Power and representation: a postcolonial reading of global partnerships and teacher development through North–South study visits

Abstract

This paper critically analyses the neo-liberal discourse informing global education policy and practice. We use postcolonial theory to deconstruct the contexts for global educational partnerships, highlighting how issues of power and representation are central to their development and the learning that takes place within them. Teacher development through North–South study visits is one way of challenging teachers’ worldviews, but these are not always effective. We argue that study visit courses, where learning is facilitated by differently knowledgeable others, have the potential to be more effective, but only if the courses are underpinned by postcolonial theory and informed by socio-cultural pedagogy.

Notes

1. North–South is being used to represent developed and developing countries, since that is the term that is often used for educational partnerships between these areas of the world (Andreotti & Burr, 2008; Edge et al., 2009). However, it is recognised that this term is problematic, not least because it reinforces a binary ontology that post-colonial critiques seek to disturb.

2. For the purposes of this article, we refer to study visits as those that are usually short-term, and which individuals or small groups take to developing countries without any specific training beyond logistical matters such as vaccination and visa requirements. Study visit courses are those where the study visit itself is framed within a broader course (but not necessarily an accredited one) facilitated by teacher educators who also accompany the group on the study visit.

3. We use the term ‘differently knowledgeable’ rather than ‘more knowledgeable’ to recognise that different forms of knowledge are equally valid, and to challenge the power hierarchy that exists between academic and other voices.

4. The Department for International Development’s front web page (accessed 28 September 2010) for the MDGs, http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Global-Issues/Millennium-Development-Goals/, shows an image of a Southern country for each of the eight goals.

5. Operations by the Department for International Development (DfID) in the developing world were rebranded ‘UKAid’ in 2009 in an attempt ‘to make clear that the contributions are coming from Britain’ (Sengupta & Starkey, 2009).