Christian Ydesen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4085293 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christian Ydesen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christian |
| FAMILY NAME | Ydesen |
| SIGNATURE | YDESEN C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aalborg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7804-6821 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The moral grounding of changing educational assessment and accountability
This paper examines, via the concept of moral assemblage, the function of assessment as a tool for moral accountability and legitimation. Moral assemblages consist of disciplinary institutions, technologies, and practices, intertwined with elements of moral relationality, such as blame and shame, trust and risk, recognition and misrecognition, and care and safeguarding. The focus of this analysis is the Danish education system, which has undergon…
Inclusive education in complex landscapes of stakeholders, agendas and priorities
Global governance and the promissory visions of education
This article – and the special issue it introduces – contributes to the expanding scholarly literature on the global governance of education, with a particular focus on its future-oriented and ‘promissory’ dimension. Inspired by Beckert’s (2020) concept of ‘promissory’ legitimacy, a key contribution of this special issue is to critically analyse past and contemporary promissory narratives of the major international organisations and other global …
Governance by numbers 2.0
The article investigates how and when the two first movers in knowledge-based regulationthe OECD and the World Bankdeveloped policy brokerage as an instrument of global governance in the education sector.We also examine how their target clientelenational governmentsresponds to this instrument.Given the surplus of research evidence in today's digital economy, intergovernmental organisations have the challenge of standing out as trusted and credibl…
Guaranteeing positive destinations for youth in a Danish municipality
In 2019, Hjørring Municipality launched a comprehensive Youth Guarantee programme to ensure ‘positive destinations’ for the municipality’s youth. The strategy was explicitly inspired by Edinburgh’s interpretation of the Scottish Youth Guarantee. In this article, we conceptualize the Youth Guarantee as a policy instrument and unpack the transfer, translation, and transformation from the initial coincidental inspiration to the policy instrument dev…
SDG 4 as a global governance tool and the quest for recognizing diversity – Implications emerging from the intersections between inclusive education and assessment
In this commentary, we venture to explore the “unity in diversity” dilemma revolving around the tension between human diversity and standardizations as it appears in the context of SDG4 and in the intersections between inclusive education and educational assessments. Since inclusive education and various forms of assessment data are at the very heart of SDG4 (Fontdevila, 2021), our argument is that the tension between diversity and standardizatio…
The No Child Left Behind Act in the Global Architecture of Educational Accountability
Although chiefly framed in the context of domestic education policy, debates about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) echoed international education policy debates and the workings of global education governance. As this article demonstrates, both domestic and international efforts were shaped by three key features: tension between centralized goals and historically localized practices and authorities; links between education policy goals and a …
Governing education in times of crisis
Strategic government interventions in public education have shifted and blurred the boundaries between state, market and civil society modes of governance. Within this matrix of interdependent relations, schools operate under increasingly hybrid accountability arrangements in which public accountability can both complement and compete with market and social regimes and their associated institutional logics, goals, values and mechanisms. During th…
Where science met policy
Drawing on archival sources, interviews, and research literature, this article offers new insights into the making, structure and long-term effects of the International Educational Indicators (INES) programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The article argues that INES was crucial in setting the OECD on the path to becoming a global education policy actor. Although science has informed policy making for centu…
Re-reading the OECD and education
This article introduces the Special Issue ‘Re-reading the OECD and education: the emergence of a global governing complex’. Its distinctive contribution is related to its dual epistemological aims: to explore how different conceptual lenses and methodological approaches add to our understanding of the OECD as an intergovernmental organisation; and second, to understand the ways in which the strategic activities and priorities of the OECD have bee…
Mental testing and educational streaming in Ontario and Denmark in the early twentieth century
This article compares and contrasts the use of mental testing and the formation of educational streaming in Denmark and Ontario during the interwar years. In this sense, the article adds nuances to the meaning of internationalism as well as contributing to our knowledge about how ideas of testing practices circulated among countries and continents. One way ideas and practices circulated was via informal networks promoted by the education travelle…
Securing organisational survival
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has risen to prominence as one of the most influential international organisations in the world, in large part due to its country reviews and comprehensive comparative testing portfolio. This article starts from two proposition: (1) that fields of tension and antagonisms lie beyond the universalistic rationality of the consensual world-visions apparently supported by the OECD, and (…
Education governance and standardised tests in Denmark and England
In this study we identify and compare the impact of standardised student assessment in England, an established neoliberal context, and in Denmark where a neoliberal education reform agenda is emerging in response to both national concerns and international governance. National reading tests for students aged 11–12 years, long established in England, were introduced in Denmark in 2010. The form they take differs considerably, being primarily forma…
