Negotiating informal partnerships between universities and international schools for social and global justice; what role do PGCEi tutors have on this journey?

How can university-school partnerships be navigated through students on an M level programme globally? In this paper, we discuss the purposes of University-School partnerships and the challenges of managing these when there is no formal arrangement to establish these partnerships. The Postgraduate Certificate in Education international (PGCEi) attracts students who are employed at various educational establishments globally and want to develop their understanding of educational concepts and theories. We explore the challenges of supporting their PGCEi journeys when there is no formal University-School partnership in place, and evaluate the role of PGCEi tutors as they progress through the course. PGCEi tutors play a critical role in navigating the space between the student and the School’s expectations. We question the students on the purposes of teaching in international schools and challenge them to consider how knowledge and power are connected as part of a decolonial approach to learning and teaching. The process is grounded in the concept of epistemic dependence in which PGCEi students and tutors can co-create a space to develop a decolonial approach as part of a broader focus on social and global justice.