Journal Articles by Clara Fontdevila
Peabody Journal of Education, 2024
Despite controversies surrounding faith-based schooling, religious schools continue to play a pro... more Despite controversies surrounding faith-based schooling, religious schools continue to play a prominent role in numerous education systems. Nonetheless, empirical research on nonstate religious schools operating in a market context remains limited and fragmented. On the one hand, while religious and cultural studies investigate the evolution of religious education (RE), they tend to focus on state schools while overlooking the impact of market forces. On the other hand, research on education markets often treats religious private schools as a uniform category with a fixed identity. This study aims to bridge this gap by delving into the responses of religious private schools to competitive pressures, focusing on how these schools negotiate their religious identities in a market context. With this objective, the paper presents a case study of Catholic school networks in Catalonia, Spain. We identify three different approaches to RE and religious identity developed by these school networks-confessional, culture-centric and value-centric. The triggering factors and enabling conditions behind these approaches are examined in detail. The study concludes by discussing the relevance of these findings for ongoing debates around the public funding of faith-based schools and the tensions posed by such policies in terms of social cohesion, educational pluralism, and equity.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2024
In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, high hopes were placed in the prod... more In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, high hopes were placed in the production of global metrics. Such expectations rest upon two main assumptions: first, that global data demands will lead to an increase in domestic data supply; and second, that global and domestic data needs are closely aligned. Having passed the halfway point of the SDGs, this paper critically examines each of these assumptions in relation to recent developments in the education field. In so doing, it highlights the need for greater reflection on the opportunity costs associated with the production of globally comparable data, and for an empirically-informed analysis of the necessary resources and conditions for strengthening education information systems and domestic statistical capacity.
Compare, 2024
Despite growing consensus around the need for a more holistic vision of development, realising th... more Despite growing consensus around the need for a more holistic vision of development, realising the human development potential of educational interventions has proven a challenging task. This Forum grapples with how these tensions manifest in the international transfer of dual models of Vocational Education and Training (dVET) to low- and middle-income countries. While dVET has gained global currency, its developmental potential has been primarily framed in economic terms. Conversely, its alignment with human development remains an abstract possibility and is often not reflected in the policy design of dVET transfer attempts.
Each contribution to this Forum probes a different facet of these tensions, exploring how dVET can be calibrated in different contexts to realise its human development potential. Taking a practice-led approach and featuring representatives from cooperation agencies, consultancy groups, and research organisations, this piece contributes to ongoing debates about the possibility of effectively integrating human development thinking into education policy.
Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 2023
Este artículo tiene por objetivo identificar las principales estrategias de influencia del sector... more Este artículo tiene por objetivo identificar las principales estrategias de influencia del sector privado en el ámbito de la política educativa. A pesar de que un número de estudios cada vez mayor documenta la creciente implicación del sector empresarial en la formulación de políticas públicas, la investigación empírica sobre esta cuestión sigue siendo fragmentaria y poco sistemática. Además, gran parte de la evidencia disponible se focaliza en el ámbito angloamericano y no permite entender el fenómeno en su dimensión global. Este artículo explora, revisa y sistematiza una serie de estrategias de influencia política del sector privado en el campo educativo a partir de una revisión de la literatura centrada en reformas edu-cativas promercado. A partir de los resultados de esta revisión, el artículo identifica cuatro estrategias de influencia: la movilización de conocimientos, la creación de redes, el apoyo a movimientos sociales y el patrocinio de experiencias piloto. Cada estrategia se ilustra con ejemplos de una selección de casos empíricos.
El estudio muestra cómo el sector privado desempeña una gama de funciones cada vez más heterogéneas en el ámbito de la política educativa, y apunta a que las organizaciones privadas están diversificando los recursos y las formas de capital que movilizan. Así, la hora de incidir en políticas públicas, el sector privado no depende únicamente de su poder eco-nómico y de las formas más evidentes de capital político, sino que se apoya cada vez más en las conexiones relativamente informales con diferentes actores (como el tercer sector, y las élites económicas o de la sociedad civil), y el reconocimiento como expertos y productores de conocimiento, adquirido mediante la movilización de evidencia. Finalmente, los resultados sugieren que el sector privado opera cada vez más como un actor político de primer orden, integrado orgánicamente en procesos y espacios de elaboración de políticas.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2023
The indicator framework established for the monitoring of SDG4 is unambiguous on the need to adva... more The indicator framework established for the monitoring of SDG4 is unambiguous on the need to advance in the production of global learning data. However, the production of SDG4 learning metrics has been riddled with technical and political difficulties. Drawing on a combination of documentary analysis, interviews and nonparticipant observation, this paper reconstructs the process of negotiation of the data suppliers, statistical routines and reporting standards necessary for the production of SDG4 learning metrics. The paper thus offers insight into the mechanics of global quantification, and on the transformative impact of such processes on the agendas and relationships of partaking organizations.
