Education policy across contexts: Complexifying global, national and local scalar relations

26 April 2023

The Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion invites you to attend

Education policy across contexts: Complexifying global, national and local scalar relations

Presented by Associate Professor Ian Hardy, University of Queensland

This presentation draws upon three examples of educational policy reform in three very different contexts – Ghana, China and Australia – to show how scalar relations between the global, national and local are intricately imbricated within specific reform settings, at the same time that such relations are revealed as incredibly varied between settings. In making this argument, the presentation draws upon a teacher education reform initiative in Ghana (‘T-TEL’), the development of a data repository recognising vocational education qualifications in the Greater Bay Area, China (‘The Credit Bank’), and the use of standardised literacy and numeracy data in the state of Queensland, Australia (‘NAPLAN’). The examples reveal the intricate interplay between global, national and more local processes in relation to each of these reforms, as well as how seemingly ‘national’, ‘regional’ and more ‘local’ reforms are actually reflective of and influenced by a plurality of other scalar relations not immediately apparent. In this way, I caution against analyses of educational policy reforms that privilege one or other of these scalar relations without seeking to understand or recognise the plurality of these relations in practice. 

Dr Ian Hardy is Associate Professor in the School of Education, The University of Queensland, Australia. Dr Hardy’s research focuses on the politics of educational policy and practice, particularly in institutionalised education settings. Much of his work has focused upon schools and schooling, with increasing attention to higher (university and vocational) education environments.  Current research includes work on the increased datafication of education in schooling settings (in Australia, Singapore, Bangladesh and England) and efforts to move beyond ‘global discourses’ of data.  More information can be found here. Future research will focus on the role of Education in advancing and enhancing East-West relations in the Asia-Pacific region.