News bulletin
Recent News
New Books of Interest for ESSRG Members
CIRE is pleased to report the publication of a number of new books in the Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education series that may be of interest to ESSRG members.
These include: Assembling Comparison: Understanding Education Policy through Mobilities and Assemblage, by Steven Lewis and Rebecca Spratt (January 2024) (including a focus on Oceania); Education and Development in Central America and the Latin Caribbean, Edited by D. Brent Edwards Jr. et al. (February 2024); Teacher Professionalism in the Global South by a team of CIRE and SoE colleagues (out on 17th April, 2024); and Higher Education in Small Islands: Challenging the Geographies of Centrality and Remoteness, edited by Rosie Alexander and Holly Henderson (from 25th April, 2024).
For full details and news of forthcoming titles in the CIRE series see Bristol University Press | Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education
Climate-U Events in Fiji and Academic Writing Retreat in Tonga
In November and December 2023 Prof Michael Crossley was invited to Fiji to participate in the national closing events for the GCRF UCL-led project, ‘Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate’ (also known as the Climate-U project).
For the last 4 years Michael has supported the Fijian Team at The University of the South Pacific (USP) with this initiative that has had a significant impact throughout the higher education sector and community villages across the Fijian Islands.
The broader multi-country project brought 16 universities together to enhance their climate action efforts through research, international dialogue, knowledge exchange, and coalition building. For access to project publications and outputs see https://www.climate-uni.com/. Michael also travelled on to Tonga to lead a week long Academic Writing Retreat for Senior Fellows at the USP Institute for Education in Nuku’alofa. This was followed by a well attended, invited Public Seminar at The University of Hong Kong on the theme of Challenges for Comparative and International Education: Learning from Qualitative Methodologies and Research Traditions in Oceania.
Prof Crossley speaks at The University of Hong Kong's CERC Seminar Series (December 2023)
News Report on Prof Crossley’s March/April 2023 visit to Maldives National University
New Podcast: The FreshEd Podcast #312 (2023)
The ESSRG is pleased to circulate details of the above Podcast on the theme of ‘Reflecting on Comparative and International Education’. In this session Prof Michael Crossley reflects on the field and looks at different eras to unpack some of the major debates in contemporary CIE.
Taking this historical perspective provides useful context and intellectual tools to understand and make sense of the big issues facing the field today, such as environmental uncertainty and decolonization.
Specific attention is given to the distinctive challenges faced by SIDS and to the decolonial potential of indigenous knowledges and scholarship within Oceania.
Universities and Climate Change
ESSRG members are invited to contribute to the final Climate-U conference on 19th October 2023. Our colleagues at USP in Fiji are core participants in this international project. Full details can be found on Climate-U's website: Conference on higher education and the climate crisis (Article)
BAICE Conference (2022)
Members of the ESSRG participated in BAICE conference 2022 at the University of Edinburgh – The group was part of the symposium - Global-local (dis)connections in education partnerships. Learning from global and local partnerships in education: insights from historical and postcolonial perspectives. Four different presentations covering wide range of issues in global local partnership. Partnerships and collaborations between and among diverse actors between global south and global north. Discussion of challenges faced within such partnership was also shared within the symposium. The ESSRG presentation incorporated the Insights, challenges and achievements from 30 years of our global partnership: learning from the Education in Small States Research Group.
Members of our team at BAICE conference 2022
The Falkland Islands: A British Overseas Territory
The Falkland Islands are one of the few remaining British Overseas Territories (BOT) so the ESSRG aims to bring their distinctive experience and challenges to the attention of our membership and the general public in coming months.
2022 is also a significant year for the Falklands Islands, being the 40th Anniversary of the ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982.
Look out for further details of our upcoming ESSRG event, and in the meantime we are happy to draw attention to the following two related Falklands events to be held at the Arnolfini and the SS Great Britain here in Bristol.
Notice: Due to the passing of the Queen, the Falklands Government feels it appropriate to postpone and reschedule these two events which were originally due to take place on the 15th September. New dates will be available soon.
First, a seminar/round table involving colleagues at the University of the West of England: Falkland Islands: Forty years of progress?_UWE Programme (Office document, 12kB)
Second, an evening event at SS Great Britain.
