Discourses of International Organizations in Education – What Do They Promote, When and How

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In the wake of ongoing globalization processes and worldwide competition, education policy is becoming increasingly internationalized. Education is considered to play an important role in contributing to world-wide economic, scientific, and social development of intertwined societies. Accordingly, national education systems have to respond to new challenges posed by the emergent global knowledge economy. From the late 1990s on we can observe a steady increase in international exchange and cooperation, particularly through activities of international organizations (IOs) in international education policy. Also, the number of countries participating in international large-scale comparative assessments has been on the rise. It seems fair to say that education policy has successfully developed into an object of increasing international interaction and coordination, whereby the emergence of new actors, like IOs, NGOs, or private business ventures are symptomatic.

Expanding education into the international organized arena can analytically be grasped as a complementary process of two developments. On the one hand IOs are directly mandated by states to administer multilateral cooperation in the field of education. Established by states, IOs are empowered to facilitate progress that states could not otherwise realize on their own. IOs carry out these tasks by establishing rules, procedures, or standards and by monitoring and reporting on mechanisms. Historically, state actors themselves have been the main driving force behind the formation of international education initiatives. Thus, education has always been an issue dealt with internationally and there have been IOs active in education for decades. Obviously, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is a prime example of an IO actively promoting education ideas. Since its inception in 1945 as part of the UN system it has become the largest global education organization, despite the recent second withdrawal of the US. Even before UNESCO was founded, other, older IOs, such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), founded in 1919, emphasized the social significance of education for the improvement of the quality of life.

On the other hand, some fiducial IO agents may exceed their predefined mission and produce unintended consequences by abandoning the path dependencies for their principals – also in the field of education policy. Thus, beyond IOs with a prime mandate for education, IOs that were not initially concerned with education as their core topic have become central players in the field. By becoming vivid actors in the education field, they not only shape the international field of education sustainably but also reinforce their position as influential and autonomous actors vis-à-vis their member states. In fact, the OECD is a prime example of an IO that constantly expanded its expertise and influence in education policy. It can be regarded as a de jure powerless IO, but one which has gained substantial influence. The same is true for the World Bank: for an organization that originally had no mandate to work on education, the Bank has become perhaps the most powerful and hegemonic of the international organizations operating in the education-for-development field as today, it is the largest single international funder of education for development in low-income countries.

In both ways, education policy as a field of IO activity has been significantly expanded, particularly over the last 20 years. Moreover, education became subject to an international or even global discourse. IOs contributed to this discourse by framing how education should be viewed, which problems should be addressed, and how education policies should be designed. This also means that IOs hold certain beliefs and visions about education and how this policy field should be effectively organized on the national, regional, or global level. Furthermore, no universally accepted idea on education exists. Different world views and belief float around and compete with each other. For instance, education can be viewed as a means to first and foremost boost economic performance or as driver for social cohesion and social integration. Education policy serves as a means to educate citizens in civic rights and duties, enable them to succeed in the labor market, and to teach national history and languages. Like any other stakeholders also IOs have narratives they promote.

In sum, in this panel we examine IOs which work in the educational sector and analyze the ideas on education they embrace. IOs compile and spread educational concepts and educational standards not only to their member countries but also across the globe. But which IOs are out there working in the field of education policy, and what education ideas are they propagating? The role of IOs in the diffusion of education ideas is still rarely examined, especially for the Global South. Although various single studies exist, we know little about the universe of education IOs as a whole. With our panel we aim to improve our knowledge on how the world of education IOs is constituted and to what extent IOs in the educational area differ in regard to the concepts they spread. What ideas do they promote and have these changed over time?

The papers in our proposed panel aim to address these research lacunas by identifying the IOs’ beliefs in education and how they frame educational issues. Thereby, the papers cover both IOs that were originally concerned with education (UNESCO) and IOs that expand their thematic scopes to educational topics while their original mandate was not on education (OECD, World Bank). Furthermore, we will also provide an overview of the population of education IOs.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Globalization and Education

Chair

• Michael Windzio, Collaborative Research Centre 1342 “Global Dynamics of Social Policy”, University of Bremen

Individual Presentations

• Education as a Global Metrological Field: Examining the Interdependencies of International Organisations in the Production of Education and Development Data - Sotiria Grek, University of Edinburgh

• From education for peace to education in conflict: changes in UNESCO discourse, 1945–2015 - Julia Lerch, Stanford University; Elizabeth S. Buckner, University of Toronto

• Walking the Washington talk? An analysis of the World Bank’s discourse-practice disjuncture in teachers' policy - Clara Fontdevila, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Antoni Verger, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

• Making PISA Fit and Making the World Fit PISA: the OECD's Domestication of Low-Income Nations - Camilla Addey, Teachers College, Columbia University; Radhika Gorur, Deakin University

• Education Leitmotifs of International Organizations - Kerstin Martens, University of Bremen; Dennis Niemann, University of Bremen

Discussant

• Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Teachers College, Columbia University