Operational experience, multi-scalar influence, and political ambivalence
Mechanisms of influence of Unesco’s Regional Bureau for Education in the Chilean school system (1990–2024)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728331 |
|---|---|
| Authors | José Miguel Fuentes Salazar (0000-0002-9132-2069, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, corresponding author), Cristóbal Villalobos (0000-0002-1964-7213, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Futures in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2103 • E-ISSN: 1478-2103 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14782103251411720 |
| OpenAlex | W7117451919 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
The UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO/OREALC) is an understudied actor in policy transfer analyses. This article addresses this gap by analyzing the mechanisms of influence and educational messages that the organization mobilizes to shape school policy in Chile, its host country. Drawing on the analysis, processing, and coding of documents produced by the organization between 1990 and 2024, this article demonstrates that UNESCO/OREALC has mobilized and combined diverse, multi-scalar and thematically polyphonic governance instruments within the Chilean education system. The article also shows that UNESCO/OREALC has maintained an ambivalent relationship with Chile, insofar as its mechanisms project narratives of both validation and opposition to local trends of privatization. The article suggests that UNESCO’s regional bureau performs functions that transcend the logic of a forum, positioning itself as an actor seeking to broaden the learning curve and policy options within the host country. Furthermore, it reaffirms the identity tensions that arise when the organization operates in contexts with high levels of privatization
Ambivalence · Corporate governance · Education policy · Latin Americans · Narrative · Negotiation · Policy analysis · Politics · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Policy Transfer and Learning · School Choice and Performance
Literature review as a research methodology
Varieties of Capitalism
Disentangling the binomial change/inertia to the Chilean educational policy in the post-dictatorship era (1990–2022). A normative policy instrument perspective
World Bank Influence on Policy Formation in Education
The Cold War Politicization of Literacy
Socialisation, learning and the OECD’s Reviews of National Policies for Education
Passports to the Global South, UN flags, favourite experts
Rebranding Gandhi for the 21st century
From ‘the conscience of humanity’ to the conscious human brain
The authority of science and the legitimacy of international organisations
Revisiting comparative education in Latin America
Unesco, the geopolitics of AI, and China’s engagement with the futures of education
Global governance, educational change
International large-scale assessment studies and educational policy-making in Chile
The ethics of AI or techno-solutionism? Unesco’s policy guidance on AI in education
Shaping Policy Curves
Regaining legitimacy in the context of global governance? Unesco, Education for All coordination and the Global Monitoring Report
Setting a global agenda of education
What are we saving? Tracing governing knowledge and truth discourse in global Covid-19 policy responses
Specifying globalization effects on national policy
Six decades of educational multilateralism in a globalising world
Demonstrating Rigor Using Thematic Analysis
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |