Session Information
23 SES 11 C, Teachers and Teaching
Paper Session
Contribution
In the last years, we have seen the rise of a new and globalised industry sector focusing on education (Parreira do Amaral et al. 2019; Verger et al. 2016; Verger et al. 2023). One crucial feature of this Global Education Industry (GEI) is its new mix of players. Within the GEI, philanthropic foundations have emerged as influential actors that are shaping national education systems around the world (Au & Lubienski 2016; Avelar 2021; Tarlau & Moeller 2020). In line with the logics of the economy of scale, the collaboration with the state, e.g. by forging public-private partnerships (Robertson et al. 2012; Steiner-Khamsi & Draxler 2018), has emerged as one of their preferred modes of operation. This allowed corporate philanthropies to be active in education services beyond, for instance, private provision (Verger 2016).
In recent years, teachers, teacher quality and teacher education have become a focus point for the GEI (Robertson 2016; Saltman 2010; Schweisfurth 2022). Since teacher CPD, the continuous professional development of teachers, is not only a potential new market niche for products and services of the GEI, but also a fast-pace policy tool to disseminate own ideas and beliefs, it has become increasingly popular among corporate philanthropies that consider themselves to be changemakers in education (Kurz & Parreira do Amaral 2023).
In this presentation, we will shed light on this new phenomenon. We apply a comparative perspective using the Global Education Industry (GEI) as an analytical tool to explore the collaboration between corporate philanthropy and the state as well as the implications of such partnerships. Therefore, we will first will explore the activities of two corporate philanthropies in teacher CPD, Bosch Foundation and Varkey Foundation, by explicating their purposes, approaches and roles. Second, we will point out several implications from such public-philanthropic partnerships for public education.
Method
By analysing documents, such as websites, social media posts and brochures, we examine two public-philanthropic partnerships for teacher development, in Germany with the involvement of Bosch Foundation and in Argentina with the involvement of Varkey Foundation. Drawing on Anheier’s (2018) comparative approach, we explicate their purposes, approaches and roles while highlighting how both strive for change and, thus, engage in teacher CPD.
Expected Outcomes
Drawing on Anheier’s (2018) comparative approach, we show that corporate philanthropies striving to become changemakers in education, including Bosch Foundation and Varkey Foundation, increasingly engage in teacher CPD. To this end, they chose to collaborate with state entities. Their focus on teacher development, however, goes beyond mere economic interests such as, for instance, opening-up a new market niche for their parent company. Rather, teacher CPD serves as a fast-pace policy tool, which is why corporate philanthropies consider it a promising approach for promoting their 'innovative' ideas. These developments are not only accompanied by questions of democratic accountability, but also have implications for the teaching profession. Ultimately, this raises the question of whether philanthropic interest in teacher development could potentially transform the role of teachers, for instance, by turning them into agents for corporate-envisioned change.
References
Au, W., & Lubienski, C. (2016). The role of the Gates Foundation and the philanthropic sector in shaping the emerging education market. Lessons from the US on privatization of schools and education governance. In A. Verger, C. Lubienski, & G. Steiner-Khamsi (Eds.), World Yearbook of Education 2016: The Global Education Industry (pp. 28–43). Routledge. Avelar, M. (2021). Disrupting Education Policy: How New Philanthropy Works to Change Education. Peter Lang. Kurz, B., & Parreira do Amaral, M. (2023). Philanthropising Teacher Education? The Emerging Activities of Corporate Philanthropy in Teacher Development. Revista Española De Educación Comparada, (42), 109–132. https://doi.org/10.5944/reec.42.2023.34241 Parreira do Amaral, M., Steiner-Khamsi, G., & Thompson, C. (Eds.). (2019). Researching the Global Education Industry – Commodification, the Market and Business Involvement. Springer International. Robertson, S. L. (2016). The global governance of teachers’ work. In K. Mundy, A. Green, B. Lingard, & A. Verger (Eds.), The handbook of global education policy (pp. 275–290). Wiley. Saltman, K. J. (2010). The Gift of Education: Public Education and Venture Philanthropy. Palgrave Macmillan. Schweisfurth, M. (2022). The Development Discourse of “Quality Teachers”: Implications for Teacher Professional Development. In: Menter, I. (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Teacher Education Research (pp.1-15). Palgrave Macmillan. Steiner-Khamsi, G., & Draxler, A. (Eds.). (2018). The state, business and education. Edward Elgar. Tarlau, R., & Moeller, K. (2020). Philanthropizing’ consent: how a private foundation pushed through national learning standards in Brazil. Journal of Education Policy, 35(3), 337–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1560504 Verger, A. (2016, March 14). The rise of the global education industry: Some concepts, facts and figures. Education International. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/21340:the-rise-of-the-global-education-industry-some-concepts-facts-and-figures Verger, A., Fontdevila, C., & Moschetti, M. (Eds). (2023): The Global Education Industry: Comparative Education Analyses [Special Issue]. Revista Española de Educación Comparada, (42). Verger, A., Lubienski, C., & Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Eds.). (2016a). World Yearbook of Education 2016: The Global Education Industry. Routledge.
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