At the age of 11, Derek Worden started at the Durham Johnston Grammar-Technical School, in Durham, until in 1958 he left to go to the College of Art and Industrial Design in Newcastle. When he finished here, in 1961, he went on to Leicester College of Art.

In these four years he gained a number of City and Guilds certificates, as well as his Art Teacher's Diploma and his Certificate of Education.

His first teaching post was at the South Shields Grammar-Technical School for Boys, where he stayed until 1966 when he took up a post at Washington Grammar School.