The role of the OECD in the development of global policies for migrant education

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a document analysis study examining the policies, trends, and conceptions developed by the OECD in the last 15 years regarding the development and mainstreaming of globalised policies of migrant education. From the process of the analysis, three thematic categories emerged: (i) Socio-economic aspects of education: International testing and the performance gap; (ii) OECD’s recommendations on Migrant Education; and (iii) Influence mechanisms: Standardisation, benchmarking, and dissemination of suggestions. Findings are discussed in the light of the concepts of neoliberalism, standardisation and soft governance. It is argued that, despite the philology pertaining the promotion of neoliberalism and standardisation through the OECD’s policy suggestions, OECD’s soft governance champions for alternative models, philosophies and practices that may challenge dominant modus operandi towards more just educational policies for migrants.