November 22, 2019
By Perry King
11 educational institutes from the International Network of Education Institutes signed a memorandum of understanding on Nov.11, affirming that the organization would continue for a new five-year term (photo by Lisa Sakulensky).
A memorandum of understanding signed by 11 educational institutions, including the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), has signalled a continuing, strengthening global partnership.
The MOU, signed by the International Network of Education Institutes (INEI) on the first day of meetings on Nov. 11, affirmed that the organization would continue for a new five-year term – ending in 2024. Formed in 2007, the INEI is a network of natural partners – leading faculties of education from all continents except Antarctica – which prioritize both teacher education and educational research.
“I am extremely pleased that the Toronto meeting led to a clear agreement on both sustaining the network but also moving forward on a range of collaborative initiatives,” said Glen Jones, OISE’s Dean. “This is an amazing network of peers from across the globe who share a common interest in collaborating to further educational research and professional education.”
View photos from the welcome reception
Facilitated by OISE’s Continuing and Professional Learning, the three-day meeting – from Nov. 11 to 13, 2019 – was convened with the objective of discussing ways of strengthening the network through mutual collaboration.
Titled Toward 2030 – Collaboration and Innovation, the meeting was framed by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (UN SDG). The UN SDG framework provides a shared optimism that the pooling of common experiences and achievements amongst a community of educators can bring about advances in education internationally.
During the meetings, the INEI agreed to contribute to ecological sustainability by sharing promising research-informed, high impact practices in teacher professional learning by:
- Taking an inventory of research, practices and initiatives in ecological sustainability education
- Sharing research findings and examples of promising practices
- Enabling further cross-institutional collaboration in research and teaching, and
- Contributing to local, regional and global advocacy
Dean Glen Jones and University of Toronto President Meric Gertler welcome partners from the International Network of Educational Institutes to OISE (photo by Lisa Sakulensky).
The INEI also agreed to collaborate on a number of new initiatives, including developing a community of professional practice for research administrators, supporting the professional development of early-career researchers and using new technologies to further support research and teaching collaboration.
“I am truly excited by the possibilities for partnership, collaboration, and innovation that emerged from our meeting,” said Michele Peterson-Badali, OISE’s Associate Dean, Research, International & Innovation. “As a network, we will work together to enhance the quality of teacher education globally, advance research, and advocate for the vital importance of education as a means to achieving social and environmental justice.”
“I was inspired by the hard work, creativity, and commitment of every single participant over the 2½ days,” she added. “We identified critical needs that we can tackle much better together than individually, and we started concrete action planning to address those needs.”
The next meeting of the INEI will take place in 2020 at the National Institute for Education, located at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore.
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