Recent News
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, recently completed an inquiry into the educational policies and priorities of Commonwealth Small States, the results of which have been published by the Commonwealth Secretariat. 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 last week 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 (Doc 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
Education in Small States Group participates in the Festival of Education, 6-17 June 2011
The research group is participating in the Graduate School of Education's Festival of Education, which is running from 6-17 June 2011. Come find us, and our new poster, as part of the ICS Research Centre table on display throughout the festival.
Commonwealth Secretariat Commissioned Research to be Published in 2011
The Education in Small States Research Group, part of the Research Centre for International and Comparative Education (ICS), directed by Professor Michael Crossley, recently completed an inquiry into the educational policies and priorities of Commonwealth Small States, the results of which will be published by the Commonwealth Secretariat later this year. Read about the forthcoming publication entitled Education in Small States: Policies and Priorities.
Educational Policies and Priorities in Commonwealth Small States conference attracts capacity international audience
On Monday 25th October, 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 International and Comparative Studies Centre (ICS) (Graduate 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.
Membership update
January 2012
The Education in Small States Research Group warmly welcomes the following new members:
After graduating from Bristol, Frank Courtney taught in secondary and higher education. He spent over twenty years working as a senior education officer in local education authorities in south-west England. Since the early 1990s he has been heavily involved in education development on an international basis. His main focus has been education project management, with a key objective of developing strategies to facilitate school improvement. He has managed projects in most of the Commonwealth Caribbean countries, and from 2007 to 2009 was Education Director for the Jamaica Ministry of Education Modernisation Programme. Amongst other work, he is currently engaged to provide consulting services for the establishment of the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission. Frank is Managing Director of Merganser Consulting, based in Bristol.
Cathryn MacCullum is Director of Sazani Associates, which works with local and national governments, NGOs and the private sector in the UK, EU and overseas, specifically Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Belize. Areas of specialisation include youth development, education and climate change adaptation with a focus on rural women.
Tavis Jules is Assistant Professor of Cultural and Educational Policy Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Tavis's research interests include regionalism in small states with particular reference to CARICOM.
Clermina James is from the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean, and has worked there for a number of years in roles as educator at all levels - from primary to tertiary, as well as establishing a Maths Center for students as the subject remains one of the challenges for students particularly at the secondary level. Clermina is currently a doctoral student at the University of Bristol.
James Frost is a EdD student at the University of Bristol with experience in teacher training in St Lucia. His current research at UoB concerns the Use of social software as a tool for mathematical growth and understanding in St Lucia.
May 2011
The Education in Small States Research Group warmly welcomes three new members:
Justin Valentin, from Seychelles, is a PhD student at Kings College, London. The title of his research is ‘Instructional reform in small developing states: a case study of Seychelles.’
Frank Weeple, was the Director of the Jamaica Education Transformation programme from 2006-2009. While now retired, Frank currently enjoys some ongoing research and consultancy work.
Dr Eileen Honan is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences at The University of Queensland. Eileen is currently leading a team conducting a study funded by the Australian Development Research Awards (ADRA) investigating models of professional learning for teachers in Papua New Guinea.
January 2011
The Education in Small States Research Group welcomes back Collin Tjitemisa to the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education. Collin completed his MEd at Bristol in 2005, with a dissertation titled, 'Who fails whom? : towards improving the prospects of grade 10 school leavers in Namibia'. Collin returned to Bristol in the autumn of 2010 to pursue his EdD, which will will be based on the empowerment of higher institutions in Namibia. For more on Collin's research interests, please see the 'selected member biographies' our membership page.
November 2010
Michele Mills, a Bristol PhD researcher, has recently returned from spending time in Trinidad and Tobago, her home country and the location of her PhD research. Michele’s PhD research interest focuses on the reproduction of power and inequity with specific reference to the placement examination which pupils sit in the last year of primary schooling, the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA). A qualitative case study approach lies at the heart of the research with a focus on four primary schools. Michele spent some time in Trinidad last year completing fieldwork. The research draws on theories concerned with the social reproductive role of education, as well as on discourses on assessment and selection. The implications for small states of the uncritical transfer of practice and policy with broader theoretical links to postcolonialism also support the study.
September 2010
Many members of the Small States Research Group are at various points in their Doctoral study and research at the University of Bristol:
- Guy LeFanu, who is researching curriculum policy and practice in Papua New Guinea, has recently returned to Bristol and is in the final stages of writing up his PhD dissertation.
- Mindy Colin is in her 3rd year of the PhD programme and is currently finishing fieldwork in Mauritius. She is investigating the international transfer of learner-centred pedagogy in Small Island Developing States, with specific reference to an initiative sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme for low achieving Mauritian primary schools.
- Shawanda Stockfelt is also in her 3rd year of the PhD programme. Her study, sets out a ‘laminated system’ of research to explore the nature of educational aspiration in two secondary school settings in Jamaica, based on the epistemology, ontology and methodology of CR and supported by two other theoretical outlooks – Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ and Bandura’s ‘triadic reciprocity’ to examine the nature of educational aspiration at the level of the individual, with respect to the role of learning habitus, social capital and social structures within the socio-cultural field of secondary schools.
- Terra Sprague joins us this October as a PhD student, having previously been active in the group as a research fellow working on the recently completed project on ‘Educational Policies and Priorities in Commonwealth Small States’. This research will be published by the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2010. Terra’s PhD research will focus upon assessment policies and their impact upon group cultures, with specific reference to Armenia.
The research group welcomes two new members, Jenny Mambo, and Indra Persaud.
Jenny is from Papua New Guinea and studying at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand for a Masters in Education focusing upon inclusive education with a dissertation titled ‘Exploring the practices of Inclusive education in Papua New Guinea Primary schools, a consideration of school head teachers and teachers’ perceptions’.
Indra recently completed a Masters in Geography Education at the Institute of Education, London. Her current researchaims to trace the narrative of geography education through the working lives of six Seychellois geography teachers. Over the next two years, she will be based part-time in Seychelles, joining the University of Seychelles on a part-time basis, to teach Geography and Environment, and conducting her research.
Past activities
- 2008-2009 activities (PDF 67.7 kB)
- 2007 activities (PDF 79.8 kB)
- 2004-2006 activities (PDF 66.0 kB)
- The legacy of Professor Ulla Kann (PDF 77.7 kB)