University of Helsinki
Global networks, organisations, and actors are an increasingly important part of education governance. Through benchmarking, disseminating research-based and policy-relevant knowledge, formulating so-called best practices, and global education assessments intergovernmental organisations such as the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), World Bank, International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the European Union (EU) shape the understanding of education, learning and teaching. Global assessments such as PISA are used globally as a measurement for the quality and effectiveness of education systems. In the FuturEd, we are interested in how some forms of knowledge are legitimised as ‘rational’, and others as ‘unrealistic’ or ‘impossible’. According to our results, knowledge deemed as ‘policy-relevant’ for education policy in the organisations like the OECD and the EU, the germane consensus in the global and local networks seems to rely on ‘knowledge-based economy’, ‘future investment’, and ‘evidence-based policy-making.
In the FuturEd-research projects we ask the following questions:
- What knowledge is considered policy-relevant in global education policy?
- What future trajectories for education are promoted through vast global policy networks?
- How intergovernmental organisations, philanthropic organisations and multi-national global corporations are coming together to define contents, methods and ideologies for education?
- What are the possible implications of global governance of education for local and national education policy-making?
Selected publications: