Globalisation and Education Policy

Globalisation and policy:

Types of globalisation:

⦁ Political - Governments and organisations

⦁ Cultural - multiculturalism

⦁ Economic - global trade from businesses

⦁ Technological - Easier to communicate with people from around the world and travel

Global Educational Marketplace

There has been a rise of a global educational marketplace due to global league tables that show educational standards e.g. PISA. This has caused policy to become more focused on global league tables as more countries feel as though they have to compete. This is linked to increasing political interconnectedness.

Evaluation:

Globalisation may not have been the only factor leading to the rise of a global marketplace and global league tables. Potentially, the New Right and Thatcher had more influence than globalisation as it aimed to create more competition to raise standards within education. Therefore, this may not be purely caused by globalisation

Policies are being imported and exported. For instance, GIST was exported from Manchester to Rwanda and Israel

Importing of policies

Importing – "Free schools" now in the UK, which originally came from Sweden. This is where an individual or group can set up their own school which doesn't have to follow the national curriculum. Usually, they benefit the middle class as they are run by middle-class groups. Therefore, they may teach content that fits with middle-class values, ultimately reproducing inequalities by giving middle-class students an advantage over working-class students

Policies are being imported and exported. For instance, GIST (girls into science and technology) was exported from Manchester to Rwanda and Israel.

• GIST - had a positive effect on girls in education

-Free schools - haven't closed the gap between classes and mostly benefited middle-class students.

Sharing of policy can therefore have mixed effects on education

Marxists - Profiting off of globalisation, this is capitalism on a global scale

Evaluation:

The rise in technological globalisation enabled learning during the COVID-19 pandemic e.g., zoom, teams. Although, working-class students may have struggled due to material deprivation and fall behind.

However, Globalisation has led to more multiculturalism and cultural diversity within schools. For instance, in subjects such as RE many different cultures are taught. Also, faith schools demonstrate more multiculturalism – run by a religious organisation, curriculum centred on their religious beliefs

This has been influenced by more cultural interconnectedness

Further evaluation:

However, the curriculum is still ethnocentric. 87.5% of the AQA A level history specification is based on Western culture. Therefore, there is not an entirely multicultural education system as there is still an ethnocentric curriculum.