Global Perspectives: Aid and Development. Full unit, 6 lessons.

A complete six-lesson Global Perspectives unit on one question: does foreign aid help or harm development? Built for IGCSE, age 14 to 16, and easy to adapt down to Lower Secondary. It comes with teaching slides, editable worksheets, and a print-ready PDF. Answer keys and teacher notes are included.

This unit teaches students to weigh two real positions and argue either side well, rather than settle for an opinion. It is built around perspectives, not personal preference. The two anchor voices are the economist Jeffrey Sachs, who argues aid works when it is targeted, and the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo, whose book Dead Aid argues aid can trap countries. Using a Zambian voice keeps Africa in the debate as a participant, not only as a place things are done to.

The six lessons:

What is aid, and what is development?
The case for aid.
The case against aid.
Whose perspective?
Research task.
Debate and reflection.

What is included:

A 19-slide PowerPoint that teaches the whole unit.
An editable Word worksheet pack, so you can adapt it.
A print-ready PDF of the same worksheets.
Answer keys and teacher notes.

The worksheets cover a key-word matching activity, a sort task, a case for and a case against sheet, a perspectives grid with role cards, a research task with a source-checking tool and an evidence file, a full debate pack, a reflection sheet, and a student success checklist.

Skills developed: research, analysis, evaluation, reflection, collaboration and communication. The main focus is evaluation, judging which argument is stronger against the evidence.

Low preparation. Print and teach, or open the Word file and make it your own.

Copyright and terms

© Adrian Scarlett / Verty Education 2026

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Independent resource. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education. All source summaries are written for teaching and are not quotations.