THINKING FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
THINKING FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
By Preethi Joseph
Globalisation can be expressed as the changes that take place around the world, as a force that connects different political ideals and forms of power and as a set of values that identify the needs of the society. Globalisation has also not occurred uniformly across all nations rather it depends on the level of participation from a nation and its geopolitical location.
According to Rizvi and Lingard, neoliberal ideology is the impetus behind globalisation and plays a key role in shaping educational policy. They believe that this ideology drives the global economy which leads to the disparity of wealth and power while preventing education from reaching its true potential within a society or environment. The rise of this ideology in global education policy, and its support for market fundamentalism and human capital theory, has been fortified by international bodies like the OECD, the World Bank, the EU, and UNESCO. Globalisation has destabilised local sovereignty and its authority over the education policy. It is thus important to examine the authorities that are controlling the interpretation of education within a geographical territory.
The authors argue that education cannot be governed by “neoliberal social imaginary” but need to partner in building an ‘‘environmentally and economically secure, socially just and democratic global future’’. They have attempted to shed light on why these policies, which are based on an archaic set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols that have shaped education policy globally, and their need for them to be scrutinised. They also believe that the old theory and methodology used to analyse policy are deficient and inconsistent. Therefore more modern tools and approaches must be studied to make a plausible understanding of the policies that are ‘‘shaped by a range of transnational forces and connections, demanding a new global imagination’’(Rizvi and Lingard, 2010).
Globalisation is implemented as a tool to resignify education to fit a hegemonic neoliberal agenda, by implementing policies that employ education to shift the locus of power and to reshape the world. The effects of globalization on education and its policy are widespread and extensive. Countries have to alter themselves to be more efficient, productive and flexible, to gain an edge in the global economy. Because the main bases of globalization are knowledge intensive information and innovation, globalization should have a profound impact on education (Carnoy, 2002).
Some of the effects of globalisation on education are:
Sprouting of knowledge-producing institutions and industries
In the race to be competitive and ‘world-class’ to survive and thrive in the global economy, countries have kept education as top priority. With the world moving from a production economy to a knowledge economy, many countries have taken measures to enhance their competitive edge through the development of the knowledge-producing institutions and industries (Daun & Strömqvist, 2011).
Increased spending on human capital
Globalisation increases the need for foreign capital to sustain and improve economic growth. Human capital has long been seen as a contributor to a nation’s foreign capital. Countries are therefore under pressure to increase spending to improve the level of education to provide a continuous supply of skilled labor.
Push to increase higher education
Global competition results in an overall demand for higher skills in the entire population. Such demands push governments to expand their higher education, and to increase the number of secondary-school graduates prepared to attend post-secondary education.
Technology transfer and education
Technology is a vital force in globalisation. It has made the world a smaller and more effective place to conduct business. It is a key to gaining a competitive edge in the global economy. Rapidly changing technological advances mean countries have to prepare their labor for the digital workplace, which in turn leads to improving the quality of technology and technology education.
Standardised tests
Standardised tests like PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS measure the quality of education in a country making it necessary for governments to make policies for the excellence of their schools.
English and STEM curriculum
English is seen as a global language and governments adopt it as the driver to world-class education. Great emphasis is also put on STEM education
Decentralisation
Decentralization and corporate managerialism have been used by most governments to increase labor flexibility and create more autonomous educational institutions while catering for the demand for more choice and diversity in education (Blackmore, 2000; Novelli & Ferus-Comelo, 2010).
Education “markets”
Carnoy (2002) argues that if education is restructured on market principles and based upon competitive market relations where individual choice is facilitated, education will become more efficient. This has led to the advent of education markets which are key to the education reform for globalization.
Globalisation has affected every aspect of our lives but, education more than ever has been the most implicated due to globalisation. With blurring borders of trade and economy and the spread of technology, international education has spread through continents and established a strong foothold in most globalised economies.
IBO, the foremost organization to develop international education comes from the philosophy that international education inspires students to appreciate and respect cultures, languages and other ideologies. Though historically, the evolution of international education came from the principles of global free trade and international diplomacy. With both aspects of education(ideological and pragmatic) being in turmoil, IBO reconciled to maintain both aspects of its international education philosophy. Thus, while upholding the moral development of the individual to influence positive attitudes, the system also satisfies the rising demands for educational qualifications and global quality standards.
