Historical Evolution and Current Challenges of the United Nations and Global Education Policy Making

• In Event: New Directions in the Study of Global Policy Actors in Education

Abstract

A number of United Nations agencies include educational mandates; yet policy agendas, funding mechanisms, country-level operations and ostensible success rates vary considerably from one organization to another. This paper comparatively traces the histories and explores the current educational operations of two of the most prominent UN branches: UNESCO and UNICEF. Via a content analysis of both historical and recent educational policy papers from each organization, triangulated with descriptive accounts of current bureaucratic structures and operations as represented in project documents, we examine how and why the two UN organizations differ in their work on global education. The paper includes overviews of the birth of each agency and their early forays into educational programming, before tracing more recent activities on both the policy and project fronts. In order to answer our research question addressing how and why each agency evolved and progressed to become such distinct educational policy-making entities, an analysis is made through the lens of institutional theory. For example, we apply theories of path dependency and institutional pathology to better understand changes within each agency, and to discern how and why UNESCO and UNICEF respond differently to external stimuli.

Authors

• Francine Menashy, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Caroline Joline Manion, OISE/University of Toronto