Educational leadership and Sustainable Lifelong learning policies: perspectives from International Organisations

Educational context: The forward of The Global Education Monitoring Report, Education for People and Planet Creating Sustainable Futures for All (2016) analyses how to develop policy as text and policy as practice to deliver... [ view full abstract ]

Educational context: The forward of The Global Education Monitoring Report, Education for People and Planet Creating Sustainable Futures for All (2016) analyses how to develop policy as text and policy as practice to deliver the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). Its aim is to assure equitable and inclusive education for all dovetailed into lifelong learning by 2030 (UNESCO, 2017). We try to understand policy makers’ decision making processes when developing policy to meet this SDG 4 World goal. Theory has identified the complexity facing the noble public service of these policy agents who face two competing demands. These agents need to make logical, empirically based, moral and ethical judgments to protect their own nation states’ economic, cultural, and political interests in a competitive global arena on one hand, and to promote equity for all and renewal of prudent, strong and just institutions (Adler, 1941) for full and free interactions between all people for full and free cooperation (Dewey, 1916) on the other hand.

Research question and methodology: In this context, our contribution investigates what is the specificity of educational leadership promoted by the International Organisations? This paper seeks to understand the praxis of these policy agents with a sample that includes administrators, coordinators and experts on educational programmes, Heads of Service and judges from UNESCO, Council of Europe, International Labor Organisation, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The qualitative data was collected by semi-structured interview and analysed under thematic methodology. 

Main results: Findings reveal four key themes. First, International Organisations policy agents prepare and implement policy decisions that competitively drive lifelong learning policies as text and discourse whilst representing their nation states’ interests in a global context. Second, they prepare policy decisions for egalitarian lifelong learning policies. Third, policy agents implement policy decisions for monitoring/controlling lifelong learning policies. Finally, they need to make policy where states have lost control of the neoliberal project. 

Discussion: Arguably, if citizens’ character is developed where they replace fear with virtues, and they learn how to learn as moral citizens in becoming, there will be a lack of non-skilled or low-skilled workers in the labour market. Linked to lifelong learning, policy actors need to navigate this third position also.