Book Description

The study of common and diverse effects in the field of education across Europe is a growing field of inquiry and research. It is the result of many actions, networks and programmes over the last few decades and the development of common European education policies. Europeanizing Education describes the origins of European education policy, as it metamorphosed from cultural policy to networking support and into a space of comparison and data. The authors look at the early development and growth of research networks and agencies, and international and national collaborations. The gradual increase in the velocity and scope of education policy, practice and instruments across Europe is at the heart of the book. The European space of education, a new policy space, has been slowly coaxed into existence; governed softly and by persuasion; developed by experts and agents; and de-politicized by the use of standards and data. It has increasing momentum. It is becoming a single, commensurable space on a rising tide of indicators and benchmarks. The construction of policy spaces by the European Union makes Europe governable: policy spaces have to be mobilized by networks of actors and constructed by comparative data. They are the result of transnational flows of people, ideas and practices across European borders; the direct effects of European Union policy; and, finally, the Europeanizing effect of international institutions and globalization. The European space of education and research has become a new place of work through interconnected institutions, networks and companies, and it is being constructed through the flow of policy ideas, knowledge and practices from place to place, sector to sector, organization to organization, and across borders. This book will be useful to any scholar of the new arena of study, the European Space of Education.