The OECD and technical education in post-war Mediterranean Europe

ABSTRACT

The role of international organizations in fostering the evolution of education systems worldwide emerged in the 1950s, and the OEEC-OECD, in particular, contributed to shaping the so-called ‘education-economic growth’ paradigm. First, its education agenda was the push to spread technical and vocational education, being one of the key means for preparing citizens for modern society in a Cold War context. In addition, the spread of these relevant skills provided solutions to actual problems that affected the less-developed Western European countries. Consequently, Mediterranean Europe became a laboratory for new visions and practices for development. In the educational field, these countries were an ideal environment to observe the changes underway and, above all, evaluate the actual outcomes of these early programs.

KEYWORDS:

• cold war
• technical education
• educational planning
• OECD
• Southern Europe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For simplicity, in the introductory section and where the time reference covers more phases, both names (OEEC-OECD) are used. When the time reference allows, the acronym that the organisation had at that moment is used.

2. Cf. OECD-Historical Archive (HA), C(55)35, 21 March 1955; OECD-HA, C(55)35,16 March 1955, p. 8.

3. Later renamed Office for Scientific and Technical Personnel), which eventually became part of the Directorate for Scientific Affairs (DAS) when the OEEC became the OECD.

4. Cf. The working group activities set up by DAS, OECD, HA, DAS/EID/72; and especially DAS/EID/72.29.

Additional information

Funding

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Notes on contributors

Mattia Granata

Mattia Granata (PhD), historian by training, is the Head of the Economic Research Center of the major Italian union of cooperatives, LegaCoop (Rome), and the Director of the Ivano Barberini Foundation (Bologna). He taught Labour History at the University of Milan. He has authored a number of books and articles about Italian economic and political history, and is currently studying the relations between the OECD, education, and development economics in Southern Europe in the post-war era.