Crafting the English welfare state—interventions by Birmingham Local Education Authorities, 1948–1963
This article throws light on the space and range of education professionals and their interventions against deviants understood as the ‘problem child’ or the ‘ineducable child’. The article argues these interventions played a central role in successfully establishing schools as social administrators in England during the constitutive years of English welfare state formation. Using Birmingham local education administration as an empirical and hist…
Professional encounters with the post-WWII immigrant
This introductory article argues that practices of professional thinking and acting on the presence of the immigrant offer a privileged analytical prism through which to study how post-WWII European welfare nation-states have been shaped and crafted. As such, study of the formation of post-WWII welfare nation-states where one usually does not look for them is suggested: that is, beyond the bureaucratic logic imposed by the state itself. Consequen…
The imperial welfare state? Decolonisation, education and professional interventions on immigrant children in Birmingham, 1948–1971
This article approaches debates about how the history of the post-1945 English welfare state might be written. It argues that professionals’ interventions on immigrant children can serve as a prism for understanding the crafting of the modern English welfare state. In this sense the article engages with the narrative concerning the resilience of a post-war British history that sees 1945 as a moment of profound rupture symbolised by the demise of …
Routes of Knowledge
Recent trends in the historiography of international organizations are occupied with tracing their historical impact on national contexts. There is, however, no consensus on how to conduct this type of analysis methodologically. This article examines the methodological challenges arising from this type of research. While a great deal of inspiration can be gathered from contemporary impact assessment studies, substantial conceptual and theoretical…
Intercultural policies and education
Europeanising education
Review of "Europeanizing education – governing a new policy space" by Martin Lawn & Sotiria Grek (Symposium books, Oxford, 2012), 172 pp. (pbk), $48.00, ISBN 978-1-873927-61-8
Educational testing as an accountability measure
This article reveals perspectives based on experiences from twentieth-century Danish educational history by outlining contemporary, test-based accountability regime characteristics and their implications for education policy. The article introduces one such characteristic, followed by an empirical analysis of the origins and impacts of test-based accountability measures applying both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. These historical perspecti…
The international space of the Danish testing community in the interwar years
The focus of this article is to draw attention to the presence and importance of travelling ideas, knowledge, and practices in Danish history of educational testing. The article introduces and employs a spatial methodological approach in relation to the connections between the international testing community and the emerging Danish practice of intelligence testing in the interwar years. The article represents a contribution to an investigation of…
Securing organisational survival
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has risen to prominence as one of the most influential international organisations in the world, in large part due to its country reviews and comprehensive comparative testing portfolio. This article starts from two proposition: (1) that fields of tension and antagonisms lie beyond the universalistic rationality of the consensual world-visions apparently supported by the OECD, and (…
Governance by numbers 2.0
The article investigates how and when the two first movers in knowledge-based regulationthe OECD and the World Bankdeveloped policy brokerage as an instrument of global governance in the education sector.We also examine how their target clientelenational governmentsresponds to this instrument.Given the surplus of research evidence in today's digital economy, intergovernmental organisations have the challenge of standing out as trusted and credibl…
Where science met policy
Drawing on archival sources, interviews, and research literature, this article offers new insights into the making, structure and long-term effects of the International Educational Indicators (INES) programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The article argues that INES was crucial in setting the OECD on the path to becoming a global education policy actor. Although science has informed policy making for centu…
Re-reading the OECD and education
This article introduces the Special Issue ‘Re-reading the OECD and education: the emergence of a global governing complex’. Its distinctive contribution is related to its dual epistemological aims: to explore how different conceptual lenses and methodological approaches add to our understanding of the OECD as an intergovernmental organisation; and second, to understand the ways in which the strategic activities and priorities of the OECD have bee…
Educational testing as an accountability measure
This article reveals perspectives based on experiences from twentieth-century Danish educational history by outlining contemporary, test-based accountability regime characteristics and their implications for education policy. The article introduces one such characteristic, followed by an empirical analysis of the origins and impacts of test-based accountability measures applying both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. These historical perspecti…
Global governance and the promissory visions of education
This article – and the special issue it introduces – contributes to the expanding scholarly literature on the global governance of education, with a particular focus on its future-oriented and ‘promissory’ dimension. Inspired by Beckert’s (2020) concept of ‘promissory’ legitimacy, a key contribution of this special issue is to critically analyse past and contemporary promissory narratives of the major international organisations and other global …
SDG 4 as a global governance tool and the quest for recognizing diversity – Implications emerging from the intersections between inclusive education and assessment
