About WorldWise Global Schools

About WWGS

Irish Aid’s WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) is Ireland’s national Global Citizenship Education (GCE) programme for post-primary settings (schools and youthreach).

WWGS was set up in 2013 as the key channel through which Irish Aid support for GCE in post-primary settings is to be coordinated. The aim of the programme is to increase the number of post-primary settings engaging in quality global citizenship education by providing a comprehensive range of supports.

It is funded by Irish Aid and implemented by a consortium of organisations:

Self Help Africa
Concern Worldwide
City of Dublin ETB Curriculum Development Unit
Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), representing also the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI)
National Association of Principals and Deputies (NAPD)
The Ubuntu Network, School of Education, University of Limerick

Find out more about what we offer here.

International Recognition

GENE Global Education Innovation Award

The WWGS programme has received international recognition for its work and continues to work with partners on a national and international level to engage in peer learning on Global Citizenship Education.

In 2018 WWGS received a GENE Global Education Innovation Award. It was the first Irish initiative to win this award.

GENE – Global Education Network Europe is the network of Ministries, Agencies and other bodies with national responsibility for Global Education in Europe. Find out more here.

International Peer Learning

WWGS has availed of various opportunities to engage in international peer learning in GCE. Please see some examples below.

In May 2022 the Global Citizenship Foundation and the Council for Global Citizenship Education brought together the largest gathering of domain specialists, experts, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, scholars, and education leaders from the world’s leading organizations, universities, and institutions to:

Deconstruct challenges to mainstreaming transformative education in the current context;
Discuss innovative practices, strategies, and ideas towards transforming our schools, classrooms, and education for human flourishing.

WWGS was one of the knowledge partners for this event.

In October 2021, WWGS engaged in a knowledge sharing meeting about Global Education in teacher-training institutions with NGO Mondo (https://mondo.org.ee/),

Mondo are one of the biggest civil society actors in the Global Education space in Estonia, with over 10 years of experience in the field, and just started a new large-scale project with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One of the goals of this project is to integrate GCE topics into school curricula at all levels and across the country - from kindergartens to high schools.

WWGS were delighted to hear more about their programme and share our thoughts and experience about collaborating towards this goal in Ireland.

Mondo have since adapted some WWGS tools for their programme.

Code of Good Practice for Global Citizenship Education

WWGS is an active member of the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA), the national network for Development Education/Global Citizenship Education in Ireland and a leading voice for the sector. Since 2020, WWGS has been a signatory to the IDEA Code of Good Practice for Development Education.

Find out more about the IDEA Code of Good Practice here.