The emergence of public-private partnerships in the global education agenda: New challenges for educational research

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - i.e. policies that involve collaboration between the public andthe private sector when it comes to the provision of public services - have acquired iconic status inglobal education agendas. As a consequence, currently, PPPs are highly present in the discussionson education reform in both industrialized and developing countries, and higher levels of privateparticipation, school choice and schools’ competition are being promoted within educationalsystems.This article explores the origins of the PPPs in education idea and, specifically, what internationalorganizations and through which mechanisms are promoting its global implementation. The articlealso highlights the weaknesses of the arguments and methodologies which underpin the policyprescriptions of the PPPs advocates and, in turn, raises an alternative research agenda based onthe so-called 'realist evaluation' approach