International Journal of Training and Development, 2022
The role of German cooperation as a key force behind the worldwide dissemination of dual training... more The role of German cooperation as a key force behind the worldwide dissemination of dual training is well-established within the specialized literature. The multilayered and fragmented nature of the German cooperation landscape suggests that German efforts in this area follow a complex and evolving interplay of motivations—yet the rationales behind Germany's bilateral work in the area of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) have rarely been examined in a systematic way. Additionally, existing approaches to the question of aid motivations as provided by economics and international relations scholarship appear to be ill-suited to understanding the rationales behind Germany's TVET cooperation efforts. Drawing on a combination of document analysis and interviews with key stakeholders, this paper investigates the heterogeneity of drivers and motivations behind German cooperation efforts in the promotion and export of the dual training model and examines the coordination challenges posed by this diversity. The paper finds that German efforts in the international promotion of dual training are driven by at least three analytically distinct rationales that correspond roughly to three differentiated poles within the German policy space—namely, the economic, development and education arenas. The paper also finds that this diversity of motivations poses important coordination challenges—and that, while recent coordination efforts have succeeded in securing some degree of rhetorical consistency, only limited progress has been made in terms of operational coherence.
Revista da FAEEBA - Educação e Contemporaneidade, 2018
O Movimento de Reforma Educacional Global (Global Education Reform Movement –GERM) está se expand... more O Movimento de Reforma Educacional Global (Global Education Reform Movement –GERM) está se expandindo internacionalmente e alcançando países que aparentavam ser imunes a essa abordagem de reforma educacional até muito recentemente. Assim, os sistemas educacionais do mundo têm sido cada vez mais articulados em torno de três princípios políticos principais, a saber: responsabilização, padrões e descentralização. As avaliações nacionais em larga escala (National large-scale assessments – NLSAs) são um componente central do GERM; essas avaliações têm sido cada vez mais usadas para fins de responsabilização, bem como para garantir que as escolas alcancem e promovam padrões de aprendizado centralmente definidos e avaliáveis. Neste artigo, testamos essas premissas com base em um banco de dados novo e original sobre NLSAs, bem como em dados provenientes dos questionários do Programa de AvaliaçãoInternacional de Estudantes (Programme for International Students Assessment – PISA). Também disc...
Comparative Education, 2020
Despite Public-Private Partnerships’ (PPPs) growing popularity within education policy circles, r... more Despite Public-Private Partnerships’ (PPPs) growing popularity within education policy circles, research on their effects yields contradictory results. The understanding of PPP effects is limited by the prevalence of generalist analyses that neglect to acknowledge the exceptional heterogeneity of the policy frameworks in which PPPs crystallize. Building on a scoping literature review, this paper aims at identifying patterns of effects of main PPP modalities on education (namely vouchers, charter schools and public subsidies for private schools) by considering the mediating role of policy-design variables. Our results show that PPP configurations oriented at the generation of market-like dynamics are frequently found to exacerbate school segregation and educational inequalities. Conversely, those PPP arrangements less conducive to market competition and those that follow an affirmative action rationale (such as targeted vouchers) are more likely to yield more positive effects on learning outcomes than other types of PPPs, without necessarily undermining equity.
Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2019
Over the last decades, Peru has experienced an extraordinary rise of low-fee private schools (LFP... more Over the last decades, Peru has experienced an extraordinary rise of low-fee private schools (LFPSs). While global debates on the quality of this modality of schooling have been gaining currency, research on the organizational practices of LFPSs remains comparatively underdeveloped. This paper aims at identifying and describing the managerial, business and organizational practices exhibited by Peruvian LFPSs– and at understanding them in relation to the social norms and institutional arrangements specific to the context in which they operate. The study draws on a combination of archival analysis, interviews with decision-makers, and interviews with school owners and principals. The results of our research show that the specificities of the socioeconomic, cultural and regulative environments in which Peruvian LFPSs operate have led to the consolidation of a particular subsistence model of LFPS where profit-making appears to play a limited role. This model is also characterized by the low formalization of management routines, the impossibility to generate economies of scale, and the reliance on interpersonal trust as a means to reduce risk – in a context of low bureaucratization and limited regulatory oversight. We argue that, in view of the distinctly low achievement levels of Peruvian LFPSs, gaining a fine-grained understanding of their organizational practices (and the incentives they respond to) remains a relevant task, and a necessary step to devise effective policy strategies.
