Maren Elfert
I am a Lecturer in Education and Society in the School of Education, Communication and Society at King's College in London. My research examines how international organizations, such as UNESCO, the World Bank and the OECD, contribute to the globalization of educational ideas, policies and practices.
Subjects: Education
Biography
Originally from Germany, I worked for more than a decade as a member of the professional staff at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in Hamburg, before I moved to Canada in 2011. My interest in the history of educational ideas in UNESCO, which constitutes the topic of my book, derived from the tensions between UNESCO's humanistic educational discourse and the reality of results-based management that I observed during my time at UIL. From 2011 to 2016 I pursued doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Kjell Rubenson and André Elias Mazawi. From 2017 to 2018 I held a postdoctoral position at the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research at the University of Alberta. Since 2019 I am a Lecturer in Education and Society at King's College, London, UK.Education
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2016 PhD, University of British Columbia
1992 MA, Free University of Berlin
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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History of educational ideas, policies and practices
Global governance in education
Personal Interests
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Movies and politics
Websites
Books
Articles
Adult education research: Exploring an increasingly fragmented map
Published: Jul 02, 2015 by European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults
Authors: Kjell Rubenson, Maren Elfert
Against the background of internal developments of adult education as a field of study, and new external conditions for research, this article examines how the configuration of adult education research has been evolving, particularly over the last decade.
UNESCO, the Faure report, the Delors report, and the political utopia of...
Published: Jul 02, 2015 by European Journal of Education
Authors: Maren Elfert
In this article, which draws on archival research and interviews, I will explore how the two education reports commissioned by UNESCO, Learning to be, otherwise known as the Faure report (1972) and Learning: The treasure within, otherwise known as the Delors report (1996), have contributed to debates on the purpose of education and learning.
Women social activists of Atlantic Canada: Stories of re-enchantment...
Published: Jul 02, 2015 by Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education
Authors: Shauna Butterwick, Maren Elfert
In this paper, we offer our analysis of the profiles of 27 elder women social activists of Atlantic Canada. The stories speak to a social activism for which the personal is political and the boundaries between the private and public spheres are blurred. These women’s profiles, we argue, resist the “malaise of modernity,” specifically its glorification of individualism, disenchantment with the world, and retreat from political engagement.
Six decades of educational multilateralism in a globalising world
Published: Jul 02, 2013 by International Review of Education
Authors: Maren Elfert
A history of the UNESCO Institute for Education (since 2006: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning), founded by UNESCO in 1951 in Hamburg, Germany.