The ethics and politics of the international transfer of educational policy and practice

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on a variety of practices associated with the transfer of educational policy and practice from one national education system to another – practices sometimes referred to as ‘policy borrowing’. Its concern is with the ethical and political issues raised by these practices. In particular, it discusses concerns that these practices might be practically inappropriate, that they might be culturally insensitive or inappropriate, and that they might be impositional, exploitative perhaps or even oppressive. Such concerns arise particularly in contexts in which the transfer is from relatively rich and powerful countries to relatively poor and less powerful countries. But policy transfer is a feature of relations between the rich and powerful too, and to some extent the issues are then turned on their head. Those engaged in the business of transfer become more clearly identified as service providers and they have to ask questions about to whom and under what conditions they might provide this service. Finally, the paper considers policy transfer as a form of pedagogy and asks whether the kind of ethical considerations which underpin any properly educational transaction might not provide a guide to behaviour by the agents of policy transfer.

Keywords::

• internationalisation of education
• global education
• indigenisation
• educational policy borrowing
• policy transfer
• ethical and political issues

Notes

^1. Another political leader was less sanguine. Silova describes how on Uzbek TV President Karimov complained about outsiders' ‘increasing attempts to come to our country and lecture us’, just as ‘big brother Moscow’ used to do before the collapse of the Soviet Union. ‘Nowadays’, he complained, ‘Westerners are always trying to dictate how to build democracy, how to achieve liberalisation and economic reform, and always seeking to teach us about freedom: freedom of speech, political freedoms, and civil rights, treating us as if were living in some desert in a distant corner of the world, as if we were eagerly looking forward to receiving their advice and instructions’. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2003 quoted in Silova 2005, 52)