Introduction and the façade of universality in SABER

• In Event: The World Bank’s SABER: critical analyses of assumptions, operations, and consequences

Proposal

This presentation will summarize key aspects of the SABER initiative, including the developing “What Matters Framework” papers, creating rubrics for evaluating policies (as either latent, emerging, established, or advanced), gathering data, and writing country reports.
The presentation then describes and applies the concept of the façade of universality in critiquing the SABER initiative. The search for better or “best policies” and “best practices” characterizes a variety of education literatures, and certainly has been a prominent feature of – and often critiqued in – the field of comparative and international education (CIE). The presentation draws on the Steiner-Khamsi’s (2013) concept of the “façade of universality,” to discuss one the problems or “abuses” (Noah, 1984) of efforts to identify and then diffuse, impose, or borrow policies and practices from one context to another. The presentation also documents how such efforts are at the core of the SABER initiative. For example, a decontextualized, “one-size-fits-all” approach is evidenced by the linear latent-to-advanced rating on the various indicators of policies, system characteristics, and practices, implying that all countries (regardless of contextual differences) should try to attain “advanced” ratings on these indicators.

Author

• Mark Ginsburg, University of Maryland