The
World
Bank
and
Education:
Governing
(through)
knowledge
Mike
Zapp
InstituteofEducationandSociety,UniversityofLuxembourg,11,PortedesSciences,L-4366Esch-sur-Alzette,Luxembourg
ARTICLE INFO Articlehistory: Received21October2016 Accepted29November2016 Keywords: WorldBank Globaleducation Epistemicgovernance
Educationalknowledgeproduction,
managementanddissemination
ABSTRACT
TheWorldBankhasbecomeoneofthemostinfluentialactorsinglobaleducationgovernance.Much researchontheWorldBank’sroleineducationhasfocusedoncoerciveandregulativemechanisms.The paperexaminestheWB’sepistemicinfluenceinshapingeducationalknowledge.Thisarticleanalysesits activitiesasproducer,managerandtransmitterofknowledge.AnalyzingtheevolutionoftheWB’s researchandpublicationrecord,itsknowledgemanagementandprojectoutreachsinceitscreation,the articlewillshowhowithasbecomeoneoftheworld’smostimportantresearchproducersineducation. Throughdisseminating,teaching,applyingandcelebratingspecifickindsofeducationalknowledge,its roleasaneducationalknowledgeclearinghousehasexpandedtochangetheglobaleducationdiscourse. ©2016ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.
1.Introduction
The World Bank (WB), initially the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), had been founded in
1944toassistinpost-warreconstruction.Withthefoundingofthe
InternationalDevelopmentAssociation(IDA)in1960,itextended
itsmissiontoglobaldevelopment.1 Comparedtoother
interna-tional organizations (IOs), the WB today features the highest
numberinstaff(morethan10,000employees),widestgeographic
scope (genuinely global) and broadest substantive coverage
(includingallhumandevelopmentareas).
Inthedecadesfollowingitsfoundingandgrowth,theWBhas
gradually evolved from a global financial facilitator into an
important global agency involved in funding, advising and
planning educational policies worldwide. While its early work
ineducationprioritizedonprovidingresourcesforinfrastructure
andfinancingmanpowertraining,itsfocusshifted,alongwiththe
general development discourse, to basic education and early
childhood education in the 1970s and 1980s (Chabbott, 2003;
Jones,2007).Today,theWBis,byfar,thelargestfundinginstitution
ineducationin theworldcoveringalleducationalsectors from
early childhood care and education to tertiary education and
lifelonglearning.
Studies dealing with the WB’s role in education are often
interested in unearthing the ideological underpinnings of its
educationrecommendationsand in tracingitseffects onpublic
educationsystemsandlearningopportunities.Asthemajorglobal
lending institution, its loan conditionality has been shown to
systematicallyinvolvereformsineducation.Inthesestudies,the
WB is primarilyanalysed in terms of its coercive or regulative
power(Jones,1997;Klees,2002;KleesandEdwards,2014).
Morerecently,scholarlycontributionshavestartedtotakeinto
accountthenormativeinfluenceoftheWB byfocusingonsuch
mechanismsasagenda-settingandpolicy-designineducation.
Yet, despite this shift towards ‘softer governance’, little
attention has been given to the cognitive or epistemic role of
theWB.Thus,heretheWBwouldprimarilybeunderstoodasa
producer, manager and transmitter of educational knowledge
worldwide.Since1996,whenthen-presidentJamesWolfensohn
announced that the World Bank is to become the ‘Knowledge
Bank’,theorganizationhasimplementedaseriesofstrategiesto
reform its internal managementand operational portfolio.This
‘knowledgeturn’didnotonlyinvolvemajorchangesintheuseand
provision of its knowledge management systems. The WB has
investedheavilyinknowledgeproduction,namelyresearch,inall
itsunits,particularlyineducation.TheBank(asitcallsitself)has
become, in the last 15 years, the most productive scientific
institutionanddatageneratorforawidearrayofresearchareas
includingeducation. ItsDevelopmentResearch Groupwas
nomi-nated‘bestgovernment-affiliatedthinktankintheworld’in2015,
and theassociatedWorldBankInstitutecomesfifthinthesame
report publishedby theThinkTanks and Civil SocietiesProgram
(UniversityofPennsylvania).
E-mailaddress:mike.zapp@uni.lu(M.Zapp).
1 Together,IBRDandIDAarereferredtoastheWorldBank(WB)andtheyare
dealt with in this paper. In addition, the WorldBank Group comprisesthe
InternationalFinanceCorporation(1956),theInternationalCentreforSettlementof
InvestmentDisputes(1966)andtheMultilateralInvestmentGuaranteeAgency
(1988).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.11.007
0738-0593/©2016ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.
ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect
International
Journal
of
Educational
Development
Drawingonitsown,rapidlygrowing,bodyofresearch,theWB
nowalsoactivelyseeks todisseminateitsgathered knowledge.
Suchdisseminationoccursthroughpublications(books,journals,
conferences), databases and, to an increasing extent, through
offeringseminars,coursesandon-linelearningformats,moreand
more resembling a conventional (yet global) higher education
researchinstitution.Italsodirectlyappliesitsknowledgeinthe
fieldthrough a drasticallygrowing number of projectswithan
explicitfocusoneducationaroundtheglobe.
Theseandothernovelpractices,discussedinthispaper,have
thepotentialtofundamentallyalterthekindofinfluencetheWB
exerts worldwide. As a consequence, scholarship on global
educationhastorethinktheanalyticalapparatusappliedtothe
studyofglobaleducationalgovernance.
In the first partof the paper, available literature on global
educationalgovernancefromcomparativeeducationscholarship
enables the identification of mechanisms and rationales of
governancefoundinIOsingeneralandfortheWBinparticular.
Then,Itracethe‘knowledgeturn’ineducationattheWBfrom
itsincipientstageinthemid-1990stoitsmostrecentinnovation,
theSystemsApproachforBetterEducationalResults(SABER)in2014.
Empirically,theanalysisdrawsonvarioussourcesofquantitative
datatoprovideevidencesupportingthehypothesisofanemerging
focusonknowledgewithinthe Bank’s (educational)work. This
‘knowledge turn’ is analysed in terms of the WB’s research,
scientificoutput,scientisationofoutput,increasein
knowledge-assemblingandapplicationanditsburgeoningteachingportfolio.
The final section discusses the WB’s epistemic practices in
educational knowledge governance as a showcase of epistemic
governancedefinedastheproduction,processing,diffusionanduse
ofpolicy-relevantknowledge.
2.Internationalorganizationsinthestudyofglobaleducational
governance
Inrecentyears,globalorinternationaldimensionsintheguise
of international organizations (IOs) have been systematically
introducedintothestudyofeducationalgovernanceand
policy-making.Importantmacro-approachesemphasizingtheroleofIOs
inglobalizingeducationinclude,forinstance,Mundy’s(2007:20)
concept of educational multilateralism depicting IOs as ‘a new
venueforpoliticalcontestsoversharednormsandinstitutions’.In
a similar vein, Parreira do Amaral (2011) sees an international
regimerising in educationwithgovernmentaland
non-govern-mental,nationalandinternationalorganisationsinstitutionalizing
educationglobally.
