The ICSEI Story
For more than three decades ICSEI has focused on making schools around the world excellent and equitable. ICSEI’s purpose is simple yet profound:
Advancing the quality and equity of education by promoting and contributing to the improvement and effectiveness of schools and other educational institutions (ICSEI Constitution, revised 2019)
Members of ICSEI come from all corners of the earth, from diverse settings and hold a variety of perspectives, with representation from policy makers, practitioners and scholars. ICSEI conferences generally attract people from over 50 countries and have been organised by local members and committees around the world.
| London, England 1988 | Hong Kong 2000 | Malmo, Norway 2012 |
| Rotterdam, the Netherlands 1989 | Toronto, Canada 2001 | Santiago, Chile 2013 |
| Jerusalem, Israel 1990 | Copenhagen, Denmark 2002 | Jogjakarta, Indonesia 2014 |
| Cardiff, Wales 1991 | Sydney, Australia 2003 | Cincinnati, USA 2015 |
| Victoria, Canada 1992 | Rotterdam, the Netherlands 2004 | Glasgow, Scotland 2016 |
| Norrköping, Sweden 1993 | Barcelona, Spain 2005 | Ottawa, Canada 2017 |
| Melbourne, Australia 1994 | Fort Lauderdale, USA 2006 | Singapore 2018 |
| Leeuwarden, the Netherlands 1995 | Portorož, Slovenija 2007 | Stavanger, Norway 2019 |
| Minsk, Belarus 1996 | Auckland, New Zealand 2008 | Marrakesh, Morocco 2020 |
| Memphis, USA 1997 | Vancouver, Canada 2009 | International Virtual Congress 2021 |
| Manchester, England 1998 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2010 | International Virtual Congress 2022 |
| San Antonio, USA 1999 | Lefkosia, Cyprus 2011 | Vina del Mar, Chile 2023 |
The breadth of backgrounds makes ICSEI unique. The focus is schools: a concern for school effectiveness, school improvement, educational innovation and transformation, excellence in education, equity in education, educational policy, school differences and school effects. The lenses are research, policy and practice and the nexus between them. The forum is face-to-face and electronic as the members cross boundaries for serious discussion about what works to improves schools.
Schools and schooling are complex. ICSEI embraces the complexity and always looking for connections and synergies that honour that complexity. ICSEI provides a space where different opinions and different perspectives are respected – not passively but intentionally through building personal trust among individuals and groups so that the many facets of our work can be listened to, extended, challenged, pondered and translated into policy and practice.
(excerpt from text prepared for Ottawa 2017 by Lorna Earl, ICSEI Past President and Life Member, updated)