When Janus met Kronus”: Dance of the Guardians Over the Future of Teachers Work

• In Event: Highlighted Session: International Organizations and their Conceptions of Educational Future

Proposal

How do International Organisations (IOs), such as the OECD, UNESCO, World Bank and Education International, legitimately govern national education systems and teachers’ work in the absence of sovereignty (Kranke and Berten, 2022)? Elsewhere I have argued that the diverse missions, histories, resources and instruments of governing deployed by IOs (UNESCO and OECD) position them differently as governors and guardians of the future of education (Robertson 2022). In this paper I widen the frame to include the World Bank and Education International, as organisations who are influential IO’s in shaping education’s futures more generally, whilst narrowing the scope to focus on teacher, their work and the status of the profession, in particular. As a heuristic, I draw upon Greek and Roman mythology, and specifically their gods of time and transitions, Kronus and Janus, to explore the ways in which IOs engage in a dance as to who and how each strategizes to become the hegemon of time future (Kranke 2022). In Greek mythology, Kronus is the god of time, able to manipulate events in the past, future, and present. Janus, on the other hand, is the god of beginnings and transitions, presiding over passages, doors, gates and endings. In this mythical encounter between Janus and Kronos, what temporal tools does each guard closely, versus share with the other, whilst engaging in a treacherous dance to become ‘master guardian’ of the future of teachers and their work.

Author

• Susan Lee Robertson, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge