I have a broad portfolio of both applied and academic research which focuses on education, and labour markets, with a specific emphasis in gender and youth. My applied work focuses on the qualitative analysis and evaluation of educational and social policies, with a special focus on processes of policy construction, design and implementation. My academic work has focused largely on the field of education, where I have been concerned with understanding changing patterns of school governance, and on how educational processes mediate social dynamics and relations between the state and society. My recent work focuses on the impact
of educational markets on patterns of social segregation; and on labour precarity and vulnerable youth transitions in the context of exclusionary citizenship regimes – here I also bring in a strong gender perspective.
Abstract
Presentation Title
The global and local forces that shape school governance
Language of presentation
English
School autonomy can mean different things when we consider them in the context of existing global governance mechanisms, such as international tests and various other indicators; but also when specific cultural and institutional contexts are taken into account. In countries with weak institutions, decentralized governance reforms have often failed because of poor capacities in local administrations. In some cases, decentralized governance has entailed the local reproduction of poorly functioning bureaucracies, as well as the decentralization of corruption. This suggests that when autonomy and decentralization are considered, they must be taken as the result of processes of capacity development that require both time and resources.
The question of how to steer education systems (i.e. coordination) in the direction of desired changes while promoting school autonomy and decentralized governance has no easy answers.
The presentation will discuss some of these tensions, drawing from discussions on the political economy of educational governance reforms, as well as from specific examples, mainly from the Latin American region.