Globalization and Education

The concept of globalization really took off in the early 19080s, with the economic liberalization of China, the rise of democracy in South Korea piggybacked by the relative fall of communism in the Soviet Union. These 3 major events (along with others), released billions of people into the global economy through reduced trade and tariff barriers. Along the same time, a small phenomenon known as the internet, was just beginning to dig its heels into the ground and take the world by storm, its nations and citizens would interact with each other forever (Stewart, 2012). Technology and lax trade barriers ultimately led to the integration of markets and enabled companies and governments to connect with each other faster and cheaper than ever before. 

 According to Rizvi and Lingard (2001), the link between between economies, politics, and education is the interpretations of how we allow globalization to reshape and reimagine possibilities for our lives. According to Globalizing Education Policy, the link is ‘‘both an ideological formation and a social imaginary that now shapes the discourses of education policy’’ (p. 2). At least three factors contribute to globalization and its effects on the world, including education: “profound changes that take place around the world, ideologies representing different political interest, and social norms that shape identities of the masses” (p. 3). This is to say that globalization has had a major impact on education.

In our virtual class, our cohort discussed the effects of colonization, especially in areas like Africa and South Asia. Vamshi talked about his home country and how a lack of faith in the Indian public school system pushed many citizens to seek alternative options, such as international schools. However, my experience in Eastern Asia differs from this as the Korean education system is consistently ranked as one of the “best” in the world. In places like Korea, where their global economy allows them to compensate for their relatively small population size, growing students into globalized citizens helps the powerhouse economy stay competitive. The allure of international schools is not in the gap of educational quality, but in their ability to teach  English.

International assessments like the PISA (Program for International Assessment), have assessed the quality of education systems from across the world since 2000. Traditionally, these assessment have favored systems that emphasized memorization over application of knowledge. However, the PISA has undergone significant rehauls in since 2012 in an attempt to better measure 21st century skills. 21st century skills are the things students will need to succeed in a rapidly evolving and dynamic world. To accommodate for this, the test now has fewer multiple choice questions and a completely new section (in addition to math, reading, and science) that asks takers to collaborate with others and use creative problem solving over a “chat” feature on the electronic test (Gomes ,2016).

It is no secret that globalization and internationalism is changing the politics, economies, and educational policies of countries from around the world. As the workforce continues to change and demands more knowledge based skills, compared to “blue-collar” labor skills (Stewart, 2010), it’s important that countries keep up with educational trends. Despite the challenges, such as revamping traditional educational institutions and ways of thinking, it’s inevitable if one’s policies want to keep up with the interconnectedness of the world.

References

Gomes, P. (2016) How PISA is Changing to Reflect 21st Century Workforce Needs and Skills. Retreived from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-04-26-how-pisa-is-changing-to-reflect-21st-century-workforce-needs-and-skills

Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2011) Globalizing Education Policy. London, UK. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwgYlY1O2AV2bHNBSzNSTk1Xc0k/view

Stewart, V. (2012) A World Class Education. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111016/chapters/Globalization-and-Education.aspx