Discourse, 2019
In the last decades, most countries have adopted data-intensive policy instruments aimed at moder... more In the last decades, most countries have adopted data-intensive policy instruments aimed at modernizing the governance of education systems, and strengthening their competitiveness. Instruments such as national large-scale assessments and test-based accountabilities have disseminated widely, to the point that they are being enacted in countries with very different administrative traditions and levels of economic development. Nonetheless, comparative research on the trajectories that governance instruments follow in different institutional and socio-economic contexts is still scarce. On the basis of a systematic literature review (n = 158), this paper enquires into the scope and modalities of educational governance change that national large-scale assessments and test-based accountability instruments have triggered in a broad range of institutional settings. The paper shows that, internationally, educational governance reforms advance through path-dependent and contingent processes of policy instrumentation that are markedly conditioned by prevailing politico-administrative regimes. The paper also reflects on the additive and evolving nature of educational governance reforms.
Critical Studies in Education, 2019
This paper examines the increasingly diverse range of roles played by the corporate sector in sha... more This paper examines the increasingly diverse range of roles played by the corporate sector in shaping education policy. While a growing body of scholarship has documented the deepening embeddedness of the corporate sector within policy-making processes, empirical research on the strategies mobilized by corporate actors remains unsystematised and fragmentary. Furthermore, existing categorizations of corporate policy-influence strategies are frequently restricted to a limited group of Anglo-Saxon countries and, consequently, are ill suited to capturing emerging policy dynamics globally. Building on the results of a literature review, this paper categorises four emerging strategies articulated by the corporate sector: knowledge mobilization, networking, engaging with grassroots, and leading by example. Each strategy is illustrated with examples from a selection of country case studies. These examples suggest that, in the education policy domain, the corporate sector operates not only as a policy influencer, but increasingly as a policy actor organically embedded within policy-making processes and spaces.
The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is expanding
internationally and reaching countries t... more The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is expanding
internationally and reaching countries that seemed to be immune
to this education reform approach until quite recently.
Accordingly, more and more educational systems in the world
are articulated around three main policy principles: accountability,
standards and decentralisation. National large-scale assessments
(NLSAs) are a core component of the GERM; these assessments are
increasingly used for accountability purposes as well as to ensure
that schools achieve and promote centrally defined and evaluable
learning standards. In this paper, we explore these trends on the
basis of a new and original database on NLSAs, as well as on data
coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) questionnaires. In the paper we also discuss how different
theories on policy dissemination/globalisation explain the international
spread of NLSAs and test-based accountability worldwide,
and reflect on the potential of a political sociology approach to
analyse this globalising phenomenon.
As one of the most polarised areas in education research, the education privatisation debate gene... more As one of the most polarised areas in education research, the education privatisation debate generates opportunities for knowledge-brokers to promote their preferred policy alternatives. Based on bibliometric analysis techniques, this paper maps the configuration of the academic debate on privatisation, and explores how it is connected with the references mobilized by a group of international agencies located at the interstices of the research and policy fields. Our findings suggest that, when confronted with certain incentives, some international agencies use evidence in a selective and tactical way as a means to support their pre-established policy pReferences.
Over the last two decades, education privatization has become a widespread phenomenon, affecting ... more Over the last two decades, education privatization has become a widespread phenomenon, affecting most education systems and giving place to a consistent increase in private school enrolment globally. However, far from being a monolithic phenomenon, privatization advances through a variety of context-sensitive policy processes that translate into multiple policy outcomes. This paper aims at understanding why and how education privatization unfolds in a broad variety of settings and, to this purpose, examines the different manifestations of education privatization on the light of Cultural Political Economy (CPE). The conceptual and analytical tools provided by CPE prove to be particularly well suited to explore such a multi-faceted and multi-scalar phenomenon. CPE has helped us to capture the intersect and tension between different drivers (global and local, material and ideational) of education privatization through the evolutionary mechanisms of variation, selection and retention. On the basis of a systematic literature review methodology, encompassing 227 research papers, the article identifies and systematizes six different paths towards education privatization – understood as groups of frequently associated circumstances, mechanisms and courses of action leading to privatization. Conceived as ideal types, these different paths ultimately allow for a richer understanding of education privatization and show that the international diffusion of education privatization norms and discourses is far from producing policy convergence at a global scale.
