Globalized Culture of Measurement? Case Study of a Nongovernmental Organization in India

• In Event: Global Visions of Curriculum: Culture, Education, and Meaning

Abstract

Through a case study from India, the paper shows that the NGOs might play a powerful role in defining for the government and the public what education should look like. The paper examines the modalities and implications of such a process. The modalities in this case operate through: a) an independent mobilization by the NGO to develop a “culture of measurement” and data-generation; b) an inter-organizational transfer of pedagogical innovations from an NGO setting to the government schooling realm; c) NGO-research partnership through which the NGO programs have earned the label of a “best buy” thereby enhancing the NGO’s power. These in turn have serious implications on the teaching-learning processes and on the notion of the teaching profession.

Author

• Sarbani Chakraborty, University of Wisconsin - Madison