Cambridge and Thompson also point out that international schools promote education in context with the guiding principles of tolerance, justice, peace and international cooperation. There is a difference between being an international school and being internationally-minded. Schools that identify themselves as international because of their patrons, need not be international minded in their education whereas local schools with no international students may prepare their students for a global citizenship based on the principles of international education.
International education seems to have risen from the noble thoughts of internationalism but on closer inspection one may argue that the system is a brainchild of economic globalisation. Globalisation is not just a shared economic and political ecosystem that binds nations and societies but it is the sharing of human intellect across borders. And what better way than through formal education. Globalisation manipulates education to respond to the global need of the economic ‘moment’. The study states that the proliferation of international schools introduces competition within the local system which goes against the ideology of the international school but the pragmatic aspect reconciles with the demise of idealism.
Globalisation and its need for international benchmarking as a basis for improvement have led to the emergence of standardised testing. As the global education system gets more integrated into the testing process, they are more likely to accept the ideologies of the global culture, irrespective of their national variations. (OECD 2016). “It is only through benchmarking that countries can understand relative strengths and weaknesses of their education systems and identify best practices and ways forward”.
But how can we be guaranteed that standardised tests are a true measure of the countries’ educational excellence? And even if they rank high, are these tests measuring students for 21st century skills?
In a fast-paced global economy preparing students for success in the future lies in the way students apply what they have learned to widen the scope of their understanding. There is no room for rote learning and memorisation. Global assessments like PISA assess whether students can apply what they’ve learned to solve “real world” problems.
High ranking on PISA has been known to correlate with economic success thus seen as one of the key indicators for schools in preparing their students for the 21st century workplace. But recently there have been many concerns of the validity and reliability of the test being questionable, due to methodological problems(Fernandez-Cano, 2016). This is over and above the point that the test assesses only the subject areas of math, science and reading.
Standardised tests such as PISA are also not seen as true measures of assessing 21st century skills.
PISA does not take into account that changes in education practice takes decades to reach perfection, while standardised tests only provide short term fixes to improve rankings of a country.
PISA only measures certain aspects of education and disregards education to be a holistic contributor to the physical, mental, emotional, moral, developmental and creative aspects of a person.
Standardised tests endanger the mental well being or students and teachers by inducing more stress into already high stress learning environments.
Zhao and Meyer in their research state that high achievements on standardized tests do not reflect on the quality of education or as having the skill set to make students suitable for a global economy. Their research states that Asian economies with their strictly regimented curriculum and by-rote study techniques may rank top in the standardized tests like PISA, but show low levels of creativity and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship which is the root of many 21st century skills is seen to be inversely proportional to high scores on standardized tests like PISA.
Though PISA and other standardised tests are seen as a standard in educational excellence, it is not a true measure to the country’s standards of empowering students with 21st century skills.
To conclude, the word globalisation is often synonymous with internationalism, which refers to the interconnectedness and interdependence of people and institutions in the world. Though, the word ‘internationalism’ lays stress on solidarity and cooperation while respecting their sovereign nature, ‘globalisation’ emphasizes the dilution of that sovereign nature of the nation.
References:
Fernandez-Cano, Antonio (2016). A Methodological Critique of the PISA Evaluations. RELIEVE, 22(1), art.
Huang, F. (2007). “Internationalization of Higher Education in the Era of Globalisation: What have been its Implications in China and Japan?” Higher Education Policy, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 47-61.
Kamens, D., & McNeely, C. (2010). Globalization and the Growth of International Educational Testing and National Assessment. Comparative Education Review, 54(1), 5-25.
Nagahara, M. Fazal Rizvi and Bob Lingard: Globalizing education policy. J Educ Change 12, 377–383 (2011).
OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide - academics. (2014, May 06). from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics
PANG, N. S.-K. (2013 ). GLOBALIZATION IN THE ONE WORLD: IMPACTS ON EDUCATION IN
DIFFERENT NATIONS. In Education in One World: Perspectives from Different Nations (p. Volume
11 ). Bulgaria : Bulgarian Comparative Education Society.
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