The Mobility of Education Policy in the 21st Century: Lessons from Other Fields

The ways information about national education policies is exchanged and interpreted is a field of comparative education that is under-developed. What discussion and analysis there is seems to ignore the insights and models prevalent in other domains. We looked to fields like political science, and e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inForum for international research in education Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 83 - 93
Main Authors Ruby, Alan, Li, Aisi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lehigh University Library and Technology Services 19.10.2020
Subjects
Educational Policy
Policy Formation
Public Policy
Technology Transfer
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Summary:The ways information about national education policies is exchanged and interpreted is a field of comparative education that is under-developed. What discussion and analysis there is seems to ignore the insights and models prevalent in other domains. We looked to fields like political science, and economic and social development for concepts to strengthen the analysis of education policy mobility between nations. We found an abundance of metaphors most of which fail to capture key elements of policy diffusion including the notion that ideas change as they cross cultural boundaries. We observe that policy transfer can be purposefully initiated by the host as well as a product of coercion or external incentives. Our principal conclusions are that common framings of traveling education policies are linear, one-directional and marked by an air of beneficence. They overlook the importance of context and the actions of sovereign nations in policy formation.
ISSN:2326-3873
2326-3873
DOI:10.32865/fire202063187