Expertise, Networks and Indicators: The Construction of the European Strategy in Education

Abstract

This article describes the networks of experts involved in the fabrication of indicators and benchmarks supporting the Open Method of Coordination led by the European Commission. In studying international expertise, it explores the policy borrowing process and the transfer of knowledge between several agents and institutions at global level. Our hypothesis is that science and policy are not in a discontinuing relationship but represent, through the building of instruments and methodologies of measurement, a corpus of scientific knowledge and normative principles held by representatives of supra-national organizations and States.

European higher education policy

“…We locate a first contribution to the understanding of European higher education policy in studies that take a historical or sociological approach to the structural and procedural expansion of the European (Normand, 2010). It is important to note that the creation of a European policy space clearly transcended the inter-institutional power games between the European Commission and the Councilindeed, it involved an "intertwined and captivated Europeanized population of experts, practitioners and professionals who contribute to the production of standards in the EU" (Lawn and Grek 2012, p. 70).…”

“…Due to the multilevel nature of European higher education policy -which is shaped and promoted at the EU level and interpreted, redesigned, and enacted at the domestic level -an interpretive research agenda needs to account for the existence of multiple stakeholders who act across policy arenas to co-construct a policy space (Normand 2010;Gornitzka 2010). The Bologna Process provides a useful case study to analyze the tensions between the European, intergovernmental, and domestic levels; it will help us to understand how these European narratives are perceived and translated in old and new EU member states, as well as beyond EU borders.…”

Vår utålmodighet med ungdom

“…Forarbeidene til Reform 94 tilsier også at 90-prosentmå-let var direkte inspirert av OECD (NOU 1991). OECD har siden 1991 produsert den årlige publikasjonen Education at a Glance, som gjennom kryssnasjonal sammenlikning ut fra like kriterier har hatt som intensjon å stimulere til bedre styring og 'accountability' i de enkelte lands utdanningspolitikk (Normand 2010).…”

“…De ser ut til å ha sitt opphav i lukkede fora snarere enn i demokratisk deliberasjon. De første internasjonale sammenlikninger av frafall vokste ut av ekspertnettverk sammenkalt av OECD og EU (Normand 2010), og transnasjonale organisasjoner leder fremdeles an i anstrengelsene for å rasjonalisere unges overganger fra utdanning til arbeid.…”

La fabrication d’un consensus : la révision de la Classification Internationale Type de l’Éducation

“…Depuis la création du programme INES par l'OCDE en 1988 (Bottani, 1994 ;Normand, 2010) En novembre 2005, lors de la vingt-cinquième rencontre de la WP (à Washington), il est proposé d'identifier les changements opérés par les pays dans les classements de leurs programmes éducatifs dans la CITE depuis la première soumission de données basées sur la version de la classification de 1997. Deux éléments sont soulevés par la WP : il faudrait d'une part mieux contrôler l'application de la classification par les pays pour rendre les données plus comparables, d'autre part mieux prendre en compte l'évolution des systèmes éducatifs (en particulier dans l'enseignement supérieur).…”