Placing Teachers in Global Governance Agendas

Abstract

This paper examines the current focus on teacher policies and practices by a range of global actors, and explores what this means for the governance of teachers in national education systems states. Through an historical and contemporary reading of the ways global actors seek to govern teachers, I argue an important shift in the locus of power to govern has taken place. I show how the mechanisms of global governance of teachers are being transformed, from 'education as (national) development' and 'norm setting', to 'learning as (individual) development' and 'competitive comparison'. Yet despite tendencies toward a convergence of agendas amongst these global actors, we can nevertheless observe important differences between them, as well as on the national settings influence. I conclude by examining the limits and possibilities of governing at a (global) distance, as well as the contradictions and cleavages inherent in neoliberal framings of teacher policies to realise the good teacher.

European education policy initiatives and teacher education curriculum reforms in Greece

“…In her article entitled ''Placing teachers in global governance agendas'', Robertson (2012) explores the ways in which the OECD and the World Bank have intervened through policy initiatives such as the TALIS survey and the ''Teachers Matter'' report in ''promoting a reframing of teacher policy and practice inside national territorial borders'' (ibid., 85). Utilising Bernstein's theoretical concepts of classification and framing, Robertson describes the refashioning of ''what was meant by 'the good teacher' Á to be a competent teacher'' (ibid.).…”

Comparing Policies in a Globalizing World: methodological reflections

“…As we have shown elsewhere (see Robertson, 2012;2013), the OECD and the World Bank, have entered into the teacher policy space -legitimating their presence and concern by arguing that teachers and teaching matter to pupil performance, and pupil performance matters to developing globally competitive economies. This line of argument has been given weight by other global actors who have become very prominent in the education policy field -including the giant education firm -Pearson Education, the global consulting firm McKinsey and Co., Mourshed, 2007;Mourshed et al, 2010) and foundations that include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.…”

“…Far from it. Indeed two international agencies over the period 1950-2000 were very interested in teacher policy at the global level; UNESCO and the ILO (Robertson, 2012). Whilst respecting the right of Member States of the UN system to determine teacher policy, they nevertheless published an ILO/UNESCO Recommendation in October 1966 setting out the rights and responsibilities of teachers, including international standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment and so on.…”

“…We might call this current period thick global governance in that the global actors now dominate the framing of teacher policy. Elsewhere we have developed this analysis more fully (see Robertson, 2012Robertson, , 2013, However, for this purpose here -it is sufficient to point to the ways in which we are able to see shifts in what scales (local, national, global) become more dominant in shaping particular educa-tion policies and to propose reasons for what we think might be explanations.…”

Teachers and social cohesion in the Global South: expanding the notion of education quality

“…Currently, policy texts tend to reduce teacher agency into a variety of audit trails that underplay their ability to enact generative learning in classrooms with their students (Robertson 2012). Teacher agency is not a realistic possibility when the multiple and conflicting demands placed on teachers in various environments focus very narrowly on accountability measures.…”