Globalizing Education Policy

- Stephen J Ball, Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

In what ways have the processes of globalization reshaped the educational policy terrain?

How might we analyse education policies located within this new terrain, which is at once local, national, regional and global?

In Globalizing Education Policy, the authors explore the key global drivers of policy change in education, and suggest that these do not operate in the same way in all nation-states. They examine the transformative effects of globalization on the discursive terrain within which educational policies are developed and enacted, arguing that this terrain is increasingly informed by a range of neo-liberal precepts which have fundamentally changed the ways in which we think about educational governance. They also suggest that whilst in some countries these precepts are resisted, to some extent, they have nonetheless become hegemonic, and provide an overview of some critical issues in educational policy to which this hegemonic view of globalization has given rise, including:

• devolution and decentralization
• new forms of governance
• the balance between public and private funding of education
• access and equity and the education of girls
• curriculum particularly with respect to the teaching of English language and technology
• pedagogies and high stakes testing
• and the global trade in education.

These issues are explored within the context of major shifts in global processes and ideological discourses currently being experienced, and negotiated by all countries. The book also provides an approach to education policy analysis in an age of globalization and will be of interest to those studying globalization and education policy across the social sciences.