CONSTRUCTING EDUCATIONAL CONSENSUS - INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS AND THE WORLD CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR ALL

Since the end of World War II, a distinct community of organizations h as emerged in high-income countries to promote 'development' in the lo w-income countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This paper exam ines some of the effects of these organizations and the professionals they have produced on international educational norms and conventions, as typified by the 1990 World Conference on Education for All. I sugg est that organizational variables, such as professionalism and resourc e dependence, rather than nation-state interests and dominance alone, explain the standardization of Western models of mass education in int ernational conventions and declarations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.