Michele Schweisfurth
mschweisfurth.bsky.social
Michele Schweisfurth
@mschweisfurth.bsky.social
Comparative educationist embracing the complexities of classroom practice. Critical optimist. Real ale geek.
Pinned
I was never on Twitter and so I am still getting used to having followers who I don't know personally. Hello! If anyone wants to know my general perspective on pedagogy internationally, here is a link to a recent keynote at the British Educational Research Association: www.bera.ac.uk/media/keynot...
KEYNOTE: BERA Keynote Lecture Pedagogy in International Perspective: what have we learnt?
www.bera.ac.uk
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
“Wisdom has very little, if anything, to do with data; in fact, the consensus among scholars is that wisdom is the skill of navigating situations wherein information is limited or imperfect… [It’s] the skill of making sound decisions in a world where good outcomes are uncertain + highly contextual.”
August 27, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
Well worth a read. Much to ponder as Babel builds its skyscraper and hubris rules

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?
Maybe not as we’ve known them. But, in the ruins of the old curriculum, something vital is stirring.
www.newyorker.com
August 14, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Open letter from UK university staff: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities
More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...
docs.google.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
In April, we hosted our first ever Postgraduate Research Forum on the theme 'Context Matters'.

We were blown away by the engagement and warm responses. Watch below for a snapshot of the atmosphere on the day.

👏 Thanks to all who made it such a great day 👏

#GLACIERnetwork
#GLACIERpgrforum
Looking back on the GLACIER Network PGR Forum 2025
YouTube video by UofG Education
www.youtube.com
May 27, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
📣 We have two PhD projects related to the mission and vision of #CenTCS, funded by @uofgsocsci.bsky.social Application information can be found on the links below and are due by June 6, 2025 for a starting date of October, 2025. Funded PhD projects are typically completed in three years 🧵 1/3
May 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
🎉 Our Handbook of METHOD in Comparative & International Education was officially launched last week at #CIES2025!

🙏 HUGE thanks to everyone in attendance and especially to authors who offered bite-sized insights on their chapters! #CIEMethod

@mschweisfurth.bsky.social @robinshields.bsky.social
April 1, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
This is our lively community of comparative & international education researchers at Glasgow with a packed room every week!
🌍 GLACIER Seminar Series 2025 🌍
Difficult decisions in comparative & international educational research: Practices, dilemmas, & strategies

📅 Weds, 15:30–16:30
📍 St. Andrew's Bld., Rm 234
📢 In-person (sorry virtual friends!)
🔗 Details: tinyurl.com/4z48b6pw
#GLACIERSeminars2025 #GlasgowIntCompEd
University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Education - Research - ELP - Events - GLACIER Seminar SeriesSearch iconClose menu iconMenu icon bar 1Menu icon bar 2Menu icon bar 3
tinyurl.com
February 7, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Thanks for.the endorsement @goodallannamary.bsky.social. These are certainly not the only or biggest polarisations at the moment, but important all the same...
Attention comparativists! Hot off the press, @mschweisfurth.bsky.social's fantastic new monograph 'Polarised Logics of Pedagogy: Crises, Contexts and Classrooms in the Global South' is not to be missed. Check out our Oxford Studies in Comparative Edu series, too! www.routledge.com/9781032438290
February 5, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
🚨 We're hiring! 🚨

Senior Lecturer/Professor in Social and Public Policy.

Lead cutting-edge research, deliver research-led teaching, and engage with external stakeholders.

📅 Apply by: 3rd March 2025

🔗 Apply here: tinyurl.com/4ew5xk2s

#AcademicJobs #SocialPolicy #HigherEdJobs
a yellow sign that says we 're hiring
ALT: a yellow sign that says we 're hiring
media.tenor.com
February 3, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
📢 We're hiring!

Lecturer in Social and Public Policy.

Conduct world-class research, teach on leading programmes, and shape the future of social policy!

