Constellation of trajectories and fast policy worlds: A spatiotemporal reading of experts’ positions and social encounters in Finland’s and Norway’s recent curriculum reforms

Abstract

As evidence has become the predominant requirement for decision-making on policy in modern democracies, the importance of experts has increased tremendously. Education reforms are no exception. International organizations have gained power globally in national education policy and politics, particularly through the data they produce and the policy discourses they advocate. However, nationally appointed experts participate in the production of these discourses and advocate for policy ideas in their national context. This article examines the interplay of national and international through a spatiotemporal reading of eleven interviews with experts involved in Finland’s and Norway’s recent curriculum reforms. In their social encounters, experts exchange knowledge that does not show up in the written recommendations for reform but influences their content and focus. The author identifies three positions of experts as translators of policy knowledge that reflect the complexity of education policymaking processes which are rooted nationally, but increasingly influenced by international power structures and transnational social encounters. The author asserts that international organizations derive power not only from the data they produce but the meeting places they facilitate. Who is invited is partly a matter of geopolitics. However, the most exclusive places might only open for those ´at the forefront´ of education reforms.

Keywords

• Time/space
• globalization
• evidence-based policymaking
• policy translation
• expert networks
• global power structures