Further, research from fields such as comparative and
international (development)education interested in the
move-ment of educational policiesinvestigate theroles of individual
internationalactors.Here,IOsaretreated,attimes,as‘hard’players
thatregulate,fundand,hereby,imposeeducationbytrickingstates
intonewpolicies(Dale,2005),attimes,moresoftly,as‘teachersof
norms’(Finnemore,1993)or‘knowledgebrokers’(Jakobi,2006a,
b).Inthelattercase,asthe‘sociologyofmeasurementineducation
policy’(Gorur,2014)takes shape payingparticularattentionto
internationalorganizations(IOs)andtheirdiverserolesinnational
policymaking(Fenwicketal.,2014)governancemechanismsmay
include coordination and comparison (Martens and Niemann,
2010), agenda-setting (Jakobi, 2006a,b) and evaluation (Rivera
2006,2009).Thewholefieldisunderstoodtobeina‘metrological mood’(Power, 2004)entering an ‘ageof measurement’ (Biesta, 2009;alsoHeynemanandLykins,2008;MeyerandBenavot,2013).
Such approaches are highly useful in providing a fresh
perspectiveonhowtorethinkeducationalplanninginaglobalized
world,acknowledgingthecriticalimportanceIOshaveacquiredin
thepasttwodecades.Thesecontributionshaveaddeduptoa
fine-grained analytical apparatus helping to understand how IOs
influencenationalandotherIOs’educationalpolicy-making.
Againstthebackdropoftheseanalyses, wecanconsiderably
extendJakobi’s(2009) classificationongovernanceinstruments
discussed in thecontextof lifelong learning fromUNESCO,EU,
OECDandWB(Table1)looselyborrowingaclassicalsociological
schemetodistinguishbetweendifferentprocessesof
institution-alization(Scott,2001).
Inaregulativeperspective,Dale(2005),forexample,proposes
tolook at funding, provision,ownership and regulation as key
activities in EU educational governance. In his pluri-scalar
governance of education these activities are renegotiated along
subnational, national and supranational levels. Further, the
notorious Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and more
recently Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), as partof
the‘WashingtonConsensus’(Held,2005)implyhefty
conditional-ity tied to loans and might serve as an example of coercive
governance(Reimers,1994;Jones,1997;Heyneman,2003;Mundy
andVerger,2015).
WTO/GATS might be another example of (controversial)
regulation in education. Although actual effects on national
educationsystemsremainstilllimited,implicationsarethought
tobe far-reaching(Robertson et al.,2002; Scherrer,2007). The
recentTradeinServicesAgreement(TiSA)negotiatedbetweenthe
EU,theUSAandsomeother20AsianandLatinAmericancountries
has not yet been discussed in the literature in its potential
Table1
Governancemechanismsofinternationalorganizations.
Mechanism coercive/regulative normative cognitive/epistemic
Practices provision ownership fundingconditionality treaties/sanctions standard-setting coordination surveillance persuasion
knowledgeproduction&dissemination
theorization mimesis
Basisof
legitimacy
legallysanctioned&enforced morallygoverned cultural
Examples GATS&TiSA
WB&IMFStructuralAdjustmentandPoverty
ReductionStrategies
EUOpenMethodof
Coordination
OECDPeerReviewing&
Benchmarks
UNESCORecommendations
commondevelopmentmodels&organizationalprinciples&
actionframeworks
knowledgediffusionamongIOs
Typeof
governance
consequencesfornationaleducationalsystems(butseeRobertson andKomljenovic,2015).
More recently, researchers have directed their attention
towards more normative mechanisms. Again in the context of
theEU,Martens(2007)andJakobi(2006a),forinstance,analyse
theOpenMethodofCoordinationasasoftmechanismservingto
surveilmember states’compliancewithEuropeandefinitionsof
bestpractice(see alsoDale,2005).Similarly, Kallo(2006: 282)
analysesOECDsoftgovernanceintermsof‘strategicconsulting,
peer pressure, public studies and direct and indirect
agenda-setting’. In a seminal article from contructivist international
relations(IR)scholarship,Finnemore(1993)analysedthespreadof
sciencebureaucraciesworldwidebyUNESCO,evenwherethere
seemstobenoneed(alsoBarnettandFinnemore,2004).
Whilethesemechanismscontinuetohavemuchimpactand
deserve further ongoing examination, much less attention has
been given to cognitive or epistemic mechanisms. A notable
exception is Chabbott’s (2003) and Zapp's and Dahmen's
(forthcoming)work ontheglobalorganizational fieldof
educa-tionaldevelopmentarguingthatknowledgeproductionhelpsto
explainthediffusionofeducationanddevelopmentmodelsamong
IOs bystructuring thefield intocoreand periphery. While the
knowledge producers (IOs with professional staff, professional
schools,journalsandsoon)sitatthecore,theknowledgeusers
that depend onthis knowledge (smaller organizations) occupy
more peripheral positions leading to isomorphic processes in
positionsandpracticesamonghighlydiverseactorsinthefield.In
becoming more similar, mimetic processes and the role of
professionals inspreading commondevelopment models,
com-mon organisational principlesand commonaction frameworks
amongorganizations.
The argument of isomorphism is all the more important if
considered that, in this perspective, world development in
educationworks in a top-down direction, fromIOs to national
policy-making.Here,IOsserveas‘theorists’providingrationalized
accountsofsocialorganization.Rationalization,scientizationand
educationalizationhavebecomemajorculturaltransformationsof
theworld polity in the20thcenturyand areembodied by IOs
(Meyeretal.,1997; Bromley2010;Ramirez etal.,2016).Inthis
cognitiveorepistemicview,thesharedunderstandings,
establish-ing of orthodoxies and theirmimetic diffusionsupported bya
culturalideologyoffunctionalismbecomemaintheoreticaltenets.
3.Theworldbankandeducation
Education has become one of the key Global Practices (WB
operational units) in the WB portfolio (Psacharopoulus 2006).
SincetheEducationforAllinitiative(1990),WBeducationlending
hasseensignificantandsteadyincreaseupuntiltodayinthetwo
major organizationalmembers(IBRDand IDA;Fig.1).Asimilar
increasecanbereportedforeducationallendingasashareofthe
totalWBlendingportfolio(Fig.2).
MostresearchdoneontheWB’sworkineducationhasfocused
on two aspects. First, the WB’s particular understandingof or
approachtoeducationhasbeenwidelydiscussed.We,here,finda
number of contributions stressing theWB’s neoliberal takeon
educationwhere educationis only‘handmaiden of themarket’
(Rivera,2009:289).SuchalineofthinkinghasbeenappliedtoWB
educationworkingeneral(Klees,2012;VergerandBonal,2012)
andparticulareducationalsectorworkas,forexample,forlifelong
learning,adulteducationandtechnicalandvocationaleducation
(Klees,2002;Schemmann,2007;Rutkowski,2007).
