Planning, re-bordering and setting times: a comparative analysis of European and Latin American ‘education spaces’

Abstract

The article compares educational regionalisation in Europe and Latin America. This analysis unveils the influence of three social phenomena in the two case studies, namely power, fields of activity and knowledge. Mostly, it focuses on the initiatives led by the European Union and the Organisation of Ibero-American States in order to implement large strategic, multi-government educational plans in each continent. The actions of international political players, the theories (or ‘ontologies’) embedded in these devices and the consequences for sub-national politics are observed.

Keywords:

• regionalisation
• educational plans
• power
• scales of decision-making

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges comments received in seminars at XIX World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (Istanbul, 2010).

Funding

This paper is an outcome of the EDUTODOS project, ‘Progresses and Shortcomings of Education for All in Latin America’, funded by the Ministry of Science, Government of Spain (Ref EDU2008-00816/EDUC) between 2009 and 2011.

Notes

1. UNESCO's satisfaction with OEI is explicit in many posts published on both websites. Besides, it was clearly stated in several interviews conducted by the author in Brasilia in 2009 and Paris in 2010.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This paper is an outcome of the EDUTODOS project, ‘Progresses and Shortcomings of Education for All in Latin America’, funded by the Ministry of Science, Government of Spain (Ref EDU2008-00816/EDUC) between 2009 and 2011.