Abstract
This chapter argues that Australian interactions with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the field of education in the mid- to late-1970s pointed in two separate but not yet incompatible directions—one equity-oriented and the other more in line with the standardization and accountability regime typically identified with the OECD’s current policies—both of which favored a shift of authority toward the national level in educational policy-making. In the process, the chapter highlights the importance of considering movements between different spatial levels of analysis when tracing the ability of international organizations to get their ideas and visions “out of house.” The chapter first outlines the international and domestic contexts for Australia’s early involvement in the OECD, followed by a discussion of the negotiations of state and federal interests on the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education’s advisory committee on OECD matters. This discussion, in turn, frames the last three analytical sections of the chapter, on interactions between the OECD and the Australian education authorities at different levels on initiatives negotiating both the location of authority between these levels and the role of education at a time when the relation between its social and economic potential was up for revision.
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Notes
- 1.
In New South Wales, at least, the OAC member who had been with the NSW Education Ministry all along proposed a study of the Newcastle region (NAA 28. July 1976).
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Ørskov, F.F. (2019). Australian Education Joins the OECD: Federalism, Regionalization, and the Role of Education in a Time of Transition. In: Ydesen, C. (eds) The OECD’s Historical Rise in Education. Global Histories of Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33799-5_5
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