Fig.1.AmountofWorldBankEducationLending,1962–2010.
(Source:EdStats;owncalculation)
Fig.2.EducationasPercentageofTotalWorldBankLending,1962–2010.
Thesestudiesderivemuchoftheirimportanceinclaimingthat
the underlying economistic paradigm heavily affects WB’s
educationallendingpracticesandthepolicyprescriptionscoupled
to them as in structural adjustment or, since 1999, poverty
reductionmentionedabove(Heyneman,2003;CaillodsandHallak,
2004;Jones,2007).
Secondly,andmorerecently,scholarshipwithafreshresearch
perspective ongovernance has begun to look at the emerging
knowledgeworkdone attheWB in general and inits workon
education in particular (St. Clair, 2006). Using the continuum
introducedabove,theseimportantstudiesaresituatedatthesoft,
i.e.cognitive, end of thearray of governancemechanisms (see
Table1).Amongthespecificinstrumentsunderscrutinyinthese
contributionsaretheneoliberalimplicationsofdecentralizedWB
knowledgemanagement (Plehwe, 2007), the biased generation
and deployment of research-based knowledge (Lauglo, 1996;
Broad, 2007; Dethier, 2007; Rao and Woolcock,2007), the
far-reachingclassificationof educationalsystemsaroundtheworld
througheducationalindicators(Steiner-Khamsi,2009)andtheuse
ofquantitativemethodsasatechnologyofgovernanceingeneral
(KleesandEdwards.2014).
Thisworkisvaluableasitpaysattentiontothenewapproachto
educationtaken bytheWB inthelast 20yearspointing tothe
potentialconsequencesofsuchashift.Whatremainssomewhat
underrepresentedinthesestudiesis,however,thescopeandwider
implicationsoftheseimportantshiftstowardsamore
knowledge-basedinternationalactorintheinternalorganizationoftheWB
knowledgemanagement(vis-à-visitsownstaff)anditsexternal
communicationandoperation(vis-à-visclientsandstakeholders
aroundtheworld).
Moreimportantly,thisnewphilosophyofcreating,managing
andsharingknowledgeaffectstheWB’swaytoapproachworkin
its 19 Global Practices, especially in education. In its latest
educationsector strategy, theWB (2011: 1) announced that it
would not only be needed to have a ‘global knowledge base
powerful enough to guide’, but that it should also have the
‘aspirations to be both a generator of new knowledge and a
synthesizerofexistingknowledge’.Thishasfar-reaching
implica-tionsforthestrategiespursuedbytheWBineducationand,asI
will show in my empirical part, for the global landscape of
educationalresearchasawhole.Inthefollowingpart,Itracethe
mainWBreformsandinitiativestobuilditsknowledgebaseand
thestrategiestoputittouse.
4.Theworldbank’s‘knowledgeturn’
In October 1996, at the Annual Meetings Address,
then-presidentJamesWolfensohnannouncedtheWB’snewmandate:
‘Wehavebeeninthebusinessofresearchinganddisseminating
thelessonsofdevelopmentforalongtime.[...]weneedto
investinthenecessarysystems,inWashingtonandworldwide,
thatwillenhanceourabilitytogatherdevelopment
informa-tionandexperience,andshareitwithourclients.Weneedto
become,ineffect,theKnowledgeBank.’(Wolfensohn,1996).
One year later, at the first Global Knowledge Conference in
Toronto,theWBbroughttogetherparticipantsfrom144countries
pavingthewayfortheGlobalKnowledgePartnershipbylinkingall
local offices to global communications. As an internal reform
strategy,theStrategicCompactwaslaunchedthesameyearaiming
atinvestingin additionalresourcesoverathree-yearperiod ‘to
respondmoreeffectively throughafundamentallytransformed
institution inreducingpoverty’(WB,2001).Alsoin1997,theWB
launchedtheAfricanVirtualUniversity(AVU).Since2003,theAVU
isanindependentintergovernmentalorganizationssupportedby
18 African countries, now comprising 53 institutions in 27
countries(AVU,2016).
Remarkably, educationwas soon to becomethe pilotsector
withintheWBtobetransformedintoaknowledgemanagement
system.ThesameyearWolfensohnannouncedtheadventofthe
‘Knowledge Bank’, Maris O’Rourke, the then-director of the
education department(or thematic groups asthey came tobe
called after 1996), took on the task to set up an Educational
KnowledgeManagementSystem(EKMS)as‘awayoforganizingto
create, capture, distill and disseminate relevant development
knowledgeoneducation’(CarayannisandLaporte,2002:6).The
coreoftheEKMSwastheEducationAdvisoryService,asafirstpoint
ofcontactforWBstaff(250atthattime2)and‘clients’.Here,ideas
for electronic, archival, and documentary usability were first
developedandtested,beforetheywerelaterimplementedinother
sectorsoftheWB.By1998,thefirstuserinterfaceforinternaland
externaleducationalknowledgetransferwasestablished,
becom-ing thebasis of the nowfar morecomplex general knowledge
managementsystem.
Othereducation-relatedprogramsfollowed suit, suchasthe
IndigenousKnowledgeforDevelopmentProgram,theGlobalDistance
LearningProgramandtheDevelopmentGateway(King,2002).
A significant step was the launch of the Open Development
Strategy in 2010 consisting of open knowledge and open data
approaches including free visualization and mapping toolsand
accesstoglobaldatasetsonallWBsectors.TheOpenKnowledge
RepositoryandtheOpenLearningCampusthatfollowedfewyears
laterarepartofthesamestrategyandmarkedasignificantturnin
the role of the WB from a data-gathering and data-compiling
institution to, in addition, a data-disseminator. They will be
discussed below. The year 2010 also saw the WB’s first
self-designed large-scale assessment program witha strong
educa-tional component, Skills Toward Employment and Productivity
(STEP),pilotedin9countries(seebelow).
ThemostrecentinnovationistheSystemsApproachforBetter
EducationalResults(SABER),whichhasthepotentialtobecomethe
world’s most comprehensive and integrating country-level
ac-count on educational data and policy information given its
thoroughcollectionofdataandexhaustivenumberofindicators.
SABER will also be part of a more detailed discussion below
(Table2).
Theseriesofmeasuresdescribedherehavetransformedboth
theWB’sinternalmanagement(e.g.gatheringdataandexchanging
databetweenunits),display(e.g.wideravailabilityandusability)
Table2
KeystepsintheWorldBank’s‘knowledgeturn’.
