International School Partnerships

This research project aimed to develop an evidence-base that identified classroom and school-level practices that could support the most influential school partnerships.

Responding to a growth in school partnership initiatives in the UK, a small team of researchers started a project (via a grant from DFID) to bring together lessons on the factors and conditions that support influential international school partnerships.

The resulting toolkit provides quick access to some of the most widespread and robust research on the influence of international school partnerships on school, leaders, teachers and students.

The toolkit

The final project document contains everything in one useful package, and is available for download:

Toolkit sections

  1. Introduction: gives an overview of the research reports providing the evidence for the tools and resource development, as well as laying out the toolkit design
  2. Research Brief 1: The Characteristics of High Momentum Partnerships 
  3. Research Brief 2: The Influence of Partnership on Schools in the South 
  4. Tools:  
    • Developing High Momentum
    • Supporting enhanced influence on Southern 
    • Planning to Maximize Student Learning
    • Assessing Partnership Progress

Team

Dr Karen Edge

Karen served as the Principal Investigator on three large-scale, multi-year international partnerships research and development studies in partnership with DfID, Plan-UK and the British Council.

She led the development of the meta-analysis and tool development for the project and co-authored 'International school partnerships as a vehicle for global education: student perspectives' in the Asia Pacific Journal of Education with Khatera Khamsi.

Professor Doug Bourn

Doug is the Director of the Development Education Research Centre and the author of numerous research reports on school linking.  

Mayowa Olatoye

Mayowa was the lead reviewer on the meta-analysis based on the three aforementioned studies. He completed his MA Leadership (with a distinction) at IOE as a British Council Innovation 360 scholarship recipient.

He presently works as an independent strategy and change-management consultant for private and public organisations in Nigeria. 

Keren Frayman

Keren has worked as researcher on several international partnership research studies led by Dr Edge at the London Centre for Leadership in Learning.

Her doctoral research centred on student leadership and multi-cutural education. She is also an IOE alumni, having a completed a Master's degree in Educational Leadership in 2007 with distinction. 

Research partners

Research partners that the team worked with over six years to develop the research: 

  • British Council 
  • Building Understanding through International Links for Development (BUILD) 
  • Cambridge Education Foundation 
  • Thing Global 
  • Department for International Development (DFID) 
  • Link Community Development (LCD) 
  • Department for Education 
  • UK One World Linking Association (UKOWLA) 
  • Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

This page summarises information from the DFID-funded website that accompanied the DERC-led ‘North South School Partnership Toolkit: Charting the influence of partnership in the South’ project.

Contact us

Development Education Research Centre (DERC)
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society
33 Bedford Place
London WC1B 5JU

email: kester.muller@ucl.ac.uk