ICSEI 2012
Welcome to ICSEI. Each of the letters of that acronym stand for something which defines the movement and the values on which it rests. First and foremost we are international in our scope, our vision and our membership. We believe that it is through the quality of discourse across national boundaries that we challenge ideas, renew our commitment and reframe our thinking and our practice. We also believe that this is achieved through “congress” – a meeting of minds. Congress is celebrated annually when we come together in host countries of the North and South, East and West.
However our congress extends to an ongoing dialogue, locally face-to-face and virtually across continents.
School effectiveness and improvement is the common cause that brings us together. Whatever our country affiliation we share a desire to make our schools more effective. It was effectiveness studies that gave birth to our movement just over two decades ago, a period in which we have amassed an impressive corpus of knowledge on effective schools, effective leadership, effective teaching and how those inter-play with one another to enhance student learning. School improvement emerged as the natural offspring of that movement, seeking to apply the lessons learned while urging caution on policy makers overly keen to apply simplistic remedies.
We are in an era in which schools are undergoing radical change in response to the formalities of institutional life and the turbulent complexities of societies in transition – and the impact of new and emerging knowledge about learners, learning and learning environments. There are far reaching implications for us as a movement if we are to contribute to the world of policy, to the world of research and to the world of practice. That is why we need to constantly challenge our most cherished articles of faith, and encourage innovation, both from within and outside the movement. In so doing we will continue to strengthen our knowledge base and our commitment to the world-wide community of learners that we strive to serve.
//Tony Mackay
