A Study Of UNESCO's Global Governance Of Education For Sustainable Development

Global education governance is an emerging topic that comes with the development of globalization.It refers to an interactive process in which the diversified governance subjects at the global level,under the guidance of specific values and goals and based on certain governance structures and mechanisms,manage,regulate and exert influence on the field of global education.Under the trend of globalization of education,global education governance is increasingly reflected in different specific cases,involving many profound theoretical and practical issues.The research on global education governance needs to rely on specific governance subjects and their governance objects.The governance subject selected in this study is UNESCO,which is the authoritative organization in the field of international education,while the governance object is Education for Sustainable Development(ESD),a typical case with a long history of governance.At a time when human society is facing major challenges from different fields,ESD is a core educational philosophy advocated by UNESCO for the goal of "learning to live together",as well as for the sustainable development of the global economy,society and the environment.They are of paramount importance and have therefore become part of UNESCO's key agenda for global education governance.Since the concept of ESD was first introduced in 1992,UNESCO's governance of ESD has been going on for almost 30 years.The core research question in this study is:In the case of ESD,how does UNESCO carry out global education governance?Specifically,the study will focus on three sub-questions:1.What are the mechanisms on which UNESCO's global governance for ESD is based?2.What governance tools are used by UNESCO in promoting the concept and practice of ESD?3.How to evaluate UNESCO's global education governance for ESD?In general,this study aims to explore how the concepts and ideas of ESD can spread at the global level based on the global governance theory,and how its value orientation becomes the global agenda in the field of international education.Through the combing and analysis of UNESCO's ideas and related practical activities to promote ESD,this study suggests that UNESCO mainly uses three types of governance tools in the process of global education governance,including standard setting,capacity building and international collaboration,and have further leveraged its functions and roles as "standards-maker","capacity-builder","information-communicator" and "promoter of international cooperation".In the process of implementing ESD,UNESCO has made certain achievements while facing several challenges.This study explores UNESCO's global education governance activities through an analysis of typical cases,with both theoretical and practical significance.At the theoretical level,as a cross-disciplinary topic in international politics and education,this study helps to fill the gap in the existing research on global education governance and UNESCO.At the practical level,this study provides perspectives and insights for how to better cooperate with UNESCO and participate more in the management of global education in the future by deepening the understanding of global governance and international mechanisms in the field.