1996 WBpresidentJamesWolfensohnannounces‘KnowledgeBank’
1997 FirstWB-sponsoredGlobalKnowledgeConferenceinToronto
1997 LaunchoftheStrategicCompact
1997 LaunchoftheAfricanVirtualUniversity
1998 WorldDevelopmentReportisthemedKnowledgeforDevelopment
1998 FinalizingtheEducationalKnowledgeManagementSystem(EKMS)
1998 LaunchoftheIndigenousKnowledgeforDevelopmentProgram
2000 LaunchoftheGlobalDistanceLearningNetwork
2004 ShanghaiGlobalLearningProgram
2010 LaunchoftheOpenKnowledgeandOpenData(OpenDevelopment
Strategy)
2010 LaunchofSkillsTowardsEmploymentandProductivity(STEP)
2012 LaunchoftheOpenKnowledgeRepository
2013 LaunchoftheOpenLearningCampus
2014 LaunchofSystemsApproachforBetterEducationalResults(SABER)
(Source:authors’owndepiction)
2
ThisnumberappliestotheEducationAdvisoryService.Theactualnumberof
WB staffworking oneducation is not available,but canbe estimated to be
andtransferofeducationalknowledge(e.g.universal
implement-ability).TheWB hasactivelysoughttoincrease itspotential to
become the global one-stop-shop for educational knowledge.
Analysingthisnewmandateandthecapacitiesthathavebeenbuilt
to comply with it requires a new approach that captures this
knowledgeturnandthenovelactivitiesattheWB.Thus,Ipropose
a typology ofmechanisms of what Iterm epistemicgovernance
definedastheproduction,processing,diffusionanduseof
policy-relevantknowledge.Ipreferthetermepistemicovercognitiveas
thelattercarries muchpsychological connotationwithit,while
epistemic refers to the cultural and collective structures of
knowledge(Ruggie,1975forasimilaruse).3Ialsopreferepistemic
overknowledgeasthelatterisusedbythebankitselftodesignate
itsstrategicchangesininternalmanagement.
Inthefollowingsections,thistypologywillservetoguidemy
analysisofWBworkoneducationalknowledge(Table3).
5.Mechanismsandpracticesofepistemicgovernance
5.1.Knowledgeproduction
‘OnlyHarvardUniversitycomesclose’
5.1.1.Fundingresearch
First, the WB has long been collaborating with traditional
educationalinstitutionsthroughfellowshipsandothersupporting
programs.Since the1980s, itoffersThe JointJapan/WorldBank
GraduateScholarshipProgram,theRobertS.McNamaraFellowships
Programor theJapanIndonesia Presidential ScholarshipProgram.
Usually, these funding schemes target developing countries
nationalswithexcellentproposalsandfinancetravelling,studying
abroad,datacollectionandsoon.Thenumberofbeneficiariesis
wellabove5000 students, which, asalumni, become partof a
networksupportedbytheWB(WB,2016a).Inaddition,theWBis
amongthemainsponsorsoftheAfricanVirtualUniversity(AVU;see
above).TheAVUhastrainedmorethan43,000studentssinceits
startin1997(AVU,2016)
5.1.2.Conductingresearch
More important than theseindirect fundingmechanisms is,
however,researchconductedbytheWBitself.Obtainingreliable
data ontheWB's volumeand outcome of internalresearchon
educationis difficultastheorganization hasspecificcriteria in
definingwhatresearchandeducationrefertoandwhatismade
publiclyavailable.
WBresearchisorganizedwithineightresearchprogramsunder
the general direction of the senior vice-president and chief
economist by the Development Economics Vice-Presidency(DEC;
staff:122researchersonshort-termandtenuredcontracts).The
DECisdividedintothreemaingroups,amongwhichtheResearch
Group and the Data Group are mainly tasked with primary
knowledgegeneration.
BytheWBdefinition,activitiesclassifiedasresearchattheWB
donotincludethequantitativelymuchmoreimportantso-called
EconomicandSectorWorkandPolicyAnalysiscarriedoutbyBank
stafftosupportpre-investmentoperationsincountriesalloverthe
world.NoraretheWorldDevelopmentReportsortheWorldBank
Institute outputs (responsible for staff and client learning; see
below) included. With all these being excluded, the epistemic
influenceifjudgedbythelimitednumbersprovidedbytheWB
itselfmayactuallybeunderstated.
For the most recent period (2009–2011), for which data is
available,over360researchprojectscoveringawidearrayoftopics
were being implemented each year. Although very strong in
absoluteterms(US$244millionin2009–2012),theDEC’sresearch
budgetasashareofthetotalnetadministrativebudgetisstilllow
(2.9%)compared tootherorganizations(e.g.theIMFwith6.8%)
(WB, 2012). Between 2001 and 2010, it spent $49 million on
educationalresearchproducing280piecesofresearchandother
analyticalwork(WB,2011).4
Although education is touched upon in numerous projects
withinalloftheeightprograms,theprogramswiththestrongest
education component is the Human Development and Public
Servicesprogram. In ordertoobtaina longitudinaldepiction of
theevolutionofthenumberofWB-financedresearchprojects,I
collectedandanalysedannualresearchcompendiaintheperiod
for whichdataisavailable (1973–2009).Overall,thenumber of
officialresearchprojectsincreasedconsiderablyfrom54projects
Table3
Mechanismsandpracticesinglobalepistemicgovernanceofeducationalknowledge(ownaccount).
Mechanisms Practices Function Examples
Knowledge production
fundingresearch supportingthegenerationofresearch
knowledge
RobertS.McNamaraFellowshipsProgram
conductingresearch generatingresearchknowledge ‘IncreasingAccesstoEducationinMozambique:AnalysisofBarriersandEffects
ofRecentReforms’
publishingresearch cognitivedevelopmentofscientificdiscourse books,articles,PolicyResearchWorkingPapers&DiscussionPapers
Knowledge management
assembling knowledge
assemblingthestateoftheartcreating
centralizeddatabasesandpublications
OpenKnowledgeRepository,EducationKnowledgeManagementSystem;WB
Reviews standardizing
knowledge
creating,comparingandevaluating
theoretically-equalsocialunits
indicators,benchmarks,bestpractices(SkillsTowardEmploymentand
Productivity;SystemApproachforBetterEducationalResults)
Knowledge transmission
disseminating knowledge
makingavailableknowledgetoscientific,
policyandlayaudiences
publications,conferences,forums,workshops,(social/new)media
teachingand
certifying knowledge
initiatingprofessionalsandpolicy-makersin
WBknowledge
trainings,workshops,seminars,e-courses
applyingknowledge projectsasincubativesocio-scientific
laboratories
ThirdElementaryEducationProjectinIndia($1Billion;2014-2014)
RomaniaSecondaryEducationProject($200Million;2015–2022)
celebrating knowledge
ceremoniallegitimationofknowledge SkollAward,BigDataChallengeAward,museums,exhibitions,art
3
Itshallalsobenotedthatthetermepistemicgovernancehasbeenusedby
AlasuutariandQadir(2014)inaFocauldianperspectivetodescribepractices
policy-makersdeploytoalteractors'perceptionsoftheworld.Themaintenetsoftheir
workdiffer,however,considerablyfromtheapproachchosenhere.
4
Ifwecalculatetheaverageforthese280piecesofwork,eachpieceofworkcosts
in1973to247in2009.Amongthese,thetotalnumberofeducation
projectsmorethandoubled(from4in1973to10in2009),while
theshareofprojectswithacleareducationcomponent5remains
fairlystableatanaverage5%(or7,5absoluteN).
