Global policy mobilities in federal education systems

As an introduction to this special issue, this paper presents a discussion of different theoretical and methodological challenges in analyzing the ways in which global policy flows are shaping education policies and practices within and across federal systems. We argue that the dynamics between the global and the federal systems are complex, non-linear, multi-directional and ever changing. We start by discussing the notion of global policy mobilities and the kinds of theoretical approaches that we suggest can be productive in understanding the flows of power in education across spaces. We then move on to conceptualize “the federal” in education. While global flows do not lead toward universal results or linear policy convergence across nations, we also stress the necessity to think about federalism not as singular but in the plural, as federalisms, given the different configurations and historical developments of federal systems of education. To conclude, we highlight four analytic tensions and new directions for future research on global policy mobilities in federal education systems.