ABSTRACT
As pointed out in the introduction to this article, the fact that far-reaching TVET reforms in two countries as similar (in terms of their common colonial past) and, at the same time, as different (regarding their state formation processes) as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were decided upon in the very period when key donor agencies withdrew policy and financial support for TVET is puzzling. This conundrum cannot be resolved with reference to the current mainstream theories of educational change in comparative education. Obviously, the ‘world culture’ or ‘world society perspective’ with its emphasis on the convergence of educational systems worldwide, suggesting that ‘isomorphism’ has to be understood as a consequence of the diffusion of Western models and policies increasingly defined by international organisations, does not provide the analytical tools suitable for explaining the reforms in question. Rather, what we actually witness in the TVET policies pursued in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is a thought-provoking contradiction to the global trends in donor funding.
