Globalisation

Question 1

What?

Answer 1

A process in which the world is said to be becoming ever more interconnected and we can increasingly talk of a global society and global culture rather than ones associated with specific countries or regions. Postmodernists suggest that we are experiencing globalisation in politics, economics, culture and society.

Question 2

The process of globalisation is having an increasing impact of the formulation of education policy. Give two ways in which globalisation has impacted education policy.

Answer 2

1) the privatisation + marketisation of education
2) the use of international comparisons to form policy

Question 3

Education + Large multi - national companies

Answer 3

Education is a multi million pound global market + multi national companies are seeking to fain access to these vast markets

Question 4

Give 2 examples of this

Answer 4

Pearson edexcel is owned by US firm Pearson PLC and the UK’s leading educational software provider is owned by global multinationals

Question 5

Education exports from Britain to other countries - Hancock 2014

Answer 5

estimates that exports from UK independent schools, universities, education publishers/international external examination providers, were in 2012 worth £18 billion to the UK economy

Question 6

Education Exports from Britain to other countries - Ball (2012)

Answer 6

unis have increasingly marketed themselves to a global audience (overseas students pay higher fees) + have developed branches overseas to allow for gloal expansion. Eg Notts uni has developed notts uni campuses in China + Malaysia

Question 7

Exports from Britiain - private schools

Answer 7

Private schools have increasingly marketed themselves + become reliant upon overseas students, particularly from China + Hong Kong

Question 8

International comparisons - Kelly (2009)

Answer 8

National govs feel increasingly obliged to tailor education policy to meet the needs of the economy + produce workers who can compete in a global economy and therefore have the skills viewed as valuable in a global market

Question 9

What does this mean for educational policy?

Answer 9

Means that educational policy may put less emphasis on social objectives (eg increasing equality of opportunity/producing a more cohesive society) and INSTEAD put focus on developing STEM subject skills - which are seen as of greater worth

Question 10

What are UK govs becoming more influenced by?

Answer 10

various international surveys comparing educational performance of a range of countrues.

Question 11

What is the best known survey

Answer 11

Programme of international students assignment (PISA survey)

Question 12

What does this survey involve? How is this data ranked?

Answer 12

Conducting tests in Maths, reading and science amoung representative samples from up to 65 countries. The data is ranked in the form of league tables

Question 13

How is this data being increasingly used?

Answer 13

To assess educational policies + therby develop new policies - eg changes to assessment + curriculum content in schools (primary literacy changes/examination changes implemented by coalition gov)

Question 14

Ofsted 2012

Answer 14

Used comparisons in league tables (eg Uk is 23rd in Math) to identify solutions from top performing systems in Asia (eg China Singapore, Hong Kong)

Question 15

Alexander 2012

Answer 15

surveys like the PISA survey have led to educational, economic + political moral panics. “PISA panic” over the state of British Education + importance of different educational policies (eg literacy + numeracy primary school content) compared to more successful countries

Question 16

Alexander 2012 on policy changes following Gove’s national curriculum

Answer 16

Refers to policy changes as being based on “ill founded assertions abt educational cause + effect”. Claims the entire national curriculum has been reconfigured to respond less to national culture, values + needs and more to dubious claims of “international benchmarking” + “world class educational standards”

Question 17

Critics of changes produced by globalisation

Answer 17

changes produced by globalisation are linked to the dominance of neo lib perspectives that increasingly treat education as a business

Question 18

Ball - national govs + control

Answer 18

National govs have less control over education than in the past

Question 19

Evaluation of the effects of globalisation on education - increased migration

Answer 19

Increased migration has arguably led to a more multi cultural curriculum + understanding of different cultures in the education system (eg RE + music)