Conhecimento bancário em política de educação global: Uma análise bibliométrica das publicações do Banco Mundial sobre parcerias público-privadas

As a leading mobilizer of international development and educational knowledge, the World Bank has been critiqued in two key areas: (1) the dominance of economic thinking in its policies, and (2) its Northern-generated knowledge which informs its work in the Global South. In this paper, we investigate the disciplinary foundation of Bank knowledge, as well as its geographic representation. This study pays particular attention to knowledge mobilization relating to one of the most contentious policy prescriptions worldwide, and one that the Bank has historically supported: private sector engagement in education. By employing the concepts of economic imperialism and policy networks to frame our study, and through the use of a bibliometric methodological approach, we trace the authorship patterns of publications cited in a series of key World Bank documents on private sector engagement in education. Our findings show that the World Bank mobilizes research production from the Global North, which reflects a disproportionate economic disciplinary focus. Moreover, through a mapping of the cited authors, this network is shown to be highly narrow and privileges authors from a small subset of elite institutions.Como un líder en movilizar el desarrollo internacional del conocimiento  educacional, el Grupo del Banco Mundial ha sido criticado en dos áreas: (1) la dominancia del pensamiento económico el sus pólices, y (2) el conocimiento que generan es coleccionado en países norteños al cual informan el trabajo en el mundo global del sur. El este documento, investigamos las bases disciplinarias sobre bancos de conocimiento, tanto como su representación geográfica. En particular, este estudio se enfoca en la movilización del conocimiento relativa a uno de los pólices más controversiales cual fue prescrito en todo el mundo, y uno al cual el Banco ha históricamente apoyado: la asociación entre el sector privado y la educación. Usando conceptos de la economía imperialista y redes de política para formular nuestro estudio, y con el uso de metodologías bibliométricas, localizamos la origen de las publicaciones que mencionaron una serie de documentes claves a la conexión entre el sector privado y si su relación con el enlace educativo. Nuestras conclusiones revelan que el Grupo del Banco Mundial moviliza estudios producidos por el mundo global norteño, cual refleja una economía disciplinaria con un enfoque desproporcional. Además, con un método de esquematizar los autores mencionados, resulta que los autores son parte de un grupo pequeño y privilegiado, de instituciones exclusivas.Como líder mobilizador de desenvolvimento internacional e conhecimento educacional, o Banco Mundial foi criticado em duas áreas fundamentais: (1) o domínio do pensamento econômico em suas políticas, e (2) seu conhecimento “norte-gerado" que informa seu trabalho no sul Global. Neste trabalho, investigamos a base disciplinar de conhecimento do Banco, assim como a sua representação geográfica. Este estudo presta uma atenção especial à mobilização de conhecimentos relacionados a uma das prescrições políticas mais controversas do mundo, e uma em que o Banco tem apoiado historicamente: o engajamento do setor privado na educação. Ao empregar os conceitos de imperialismo econômico e redes de políticas para enquadrar nosso estudo, e através do uso de uma abordagem metodológica e bibliométrica, traçamos os padrões de autoria de publicações citadas em uma série de importantes documentos do Banco Mundial sobre o engajamento do setor privado na educação. Nossos resultados mostram que o Banco Mundial mobiliza a produção de pesquisa do hemisfério norte, o que reflete um enfoque disciplinar econômico desproporcionado. Além disso, através de um mapeamento dos autores citados, essa rede é mostrada para ser altamente estreitas e da privilégios a autores de um pequeno subconjunto de instituições de elite

La participación del sector privado en la educación de los refugiados

La participación del sector privado en la provisión de educación para los refugiados sirios ha recibido numerosos elogios, pero se debe prestar más atención a las preocupaciones éticas y prácticas que puedan surgir

The Global Partnership for Education’s evolving support to fragile and conflict-affected states

In this study, we trace the history of policy development within the Global Partnership for Education to discern the drivers behind the uptake of its shifting policies relating to education in fragile and conflict-affected states. In order to elucidate how and why this international organization has altered its policy stance and funding modalities, we employ a process tracing analysis of document and interview data. Moreover, we provide three country case studies of Global Partnership for Education financing to Liberia, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Unequal partners? Networks, centrality, and aid to international education

Following the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, international development policy discourses have focused on partnership as an overarching principle. With a focus on participation and non-hierarchical relationships, new partnerships aim to reconstitute the aid relationship in a way that obviates power inequality and hegemony. However, empirical studies of these partnerships are scarce. This paper uses social network analysis to analyse relationships between organisations involved in prominent partnerships for education in international development. Our analysis of an original dataset demonstrates that bilateral donors, civil society organisations, and international organisations are most likely to occupy central positions in this network, meaning that they enjoy high levels of connectivity to many organisations. Literature on international networks suggests that these organisations would therefore shape the flow of information and ideas between organisations, influence the distribution of resources among members, and determine normative preferences of the partnerships. In contrast, recipient governments, private businesses, and universities occupy peripheral positions. We contextualise these findings with respect to literature on aid in international education and privatisation in the political economy of educational development.</p

The End of Efficiency: Implications for Democratic Education

This paper provides an examination of the concept of efficiency and its application to current educational initiatives and reforms. It is shown that several movements in education are primarily based on a narrow conception of efficiency, giving rise to serious ethical concerns. Beginning with an examination of the term efficiency and common misconceptions of its meaning, manifestations of the efficiency movement in education are then described, followed by their ethical implications in terms of democratic education and equity issues. It will be concluded that the problematic consequences of efficiency initiatives in schools are mainly due to the application of an overly narrow conception of efficiency

Education as a Private or a Global Public Good: Competing Conceptual Frameworks and their Power at the World Bank

This thesis presents the argument that the World Bank’s education policies are discursively inconsistent due to the concurrent adoption of conceptual frameworks – namely the neoliberal and global public goods frameworks – which are arguably in conflict with one another. More specifically, the World Bank presents education as both a public and a private good. This assessment is reached via a critical analysis of the Bank’s education policy discourse. The Bank’s policies are furthermore argued to be grounded in market economics and therefore are in tension with the notion of education as a human right – a legal and political framework, advocated by other development organizations, but neglected by the Bank. Over the course of this thesis, neoliberal influences on the World Bank’s education policies are critiqued on several levels, including potential ethical ramifications concerning equity, discursive logic and questionable use of evidence. This dissertation furthermore suggests that the Bank can re-conceptualize education in a light that does not engender these critiques, by embracing a rights-based vision of education. It is argued that it is not necessary for the Bank to relinquish an economic conceptualization of education, and that it is possible for the human rights and economic discourses to go hand-in-hand. Despite some tensions, education can be supported by both a public goods and rights-based framework, and that via such measures as collaboration with organizations that conceive of education as a right and reducing the dominance of economists within the organization, the Bank’s policies will become aligned with this rights-based vision. This thesis argues that World Bank education policies can take steps toward improvement if the neoliberal notion of education as an exclusive, private good is abandoned in favour of education as a non-exclusive, public good, and a right.Ph

The Network of Bilateral Aid to Education

All data and analysis files used in the article published in the International Journal of Educational Development special issue on Social Network Analysi