📅 Apply by: 3rd March 2025

🔗 Apply here: tinyurl.com/2p8rfxjb

#AcademicJobs #SocialPolicy #HigherEdJobs
a sign that says we 're hiring in orange on a white background
ALT: a sign that says we 're hiring in orange on a white background
media.tenor.com
February 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
🚨 We're hiring! 🚨

Senior Lecturer/Professor in Planning.

Lead impactful research, teach in accredited planning programs, and engage with external stakeholders.

📅 Apply by: 3rd March 2025

🔗 Apply here: tinyurl.com/y9aac8zp

#AcademicJobs #Planning #HigherEdJobs
a yellow sign that says we 're hiring
ALT: a yellow sign that says we 're hiring
media.tenor.com
February 3, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
Details of the 2025 @ukfiet.bsky.social conference are out with some brilliant sounding sub-themes and great people on the committee. Take a look #educationalresearch and #comparativeeducation folk:

www.ukfiet.org/conference/u...
UKFIET Conference 2025
More information coming soon…
www.ukfiet.org
February 3, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’ — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On #MLKDay, we honor his legacy by choosing love over hate, justice over injustice, and hope over fear.
January 20, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
📣 Check it out! Pumped about our new book on METHOD in comparative and international education!

📆 Out in March(ish) 2025, it overviews research concepts, methodologies, approaches, and methods used in CIE - a companion to our THEORY book!

🔗 tinyurl.com/CIEMethod

#CIEMethod #GlasgowIntCompEd
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Method in Comparative and International Education
This handbook provides an overview of research concepts, methodologies, approaches, and methods used regularly in the field of comparative and international edu…
tinyurl.com
August 20, 2024 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
🌍 GLACIER Seminar Series 2025 🌍
Difficult decisions in comparative & international educational research: Practices, dilemmas, & strategies

📅 Weds, 15:30–16:30
📍 St. Andrew's Bld., Rm 234
📢 In-person (sorry virtual friends!)
🔗 Details: tinyurl.com/4z48b6pw
#GLACIERSeminars2025 #GlasgowIntCompEd
University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Education - Research - ELP - Events - GLACIER Seminar SeriesSearch iconClose menu iconMenu icon bar 1Menu icon bar 2Menu icon bar 3
tinyurl.com
January 14, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Our GLACIER webinar series on the education research-policy relationship is now available on line at m.youtube.com/watch?v=V52M.... Great expert talks from Stephanie Allais, Gita Steiner-Khamsi and Kwame Akyeampong.
Why policy is not just collective hallucination GLACIER international webinar series
Glasgow Network for Comparative and International Education Research (GLACIER) presents: Professor Stephanie Allais, University of the Witswatersrand, will lead this webinar which reflects on three decades of work at the policy/research interface in various aspects of post-school education and training, mainly in South Africa but also in other African countries. The central conundrum, when looking at vocational education and youth unemployment, and in searching for solutions in skills training, is why governments, donors, and development agencies continue to push policies and interventions that have clearly failed, or, at best, have no evidence of success, and further, that can be pulled apart conceptually. Competence-based training and occupational standards as mechanisms for workplace-relevance; quality assurance regimes as ways to improve quality; qualifications frameworks as silver bullets for mobility, articulation, quality; are included in the policies under consideration, as well as many skills interventions for youth employment. To do things differently, we have to understand not just why the policy interventions fail, but why they continue to be pushed despite lack of evidence in their favour, and lack of clear conceptual rationale. Policy, like theory, is a simplification of the world, abstracted from the messiness of the real world. Policy makers operate in a complex world with so many moving points beyond their control. Perhaps this leads to operating as if policy IS the real world, or focusing only on developing policy and not thinking about what implementation means. Unfortunately, at this point it becomes a self-contained world and we can’t learn. This is not only a challenge for policy makers, but also for researchers. Many policy evaluations and academic studies remain at the level of collecting little pieces of data that don’t feed into a coherent view of the phenomenon under investigation, and their influence is therefore fragmented rather than developmental. The reverse is also true: many policy evaluations and academic studies fall into the reverse trap—remaining in love with themselves as an abstraction from the world, impervious to data. The challenge is improving the interface between theory, policy, and data, to learn and build robust knowledge about change. Biography: Stephanie Matseleng Allais is Research Chair of Skills Development and Professor of Education at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour, University of the Witwatersrand, where she researches international education and development, focused on education/ work relationships. Her books include Knowledge, Curriculum, and Preparation for Work (Brill/SENSE) with Yael Shalem, and Selling Education Out: National Qualifications Frameworks and the abandonment of Knowledge (Sense). She is an editor of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training, and on the editorial boards of various other journals. Previously, she was a fellow at the Centre for Educational Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, and a researcher at the International Labour Organization.
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
January 8, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
Created a starter pack in Comparative and International Education

