thought-leaders, as activists and engaged intellectuals, as policymakers, or as researchers more recently engaged and with a passion for the importance of the historical’.
In her chapter in this book, Eilish adopts a thematic approach to the discussion of changes in GE in various phases of the history of GE in Ireland, highlighting key issues and debates which have come to characterise the field over many years. She explores the influence and role of various organisations in GE and the relationships which are at work in the GE field in Ireland; changes in how GE is structured and organised; and shifting policy and understandings of GE. While the focus of the chapter is mainly on the Republic of Ireland, the chapter also briefly focuses on some of the key issues affecting policy and practice in the North of Ireland around these themes. The final section also addresses some lessons to be learned from GE in the Irish context and some challenges for the future. More details on Eilish’s work on the history of GE in Ireland, will be available freely online in a book she is co-editing, ‘Global Education in Ireland: Critical Histories and Future Directions’ due to be published by Bloomsbury Press in October 2024.