Abstract
This second edition of a well-known and well-respected publication on the relationship of globalisation to international education and development brings together some of the leading academics in the field. It is organised into 16 chapters, each with a specific focus but coming together under the theme of international education policies with research on a range of topics and countries. Most of the chapters also include some questions for discussion and debate that encourage reflection and consideration of key issues raised.
The volume begins with an overview by the editors of international education policies and their relationship to international development agendas. Verger, Novelli and Altinyelken begin the chapter by reviewing a range of interpretations of the impact of globalisation on education policies. The chapter then suggests that globalisation introduces new methodological and epistemological challenges to educational policy research. Reference is made to two theories – world society and international political economy – before reviewing the key role of international organisations. This important introductory chapter sets the tone for the rest of the volume in opening with the need for broader engagement by theorists within international development with debates in education policy. Throughout the book, the term global education policy is used, which in practice means international education policies. To me global education policies can mean either specific policies that directly address themes of globalisation or policies that have been directly affected by global forces.
Whilst this introductory chapter does look at different ways in which globalisation affects international education policies, the rest of the volume unfortunately does not discuss these areas in any detail. The exception is the second chapter, where Susan Robertson, a world leading expert in the field of international development and education, provides an excellent chapter about locating ‘global’ in education policy. Her chapter outlines the ways in which the ‘condition of the world’ is discussed through themes such as the knowledge economy. Reference is made to the work of Steiner-Khamsi and transnational policy borrowing, and Vavrus and Bartlett in recognising context in understanding policy. Robertson also reviews the work of Cetina on networks and of Carney, influenced by Appadurai and policyscapes. What is significant about this chapter is the extent to which globalising education policies have reduced or changed the role of the nation state.
The rest of the volume includes chapters that consider a range of issues and debates including international assessments, gender, impact of conditional cash transfers, private schools and education in emergencies. Chapter 3 by Avelar, Nikita and Ball reviews the role of international policy networks through looking at a specific example coordinated by a Brazilian organisation. The next chapter, by Elaine Unterhalter, a leading international figure on gender, education and development, reviews international initiatives such as Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through considering examples from research on advancing gender equality and combating poverty influenced by global policies.
Chapter 5 by Addey and Sellar, on why countries participate in the OECD international assessments and the role they play in influencing policies, challenges dominant assumptions about the justifications often given as to why such assessments are supported as providing better data for better policies, suggesting instead a much more complex picture including capacity building, funding, international relations, national priorities, economic agendas and curriculum and pedagogy.
Brent Edwards’ chapter on school- and community-based management in terms of their relationship to international education policies notes that these approaches have gone through distinctive periods since the Second World War, with neoliberalism becoming dominant from the mid 1980s onwards. The chapter then looks at a specific example of a community-based management approach in El Salvador, which shows the particular influence of the World Bank. What this example highlights is that this was not a case of simple policy imposition by the Bank but a convergence of national structures and actors and international actor preferences.
Chapter 7 by Bonal, Tarabini and Rambla starts by reviewing conditional case transfers of policies from the regional to the national, and how international organisations responded to them. It considers particularly an example from Brazil and the Bolsa Escola programme, identifying the extent to which these transfers helped to reduce global poverty. The authors suggest that whilst these programmes have value in themselves, they need to be part of broader social policies if they are to make a major contribution to combating global poverty.
Tromp’s chapter looks at ways in which the concept of competency-based education has been part of educational reforms in Mexico and the relationship to, and influence of, international policies. What the chapter identifies is that competency-based education can be used in many different ways, as a floating signifier. Whilst the chapter identifies the broader ideological influences on this concept, it also highlights the influences of teachers and policy-makers at a local level that show that competency-based education can positively influence curricular reform.
Chapter 9, by Sayed with Ahmed and Mogliacci, is one of the broader thematic chapters in this collection. It provides a good summary of the moves from the MDGs to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifying in so doing a number of questions that pose a degree of caution as to the extent to which the SDGs will be supported and implemented. The authors note the danger that within the education goals there are too many indicators, with the likely result being that literacy and numeracy will become the dominant indicators because they can be measured quantitatively.
Child-centred pedagogy is the focus of Chapter 10 by Altinyelken through reviewing the implementation of these global policies to educational reforms in Uganda and Turkey. Evidence identifies the different ways in which this approach to education and learning is interpreted and the degrees of influence of international donors. In terms of implementing educational policies, Turkey has been very keen to link them to European country programmes as it has a long-term goal of being accepted as part of the European Union. It is notable that both countries have very different traditions and approaches towards pedagogy.
Cardozo and Novelli’s chapter on education in emergencies reviews the work of the International Network for Education in Emergencies. The chapter places this important area of education and development in an historical context and considers the ways in which the area, and the growing importance of this Network, have been influenced by international events such as 9/11. The Network is noted as having made considerable achievements but it is suggested that its horizontal structures have meant that whilst providing opening to a range of voices, it has not been as effective as it could have been.
Chapter 12 by Verger, Fontdevila and Zancajo looks at low-fee private schools in a range of Southern countries. The chapter notes the extent to which these schools, whilst first emerging spontaneously at a local level, have become promoted by international bodies. The chapter shows that, despite calls from policy-makers, many of these schools have poorly paid and trainee teachers. The rationale for parents sending their children to such schools is noted as being not only the learning opportunities provided but also that they offer more security and control and are perceived as being of higher status. However, the chapter also shows that increasingly these schools have become very popular with international actors because they are seen as an easy way of making progress to attaining the global goals.
The last two chapters, by Steiner-Khamsi on measuring and interpretation and Roger Dale on reviewing differing constituencies of interest, do an excellent job in bringing together the diverse themes and threads from the previous chapters into some form of coherence. Steiner-Khamsi discusses evidence from the previous chapters on forms of policy borrowing and social network analysis. She rightly notes that the chapters in the book suggest much more complex relationships between policy-makers than has often been suggested in policy debates on international development. She also brings in an ongoing theme of the entire volume: contextualisation, and the need to recognise the complex and different ways in which globalisation has impacted upon local education policies. Roger Dale, in the concluding chapter, notes that Global Education Policy raises major conceptual issues about what is meant by each of these three terms. He reflects upon the continued close relationship between such policies and ways in which capitalism, through commodification of use of resources, still dominates.
This is an important volume that brings together a range of education and development theories and locates them within discussions on international education policies through a range of case studies. Whilst perhaps the impact of globalisation could have been more directly addressed, this theme is a common undercurrent running through many of the chapters. I would recommend this volume for researchers in the field of international education, because it brings together different theories and locates discussion about them within specific examples from different regions of the world.