5.1.3.Publishingresearch
Justlikeatuniversities,mostWBresearchisnotconductedas
partofparticularprogramsorprojects,butbyindividualscientists
andthenpublishedinvariousformats.TheWBhasproducedover
19,000 publications since 1973. Nearly 2000 books and 9000
journalarticleshavebeenpublishedbyWBstaff,andcloseto4000
workingpapershavebeenproduced,mostoftheminthePolicy
Research Working Papers series. A database of publications
compiledfromseveralmajorbibliographicalindicesalsoincludes
nearly5000bookchaptersauthoredbyBankstaffand500edited
volumes published by the Bank (WB, 2012). According to an
internalsurvey,educationsectorstaffintheWBiswithashareof
69%also thesecond-most research-affinitive staff in theentire
organization(WB,2012).6
In the period 2009–2011 alone, Bank staff and consultants
producedover3000publications,includingover200books,1300
scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals, and 1000 Policy
ResearchWorkingPapers.
For education,theWB (2012) mentions500journal articles,
500books,bookchaptersandworkingpapers.TheWBisfarahead
ofallofthetopuniversitiesandallofthedevelopmentagenciesor
international organizations in the volume of its papers on
developmenttopics, rankingfirstin growth,poverty, and,most
importantly, education. It produces three times as much on
educationasthe13mostproductiveuniversitiesintheworlddoon
average.
In order to get a more longitudinal trend on publications,
RavallionandWagstaff(2012)analysedtheincreaseinpublished
articles,books,chapters, andworking papers ingeneral forthe
period1978–2006(Fig.3).Tworesultsarestriking.Notonlyhas
theoverallportfolioexpanded,nowincludingbooksandworking
papers. More importantly, all types of publications display a
remarkableupward trend, particularlyfrom thelate 1980s and
early1990son.
I complement this data with an analysis of publications
containing relevant education-related terms7 in their title or
keywordsintheperiod1977–2013drawingonthebibliographic
databaseScopus(Elsevier)(Fig.4).Wecanseetwoconsiderable
boostsstartinginthemid-1990sand,evenmorestriking,inthe
early2000s.8Growthratesofscientificoutputmultiplybyfactor
fivetosixinlessthantwodecades.Intheperiod1992–2005alone,
education-relatedpublicationsskyrocketedfrom4to81
publica-tions,nowreaching106publications(2013).Inthesepublications,
general socio-scientificapproaches make for almost 55%,while
econometricandeconomicapproaches(including management)
accountfor54%.
Not only have the absolute numbers of publications risen
considerably, the documentary portfolio as a whole, too. WB
publicationsnowfallinto10collectionsorcategories,whichare
furtherdividedinto484sub-collections.Amongthetencategories,
wefindvarioustypesofbooksandWB-editedjournals.TheWorld
Bank Economic Review, for example, is the most widely read
scholarlyeconomicjournalworldwidewitha5-yearimpactfactor
of 2.48. The Review is freely distributed to more than 9500
subscribersinnon-OECDcountries.OtherjournalsincludetheWB
ResearchObserver,DevelopmentOutreachorHandshake,whichall
adduptothefactthatWBjournalsenjoythelargestworldwide
circulation in that category. Othertypes of publication include
annualreports,evaluations,serialpublications,technicalpapers,
countrystrategy documents,economicand sectorworkstudies,
workingpapersandknowledgenotes.
Regarding the impact of WB output, aggregated publications from
theWBrankamongIMF,Berkeley,Chicago,HarvardandMIT.Its
workingpapersseries reachesa downloadcountof1.4 million.
Based on Google Scholar data, Ravallion and Wagstaff (2012)
comparetheaggregatedimpactofWBresearchstaffwithasetof
high-performinguniversitiesandinternationalorganizationsinthe
period 1995–2010.The WBcomesfirstwithregard to the percentage
of articlescited, third withregard to averagecitations (behind
Harvard and Chicagouniversities) and sixth with regard to its
aggregateh-indexandaheadofallotherIOs.Educationalarticlesare
thesixthmostcitedarticleswithintheWBportfoliobehindmore
economicissuesandgovernance(totalcitationsN=7824).
Com-paredtouniversitydepartments,theWBranksfirstineducationif
basedonarticlecountandsecondifbasedontheh-index.
Fig.3. WBpublicationportfolioevolution,1978–2006(RavallionandWagstaff,2012).
5
Projectsare definedaseducation-relatediftheirtitlecontainsanexplicit
referencetoeducation,schooling,learning,training,teaching,skillsandcompetences
(competencies).
6
Theoriginalquestioninthesurveywas,‘Howfamiliarwouldyousayyouarewith
WorldBankresearchproducts/servicesonascalefrom1to10where1meansnot
familiaratalland10meansextremelyfamiliar?’.Theshareindicatedaboverefersto
theproportionhighlyfamiliarwithresearch(%ofresponsesabove5onscale).
7 Publicationsaredefinedaseducation-relatediftheirtitleorkeywordscontain
anexplicitreferencetoeducation,schooling,learning,training,teaching,skillsand
competences/competencies.
8
MorerecentnumbersarelowerasitusuallytakessometimeforSCOPUSto
5.2.Knowledgemanagement
‘TheWorldBankisthelargestsinglesourceofdevelopment
knowledge.’WB(2016b)
5.2.1.Assemblingknowledge
AspartofitsOpenDevelopmentAgenda,theWBlaunchedthe
OpenKnowledge Repository(OKR)in 2012. It currentlycontains
more than 6900 freely available scientific publications dealing
with education from 1980 up to today including
externally-published,peer-reviewedjournalarticleswrittenbyWB
research-ers.TheOKRsitestatisticscountalmost9milliondownloadssince
itslaunchin2012equallingadailydownloadrateofmorethan
6164publications(January2016).
In its education strategy paper in 1999, the WB (1999)
announceditsfirstmovetowardsastrongerroleforknowledge
in its approach. An Education Knowledge Management System
(EKMS) was called for that ‘creates, captures, distils, and
disseminates relevant development knowledge on education’
(WB, 1999: 42). The EKMS has gradually evolved since then,
now synthesized within SABER, a Systems Approach for Better
EducationResults.SABERisthoughtto‘helptheWorldBankandits
development partners to collect and analyse information on
policies and identify priorities for strengthening education
systems’(WB,2013:4).By2014,thatis,withinoneyear,SABER
diagnosticshadbeenappliedmorethan200timesinmorethan
100countries,andmorethan55countryreportsandrelateddata
areavailablefocussingonparticularaspectsofeducationsystems
(e.g.earlychildhoodeducation,tertiaryeducation)(WB,2014:2).
DiagnostictoolsfromSABERareusedforvirtuallyanyaspectof
educationalgovernance,assessment,planningandmanagement
andonalleducationallevels.Remarkably,SABERisnotthoughtof
asan analyticapparatusfor low- and middle-incomecountries
only.Amongtheparticipantcountries(itisvoluntary)are
high-incomecountriessuchasFinland,FranceandSingapore(Fig.5).
