Transnational Educational Movements in Education: The Case of Teach For All

• In Event: Three Dozen Countries and Counting: Teach For All's Global Influence on Teacher Recruitment and Training

Abstract

Objectives: Over the past two-decades, an innovative model for teacher policy has emerged in the United States (Teach For America) and the United Kingdom (Teach First). This model focuses on (a) recruitment of individuals with high achievement record (usually college graduates and professionals) and (b) providing quick and intensive training. Evidently, this model challenges some basic assumptions about the teaching profession as it offers an alternative avenue through which people can enter the profession.

By 2015, this model has expanded globally to 36 countries worldwide. In high-income countries (e.g., United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan) and low-income countries (e.g., Bangladesh and Nepal), we can find national organizations that follow to some extent the Teach For America/Teach First model. These national organizations, though independent, are part of the Teach For All network (TFAll). Members of the network share a common vision: “one day, all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education” (Teach For All, 2013) as well as mission and operative model. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence and diffusion of the TFAll model. Specifically, I am interested in the ways in which this model has traveled worldwide.

Theoretical Lens: This paper draws on and speaks to two lines of research: (a) globalization and transnational sociology, and (b) social movements.

Research questions:
What structures and actors facilitate the diffusion of the model worldwide?
What inspire local founders from various countries to choose and affiliate with the TFAll model?
What kind of “educational problems” did local founders aspire “to solve” with the TFAll model?

Methods/data: To address the research questions, I use a mixed-method research design. First, using quantitative methodology, I estimate the effect of national, regional, and global characteristics on the likelihood of countries to engage with the TFAll model. Second, using qualitative interviews with founders and directors of 16 local organizations (total of 23 interviews), I explore how local actors mobilized support for adopting the TFAll model, and (b) how local and transnational actors developed the TFAll network.

Results & Conclusions: Multivariate analysis suggests that countries that are more embedded in World Society are also more likely to have a local organization affiliated with the TFALL. Specifically, countries that participate in international large-scale assessments (e.g., PISA) are more likely to engage with the TFALL model. Interviews with leaders of local organizations show the importance of transnational structures and process – such as student mobility and international consulting firms – to the spread of the model worldwide.

Scholarly significance: This paper will contribute to the globalization studies in education and to the growing literature on social movements in international and comparative education.

Authors

• Oren Pizmony-Levy

• Alison Angoff, Teachers College, Columbia University