Global governance and a new social contract for education: Addressing power asymmetries

UNESCO’s 2021 Report Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education calls for principled dialogue and laudable commitment to education as a common good. At its heart is the call for a new social contract for education. This article interrogates the governance implications of such a principled social contract in the contemporary global education policy context, marked by power asymmetries between various actors, including state actors, non-state actors, and international agencies. It identifies several governance challenges in realizing this new social contract in the current dominant global discourse and in the international educational cooperation architecture. In light of these analyses, this article argues for an alternative framing of the governance of such a social contract, based on the principles of recognition, redistribution, and representation. The elements of such an approach, while reflected in the report, are not consolidated. This framing is one way through which the called-for new social contact can gain significant policy traction for social justice and the right to quality education for all.