Tertium Comparationis: Issue 2/2025, 31. Volume Internationale Organisationen im Bildungsbereich: von der UNESCO zu den ‚Big Five‘ in der internationalen Bildungspolitik

All over the world, education, training and science are at the center of national discussions and in a network of national and international players, developments and dependencies. This network is characterized by the struggle for power and resources according to the different principles of state, market, and civil society. The term international organization in the title of this article is used as a generic term and is differentiated and specified below with regard to organizations that deal with ‘education’ within and outside the UN system. International organizations are a constitutive component of international education policy; this subject area is understood – in contrast to practical pedagogical action and educational research – as ‘talking about education’ across national borders, in the form of recommendations, consultations, publications and conferences and with the intention to shape policy. The essay sees itself as an invitation to understand the research on international organizations in education policy as a continuous task of educational science observation beyond current topics and pays particular attention to the longer-term work of the international organizations outlined

Keywords
International organisations, international education policy, United Nations, UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, Transnational organisations, international civil society