Globalisation And Privitisation Of Education

Question 1

What is globalisation?

Answer 1

The growing interconnectedness of societies across the world, with the spread of the same culture, consumer goods and economic interests across the globe

Question 2

The three T’s

Answer 2

Trade, Travel, Technology

Question 3

Giddens

Answer 3

Argues that globalisation is defined as “the intensification of world-wide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many a mile away and vice-versa”

Question 4

How globalisation has changed the way education is delivered through the 3 T’s

Answer 4

Trade:
-culture (more diversity in the curriculum)
-shared educational resources (hemoginous, westernised education)
-MFL (important for global trade)
Transport:
-more foreign students
-connections to education abroad
-MFL
-migration
-international schools
Technology:
-more access to online resources
-online learning
-AI

Question 5

What is privatisation

Answer 5

Where services that were once owned and provided by the state are transferred to private companies

Question 6

Globalisation has led to increased global competition

Answer 6

How schools compete?
-league tables
-formula funding
-parental choice
-advertising

Question 7

The privatisation and marketisation of education

Answer 7

-privatisation has been a feature of the educational policies of the three main political parties since the 1980s
-the UK government and local authorities spend around £88 billion a year on education so there is an enormous potential market for private investors

Question 8

Ball and Youdell identify 2 main types of privatisation

Answer 8

1) endogenous privatisation- privatisation within the education system, as schools, colleges and universities begin to operate more like private businesses
2) exogenous privatisation- privatisation from outside the education system, which involves the opening up of state education to private profit-making businesses

Question 9

Endogenous privatisation

Answer 9

-league tables
-formula funding
-inspections
-competition between schools
-performance related pay for teachers
-parental choice
-target setting

Question 10

Exogenous privatisation

Answer 10

-branding of schools
-management of schools (multi-academy trusts)
-school services
-private exam boards

Question 11

Strengths of privatisation

Answer 11

-greater efficiency: raised standards through competition, private companies with more knowledge and expertise
-more choice for parents: more diversity and focus on consumer choice
-profit motive: raises competition and standards of the school

Question 12

Limitations of privatisation

Answer 12

-loss of money from education: private providers may not reinvest profits in education, turning public money into private profits
-equality of opportunity under threat: profit overriding students needs, some excluded or encouraged not to apply to private schools

Question 13

PISA (programme for international student assessment)

Answer 13

Involves conducting tests in science, maths, reading and collaborative problem solving among representative samples of 15-year-old school students drawn from around the world. In 2015 over 70 countries participated, the data is ranked in the form of league tables to show relative performance. These results are used to monitor a country’s education system in a global context to show strengths and limitations

Question 14

Alexander

Answer 14

Suggests that PISA results have led to educational, economic and political moral panics ‘PISA panics’ over the state of british education and the search for ‘miracle cures’
Alexander identifies the following examples of policies implemented as a result of international comparisons:
- national literacy and numeracy strategies
- slimming down the national curriculum
- raising academic entry requirements for trainee teachers from 2012

Question 15

Strengths of international comparisons

Answer 15

1. Useful to see whether education spending matches educational achievement, if spending is high but results are low the gov can understand why
2. They are useful for comparing standards nationally: Oates suggests they help to show what is humanly possible for humans to achieve at different ages
3. They provide evidence for policy makers wanting to learn from other countries

Question 16

Limitations of international comparisons

Answer 16

1. Kelly argues that tests like PISA are based on a very narrow view of education
2. Test results do not necessarily mean that the education received by students is better or worse in different countries, concerns about the validity and reliability of tests used, wider social factors outside of school may be influential and these will differ across countries

Question 17

Optimistic view of globalised education policy- postmodernists

Answer 17

A means of enhancing and improving the education system such as:
- Chinese/London maths programme
- comparative research data PISA
- virtual classrooms- flipped learning
- Swedish Free Schools
Only advantageous to countries which have power and wealth and are able to enhance and improve their education systems

Question 18

Pessimistic view- Marxists

Answer 18

• education becomes more marketised with competition being based on results, rather than on the system that is appropriate for the cultural, social and emotional needs of the students
• privatisation if overseas ownership of education services
• (Edexcel) when services are sold elsewhere (outsourcing) there is little control over what happens to the product
• some countries are too poor to bring the education standards in line to compete with international standards
• the power of large western organisations (UNESCO, UNICEF) often impose western ideals as to what constitutes education. The forms of education deemed superior may not fit the needs of less developed countries- form of ‘cultural imperialism’ (Al’abri)