Global education policy in African fragile and conflict-affected states: examining the Global Partnership for Education

ABSTRACT

The study detailed in this paper examines the role of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in the transnational policy-making landscape in relation to African fragile and conflict-affected states. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents – Education Sector Plans (ESPs)/ Transitional Sector Plans – examining to what extent the main categories identified in the literature concerning global education policy and international development, emerge from the documents. We conclude that certain terms and constructs that emerge from global education discourses recur frequently in the ESPs. The article argues that there is a depoliticisation strategy in the development of the ESPs, making it possible to identify a façade of precision, a façade of rationality and a façade of universality.

KEYWORDS:

• Global governance
• Global Partnership for Education
• Africa
• education and conflict
• education and fragility

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 During the article we will use ESP to all the documents analyses not making a distinction if they are Education Sector Plans or Transitional Sector Plans.

2 For a more detailed discussion of this subject, see, for example, Menashy (2019).

3 For a more detailed account of this process see, for example Menashy (2018).

4 Means we accept that the curriculum is a plan set by the administration (normative), although it can be managed by teachers if it is controlled by national curriculum and standardised evaluation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: [grant number CEECIND/01263/2017].