Trends in global education reform since the 1990 s: Looking for the right way

Abstract

Reforming national education systems has become a global phenomenon. International education development literature describes education policies and consequent reforms in different countries around the world. This article describes the emergence of the global education reform movement (GERM) and its main manifestations in national education policies and reforms since the 1990 s. The aim of this article is to show how GERM has evolved during the past decades as a neoliberal educational change orthodoxy and how it has become challenged by the international comparative data and research. The conclusion is that the success of whole-system educational change depends on national policymakers’ understanding of the difference between wrong and right drivers in planned education reforms for social and economic development of their countries. Global education reform movement as it is described in this article has not been able to improve quality, equity, and efficiency of education although that has been its basic promise.