The OECD’s construction of future imaginaries for curriculum reform

Abstract

Offering imaginaries of the future is a significant part of the work of documents produced by national policymakers, interest groups and international organisations. In this article, we examine thematic reports on the redesign of the curriculum published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as part of its Education 2030 project. Our analysis is grounded in the understanding that documents transform issues through storytelling, data and visualisations. We show how thematic reports context a complex and unpredictable future by forecasting different futures based on current issues that need solutions. The storytelling that contexts the imaginaries of futures gains authority through datafication of national curricula enabled by Curriculum Content Mapping. The Curriculum Content Mapping reveals a lack of alignment with the OECD’s Learning Compass for 2030 transforming the issue of a complex future into an issue of curriculum as an instrument to potentialise the future. Hence, datafication of curriculum content serves as an instrument of governance towards specific curriculum transformations based on the OECD’s education politics towards economic growth rather than informing about future needs.