This paper sets out to explore the politico-economic dynamics shaping the field of education in a context of geopolitical and other challenges; economic, social, security, environmental and technological. To that end the paper is guided by the following major research questions:

1. If the existing politico-economic order is disintegrating, what role if any has education in delivering or restoring broad global consensus specifically around advancing security and responding to pressing global challenges?
2. How can advanced, and emerging and developing economies (AE) and (EDE)  maintain inclusive innovation and research hubs in dispersed hyper competitive politico-economic systems, and what role has education in this?

We argue that the paper is important because it meets the significant need for investigating how government/s respond to advancing society, culture and the economy within a global framework of uncertainty characterised by seemingly deepening geopolitical polarisation and an increasing propensity for rising levels of misinformation amongst a set of other pressing challenges.

The paper is a critical qualitative theorisation of an imposed politico-economic dynamic based on the making of transnational and supranational reform agendas in the field of education influenced predominantly by organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) amongst others. We draw upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu specifically his concept of the “American Model” and its effects, and other scholarship which emphasises America’s ‘hustle ethos’ (McDougall 2005; Kennard 2024) to argue that a particular historical politico-economic mindset with links to an influential and expansionist American hegemony has set the pattern for a new world order dominated in recent decades by at one level globalisation and the travelling policies in education that come with it, i.e., strong accountability, standardisation, marketisation, corporatisation and so on. This is about the operationalisation of global education policy in advancing Anglo-American and European economic and security interests via global competition in a knowledge economy. To that end, the paper explores the policy focus on increasing the impact of innovation on educational outcomes the latter heavily reliant on education innovations which are generally corporatist in nature, favouring market-style fixes that are presented usually as non-ideological and values free.  This we suggest is emblematic of an ‘innovation education hustle’ as policy strategy.

Our argument will identify the tensions inherent in the expressed ideals of global education policy and its actual practical performance as determined by a core element specific to it, the belief in the economic presuppositions which often compose education and innovation reform agendas. Global education policy rhetoric often links innovation and creativity to education and by extension to enhancing national and international economic competitiveness and productivity (see Hammershøj 2017). The practical results of this belief can be viewed in contemporary politico-economic research surrounding global productivity output/s currently indicating long term decline in productivity levels in advanced economies, whilst the increasing productivity trend seen in emerging and developing economies pre the global financial crisis (GFC) is now in reverse and has been for over a decade (see Dieppe 2021). The ‘immanent critique’ (Jay 2023) of education policy we engage in tackles the system of politico-economic beliefs and values justifying and/or hustling “the entrepreneurial function” (Leary 2018, p. 2) of education which manifests as generally a faith in innovation usually technological to overcome any social or other obstacle or large-scale crisis. Education is generally used in this way as a techno-rational ‘quick fix’ or solution for major problems/crises the latter often the consequence of hyper-competitive economies and points of political, economic and military power concentration.

The paper adopts a critical qualitative research methodology exploring the power dynamics involved in major global education policy documents. Our approach to inquiry is about exploring policy intent and implementation to uncover the particular set of values and power interests inherent in policy (see Ozga 2000). We are interested in understanding the meaning and representations of global education policy as constructed ‘hustled’ knowledge by dominant interests and field relevant players i.e., influential education policy hustlers. The defining case of our analysis is ‘innovation education hustle’ as policy strategy. We consider policy documents in the form of reports from the OECD specifically the seminal The Knowledge-Based Economy (1996) and more recently Innovating Education and Educating for Innovation: The Power of Digital Technologies and Skills (2016) reports, amongst others. Each act as valuable source material around questions relating to the central importance of education to and for innovation. To analyse these reports, we use reflexive thematic analysis as it best captures interconnected themes within the documents. This analytical method enables us to identify patterns, relationships, and underlying messages (Braun and Clarke 2019) within the reports related to how education is vital to innovation, and that both education and innovation are used synonymously as transformative mechanisms not only as drivers of productivity and economic growth but also as the catalysts for helping us meet the social, political, environmental and security challenges of the future.

The conclusion/s and/or expected outcome/s centre on calling for continued critical attention on the politico-economic framework which has dominated the field of global education policy over several decades. It is about arguing for the democratisation of education eschewing an economisation agenda founded upon the “American Model” driven by powerful interests and players (hustlers) that promote what we suggest is an ‘innovation education hustle’ as a global education policy strategy which in our view has had consequences in how education is mobilised to help solve major perceived global problems and/or challenges. This has detrimentally impacted our education systems by narrowing the purpose/s of education prioritising on the whole instrumentalist and economic imperatives whilst simultaneously tasking the field of education with solving the major social, economic, environmental and security challenges of our time. This is not to suggest that education does not have an important role to play in meeting these challenges head on. On the contrary, we are suggesting that education is about leveraging individual potential with contemporary school system capacity focusing on the importance of education as a public good and driver of human learning to understand the scenarios for the future. To that end, genuine solutions to the problems and challenges of contemporary society require addressing the moral imperatives of large-scale inequalities brought on by the political and economic priorities of a hyper-capitalism based upon the “American Model” which continues to use the field of education for non-educative purposes.

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