While the infl uence of the corporate
sector in the process for the defi nition of the SDG4
agend... more While the infl uence of the corporate
sector in the process for the defi nition of the SDG4
agenda constitutes an under-researched area, recent
developments in the sector suggest that the
debate has encouraged the integration of the education
fi eld into the corporate social responsibility
dynamics inaugurated by the UN Global Compact
more than a decade ago. The growing engagement
of the corporate sector in the SDG4 debate has
been channeled by the participation of corporate
actors in semi-autonomous consortia and consultation
mechanisms enjoying remarkable levels of
discretion - rather than by its incorporation into
democratically-monitored bodies and formalized
decision-making structures.
Papers by Clara Fontdevila
Dual Apprenticeship Project Report, 2022
International Encyclopedia of Education, 2023
The World Bank has been one of the most important actors influencing global education development... more The World Bank has been one of the most important actors influencing global education development policies in the past decades. Beyond its role as an international lender, the World Bank has long enjoyed a dominant position in the definition of the global education agenda. This entry provides a historical analysis of the World Bank's development in the education sector. The analysis has been divided into three main periods that characterize how the education sector priorities and strategies of the World Bank have evolved since the sixties. For each period identified, the article also examines how internal and external factors have influenced the position of this organization in education.
Journal of Supranational Policies of Education, 2022
Pese a la creciente popularidad de las Alianzas Público-Privadas (APP) en el sector educativo, ex... more Pese a la creciente popularidad de las Alianzas Público-Privadas (APP) en el sector educativo, existe un amplio consenso académico sobre su impacto negativo sobre las desigualdades educativas. En los últimos años, organismos internacionales como la OCDE, la UNESCO o el Banco Mundial han mostrado una creciente preocupación por dicho impacto. Sin embargo, la mayoría de estos organismos internacionales no cuestiona directamente la política de APP sino que apuesta por procesos de regulación pública que permitan compatibilizar los supuestos efectos positivos de las APP con mayores niveles de equidad. El presente artículo contribuye al debate internacional sobre la regulación pública de la educación privada subvencionada. Para ello, analizamos las diferentes configuraciones regulativas de las APP que prevalecen en los países de la OCDE, y exploramos los procesos de problematización y de reforma que han acontecido en ellos. El artículo concluye con una reflexión sobre las implicaciones políticas y los límites y desafíos de dichas reformas.
Background paper prepared for the 2021/2 Global education monitoring report: Non-state actors in education, 2021
The global expansion of non-state actors as providers of basic education has frequently taken pla... more The global expansion of non-state actors as providers of basic education has frequently taken place under the umbrella of some form of public-private partnership (PPP). PPPs have expanded despite an increasing number of studies warning about the possible negative consequences of higher levels of private provision on equity, such as school segregation and students selection practices. As a response to these equity concerns, different actors have engaged in an intense debate on the pros and cons of PPPs and, specifically, how the governance of private subsidized schooling can be put at the service of the right to education. A growing consensus has emerged around the idea that the ultimate impact of PPPs depends largely on the specifics of their policy design. As a result of this debate, several international organizations call to adopt regulatory frameworks that could contribute to inhibit both school segmentation and opportunistic behaviors in the context of PPPs.
Despite the centrality of regulation and accountability efforts in the debate around PPPs in basic education, the different policy options and instruments available for such purposes have been less systematically examined. The first objective of this paper is to identify the main regulatory and accountability dimensions involved in the governance of private subsidized schools, as well as the main policy designs available for each of these dimensions to promote equity in education. On this basis, the paper examines how different PPP regulatory dimensions can affect educational equity. The evidence presented is based on a review of the available literature on the relationship between PPPs and education equity in education systems with a significant presence of publicly funded private schools. Finally, the paper systematizes the main lessons drawn from the literature reviewed regarding the regulation of private subsidized schools in the context of PPPs.
European Educational Research Journal, 2021
The availability of public funding for private schools, in both primary and secondary education, ... more The availability of public funding for private schools, in both primary and secondary education, has become a common feature in a number of OECD countries. The expansion of public subsidies for privately owned schools has consequences that go far beyond the involvement of private actors in the provision of education. These include deepening forms of regulatory governance in educational systems and the blurring of frontiers between public and private education. Public subsidies for privately owned schools have been adopted following diverse rationalities and in pursuit of different goals. In light of the diversity, this research examines the regulatory configurations of private subsidized education provision across OECD countries, from a policy instruments' perspective. Based on a systematic review of the literature, the article identifies four models of regulation of private subsidized education, and analyses why and how these models have been problematized and have evolved accordingly. The paper pays particular attention to recent educational reforms adopted, in most cases, to tackle the equity challenges posed by publicly subsidized private provision. Finally, the paper elaborates on the implications that this form of provision has for public education and the achievement of equity goals, and reflects on the potential and limits of regulatory reforms when confronting these issues.
