School of Education

Tuesday 22nd November, 4pm-5pm

Room 432, St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon Street, Glasgow G3 6NH

 

What can we learn about global education from historical and global policy studies of the OECD?

The OECD has been key in the development of the way global governance in education works, and, today, the OECD is widely recognized as a global authority in education because of its unique role in governance by comparison and the production of educational norms and paradigms, such as educational measurement indicators. These points find resonance with what Berten and Kranke (2019) have dubbed ‘anticipatory global governance’ which is defined ‘as a diverse set of transnational practices of producing, contesting and implementing global present futures.’ (p. 3). However, while most research recognizes the enormous importance of the OECD as a global education policy shaper, little effort has been made in gaining a better understanding of the developments and events that made it possible for the OECD to assume this dominant role. More than 70 years have passed since the foundation of its predecessor, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). The purpose of this talk is to revisit the historical events and developments that have put education on the economic agenda, and which have shaped and informed the very way education is construed and enacted across the globe today.

About the speaker

Christian Ydesen is a professor at the Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University, Denmark and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Education, Oxford University, UK. He is the PI of the project ‘The Global History of the OECD in education’ funded by the Aalborg University talent programme and the project 'Education Access under the Reign of Testing and Inclusion’ funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. He has been a visiting scholar at Edinburg University (2008-2009, 2016), Birmingham University (2013), Oxford University (2019), and Milan University (2021) and published several chapters and articles on topics such as educational testing, international organisations, accountability, educational psychology and diversity in education from historical and international perspectives. He currently serves as an executive editor of the European Educational Research Journal.

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First published: 13 October 2022