Targeting education: The politics of performance and the prospects of 'Education For All'

This article offers a critical examination of the public claims about the potential, reach and impact of “target setting in education” within the context of developing countries. The argument is made that the target-setting enterprise is undermined by three fallacies-conceptual, methodological and organizational-with negative consequences for the achievement of education quality in poor countries. While acknowledging the logic of targets on the part of international development agencies, the article nevertheless suggests that target setting could be seen as a transnational system of surveillance that takes measures of control, measurement and accountability beyond the confines of national borders.