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Journal Articles by Clara Fontdevila
Each contribution to this Forum probes a different facet of these tensions, exploring how dVET can be calibrated in different contexts to realise its human development potential. Taking a practice-led approach and featuring representatives from cooperation agencies, consultancy groups, and research organisations, this piece contributes to ongoing debates about the possibility of effectively integrating human development thinking into education policy.
El estudio muestra cómo el sector privado desempeña una gama de funciones cada vez más heterogéneas en el ámbito de la política educativa, y apunta a que las organizaciones privadas están diversificando los recursos y las formas de capital que movilizan. Así, la hora de incidir en políticas públicas, el sector privado no depende únicamente de su poder eco-nómico y de las formas más evidentes de capital político, sino que se apoya cada vez más en las conexiones relativamente informales con diferentes actores (como el tercer sector, y las élites económicas o de la sociedad civil), y el reconocimiento como expertos y productores de conocimiento, adquirido mediante la movilización de evidencia. Finalmente, los resultados sugieren que el sector privado opera cada vez más como un actor político de primer orden, integrado orgánicamente en procesos y espacios de elaboración de políticas.
internationally and reaching countries that seemed to be immune
to this education reform approach until quite recently.
Accordingly, more and more educational systems in the world
are articulated around three main policy principles: accountability,
standards and decentralisation. National large-scale assessments
(NLSAs) are a core component of the GERM; these assessments are
increasingly used for accountability purposes as well as to ensure
that schools achieve and promote centrally defined and evaluable
learning standards. In this paper, we explore these trends on the
basis of a new and original database on NLSAs, as well as on data
coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) questionnaires. In the paper we also discuss how different
theories on policy dissemination/globalisation explain the international
spread of NLSAs and test-based accountability worldwide,
and reflect on the potential of a political sociology approach to
analyse this globalising phenomenon.
sector in the process for the defi nition of the SDG4
agenda constitutes an under-researched area, recent
developments in the sector suggest that the
debate has encouraged the integration of the education
fi eld into the corporate social responsibility
dynamics inaugurated by the UN Global Compact
more than a decade ago. The growing engagement
of the corporate sector in the SDG4 debate has
been channeled by the participation of corporate
actors in semi-autonomous consortia and consultation
mechanisms enjoying remarkable levels of
discretion - rather than by its incorporation into
democratically-monitored bodies and formalized
decision-making structures.
Papers by Clara Fontdevila
Despite the centrality of regulation and accountability efforts in the debate around PPPs in basic education, the different policy options and instruments available for such purposes have been less systematically examined. The first objective of this paper is to identify the main regulatory and accountability dimensions involved in the governance of private subsidized schools, as well as the main policy designs available for each of these dimensions to promote equity in education. On this basis, the paper examines how different PPP regulatory dimensions can affect educational equity. The evidence presented is based on a review of the available literature on the relationship between PPPs and education equity in education systems with a significant presence of publicly funded private schools. Finally, the paper systematizes the main lessons drawn from the literature reviewed regarding the regulation of private subsidized schools in the context of PPPs.
Each contribution to this Forum probes a different facet of these tensions, exploring how dVET can be calibrated in different contexts to realise its human development potential. Taking a practice-led approach and featuring representatives from cooperation agencies, consultancy groups, and research organisations, this piece contributes to ongoing debates about the possibility of effectively integrating human development thinking into education policy.
El estudio muestra cómo el sector privado desempeña una gama de funciones cada vez más heterogéneas en el ámbito de la política educativa, y apunta a que las organizaciones privadas están diversificando los recursos y las formas de capital que movilizan. Así, la hora de incidir en políticas públicas, el sector privado no depende únicamente de su poder eco-nómico y de las formas más evidentes de capital político, sino que se apoya cada vez más en las conexiones relativamente informales con diferentes actores (como el tercer sector, y las élites económicas o de la sociedad civil), y el reconocimiento como expertos y productores de conocimiento, adquirido mediante la movilización de evidencia. Finalmente, los resultados sugieren que el sector privado opera cada vez más como un actor político de primer orden, integrado orgánicamente en procesos y espacios de elaboración de políticas.
internationally and reaching countries that seemed to be immune
to this education reform approach until quite recently.