go.bsky.app/QE2fRsn
November 11, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
It has only been two days but we already have 22 seconds more daylight that we had on the #WinterSolstice on Saturday. 💡

By Christmas Day it will be 84 seconds more.
By the end of December it will be more than 8 minutes.
By the end of January it will be almost 2 hours. ☀️
Just after 2pm today in #Orkney. Early sunset as we approach the #WinterSolstice. 🌅
December 23, 2024 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
📣 The University of Glasgow has been selected to host Scotland’s new Centre for Teaching Excellence! Congratulations to all involved in the application process. This is wonderful news! 👏👏👏 @uofglasgow.bsky.social @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @uofgnews.bsky.social
UofG has been announced as the host of Scotland’s new Centre for Teaching Excellence.

This will help teachers develop their practice, drawing on research undertaken by our School of Education @uofgsocsci.bsky.social on educational improvement and innovation.

Read more ➡️ gla.ac/4iFh8Yl
December 19, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
READING FOR PLEASURE is the most important lesson children can be taught. Reading is a master skill that unlocks so many other skills. So help them find the love of reading; it'll have a bigger positive impact on their life chances than any other factor! #literacy
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What kind of society would willingly traumatise its children in the name of education? | John Harris
As claims about practices in two flagship London academies are investigated, it’s time to stop and think about what schools are really for, says Guardian columnist John Harris
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2024 at 8:57 PM
Final reminder: join us for Kwame Akyeampong's webinar next week!

"Translating Educational Research into Policy: Prospects and Challenges"

Prof Kwame Akyeampong (Open University)

🗓️ Tuesday, 10 December, 3-4pm GMT

🔗 tinyurl.com/Akyeampong

#GlasgowIntCompEd
Translating education research into policy – the Ghana Education Evidence and Data Lab at Online
Tickets are now available for Translating education research into policy – the Ghana Education Evidence and Data Lab at Online, Online on Tue 10 Dec 2024. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!
tinyurl.com
December 6, 2024 at 3:09 PM
I was never on Twitter and so I am still getting used to having followers who I don't know personally. Hello! If anyone wants to know my general perspective on pedagogy internationally, here is a link to a recent keynote at the British Educational Research Association: www.bera.ac.uk/media/keynot...
KEYNOTE: BERA Keynote Lecture Pedagogy in International Perspective: what have we learnt?
www.bera.ac.uk
December 4, 2024 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
"Translating Educational Research into Policy: Prospects and Challenges" ...

Prof Kwame Akyeampong (Open University) will offer the final webinar in our 3-part 2024 UofG GLACIER Network International Webinar Series.

🗓️ Tuesday, 10 December, 3-4pm GMT

🔗 tinyurl.com/Akyeampong

#GlasgowIntCompEd
Translating education research into policy – the Ghana Education Evidence and Data Lab at Online
Tickets are now available for Translating education research into policy – the Ghana Education Evidence and Data Lab at Online, Online on Tue 10 Dec 2024. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!
tinyurl.com
December 3, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Michele Schweisfurth
Prestigious award for doctoral researchers working on education in LMICs - Deadline January 2025

www.edt.org/research-and...
Tim Morris Award
Education Development Trust's Tim Morris Award offers £2,000 financial support to a PhD student in the field of general education to support field research in a low- or low-middle income country.
www.edt.org
November 29, 2024 at 11:26 AM