Moreover,theWBdoesnotonlyorganizeandpublishitsown
data,itincreasinglyassemblesthegeneral‘stateoftheart’ina
specificsubjectareaorsector,butalsowithregardtodevelopment
ingeneral.ThefirstWorldDevelopmentReport(WDR),publishedin
1978,hadlessthan125pagesandnoscientificreferences.Atypical
WDR,aspublishedinthelasttenyears,mighthaveupto500pages
andanaverageof850scientificreferences.TheWDRfrom2013,
dealing with jobs, training and skills, for example had an
astonishing1330scientificReferences
Asimilarpatterncanbefoundforkeyeducationdocuments.
The first Education Sector Working Paper published in 1971
resembledmore anorganizational statement onthetopicthan
rigorousanalyticalwork.ThishaschangedinthesubsequentPolicy
PaperUpdate(1974),EducationSectorPolicyPaper(1980),Education
SectorStrategy(1999),EducationSectorStrategyUpdate(2006)and,
above all, the latest Education Sector Strategy from 2011.8 The
PrimaryEducationPolicyPaper(1990)isomittedduetoits
sector-specificscope.IfnotfortheUpdate2006,whichisusuallyamuch
lesscomprehensivework,theriseinthenumberofreferencesis
dramaticforboththereferencestoscientificsources,otherIOsand
toitself.
5.2.2.Standardizingknowledge
TheWBalsocomesintoplayasa‘standardizerofstandards’by
creating and assembling indicators in use worldwide. The WB
EducationStatisticsQuerycontainsaround3261(sic)
internation-allycomparableeducationindicatorsforawidearrayofdomains
such as access, progression, completion, literacy, teachers,
population, and expenditures. The indicators cover education
systemsinmorethan242countries(includingolderterritories)
frompre-primarytotertiaryeducation.Thequeryalsoholdsequity
datafromhouseholdsurveys(1970to2050projections)organized
in five indicator groups (learning outcomes, core indicators,
educationequality,educationalattainment,andeducation
expen-ditures) and learning outcome data from international
assess-ments(PISA,TIMSS,etc.).
Here,theWBisalsotheIOmostactivelyattemptingtocompile
thefirst genuinely globaland (andperhaps someday
globally-comparable)datasetonstudentachievement.Itbroughttogether
high-incomeareastudiessuchasPISA(Programme for
Interna-tional StudentAssessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International
MathematicsandScienceStudy)withlower-incomeareastudies
likeSAQMEQ,PASEC,LLECEandSERCE.9
Whatisalsolessknown,isthattheWBhasrecentlystartedits
owninternationalassessmentprogram.OnOctober2010,theWB
launched its Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP)
program. Itmeasurescognitive skills(readingliteracybasedon
PIAAC), technical skills and personalityand behaviouralfactors
frombothemployeesand employers.A firstround(2012–2014)
gathered data from adult participants (15–64 years old) in 9
countries10onpersonalbackground,education,employmentand
compensation, householdwealth, household sizeand
composi-tion,personality,timeandriskpreferencesandpersonalhealth.
Moreover, the aforementioned SABER not only assembles
countrydata,it alsobenchmarkseducationpoliciesand
institu-tions.Eachpolicyareaisratedonafour-pointscale,from‘Latent’to
Fig.4.WBpublicationsineducation,1977–2013(Scopus2016).
9
SAQMEQ(SouthandEasternAfricanConsortiumforMonitoringofEducational
Quality),PASEC(Programmed’AnalysedesSystèmesEducatifsdelaConfemen;
French-speakingcountries),LLECE(theLaboratorioLatinoamericanodeEvaluacion
delaCalidaddelaEducación)andSERCE(SegundoEstudioRegionalComparativoy
Explicativo).
10
Armenia,Bolivia,Colombia,Georgia,Ghana,LaoPDR,SriLanka,Vietnam,and
‘Emerging’to‘Established’ and‘Advanced’.Theseratingsaimat
highlighting a country’s areas of strength and weakness to
promote cross-country learning. SABER also assesses policy
choices by asking how well a country’s education system is
performinginrelationtoglobalgoodpractice.Forthefirsttime,
thus,asinglemultivariateeducationalbenchmarkingandranking
toolisabouttobeappliedtoallcountriesworldwide.
Further,theWBisabouttocreate,manageandapplyglobal‘big
data’inthesocialsciencestakingcareofissueslikedatagathering,
organization,sharing,storage,transfer,analysisandpresentation.
InitsBigDatainActionforDevelopment(2014),theWBrecently
beguntodiscusstheuseofvastamountsofdatafromsuchsources
assatellites,mobilephones,socialmedia,internetsearchqueries,
andfinancialtransactionsforpolicyadviceineconomic
forecast-ing, health, labor market, migration etc. in collaboration with
commercialITconsultancies.InJuly2014,theWBlaunchedanew
programcalledInnovationsinBigData&AnalyticsforDevelopment
to identify opportunities for using big data in WB-funded
operationsand topromotetheadoptionofbigdataanalyticsin
WBoperations.
5.3.Knowledgetransmission
‘TheWorldBankGroup’sOpenLearningCampusaccelerates
developmentsolutionsbytransformingglobalknowledgeinto
actionablelearning’
5.3.1.Disseminatingknowledge
Justaspublicationssoarupandtheirimpactgrows(seeabove),
internationalconferencesingeneralandoneducationinparticular
have exploded since WWII and especially since the 1990s
(Chabbott,2003).Theyareobviousforumsofknowledgeexchange
anddistribution.In 2015alone,WB-sponsoredconferences and
othereventsliketalks,seminars,lecturesand workshops,often
organizedbyDEC,havebeenheldthroughouttheyearalloverthe
worldon99 occasionsona wide arrayof topics rangingfrom
agriculturetourbanplanning(WB,2016c).Itisrarelynoticedthat
the WB has, since the early 2000s, started to organize large,
international education conferences on its own behalf and no
longerintheshadowofUNESCO,OECDorregionalIOs.Itholds
regularregionalconferences inAsia,Central Europe, Africaand
LatinAmericaand,lessvisibly,sponsorslargeglobalconferences
suchastheMakingSystemsWork:AGlobalConferenceonEducation
Systems(February2016inSydney).Atypicalyearhasuptonine
regionalconferences insuchplacesasDelhi, Cairo,Santiago de
Chile,Ouagadougou,BuenosAires,SaintLucia,Issyk-Kul,Almaty
and Samarkand all dealing with latest educational issues and
accompaniedbyawidearrayofcapacitydevelopmentworkshops.
Other, less well-known channels of diffusion might include
films(e.g.theWBAfricaFilmSerieswiththefilmTheFirstGrader
dealing with primary education), radio (e.g. the WB Radio
InstructiontoStrengthenEducationinZanzibar),socialmedia(e.g.
the World Development Report App or the WB Education Blog,
Twitter,Flipboardetc.)andeducationalmaterialonvirtuallyanyof
itssocalledGlobalPracticesincludingoneducationitself.
