Antoni Verger, a worldwide recognized expert on comparative and international education policy, has joined our program for the Spring semester as a visiting scholar under the U.S. Fulbright award.
Professor Verger’s academic work primarily explores educational reform processes through comparative and global policy studies lenses. In his own words, “I have increasingly focused my research on education privatization, school autonomy, and accountability reforms, which are central to my academic specializations.”
One of his latest research endeavors was the REFORMED project, a multiyear European Research Council grant where he acted as principal investigator. The REFORMED project analyzed from a multi-scalar and comparative approach the global dissemination and local imbrications of a School Autonomy with Accountability (SAWA) reforms. The project includes multiple publications and resources, all available through its website.
[Photo caption: One of the workshops organized in the context of the Reformed Project Final Conference, Barcelona, June 2022]
As part of his visiting fellowship, last Monday, February 12th, professor Verger headed the ITS Workshop titled “School Autonomy with Accountability as a Global Policy Model: Cross-National Insights into School Reform.” The concept of SAWA encapsulates this reform approach, promoting increased autonomy and accountability within schools simultaneously. The presentation examined the construction and diffusion of SAWA as a global policy model, and the model's instrumentation across different educational settings, highlighting the strategic role of national institutions in this process. Furthermore, it explored how teachers and other school actors interpret and engage with SAWA policies, often resulting in a disconnect between regulatory aims and practical application.
In his own words, Teachers College has been pivotal to his work in the last years:
“Over the past decade, my work has been profoundly influenced by the teaching and research programs at Teachers College, Columbia University, especially those within the Department of International & Transcultural Studies.”
These mutual linkages are evident in Professor Verger’s long and fruitful history of collaboration with the Teachers College community, including joint publications with Prof. Gita Steiner-Khamsi, conference presentations with several faculty members and the authorship of a groundbreaking book on the “Privatization of Education” with Clara Fontdevila and Adrián Zancajo, published by Teachers College Press.
Furthermore, professor Verger is an active member and participant of the Comparative and International Education Society. In this year’s conference held in Miami, professor Verger organized with other colleagues a double panel on “New directions in comparative education policy.” During CIES, he will be presenting his work in collaboration with Clara Fontdevila (University of Glasgow), Marina López Levy (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), and Tomás Esper (Teachers College, Columbia University) titled “As time goes by: a comparative analysis of international trends in assessment policy”. Furthermore, professor Verger will be presenting at the 2024 AERA conference in Philadelphia and a keynote speaker at two European conferences this summer: the European Conference of Educational Research held in Nicosia in August 2024 and the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) held in Thessaloniki in July 2024.
Plans in Teachers’ College
As part of his research stay at Teachers College, Columbia University, he eagerly anticipates engaging in the numerous faculty activities and seminars being organized. An upcoming talk by Martin Carnoy on “Public Sector vs. Market Accountability in Education” stands out as a highlight to him. Moreover, he is keen to learn from different organizational approaches at the university level. The welcoming nature of Columbia University towards international scholars, along with its openness to a variety of national and disciplinary backgrounds, resonates with him. He values the institution's ability to utilize this diversity effectively. One activity that captures this welcoming atmosphere and has caught his attention is the bi-weekly ‘one-day writing retreats’. These retreats convene scholars from various departments to focus on their work in a shared space, fostering concentration but also providing ample opportunities for socializing and discussing their work. He appreciates the added touches of “quality coffee and relaxing music”, which contribute to the retreats’ inviting atmosphere.
[Photo caption: Space of the Writing Retreat at the Smith Learning Theater, Teachers College, Columbia University, February 2024]
In his research endeavors, he is keen to delve into the innovative methods of comparative education policy being employed within the Department. His focus is drawn toward Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and the application of Machine Learning techniques to analyze extensive policy datasets more effectively. Additionally, his presence in the U.S. presents a prime opportunity to directly engage with the current educational reforms sweeping across the nation. The phenomena of charter schools, school choice, and performance-based accountability reforms, prevalent in many American states, are not just reshaping the educational landscape within the U.S. but also exerting influence globally. These reforms shape programmatic ideas surrounding educational policy in both academic and policy-making arenas. To gain deeper insights, he plans to conduct exploratory interviews with key stakeholders, particularly focusing on teachers’ representatives, to understand the impact of ongoing educational reforms on the teaching profession amidst evolving societal expectations and policy landscapes.
Understanding teachers' perceptions, attitudes and experiences with educational policies is of paramount importance to him, especially in a time characterized by growing discontent and turnover within the teaching profession, alongside a discernible decline in its social prestige. This issue, a longstanding concern within American education, is now manifesting in numerous European societies, where attracting and retaining teaching talent is becoming a novel challenge. Therefore, adopting a comparative approach to research on the evolving dynamics of the teaching profession holds significant value. This research transcends academic significance; in his own words, "it holds the potential to shape policy environments that support teachers’ welfare and, by doing so, significantly enhance students' learning experiences.”
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Antoni Verger serves as a Professor of Sociology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and holds a research fellowship at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA). My academic work primarily explores educational reform processes through comparative and global policy studies lenses. I have increasingly focused my research on topics such as education privatization, school autonomy, and accountability reforms, which are central to my academic specializations. In the field of academic publishing, I contribute as lead editor for both the Journal of Education Policy and the World Yearbook of Education. Additionally, I am involved in directing the Joint Master’s Degree ‘Education Policies for Global Development’ (GLOBED), a program recognized by the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union