Reconceptualising and sustaining international partnerships: learning from the Education in Small States Research Group

This paper interrogates the multidisciplinary literature promoting and challenging international research partnerships for education in the light of postcolonial theorising, the contemporary decolonial critique and related policy transfer work within CIE. We move beyond the rhetoric of inclusion to examine the deep-seated knowledge hierarchies that continue to shape education. This is informed by critical reflections upon the origins, experiences and challenges faced by an international network connecting small states worldwide: the Education in Small States Research Group (ESSRG) (www.smallstates.net). This global initiative has evolved over 30 years, generating considerable experience that has much to offer CIE and researchers engaged in examining global-local (dis)connections, policy transfer theory, in-depth historical analysis, arts-based narrative research, and modalities for sustaining more equitable and decolonised collaboration and international research partnerships in education. We conclude by arguing that small states are distinctive contexts with considerable agency for innovation, partnerships and epistemic justice.