Global Education Policy and International Development: A Revisited Introduction

Efficiency versus social justice? Teachers’ roles in the epoch of globalisation

“…Apparently, the process of globalisation increases the economic, political and cultural interdependence of places, individuals and organisations (Verger et al, 2012). Thereafter, Chinnammai (2005: 2) presents an argument that ‘the future of countries often lies within their ability to compete in a global market where industrial-based economies are replaced by knowledge-based industries realising the importance of “knowledge, skills and the intellectual capacity to meet the challenges of accelerated change and uncertainty”’.…”

“…Rizvi and Lingard (2010) explain that globalisation has reshaped the synergies of the education policy field, altering the processes of policy development, implementation and evaluation due to the reworking of the nation- state in which public policy was usually formed. Similarly, Verger et al (2012: 1) indicate that ‘similar education reforms and a common set of education policy jargon are being applied in many parts of the world, in locations that are incredibly diverse both culturally and in terms of economic development’.…”

“…In terms of education, Ball (2007) argues that neoliberalism is the dominant politico-economic ideology that influences the formation of global education discourses, suggesting the introduction of market mechanisms in the education domain. What neoliberalism has introduced to education refers to international benchmarking, the privatisation of education, importing management techniques from the corporate sector and other ideals such as choice, competition and decentralisation (Verger et al, 2012). As a consequence, school-based management, teachers’ accountability, public–private partnerships and conditional fund-transfer schemes are some of the global education policies often cited as a result of neoliberalism.…”

“…approach’ to ‘a systemic approach that insists first and foremost on the construction of an equitable and just world’ (Gorski, 2009: 88). Verger et al (2012) claim that globalisation also ‘fosters the organisation of transnational social justice movements that struggle for the realisation of education as a global public good and its endorsement as a human right’. Civil society movements, such as the Global Campaign for Education, but also coalitions of nation states, such as the ALBA countries in Latin America, are found to contest the domination of neoliberal policies pressing for increased state intervention in education.…”

Revisiting the governance narrative: The dynamics of developing national educational assessment policy in South Korea

“…These global discourses around test-based accountability were often combined with neoliberal education reforms where the market is framed as a superior mechanism to have students achieve desired outcomes in the global economy (Gaches, 2018; Peters, 2012); therefore, the state government is expected to enable the market arrangements in transforming the education sector toward more decentralized and demand-oriented services (e.g. Lubienski, 2018; Verger et al., 2013). These findings have suggested that increasing market freedom in developing education policies in local governments and involving diversified policy actors—through private–public partnerships or advocacy networks—in policy process can weaken the centralized power of nation states in the function of network governance.…”