Crisis narratives as drivers of shifts in the global governance of education

This paper examines how crisis narratives shape and legitimize shifts in the global governance of education. We begin by revisiting three pivotal historical episodes that illustrate how crises have driven changes in educational governance. First, the Sputnik shock of 1957 prompted an ‘evidence-based’ and economically oriented approach to education, catalysing the rise of the OECD as a key global actor. Second, the World Educational Crisis of the late 1960s served to legitimize the Western project of ‘Development’, initially positioning UNESCO as the central international organisation within this framework. Third, the 1983 U.S. report A Nation at Risk laid the groundwork for OECD's PISA initiative and opened education to private actors and market-oriented solutions. Building on these historical precedents, we turn to contemporary crisis narratives, notably the World Bank's ‘learning poverty’ agenda as well as the shift to social-emotional learning, ‘well-being’ and resilience as responses to the proclaimed crises. We argue that crisis narratives serve to legitimize the emergence of multistakeholderism, the pervasive influence of corporate and technocratic actors, and the retreat of democratic principles in education globally.