Accordingly, more and more educational systems in the world
are articulated around three main policy principles: accountability,
standards and decentralisation. National large-scale assessments
(NLSAs) are a core component of the GERM; these assessments are
increasingly used for accountability purposes as well as to ensure
that schools achieve and promote centrally defined and evaluable
learning standards. In this paper, we explore these trends on the
basis of a new and original database on NLSAs, as well as on data
coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) questionnaires. In the paper we also discuss how different
theories on policy dissemination/globalisation explain the international
spread of NLSAs and test-based accountability worldwide,
and reflect on the potential of a political sociology approach to
analyse this globalising phenomenon.
sector in the process for the defi nition of the SDG4
agenda constitutes an under-researched area, recent
developments in the sector suggest that the
debate has encouraged the integration of the education
fi eld into the corporate social responsibility
dynamics inaugurated by the UN Global Compact
more than a decade ago. The growing engagement
of the corporate sector in the SDG4 debate has
been channeled by the participation of corporate
actors in semi-autonomous consortia and consultation
mechanisms enjoying remarkable levels of
discretion - rather than by its incorporation into
democratically-monitored bodies and formalized
decision-making structures.
Despite the centrality of regulation and accountability efforts in the debate around PPPs in basic education, the different policy options and instruments available for such purposes have been less systematically examined. The first objective of this paper is to identify the main regulatory and accountability dimensions involved in the governance of private subsidized schools, as well as the main policy designs available for each of these dimensions to promote equity in education. On this basis, the paper examines how different PPP regulatory dimensions can affect educational equity. The evidence presented is based on a review of the available literature on the relationship between PPPs and education equity in education systems with a significant presence of publicly funded private schools. Finally, the paper systematizes the main lessons drawn from the literature reviewed regarding the regulation of private subsidized schools in the context of PPPs.
• La privatización educativa como parte de la reforma estructural del Estado. Los procesos de privatización pueden tomar un carácter estructural, implicando una redefinición drástica del rol del Estado en materia educativa (transitando de un rol de proveedor de educación a un rol de regulador, financiador y evaluador del sistema educativo). Dichas reformas, dado su carácter estructural y su adopción a gran escala, son de muy difícil reversión. Chile representa uno de los casos más emblemáticos de este tipo de privatización en América Latina y en el mundo. En los años ochenta, Chile adoptó un sistema de financiamiento per capita con el fin de fomentar la libre elección escolar y la competición entre escuelas. La reforma fue instrumentada mediante un sistema universal de vouchers, el cual fue combinado con un fuerte proceso de descentralización educativa. El impulso inicial a tales reformas se explica en buena parte por el marcado compromiso ideológico de la dictadura del general A. Pinochet con la doctrina neoliberal, así como por el amplio margen de acción del que disfrutaba el gobierno de la Junta Militar en un contexto de fuerte represión política. Una vez entrados en el período democrático, las dificultades prácticas derivadas del debilitamiento del Estado, junto con la re-significación del sentido de la educación, considerada como un bien privado, han contribuido a la pervivencia y consolidación de las dinámicas de mercado y del proceso de privatización en el campo educativo.
• La privatización como reforma incremental. En países como Colombia o Brasil, la privatización educativa es el resultado del efecto acumulativo de una serie de cambios graduales, típicamente adoptados a nivel sub-nacional y, en cierta manera, desconectados los unos de los otros. En Colombia, este proceso se ha canalizado a través de numerosas experiencias de alianzas entre el sector público y el privado, cuya expansión se ha visto favorecida por la combinación de un marco regulatorio favorable al sector privado y de la infra-financiación histórica del sector público. En el caso brasileño, los altos niveles de descentralización administrativa han resultado en la emergencia del sector privado en aquellos estados y municipios con menos capacidad de inversión en educación y/o gobernados por fuerzas políticamente afines a una agenda privatizadora. Esta tendencia se ha visto favorecida tanto por la emergencia de una nueva clase media y una serie de iniciativas federales que incentivan la provisión y consumo de educación privada, así como por la influencia ejercida por redes filantrópicas y de emprendedores educativos.
• La privatización ‘por defecto’ y la emergencia de escuelas privadas de bajo costo. En determinados países, el crecimiento del sector privado se explica por la pasividad o limitada capacidad de respuesta del Estado ante una creciente demanda educativa. La privatización se produce así ‘por defecto’, y se canaliza a menudo a través de las llamadas ‘escuelas privadas de bajo costo’. Se trata de un tipo de escuelas en expansión en Perú, República Dominicana y Jamaica. En los tres casos, el establecimiento de escuelas privadas de bajo costo ha sido un fenómeno eminentemente urbano, típicamente vinculado a procesos de rápido crecimiento demográfico en un contexto de falta de inversión educativa estatal. En algunos casos, además, el crecimiento de este tipo de oferta privada ha sido indirectamente alentado por el Estado mediante, por ejemplo, la liberalización del sector educativo, o el otorgamiento de subvenciones públicas al sector privado.
