The contribution of international school linking partnerships to the provision of global education

This study attempts to evaluate and assess the contribution made by international school linking partnerships to the field of global education. The research focuses on partnerships linking primary schools in the UK with schools in economically poorer parts of the world and on the views, perspectives and experiences of the UK teachers involved in such links. The study addresses two key questions 'What is the nature of school linking?' and 'What role do school links play in the development of global education?' It also explores the nature of global education as a complex and multidimensional concept and seeks to contribute to the development of policy and practice in the field of school linking. The research has taken a qualitative, bricoleur approach, drawing on the work of Levi Strauss (1966) and Kincheloe and Berry (2004) and has employed a wide range of methods and data collection techniques as and when needed in the developing dynamic of the research journey. These have included survey, case study, interviews, journals and diaries, reading across a range of disciplines, analysis of policy documentation and informal professional interactions. The complexity of the phenomenon under investigation, together with its intercultural dimensions, necessitated a high degree of reflexivity. The study acknowledges and draws on the biographical background and professional values, as well as the ontological and epistemological stance, of the researcher. The nature of globalisation and its implications for education are explored and the phenomenon of school linking, as an aspect of the primary curriculum, is set within the context of developments in global education