ABSTRACT
While ICSEI (the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement) wins the prize for global adventuring, from Auckland to Vancouver Island via Hong Kong and Belarus, those it brings together for annual debate do not always agree, sometimes even with rancour, as to the premises on which its core mission rests. Finding the common ground among the true believers, pragmatists and heretics may be viewed through a half empty or half full glass, the maturity of the movement measured by its ability to embrace difference. Through this lens the histories of dissent and reconciliation are retold, offering an insight into a movement of ideas, the impact of which on policy and practice is not immediately evident but may be profound. One outcome from the debate was a Commission from Education International to demythologise ‘effectiveness’ and to provide a book for attendees at the Educa - tion Summit in New York. The ‘Sunnier’ uplands with which this chapter ends is a remarkable story of the power of money and Presidential patronage.
