Special issue of the International Review of Education published

The International Review of Education – Journal of Lifelong Learning has published a special issue entitled The Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Governance of Education, guest-edited by William C. Smith, Melanie C. M. Ehren and Sotiria Grek.

In their introduction, the guest editors note that ‘while global governance has been well developed in other fields, its discussion in the field of education is still limited’. For a long time, much attention has been given to the role played by the World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in shaping national policy and global discourse on education.

However, research has begun to recognise the importance of intergovernmental organisations, civil society and the private sector in the global sphere, embracing a multilateral approach and an appreciation of multistakeholder governance. While this is not without risk of tensions in terms of power and influence, the editors note that the negotiation process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been “applauded as one of the most inclusive consultations in the history of the United Nations, largely due to the engagement with a wide spectrum of stakeholders during the creation of the 2030 Agenda”. This special issue examines the SDGs as both a product of global governance and a mechanism through which global governance is used to influence nations and regions.

Concentrating on the SDGs as a product of global governance, the first three articles address the aspects of gender, education and global governance in organisations; global summitry and the Transforming Education Summit (TES); and orchestration and the Global Education Cooperation Mechanism (GCM). The other three articles consider the SDGs as a mechanism of global governance. They look at voluntary national reviews (VNRs) as a tool of soft governance; the evolution of key themes around SDG 4 before and after 2015; and the adoption and adaption of the global goals for the African context with the African Union in the role of a regional translator of the SDGs.