EERA NETWORK 23 Policy Studies and Politics of Education ONLINE SEMINAR SERIES 2025

Mandatory registration.

Thursday 22 May 2025
14.00 – 15.15 (CET)

Shifting Landscapes: Retrospects and Prospects in Global Education Governance

This webinar explores the evolving dynamics of global education governance by examining the shifting roles, positions, and entanglements of key intergovernmental organizations—UNESCO, OECD and the World Bank—over the past seven decades. Through an analysis of historical patterns and trajectories, we trace the development of governance mechanisms, policy instruments, and constituencies to better understand the current state and future directions of global governance in education. Particular focus will be placed on the implications for the emerging post-SDG4 agenda.Grounded in research from the book Global Governance of Education: The Historical andContemporary Entanglements of UNESCO, the OECD, and the World Bank (2023) and enriched by insights from comprehensive archival material and interviews with key actors, this talk provides critical perspectives on how the interplay of these organizations has shaped—and continues to shape—the global education landscape. By looking back, we aim to provide foresights into the trajectories and challenges ahead for education governance in a rapidly transforming world.

Maren Elfert • King’s College London)
Christian Ydesen • University of Zürich

Thursday 25 September 2025
14.00 – 15.15 (CET)

There is power in a union: the politics of participatory research with education policy elites

University Participatory research (PR) places an emphasis on inquiry with stakeholders thereby privileging community priorities and perspectives in knowledge production (Cornwall and Jewkes, 1995). In civil society, specifically, PR approaches have been adopted with the aim to bring about transformative change in organisations and wider society (Knight and Tandon, 2002). However, PR stakeholders represent diverse professional roles, identities, and statuses, which can lead to power imbalances in community membership and have implications for the design, process and underlying democratic principles of PR (McDonald, 2021). For instance, research with policy elites in civil society – individual sof a higher organizational position who have the greatest interest, involvement and influence in politics and the policymaking process (e.g. Lilleker, 2003) – could be deemed problematic. In education trade unions, policy elites are often categorised as union bureaucracy, which is distinct from, and generally described in opposition to, ‘rank and file’ membership (Hyman, 1989). In this seminar, I will explore the challenges and opportunities for genuine participatory research with this distinct social group. Drawing on a collaborative policy analysis conducted with two senior officials atS veriges Lärare, the recently amalgamated teacher union in Sweden (Milner, Bäckström and Ernestam, 2024), I will examine the principal methodological considerations in the research design, the opportunities for participatory decision-making, the power dynamics in the research process, the use of dialogue as method, and the limitations of, and future possibilities for, research with education policy actors.

Alison Milner • Aalborg University