• Alianzas público-privadas históricas. En otros casos, la fuerte presencia de provisión educativa no-estatal es el resultado de una relación de cooperación estable entre la Iglesia y el Estado. Este tipo de alianzas entre el sector público y el privado (PPPs por sus siglas en inglés) se encuentran intrínsecamente vinculadas a la instauración de sistemas educativos nacionales y a la necesidad de ampliar la cobertura escolar de forma costo-eficiente. Dichas alianzas vertebran los sistemas educativos de, por ejemplo, República Dominicana y Argentina. Ambos países cuentan con un sistema de subvenciones y transferencias públicas que cubren una parte importante de los gastos de los establecimientos educativos privados, eminentemente de carácter religioso, sin perjuicio del cobro de cuotas. La dependencia del Estado respecto de la provisión privada, así como la percepción de las PPPs como un arreglo de carácter costo-eficiente, contribuyen a reforzar y expandir este modelo.
• La privatización por la vía del desastre. Las situaciones de emergencia humanitaria y social, que son el resultado tanto de desastres naturales como de conflictos armados, constituyen un terreno fértil para la adopción de reformas educativas drásticas que en situación de normalidad encontrarían más dificultades para prosperar. Tales dinámicas se encuentran detrás de la adopción de distintos programas de school-based management en países centroamericanos (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala y Honduras), así como de la consolidación y expansión de la provisión privada en Haití. En estos contextos, el sentimiento de urgencia ligado a situaciones de crisis ha contribuido a la legitimación (a escala local y global) de distintas fórmulas de privatización, tanto endógena como exógena. En todos estos casos, la influencia de organismos internacionales ha sido notable y ha dificultado la articulación de una fuerza de oposición a las dinámicas de privatización. A pesar del carácter experimental o temporal de muchas de estas iniciativas, la privatización por la vía del desastre se caracteriza por el potencial amplificador de sus efectos, los cuales acostumbran a trascender las fronteras del mismo desastre.
• La contención de la privatización. En contra de la tendencia general en Latinoamérica, la matrícula privada ha ido a la baja en algunos países de la región. Sería éste el caso de Bolivia, país en el que la matrícula privada ha experimentado un estancamiento y ligero retroceso en las últimas décadas. Este cambio de tendencia se explica por cambios en las dinámicas de oferta y demanda educativa. Destaca así la limitada rentabilidad de la provisión privada en un contexto de una creciente regulación del sector educativo privado, junto con una cierta pérdida de la ventaja comparativa de este sector frente a la creciente inversión educativa y modernización del sector público. Sin embargo, y en paralelo, la creciente intervención gubernamental en materia de educación ha contribuido también a la institucionalización y consolidación del espacio de la provisión privada de origen religioso.
• La privatización latente. Uruguay ha conocido históricamente un desarrollo muy limitado del sector privado, aunque durante las últimas décadas se observan síntomas de un cierto impulso a lógicas pro-mercado. El rol marginal del sector privado se atribuye históricamente a la temprana separación Iglesia-Estado, mientras que su limitado crecimiento durante las últimas décadas se explica por una conjunción de mecanismos ligados sobre todo a la tradición centralizadora, pluralista y gradualista del sistema político uruguayo. No obstante, en los últimos años, se detecta un giro en el plano discursivo y una incipiente cooperación público-privada en forma de iniciativas experimentales, o de propuestas legislativas tendientes a favorecer dicha cooperación, que han acabado permeando en casi todo el espectro político. Así mismo, otras leyes de carácter extraeducativo han contribuido a crear un clima económico propicio a la iniciativa privada en materia de provisión de todo tipo de servicios sociales, incluyendo los educativos.
En resumen, la creciente presencia del sector privado en los sistemas educativos de Latinoamérica responde a una realidad para nada monolítica. El desarrollo de un amplio abanico de trayectorias de privatización educativa en la región se comprende sólo a la luz de una serie de especificidades (políticas, económicas e institucionales) que, en la mayoría de casos, tienen un carácter marcadamente endógeno. La gran diversidad que representan estas trayectorias constata que América Latina es un espacio privilegiado desde el que pensar y participar en debates teóricos y sociales sobre la economía política de las reformas educativas.
within which Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
features prominently. ESD has enjoyed privileged attention
from international organizations, in order to move political
agendas from a narrow and instrumental understanding to a
more holistic conceptualisation of development. However, the
project of ESD cannot be easily understood as the means to
bring about inclusive development. On the basis of a literature
review, this paper inquiries into the tension between idealistic
and critical approaches of ESD to highlight how close or how far
ESD is from a critical and comprehensive understanding of
inclusive development.
de Barcelona. Los resultados del análisis muestran la utilidad teórica y metodológica del concepto y ponen de manifiesto los efectos que genera el habitus institucional en términos
de equidad y oportunidades educativas.
