Last week, I accompanied Education and International Development (EID) MA students for three of their five-day, annual study trip to Paris. On the 13th and 14th of November, we visited the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), we had time to search for resources in the Documentation Centre and we had presentations on gender equality, Education for All (EFA), capacity development, education in crisis contexts and data visualization. On the 15th, we visited the OECD for an overview of the OECD and information about the Survey of Adult Skills study and PISA.
My mission on this trip was to seek IIEP and OECD resources and to listen to the interests of students to ensure that the IOE Library holds relevant materials for research. My findings were manifold:
- Firstly, while the IOE Library holds wondrous materials, we’re always seeking more — so tell us if there is something we’re missing.
- Secondly, the IIEP and OECD resources are generally available online (OECD iLibrary, etc.) — but the Library will continue to collect printed copies of education materials when possible.
- Thirdly, perhaps the future mantra should be ‘education, context, education’ as contextual issues are key to education research. Resource-wise, other Bloomsbury libraries can often help out with contextual issues — more information can be found in Using Other Libraries.
- Fourthly, IOE students are diverse and dedicated with a range of education interests. This EID group of 56 derived from 26 different countries — I was transfixed by their experiences, their energy and their drive.
- Lastly, staff at the IOE are pretty cool, too — ace administrators, Bev Dee and Sarah McEvoy, organised the trip efficiently and effectively and Tejendra Pherali was always on hand for a pithy annecdote.
Viva la IOE students and staff!
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