In search of a global community: a multivocal critique of UNESCO’s education commons discourse

This article critically examines UNESCO’s construction of a commons approach to global education through a multivocal analysis of its 2021 report Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. The participating researchers’ “voices” are brought together through dialogue and joint meaning making to critically analyse UNESCO’s promotion of education as a global commons. This is achieved by unpacking how the “we” that this commons implies is constructed by the text. A multivocal approach is particularly well suited to this task because it can encompass multiple perspectives, identities and social roles, thereby enriching the analysis and discussion. The joint analysis uncovers three “commons-constructing” devices i) a reliance on anticipatory politics and projection of a common apocalyptic future; ii) a discursive balance between cultural diversity and universal values, and iii) a downplaying of power relations. Taken together, these strategies work to construct the commons by fostering a particular subjectivity around a “we”, an undefined community, which readers of the report are expected to relate to. We question to what extent this community of global readers exists and consider its implications for a global commons approach to education.