In this commentary, we venture to explore the “unity in diversity” dilemma revolving around the tension between human diversity and standardizations as it appears in the context of SDG4 and in the intersections between inclusive education and educational assessments. Since inclusive education and various forms of assessment data are at the very heart of SDG4 (Fontdevila, 2021), our argument is that the tension between diversity and standardizatio…
Professional encounters with the post-WWII immigrant
This introductory article argues that practices of professional thinking and acting on the presence of the immigrant offer a privileged analytical prism through which to study how post-WWII European welfare nation-states have been shaped and crafted. As such, study of the formation of post-WWII welfare nation-states where one usually does not look for them is suggested: that is, beyond the bureaucratic logic imposed by the state itself. Consequen…
The imperial welfare state? Decolonisation, education and professional interventions on immigrant children in Birmingham, 1948–1971
This article approaches debates about how the history of the post-1945 English welfare state might be written. It argues that professionals’ interventions on immigrant children can serve as a prism for understanding the crafting of the modern English welfare state. In this sense the article engages with the narrative concerning the resilience of a post-war British history that sees 1945 as a moment of profound rupture symbolised by the demise of …
Education governance and standardised tests in Denmark and England
In this study we identify and compare the impact of standardised student assessment in England, an established neoliberal context, and in Denmark where a neoliberal education reform agenda is emerging in response to both national concerns and international governance. National reading tests for students aged 11–12 years, long established in England, were introduced in Denmark in 2010. The form they take differs considerably, being primarily forma…
Crafting the English welfare state—interventions by Birmingham Local Education Authorities, 1948–1963
This article throws light on the space and range of education professionals and their interventions against deviants understood as the ‘problem child’ or the ‘ineducable child’. The article argues these interventions played a central role in successfully establishing schools as social administrators in England during the constitutive years of English welfare state formation. Using Birmingham local education administration as an empirical and hist…
Routes of Knowledge
Recent trends in the historiography of international organizations are occupied with tracing their historical impact on national contexts. There is, however, no consensus on how to conduct this type of analysis methodologically. This article examines the methodological challenges arising from this type of research. While a great deal of inspiration can be gathered from contemporary impact assessment studies, substantial conceptual and theoretical…
Intercultural policies and education
Europeanising education
Review of "Europeanizing education – governing a new policy space" by Martin Lawn & Sotiria Grek (Symposium books, Oxford, 2012), 172 pp. (pbk), $48.00, ISBN 978-1-873927-61-8
The international space of the Danish testing community in the interwar years
The focus of this article is to draw attention to the presence and importance of travelling ideas, knowledge, and practices in Danish history of educational testing. The article introduces and employs a spatial methodological approach in relation to the connections between the international testing community and the emerging Danish practice of intelligence testing in the interwar years. The article represents a contribution to an investigation of…
Intercultural policies and education
Europeanising education
Review of "Europeanizing education – governing a new policy space" by Martin Lawn & Sotiria Grek (Symposium books, Oxford, 2012), 172 pp. (pbk), $48.00, ISBN 978-1-873927-61-8
Educational testing as an accountability measure
This article reveals perspectives based on experiences from twentieth-century Danish educational history by outlining contemporary, test-based accountability regime characteristics and their implications for education policy. The article introduces one such characteristic, followed by an empirical analysis of the origins and impacts of test-based accountability measures applying both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. These historical perspecti…
Routes of Knowledge
Recent trends in the historiography of international organizations are occupied with tracing their historical impact on national contexts. There is, however, no consensus on how to conduct this type of analysis methodologically. This article examines the methodological challenges arising from this type of research. While a great deal of inspiration can be gathered from contemporary impact assessment studies, substantial conceptual and theoretical…
Crafting the English welfare state—interventions by Birmingham Local Education Authorities, 1948–1963
This article throws light on the space and range of education professionals and their interventions against deviants understood as the ‘problem child’ or the ‘ineducable child’. The article argues these interventions played a central role in successfully establishing schools as social administrators in England during the constitutive years of English welfare state formation. Using Birmingham local education administration as an empirical and hist…
Professional encounters with the post-WWII immigrant
This introductory article argues that practices of professional thinking and acting on the presence of the immigrant offer a privileged analytical prism through which to study how post-WWII European welfare nation-states have been shaped and crafted. As such, study of the formation of post-WWII welfare nation-states where one usually does not look for them is suggested: that is, beyond the bureaucratic logic imposed by the state itself. Consequen…
The imperial welfare state? Decolonisation, education and professional interventions on immigrant children in Birmingham, 1948–1971
This article approaches debates about how the history of the post-1945 English welfare state might be written. It argues that professionals’ interventions on immigrant children can serve as a prism for understanding the crafting of the modern English welfare state. In this sense the article engages with the narrative concerning the resilience of a post-war British history that sees 1945 as a moment of profound rupture symbolised by the demise of …
