Open seminar at Score

This talk explores the role of global governance in promoting and shaping education as a fundamental feature of modernisation and in contributing to the globalisation of educational norms, policies, and technologies. I focus in particular on three international organisations established after the Second World War as part of the emerging multilateral world order: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank.

The talk offers a critical perspective on the changing landscape of the global governance of education by examining how the forms of governance, shifting roles, underlying ideologies, and evolving entanglements of these organisations have shaped—and continue to shape—educational ideas, policies and practices around the world. Drawing primarily on archival research, interviews, and policy analysis, my research shows how global governance has contributed to an increasing homogenisation of educational policies and discourses.

While the focus of the presentation is historical, I will also address contemporary shifts in the global education landscape against the backdrop of a changing world order. Three developments are particularly significant: (1) the rise of competing geopolitical powers, commonly referred to as the “multipolar world”; (2) the growing influence of corporate and non-state actors that increasingly operate on an equal footing with international organisations and governments; and (3) the expanding role of technology in shaping educational agendas.

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