The Politics of Education Governance in Latin America
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THE POLITICS OF EDUCATION GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA WHEN GLOBAL IDEAS COLLIDE WITH DOMESTIC INTERESTS: THE POLITICS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION GOVERNANCE IN ARGENTINA, CHILE AND COLOMBIA By CLAUDIA MILENA DIAZ RIOS, B.A. – M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science McMaster University © Copyright by Claudia Milena Diaz Rios, September 2016 McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2016) Hamilton, Ontario (Political Science) TITLE: When Global Ideas Collide With Domestic Interests: The Politics Of Secondary Education Governance In Argentina, Chile And Colombia. AUTHOR: Claudia Milena Diaz Rios, B.A. (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), M.A. (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – Buenos Aires) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Michelle Dion NUMBER OF PAGES: xvi, 284. ii Lay Abstract Latin American countries have shifted from a model of education governance based on hierarchical rules and centralized authority to a results-driven model with shared responsibility among state and non-state actors. Yet, adopted governance models show remarkable cross-national variation. This dissertation aims at explaining this variation amid convergence through the qualitative comparative analysis of education governance in Chile, Argentina, and Colombia during three distinct periods of development, namely centralized education planning from the standpoint of manpower needs (1960s-1970s), market-oriented governance mechanisms (1980s-1990s), and accountability-oriented education for all (2000s-2010s). This analysis demonstrates that while diffusion of widely recognized policy ideas about education governance produces convergence, political contestation of domestic organized actors produces variation that ranges from full adoption to outright rejection of foreign recommendations. My study qualifies insights from institutional and diffusion theories by specifying the conditions in which domestic actors are able to modify both, domestic institutions and powerful foreign ideas. iii Abstract Education reforms in several Latin American countries follow a global trend characterized by at least three changes: 1) from selective student recruitment towards the universalization of secondary education and school choice for families; 2) from a centralized curriculum towards curricular autonomy; and 3) from student evaluation exclusively delegated to teachers towards national standardized tests. Yet, adopted governance models show remarkable cross-national variation. Chile has traditionally emulated global ideas and become a quasi-market of education. Argentina was more reluctant to global norms and made only moderate changes to the state-run governance model. Finally, Colombia left the education of the wealthy to the market, while centralized the authority over the education for the poor. Through a comparative historical analysis of these three countries, this study explains the way in which global ideas are domestically translated through the interaction between diffusion mechanisms, domestic policy legacies, and the ability of domestic actors to negotiate the implementation of foreign recommendations. The evidence provided by this dissertation suggests that the level of organization, the closeness to the decision-making process, and the impact of the power resources of supporters and opponents of global ideas define the extent to what these ideas are adopted. If global ideas favour the interests of powerful actors and opposition is weak the more likely result is the emulation of foreign recommendations. Yet, the more the opposition obtains resources to force powerful actors to bargain, the more the chances for global norms to be resisted or rejected. This analysis explains how the encounter between global norms and domestic institutions shapes processes of domestic institutional entrepreneurship and uncovers paths through which this entrepreneurship is more likely to produce emulation or rejection of global ideas. This dissertation qualifies insights of historical and sociological institutionalisms and contributes to the literature on education policy globalization. iv To Sebastián, Violeta and Tomás v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has been an amazing and intense personal and intellectual journey. This acknowledgement section is my better chance to thank all people and institutions that helped me enjoy the process, overcome the many difficult moments, and complete this project. First, and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Michelle Dion for her very supportive supervision. She dedicated her generous time and effort to carefully read many versions of my work and provide insightful and kind advice on my research, not to mention her invaluable help with proofreading and improving my English writing skills. Her advice went well beyond my dissertation, since Michelle constantly supported me in the preparation of grant proposals, publishable manuscripts, and job applications. I could have not imagined having a better supervisor and mentor for my Ph.D. study. Besides Michelle, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee. Scott Davies spent his time and effort offering his motivation, thoughtful comments, immense knowledge and rigorous questions that incented me to widen my research from various perspectives. I am also extremely thankful for offering his invaluable advice, training and support with my professional development. Shafiq Huque generously shared his expertise, detailed reading, patient guidance and encouragement to complete my dissertation without delay. I am also grateful to him for writing countless recommendation letters. This project would not have been completed without the financial support of a number of agencies and institutions. This research was mainly supported by the Colombian Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Colciencias) through the Doctoral Grant Francisco José de Caldas. The initial phases of the fieldwork were funded by my supervisor’s research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the final stages were carried out with the support of the School of Graduate Studies Grant in Aid for Travel Research and Field Study from McMaster University. vi There are also many people who provided invaluable affiliation, contacts and assistance in Colombia, Chile and Argentina. The members of the Group of Studies on Secondary and Higher Education of the National University of Colombia, Victor Gómez, Jorge Celis, Marcela Bautista, and Liliana González, helped me establish invaluable contacts in Colombia with potential interviewees. Felipe Rivera provided me with access and guidance through the Congress Library in Chile. Daniel Contreras also put me in contact with many Chilean potential interviewees and Pamela Ried provided superb assistance scheduling the most difficult interviews. Both of them and their lovely kids helped me with lodgings. Their enormous hospitality made my stay really enjoyable. In Argentina, staff of the Biblioteca National del Maestro (National Teachers Library) and the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences (FLACSO) made their outstanding education collection available for my study. Daniela Atairo also helped me recruit key interviewees. Pablo Avendaño offered me housing and made me feel at home. The project also owes an invaluable debt to the generosity of the interviewees listed in the Appendix 1 and innumerable Argentines, Chileans, and Colombians. Parts of this dissertation benefitted from the comments by participants at meetings of the Comparative and International Education Society (2014, 2015) Latin American Studies Association (2014), and the International Comparative Analysis Forum (2015). In addition, D. Brent Edwards Jr., my external reviewer, also provided me with useful suggestions to improve the final version of the dissertation. Special thanks to my friends and mates Jorge Fabra, Laura Guevara, Megan Kinsella, Andrea Rowe, Halina Sapeha, Jesper Svensson, Colette Nyirakamana, Javier Mella, and Berkay Ayhan. They cheered me up in the difficult moments of this process and helped me stay ‘socially and mentally healthy’. I should also thank Claudia Luci for lending a hand to my family while I was abroad conducting my fieldwork in Colombia and Chile. I thank my parents, Jesús y María, for their unconditional support and faith in me. They worked really hard to raise me, pay my education, and allow me to be as ambitious vii as I wanted. I owe so much to them for all of their sacrifice, support, encouragement, and love. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my husband, Sebastián Ried, and my kids, Violeta and Tomás. Sebastián moved to Canada, spent far more than his fair share of household chores, and put off his own projects and opportunities to support my dream. Violeta and Tomás were immensely patient with their mom’s absence, lack of time, and almost permanent exhaustion. With their love, all three kept in control my inner compulsion to work more and harder, and reminded me that home, happiness, health, and hope are indeed the life’s most important things. I could not find the words to tell them, especially Sebastián, how grateful I am and how much more I love them after this four- year venture. That is why I dedicate this dissertation to them. viii Table of Contents List of Tables .....................................................................................................................