Education governance and standardised tests in Denmark and England
In this study we identify and compare the impact of standardised student assessment in England, an established neoliberal context, and in Denmark where a neoliberal education reform agenda is emerging in response to both national concerns and international governance. National reading tests for students aged 11–12 years, long established in England, were introduced in Denmark in 2010. The form they take differs considerably, being primarily forma…
Mental testing and educational streaming in Ontario and Denmark in the early twentieth century
This article compares and contrasts the use of mental testing and the formation of educational streaming in Denmark and Ontario during the interwar years. In this sense, the article adds nuances to the meaning of internationalism as well as contributing to our knowledge about how ideas of testing practices circulated among countries and continents. One way ideas and practices circulated was via informal networks promoted by the education travelle…
Securing organisational survival
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has risen to prominence as one of the most influential international organisations in the world, in large part due to its country reviews and comprehensive comparative testing portfolio. This article starts from two proposition: (1) that fields of tension and antagonisms lie beyond the universalistic rationality of the consensual world-visions apparently supported by the OECD, and (…
Governing education in times of crisis
Strategic government interventions in public education have shifted and blurred the boundaries between state, market and civil society modes of governance. Within this matrix of interdependent relations, schools operate under increasingly hybrid accountability arrangements in which public accountability can both complement and compete with market and social regimes and their associated institutional logics, goals, values and mechanisms. During th…
Where science met policy
Drawing on archival sources, interviews, and research literature, this article offers new insights into the making, structure and long-term effects of the International Educational Indicators (INES) programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The article argues that INES was crucial in setting the OECD on the path to becoming a global education policy actor. Although science has informed policy making for centu…
Re-reading the OECD and education
This article introduces the Special Issue ‘Re-reading the OECD and education: the emergence of a global governing complex’. Its distinctive contribution is related to its dual epistemological aims: to explore how different conceptual lenses and methodological approaches add to our understanding of the OECD as an intergovernmental organisation; and second, to understand the ways in which the strategic activities and priorities of the OECD have bee…
The No Child Left Behind Act in the Global Architecture of Educational Accountability
Although chiefly framed in the context of domestic education policy, debates about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) echoed international education policy debates and the workings of global education governance. As this article demonstrates, both domestic and international efforts were shaped by three key features: tension between centralized goals and historically localized practices and authorities; links between education policy goals and a …
Guaranteeing positive destinations for youth in a Danish municipality
In 2019, Hjørring Municipality launched a comprehensive Youth Guarantee programme to ensure ‘positive destinations’ for the municipality’s youth. The strategy was explicitly inspired by Edinburgh’s interpretation of the Scottish Youth Guarantee. In this article, we conceptualize the Youth Guarantee as a policy instrument and unpack the transfer, translation, and transformation from the initial coincidental inspiration to the policy instrument dev…
SDG 4 as a global governance tool and the quest for recognizing diversity – Implications emerging from the intersections between inclusive education and assessment
In this commentary, we venture to explore the “unity in diversity” dilemma revolving around the tension between human diversity and standardizations as it appears in the context of SDG4 and in the intersections between inclusive education and educational assessments. Since inclusive education and various forms of assessment data are at the very heart of SDG4 (Fontdevila, 2021), our argument is that the tension between diversity and standardizatio…
Inclusive education in complex landscapes of stakeholders, agendas and priorities
Global governance and the promissory visions of education
This article – and the special issue it introduces – contributes to the expanding scholarly literature on the global governance of education, with a particular focus on its future-oriented and ‘promissory’ dimension. Inspired by Beckert’s (2020) concept of ‘promissory’ legitimacy, a key contribution of this special issue is to critically analyse past and contemporary promissory narratives of the major international organisations and other global …
Governance by numbers 2.0
The article investigates how and when the two first movers in knowledge-based regulationthe OECD and the World Bankdeveloped policy brokerage as an instrument of global governance in the education sector.We also examine how their target clientelenational governmentsresponds to this instrument.Given the surplus of research evidence in today's digital economy, intergovernmental organisations have the challenge of standing out as trusted and credibl…
The moral grounding of changing educational assessment and accountability
This paper examines, via the concept of moral assemblage, the function of assessment as a tool for moral accountability and legitimation. Moral assemblages consist of disciplinary institutions, technologies, and practices, intertwined with elements of moral relationality, such as blame and shame, trust and risk, recognition and misrecognition, and care and safeguarding. The focus of this analysis is the Danish education system, which has undergon…
Political science (21 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Law (15 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (12 works) · Public Administration (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Economics (9 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Corporate governance (7 works)