5.3.2.Teachingknowledge
The WB has begun to be much more directly involved in
teachingandtraining.Obviously,theWBteachesitsownstaff.It
has also created training centres, platforms and networks, it
deliverseducationalmaterialandsendsoutexpertstoworkshops
andseminarstoteachstudents,professionals,consultants,
policy-makers, researchersand practitioners and private sector
repre-sentativesfromcountriesaroundtheworld.
ThekeyroleinthistrainingmandatehasbeengiventotheWB
Institute (WBI, 2016), which ‘codifies global knowledge into
trainingprogramstohelpitsclientsmastertesteddevelopment
know-how’, the Global Development Learning Network and the
JusticeSectorPeer-AssistedLearning.
Mostrecentlyandremarkably,theWBlauncheditse-institute
and Open Learning Campusoffering ‘affordable, innovative, and
practitioner-focusedtrainingonthe‘howto’ofpolicyreformand
provengoodpracticescustomizedtolocalneeds’(WBI,2016).The
instituteoffersmorethana100e-learningcoursesandwebinars
and provides participants with free monthly podcasts, mobile
apps,games,videosuccessstories,multimediatoolkitsandother
learningmaterialsandevenhandsoutcertificatesaftersuccessful
completion, of which some are academically-accredited.
E-courses,webinarsande-communitieshostedand taughtbythe
WBalsoincludeeducation-relatedon-linecoursessuchas‘School
Autonomy and Accountability’, ‘Early Childhood Development’,
‘StudentAssessment’and‘TeacherPolicies’.TheWBdescribesits
teachingstyleas‘solution-focused,game-infused,interactiveand
participatory,peer-basedandexperiential’(WB2016WBI),while
partneringwithinstitutionslikeCambridgeUniversity,Emerson
College,CourseraandEdX.
Fig.5.ReferencepatterninkeyWBeducationpublications.
5.3.3.Applyingknowledge
Dissemination also takes place in the field when directly
appliedtocountries’educationsystems.Asdevelopment
cooper-ationhastraditionallybeencarried outintheproject modefor
morethansixdecades,itwouldbeapaperinitsownrighttodofull
justicetotheroleofprojectsineducationalgovernance.Evidence
canonlybeselectivehere.TheWorldBankhaslaunchedmorethan
10,000projects in education since 1947estimating its
project-basedinvestmentstobeabout$69billion(WB,2011).Duringthe
period 1998–2013 alone, it has been active in the reform of
educationsystemsin110countries(WB,2014b)(Fig.6).
Similartothetrendshownaboveforpublicationsoneducation,
theWBhadaconsiderableincreaseineducationprojectswiththe
beginningoftheEFAinitiativeandanothermomentumaroundthe
millenniumbeforereachinganall-timehighinthemid-2000s.11
Among the most prominent projects are both those in
developinganddevelopedcountriesalike.Forexample,in2014,
theWB’sBoardapprovedthe$1billionThirdElementaryEducation
Projectin Indiatobe implementedover three years.This basic
educationprojectistheWB’slargesteducationprojectintheworld
andinitsownhistory,allegedlyservingtheneedsof200million
childrenand4.5millionteachers(WB,2016e).Inthefiscalyear
2015alone,theWBapprovedoperationsin Indiaamountingto
$3.785 billion. It is currentlyworking on152 projects in 2271
locations across the country, of which 44 have an explicit
educationalcomponent.
OtherlargeWBprojectsincludecountrieslikeRomania,where,
in 2015,the WB officially launchedthe implementationof the
RomaniaSecondaryEducationProject.Theproject,funded witha
s200million loan,aimsat supporting80percentof Romania’s
publichighschoolsand85percentoffacultiestoaddressfactors
preventing students fromsuccessfully transitioningfromupper
secondarytotertiaryeducationand completingthefirstyearof
university(WB,2016e).
5.3.4.Celebratingknowledge
Finally, the WB praises and prizes knowledge.It grants the
HumanNutritionAward,theAwardforBusinessIncubatorsandthe
Global Gas Flare Reduction Excellence Award. In education, the
leadingGambianeducationist,BaboucarrBouy,receivedtheWB’s
JitGillMemorialAwardforOutstandingPublicServicein2012.The
SkollAwardforSocialEntrepreneurshipwasrecentlyhandedoutfor
providing law education for Chinese farmers. Given the sheer
amountofresearchproducedacrosstheWBGroup,the
organiza-tioninvitedresearchersin2013toacallforpapersbytheResearch
Academy, a WB award for promoting excellence in internal
research. Among the winning contributions were also
educa-tion-relatedresearchprojects.12
In thecontextof therecentbigdatainitiative, theWB now
offerstheBigDataInnovationChallenge.Amongthefinalistswere
alsoeducationalideas.13OtherinitiativesincludetheMarketplace
forIdeasandtheDevelopmentMarketplace,bothsupportingearly
stageprojectsrelatedtosocialandeconomicdevelopment.
6.Discussion
Inthisanalysis,theWBcomesintoplayasanepistemicactor
that produces, managesandtransmitsknowledge inand about
education.Its practices, Iargue, addup toa particularform of
educationalgovernance,epistemiceducationalgovernance,which
derivesitsrelevancefromthesystematicproduction,processing,
diffusion and use of policy relevant (scientific) educational
knowledge. Given the scope, diversity and leverage of WB
outreach, thisglobalorganizationrepresentsa particularlylarge
number of mechanisms and associated practices and does so
particularlyvisibly.
Whilethefundingandconductingoforiginalresearchbythe
WBingeneralhasreceivedsomeattentionfromscholarshiponIOs
(Broad,2007;Dethier,2007;RaoandWoolcock,2007),itsvolume
andimpactineducationhasbeenlargelyignored.Asshownabove,
theseturnouttobeimmenseandgrowing,makingtheWBalready
the world’s most productive and most influential educational
researchinstitutewiththepotentialtosustainablychange,forthe
betterortheworse,thecognitivedevelopmentofthescientificand
(by implication)policy discourse on educationworldwide, but,
perhaps, particularly in countries where educational research
infrastructureisweak.
Yet,theBank notonlyproduces knowledgethroughitsown
researchorfinancesitsproduction,it,aboveall,assembles,stocks,
organizesandmakesavailablethe‘stateofresearch’thatisalready
out there and that has been produced by itself (sometimes
presented as the same). Here, the WB appears as a massive
repository or clearinghouse that gathers, distils and publishes
scientificknowledge.Inthissense,theWBisalsoaglobal(digital)
library, archive and museum of socioscientific knowledge
pro-ducedbygenerationsofresearchers.Thegrowingrationalization
initsownpublications,asdocumentedthroughadramaticrisein
Fig.6.TotalNofProjectswithanEducationComponent,1962–2010.
(Source:EdStats)
11
Latestyearsarelowersinceongoingprojectsarenotincluded.
12TheImpactofProvidingSchoolandChildTestScoresonEducationalMarketsby
J.Das.
