Globalization and Education

Characteristics, Dynamics, Implications IFE 2020 Leadership Institute February 23-March 6, 2009

Defining Globalization

 “…increased economic, cultural, environmental, and social interdependencies and new transnational financial and political formations arising out of the mobility of capital, labor and information, with both homogenizing and differentiating tendencies.” (Jill Blackmore, 2000)

Some characteristics of Globalization: Economic, political, social   Increased exchange of goods, values, symbols new regimes of regulation (WTO, NFTA, etc.)   World wide growth of market oriented societies Neo-liberalism as a global ideology: changing nature of the state: and greater role for private sector   Growing inequality Collapse of time and space--speeding up of change  Impacts on both social and cultural homogenization and differentiation-permeability of borders  The centrality of migration to global change--a world of slums  Global environmental changes

Some Political Economy and Education Issues    Changes in where work is done and how it is done. (If education tends to conform to industrial system, how must education change to conform to new order of production?) Emergence of knowledge economies and the network society. (Castells) (What should be the content of education be in a network society? How will people learn differently?) Consumerism, learning culture through consumption--the notion of a world of goods. (Given the primacy of consumption, does it come to function as a parallel education system? What do people know? How do they know it?)

The Primacy of Management

 Managerialism as a new global ideology (How does managerialism affect both the organization of education, and its goals and values? How is it changing notions of what constitutes education and its worth to society?)  Increasing privatization of education (What does privatization do to education as a public good? What are the social consequences of privatization of education?)

The Particular Importance of Rapid Urbanization  Hyper-urbanization and migration. 2001 first time 50% of world’s population live in cities and urban aggregates. 411 cities of over 1 million. Most urbanization in Asia. Pace of urbanization outstrips capacity of cities to provide infrastructure and services  Urbanization problematizes governance (including education)  Rapid urbanization compromises government’s capacity to generate state resources  Rapid urbanization closely associated with growing inequality and absence of equity

“Without concerted action on the part of the municipal authorities, national governments, civil society actors and the international community, the number of slum dwellers is likely to increase in most developing countries. And if no serious action is taken, the number of slum dwellers worldwide is projected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion.”Kofi Annan . In developing regions, slum dwellers account for 43 per cent of the population in contrast to about 6 per cent in more developed regions. In sub-Saharan Africa the proportion of urban residents in slums is highest at 71.9 per cent, according to the report. Oceania had the lowest at 24.1 per cent. South-central Asia accounted for 58 per cent, east Asia for 36.4 per cent, western Asia for 33.1 per cent, Latin America and the Caribbean for 31.9 per cent, north Africa for 28.2 per cent and southeast Asia for 28 per cent. . UN Habitat:

The Challenge of Slums

“World’s of education”  Global cosmopolitanism and resistance (fundamentalism, localism, anti-globalism)   Media: The duality of control and information overload Religion in a globalized world: fundamentalism as a response to rapid change  The expansion and retreat of civil society. (Educating through and about civil society)  Technology issues: digital world, digital divide, and the explosion of knowledge; the increasing plurality of knowledge

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Education’s Future

Given that contemporary globalization is about change, increases in rate and kind, what should education be about? Looking at demographic trends and implications for the nature of the state, can the state meet educational needs in populations?

In the great rush to the cities, what happens to the “left behind”? What are the implications of demographics for what people are taught in terms of content and cultural capability? (Who will you work for, what will you do, what languages will you speak in doing them?) In a world of increasing interdependence how does cross border education affect traditional “national” education?

Given increased income and cultural inequalities, is the “rationalizing” role of education in national societies over?

In an world of ever-increasing complexity, what are our obligations to teach “how the world works”? And, who will do it? And, how would we know?

In a world of recession--coming on the heels of decades of growth- what will be the fate of education in terms of funding, state commitments, etc?

Did You Know?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI 363A2Q