A lo largo de las dos últimas décadas, la privatización educativa ha adquirido una dimensión global. Un amplio número de países en circunstancias políticas y económicas muy distintas han adoptado políticas que promueven la participación del sector privado en el campo educativo. El objetivo de este artículo es explorar por qué y cómo estas políticas han avanzado con tanta intensidad. Desde una perspectiva de la economía política de la reforma educativa, el artículo analiza las condiciones, los agentes y los mecanismos que se encuentran detrás del avance de la privatización educativa en diferentes contextos. En términos metodológicos, el artículo se basa en la revisión sistemática de 164 estudios primarios sobre reformas educativas pro-privatización. La aplicación de esta metodología nos ha permitido identificar seis trayectorias hacia la privatización educativa. Estas son: la privatización educativa como parte de una reforma estructural de Estado (trayectoria representada principalmente por los casos de Chile y el Reino Unido); la privatización como reforma incremental (con Estados Unidos como caso más emblemático); la “vía nórdica” hacia la privatización educativa (en Estados del bienestar social-demócratas del norte de Europa); alianzas público-privadas históricas (identificadas en países con una larga tradición de provisión educativa de la Iglesia, como Holanda, Bélgica y España); privatización "por defecto" en países de bajos ingresos; y privatización por la vía del desastre en países afectados por conflictos y/o catástrofes de diversa índole.
Abstract
Over the last two decades, education privatization has taken on a global dimension. Countries with very different political and economical circumstances have come to adopt a variety of pro-private sector policies in education. The purpose of this article is to explore why and how such policies are being disseminated worldwide. From a political economy perspective, the article elaborates on the conditions, agents and mechanisms behind the advance of privatization in a variety of educational settings. Methodologically, the article is based on the systematic review of 164 primary studies focusing on education privatization reforms. The application of this methodology has allowed us to identify six paths towards education privatization. They are: privatization as a result of the structural transformation of the state (epitomized by the cases of Chile and the UK); privatization as an incremental reform (with the US as the most emblematic case); the “Nordic way” toward privatization (in social-democratic welfare-states from the north of Europe); historical public-private partnerships (in countries with an important tradition of religious schools, such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain); de facto privatization in low-income countries; and privatization “via disaster” in countries affected by conflicts and catastrophes.
En términos metodológicos, el artículo se basa en la revisión sistemática de 164 estudios primarios sobre reformas educativas pro-privatización. La aplicación de esta metodología nos ha permitido identificar seis trayectorias hacia la privatización educativa. Éstas son: la privatización educativa como parte de una reforma estructural de estado (trayectoria representada principalmente por los casos de Chile y el Reino Unido); privatización como reforma incremental (con Estados Unidos como caso más emblemático); la “vía nórdica” hacia la privatización educativa (en estados del bienestar social-demócratas del norte de Europa); alianzas público-privadas históricas (identificadas en países con una larga tradición de provisión educativa de la Iglesia, como Holanda, Bélgica y España); privatización de facto en países de bajos ingresos; y privatización por la vía del desastre en países afectados por conflictos y/o catástrofes de diversa índole.
especialmente acusada en algunas regiones del planeta. América Latina es la región en que la privatización de la provisión educativa ha crecido de forma más pronunciada y constante en las últimas décadas. América Latina destaca no sólo por tener la tasa de escolarización primaria privada más elevada del mundo, sino por ser además aquella en la que el crecimiento de la oferta privada ha sido más sostenido. En el nivel secundario, América Latina encabeza el ranking de regiones con mayor participación privada, pero en este caso comparte posición con los países del África subsahariana.
A pesar de la magnitud del fenómeno de la privatización educativa en América Latina,
la literatura al respecto es todavía limitada, y la articulación de una perspectiva regional
presenta dificultades dada la heterogeneidad interna de la región. En consideración de
ello, el objetivo de esta investigación consiste en mapear la distintas manifestaciones y
trayectorias de la privatización educativa en América Latina, en base a la multiplicidad de condicionantes sociopolíticos, institucionales, demográficos e históricos que intervienen en cada caso.
education civil society coalitions (NECs) in low-income countries so that
they put pressure on governments and donors to implement the
Education for All agenda and the Millennium Development Goal on
education. This article draws on literature on global governance as well
as on an extensive evaluation of the CSEF to explore the actual
contribution of this initiative to the activity of NECs. The article
highlights the achievements and shortcomings of the CSEF and includes
a set of practical recommendations on the role of global civil society in
international development processes.