Revitalization of the University Consortium of Small Island States (UCSIS)
The ESSRG was pleased to be invited to join the UNESCO UCSIS Consultation with Higher Education Institutions in Small Island States held on-line from 15 – 16 February 2022. The Consultation will lead to the elaboration of a draft strategy for ongoing implementation to be submitted for approval and endorsement by member institutions at the 3rd UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in May 2022, in Barcelona, Spain. The ESSRG has expressed its ongoing support for this collaborative initiative.
The revival of the Consortium is also part of the aim to contribute to the preparations for the Global SIDS Conference expected to be held in 2024 (Samoa+10).
Tonga: 15 January 2022 Volcanic Eruption
ESSRG is pleased to hear that the submarine internet cable connecting Tonga to the rest of the world was repaired, five weeks after an underwater volcanic eruption hit the nation. Wishing all our members and friends well with the recovery.
Read more about "Tonga volcano: Internet restored five weeks after eruption".
Education in The Isle of Man
Culture Vannin has created a new page about ‘150 years of Education for All (on the Isle of Man)’ on their website.
See the related work of ESSRG Member, Professor Angela Little, on our Members Research Interests page.
Barbados Becomes a Republic
The first President of Barbados took office on 30 November 2021, 55 years after the country became independent from the United Kingdom and completing its transition to a republic; but the country remains a member of the Commonwealth.
Read more about "Barbados Becomes a Republic".
ESSRG and Cabot Institute contribute to COP26
The Education in Small States Research Group (ESSRG) in collaboration with the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (CIRE) and the multi-disciplinary Cabot Institute for the Environment, have produced a short (15 minute), visually attractive and accessible video as a direct School of Education contribution to COP 26 in Glasgow.
This has been developed from the full zoom recording of our ESSRG / Bristol Conversations in Education ‘Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Speak to COP26’ event held on the 5th October.
Our professionally developed video highlights the ‘voices’, views and climate change priorities held by youth, community members, traditional village elders and national leaders ‘Living at the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty’ in all three global regions of SIDS: the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific (see www.smallstates.net). The presentation, emerging from recent field research, speaks directly to COP 26 in ways that draw critical attention to local and indigenous concerns and priorities that deserve increased attention at major international events and conferences.
Viewers will see many familiar SoE faces and Alumni, along with recently conducted grass roots interviews with communities in a diversity of island contexts; views held by village elders on the challenges faced by climate change in SIDS; insights from indigenous knowledge and arts relating to climate forecasting, change and resilience; recent educational initiatives designed to empower youth and community; a response from Professor Dann Mitchell from the Cabot Institute; and a distinguished high-level contribution from Alumni and long-time Governor General of St Lucia (1997-2018), Dame Pearlette Louisy.
Our Cabot Institute partners will help to promote this material in Glasgow, but the video will also be sent to national and regional representatives from SIDS who will be delegates at COP itself. Please share widely with others in your own networks.
The full, 90 minute, Zoom recording is available to view on the ESSRG seminars and BCE webpages and both versions are available on the Cabot YouTube channel.
Bristol University Press launches the Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education Book Series in 2021
ESSRG group participation in the Festival of OCIES 2020
Professor Michael Crossley’s interview with The Australian Teacher Magazine in Melbourne, Australia, March 2020
On March 13th 2020, Professor Michael Crossley led a day conference at The University of Melbourne, hosted by the OCIES (Oceania Comparative and International Education Society) and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. This was the last day that the university was open for face-to-face events before the first COVID-19 lockdown. In this interview for the Australian Teacher Magazine he drew attention to climate change and its impact in both Australia and Oceania and highlighted the importance of contextualizing teachers' experience to better understand the challenges they face in our interconnected. uncertain and rapidly changing world. The interview can be found here.
ESSRG member Aminath Shiyama presented on her PhD research on teacher professional development in the Maldives
On the 21st January 2020, ESSRG member Aminath Shiyama (Shimmi) presented to the ESSRG team as part of the Bristol Conversations in Education (BCE) series. Her presentation, based on her PhD research was titled: A small-island-developing-state lens on teacher professional development and learning – Research in Progress. The seminar presentation was attended by several members of ESSRG as well as staff and students of the School of Education, University of Bristol.