13
M.F.CrawfordforUsingBigDatatoPredictStudentAchievementin
Low-IncomeSchoolSettingsandSh.NomuraforRealTimeForecastingofSkillsDemand
scientificreferences,isfurtherfuelledbyitsowngrowingresearch
recordineducation(withtheriskofbecomingself-referentialinits
knowledgeproduction).
Onagloballevel,theBankspearheadsandcatalysesthetrendof
quantificationandevaluationforthesakeof
country-comparabili-ty already institutionalized in regionalcontexts (Wiseman and
Baker,2005;HeynemanandLykins,2008;Gorur,2014).IntheWB
context,suchdata-basedassessments(SABER),whenappliedto
entire educational systems, are not a mere methodological
exercise,buthaveseriousimplicationsforpolicyreform
recom-mendationsandlendingdecisionsandis,therefore,byprinciplea
muchmorepowerfultoolininfluencingeducationalsystemsthan,
forexample,much-discussedPISAanddeservefurtherscrutinyin
futurestudies(Steiner-Khamsi,2009; Kleesand Edwards,2014;
Meyer and Benavot, 2013). Moreover, the WB’s effort to bring
togetherandmergenumerousregionalstudentachievementtests
fromacrosstheworldwithinonecentralizeddatabaserepresentsa
significant leap towards worldwide standardized testing and
comparability. Its own emerging skills measurement program
(STEP) further contributes to such an educational life
course-metric by including sectors less studied (e.g. technical and
vocationaltrainingandeducation)andcountrieslesscoveredby
othereducationalassessmentprograms(e.g.ChinaandSriLanka).
WithSTEP,theWBentersanewphaseofdataacquisitionandhas
thepotentialtobecomeinlow-andmiddleincomecountrieswhat
theOECDalreadyisinhigh-incomecountries.
The WB also considerablyexpandsand diversifies itsglobal
outreachbeyondthescientificcommunity.Itisattheforefrontof
disseminating its findings and positions through old and new
media,atconferencesandpolicyforumsaimingtogettogetherthe
full array of ‘stakeholders’, from science and policy making,
businessandNGOstosocialmovements.Largelyunnoticedisthe
WB’s growing teaching missionas a novel aspectof epistemic
governance.Withitsfree-of-chargeOpen LearningCampus,the
organizationentersanewarena,proselytizingitsideas,findings
andstocksofknowledgeinaglobalvirtualclassroom.
A verydirect form of transmissionis theapplication of WB
knowledge‘inthefield’throughthethousandsofprojectstheWB
hascarriedoutinrecentdecades.Someimportantprojectsgreatly
exceed single national projects and in many cases the long
presenceof WB and other consultanciesimplementing lengthy
project series and cycles is not only likely to determine the
cognitiveandpolicydirectionofthenationaldiscourse,butmay
havelastingrepercussionsonthesocialstratificationofaffected
areas, involved occupational groups, and other organizations
(Gasper,1999;Chabbott,2003;KovachandKucerova,2005).
Finally,perhapsinitsimpacttheleasttangiblepracticeforthe
transmissionofeducationalknowledge,theWBpractices
ceremo-niallegitimationof(aspecifictypeof)knowledgethroughprizes
andawards.Here,theWBbecomesacuratorofideas,ajuryfor
judging creativity, originality and excellence in science. These
symbolicpractices mightserveas mnemotechnicaides
consoli-datingaspecificsetofthoughtsandviewsinaglobalcollective
memory(AssmannandCzaplicka,1995).Theyhelptopopularize,
routinize,trivializeand rememorizethevalueofcertain
knowl-edgestocks.
Iarguethatsuchpracticesshouldpromptustocomplementthe
predominantviewsofIOsincomparativeeducation.Theseviews
havelargelybeeninheritedfromthestudyofIOsinIRwherethey
areeitherseenastoolsandtoysofpowerfulstates(Ikenberry2001
ingeneral;Rivera,2009oneducation),promotersofgood(orbad)
norms(Keohane&Nye2000ingeneral,KleesandEdwards,2014
oneducation)ormeaning-generatingbureaucracies(Barnettand
Finnemore,2004 in general, Jakobi,2009 oneducation). These
(critical) contributions are highly valuable in revealing the
ideological underpinning and real world consequences of WB
work, yet they neglect the mechanisms related to knowledge,
whichtransformideologyintosocialchange.Instead,theanalysis
of IOs’ nature,evolution, contemporaryrole and impacthasto
exceedtheselimitednotionsbyattributingthemtheautonomy
andauthoritytheyhaveacquiredoverthecourseoftheirexistence.
SuchananalysiswouldneedtoreconceptualisetheWBandIOs,
in general, as epistemic actors or ‘theorists’ embodying wider
transformationsoftherationalizationandscientisationofhuman
development(Strang and Meyer,1993:493; Meyer et al., 1997;
Baker2014).Toviewthemasmereagenda-setterswouldmeanto
considerablyunderstatethequalitiestheyhavedevelopedinover
twodecades,theproductofhighlyprofessionalizedandscientised
socio-scientific personnel (both applied and more theoretical
sciences)whoseknowledgeischannelledindiscoursesforwhich
IOsnotonlyprovidethebureaucraticstructureororganizational
forum,buttheoriginalengine(Drorietal.,2003).Theanalytical
thrustproposedbyastrongfocusonknowledgeproductioninsuch
a world-culturalperspectivemayprovidea reply toMundy’s &
Ghali’s(2009)pleatobetterandmoreeffectivelymodelIOactors
andtheirbehaviour.
7.Conclusion
ThispaperidentifiedtheroleascribedtotheWorldBankinthe
discussiononmechanismsofglobaleducationalgovernanceand
institutionallytracedandempiricallysupportedthecaseforthe
‘knowledge turn’ within the World Bank as the globe’s most
significantthinktank.
In contrast to the predominant focus on regulative and
normative mechanismsin IOs’ educationalgovernance, interest
intheirroleasepistemicactorsisgrowing.Here,softmechanisms
prevail.Thisburgeoningbodyofliteratureis,however,stilllimited
inthatitismainlyfocusedonstandard-setting,discourse-steering
andthevarioususesofquantitativemethodsineducation.
Asarguedhere,awiderscopeisneededtoadequatelycapture
IOs’ diverse production and diffusion of ideas in and through
education.TheWB’s‘knowledgeturn’pioneers and exemplifies
this expanding scope. After a series of internal reforms and
restructuringmeasures,theBankisnowamongtheworld’smost
importantproducersandproviders, organizers,managers,users
andteachersofeducationalknowledge.Futurestudiesonglobal
educational governance could benefit from the systematic
analytical framework applied here, while further refining and
extendingitbyenlargingtheempiricalbasistootherorganizations
and domains. Sociologists of knowledge and organizations (
interestedin differentlevelsofanalysismightbenefit fromthe
inclusionofIOsasanovelanalyticalopportunity,withtheWB,as
anever-moreinfluentialglobalknowledgeproducer,apromising
startinthatdirection.
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