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This article takes a critical look at the practices and foundations of global governance and global campaigns such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It does so by discussing the case of global citizenship education (GCEd). In addition to highlighting severe limitations related to the practice and monitoring of GCEd, it makes explicit the onto-epistemic assumptions that are embedded in these structures, but which are infrequently acknowledged—and are thus "hiding in plain sight." It shows that common conceptions of GCEd hide the Christian-positivist-liberal-capitalist foundations from which GCEd and global governance have emerged and by which they are constrained. It argues that GCEd and global governance thus tend to serve as a force for exclusion rather than inclusion. • Makes explicit the onto-epistemic assumptions of global governance. • Clarifies the Christian-positivist-liberal-capitalist origins of these assumptions. • Examines the case of global citizenship education. • Addresses gaps in the practice and monitoring of global citizenship education. • Provides suggestions for moving forward inside and outside global goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Argues for thinking about community-based management in terms of community organizing, building, and empowerment. • New and critical insights are shared on the well-known Education with Community Participation program from El Salvador. • The concept of social capital is highlighted as one aspect of the shift away from technical approaches to community-based management. • Underscore the many issues that confound the operation of community-based management as envisioned by development professionals. Abstract The present paper is both a critical analysis of an example of community-based management of education (CBM) and a call for a shift in perspective related to how we think about CBM, particularly in marginalized and low-income contexts. The example of focus that serves as the basis for critical analysis is the "Education with Community Participation" (EDUCO) program in El Salvador, which achieved fame in the late 1990s and 2000s because it formally transferred, among other things, the ability to hire and fire teachers to a committee of parents at the community level. Given its fame and the fact of its imitation elsewhere, it is important to have an in-depth understanding of how this program operated at the local level, with what limitations, and with what implications for CBM programs more generally. For the second purpose—related to shifting perspectives on CBM—this paper draws on concepts related to systems theory, social capital, and community empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores (1) the public and private options available at the ECCE level, (2) parents' expectation for ECCE, and (3) preferred and actual choice of preschools in an urban informal settlement in Zambia. The findings reveal strong demand for ECCE among the urban poor. This demand overwhelms low-fee private (LFP) preschool options due both to an insufficient number of public preschools as well as parents' relative preference for the LFP options. Typically, LFP preschools offer highly academic oriented curriculum with English as a medium of instruction, divergent from the government's play-based and mother-tongue based curriculum. By adopting critical cultural political economy approach as an analytical framework, we found that urban poor parents increasingly view investing in LFP preschools as an important household strategy to 'transform' their children into 'modern' citizens, eventually exiting from their stigmatized lifestyle and marginalized social status. • There are strong demands for ECCE in urban informal settlements in Zambia. • Parents overwhelmingly chose low-fee private (LFP) preschool options due mainly to an insufficient public provision. • LFP preschools are also preferred option for many parents as they offer academically oriented curriculum taught in English. • Parents view investing in LFP preschools as a critical strategy to 'transform' their children into 'modern citizens'. • Critical cultural political economy approach offers insight into how modernity and (pre)schooling are imagined locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plan 2021 is a national education strategy released by the Salvadoran Ministry of Education (MINED) in March of 2005 to guide education policy through 2021. According to the policy itself, preparation for Plan 2021 began in June 2004 and was the product of four disparate inputs. These include: (a) review of existing research on education produced between 2002 and 2004, (b) creation of a Presidential Commission to offer recommendations, (c) inclusion of commitments made by El Salvador to international agreements (e.g., Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals), and (d) execution of a series of consultations at the local level throughout the country (MINED 2005b). Thus, according to the policy document itself, not only were each of these four inputs given equal weight, but, additionally, there was no involvement by international actors, with the MINED alone managing the process. However, even a cursory search for information related to Plan 2021 indicates that a range of international actors was involved, thus raising questions about how official accounts of the policy’s formation diverge from the process as it actually happened. The case of this policy likewise raises questions about how to investigate and interpret such processes. The present paper not only reveals how Plan 2021 was actually made but also attempts to make a contribution by suggesting the relevance of multi-perspective analysis, in addition to applying multiple perspectives—namely, rational, organizational, and political perspectives—to the interpretation of this case. The content of this analysis is particularly relevant at this point in time to the field of international education policy as scholars are grappling with how to understand and investigate processes of education policy formation characterized by involvement and influence from external (i.e., international) actors. The article concludes by underscoring the utility of this framework while also recommending that it be used in conjunction with insights from recent scholarship on the global governance of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Curricular and programmatic features associated with positive outcomes were explored. • Outcomes showed positive changes in one's knowledge, attitudes/beliefs and behaviors. • Most effective curricula incorporated both theory and practice. • Curriculum relevant to learners' interests may contribute to positive outcomes. • Insufficient information is provided on learners' and institutional characteristics. Education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCEd) have drawn ample attention, particularly following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to investigate the individual and institutional-level factors associated with the desired learning outcomes in these areas. The systematic review included 14 studies that documented statistically significant positive outcomes related to ESD and GCEd. The results highlight several factors that may enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning in these areas. It revealed the need for future studies to address variables related to learners' characteristics and organizational/school contexts in the implementation of the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]