Education in Small States Research Group to serve as Secretariat for UN SIDS Partnership
A formal partnership was initiated on 18 July 2014 at the international conference ‘Learning from the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty in Small Island States'. This builds upon existing collaboration and synergies amongst members of the 20 year strong Education in Small States Research Group and participant organisations at the conference. The Education in Small States Research Group will serve as the secretariat of this new Partnership: Learning from the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty in Small Island Developing States.
Small States Research Group Archive
- 2008-2009 activities (PDF, 67kB)
- 2007 activities (PDF, 79kB)
- 2004-2006 activities (PDF, 65kB)
- The legacy of Professor Ulla Kann (PDF, 77kB)
Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Education in Small States Research Group hosts international conference
In association with the School of Education, University of Bristol Cabot Institute and Sazani Associates. 17 & 18 July 2014. Living at the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty in Small Island States.
Commonwealth Secretariat Commissioned Research now available
The Education in Small States Research Group, part of the Research Centre for International and Comparative Education (ICS), directed by Professor Michael Crossley, completed an inquiry into the educational policies and priorities of Commonwealth Small States, the results of which were published by the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2011. Read about the publication entitled Education in Small States: Policies and Priorities.
UNESCO/IIEP Publication on Tertiary Education in Small States
This publication takes stock of recent reforms in the tertiary education of selected small states. It presents regional and national experiences from different development contexts. The book concludes with a discussion of policy issues, including sustainable funding and technological solutions to overcome the constraints of small states. It notes some ways in which the challenges facing small states can be turned into opportunities. Read more and download the book here.
Founding Member of Education in Small States Research Group Receives Prestigious Award, October 2011
Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of Saint Lucia, is a founding member of our specialist Education in Small States Research Group in 1994, who continues to work very actively with ICS and this Research Group and to work on joint publications in this area of comparative research. We are pleased to report that her own regional university, the University of the West Indies, has awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) on 15th October 2011, saying "Her Excellency is a Caribbean icon who has contributed significantly to the development of the region....." This reflects directly upon Dame Pearlette's own contribution to education in small states and adds to the earlier Honorary LLD conferred upon her by the University of Bristol.
Remembering Dr Willie Ako, May 2011
Very sad news from Papua New Guinea. Dr Willie Ako passed away in May 2011 from a suspected stroke at the age of 44. Many in the GSoE will know Willie well since he studied for his Doctorate with us graduating in 2003, and he then returned to Bristol for 3 months as a Visiting Commonwealth Professional Scholar with ICS in 2009.
Dr Ako came from Batri village in the Southern Highlands of PNG and he was one of the first people from his village to go to school and university .... and probably the first to receive a doctorate. On returning to PNG he became First Secretary in the Ministry for Planning and more recently he worked for the Commission for Higher Education. I first met Willie when he was a young boy, when I taught him social science at Kagua Provincial High School in the Southern Highlands in 1980. He then followed me to Bristol years later to study for his doctorate with me.
Willie Ako moved across cultures more than many people, even in his own family, realise.... and in doing so he was always a talented, helpful, cheerful and very kind spirit. He will be greatly missed in his own community (where he did excellent work researching and introducing treated mosquito nets in collaboration with Dr Jane Fitzpatrick from UWE). I was also pleased to have been involved in this work and in his study of curriculum reform in SHP.
So that colleagues can feel the impact that Dr Ako and his work had in PNG I have attached the funeral programme (PDF, 244kB) and a brief review (Office document, 29kB) of the recent funeral service (over 400 people attended) written in very PNG style by Russell Jackson. Russell is also a former ICS/GSoE student based in Port Moresby, who continues to work with us in various ways. Condolences from the GSoE were sent for the funeral day. Willie Ako is a great loss to Papua New Guinea, to the Southern Highlands and to all his family and friends.
Michael Crossley, May 8, 2011.
Educational Policies and Priorities in Commonwealth Small States conference attracts capacity international audience
On October 25th 2011, preliminary findings from Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned research on educational policies and priorities in Commonwealth Small States were shared during a conference jointly hosted by the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (School of Education) and Council for Education in the Commonwealth (CEC). The day also celebrated the Commonwealth decadal anniversaries of four small states: Namibia, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.
Read more about the Educational Policies and Priorities in Commonwealth Small States conference.