Global discourses and educational reform in Egypt : the case of active-learning pedagogies

Abstract

Educational reform is shaped by the ideas and actions of national actors but also by global (ideological, political, and economic) dynamics. This paper offers an analysis of the global discourses (words and practices) that helped to place notions of student-centred and active-learning pedagogies on the international education reform agenda, particularly since 1990. Additionally, the paper examines how these discourses interacted with educational reform initiatives in Egypt that were undertaken by Egyptian officials and educators, at times with project support from international intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations. The paper concludes that comparative and international educators need to interrogate the variety of educational discourses operating at both the local/national and global levels, to examine the complex interactions that occur within and across these levels, and to analyse how such discourses are constrained or enabled by global political and economic developments, including the ideologies and practices of ‘democratisation’ and multinational corporate capitalism.