Globalizing Education Policy

241 Pages·2009·1.291 MB·English

by  Fazal Rizvi and Bob Lingard

Globalizing Education
Policy
and
Fazal Rizvi Bob Lingard
Globalizing Education Policy
Inwhatwayshavetheprocessesofglobalizationreshapedtheeducationalpolicyterrain?
Howmightweanalyseeducationpolicieslocatedwithinthisnewterrain,whichisatonce
local,national,regionalandglobal?
Overthepasttwodecades,educationalsystemsthroughouttheworldhaveundergonesig-
nificantchangesassystemscontinuetointerpretandrespondtotheever-changingeconomic,
social and political contexts within which education takes place. Educational policies have
beendeeplyaffectedbythesedevelopments,asnationalgovernmentshavesoughttorealign
theireducationalprioritiestowhattheyperceivetobetheimperativesofglobalization.
InGlobalizingEducationPolicy,theauthorsexplorethekeyglobaldriversofpolicychangein
education and suggest that these do not operate in the same way in all nation-states. They
examinethetransformativeeffectsofglobalizationonthediscursiveterrainwithinwhichedu-
cationalpoliciesaredevelopedandenacted,arguingthatthisterrainisincreasinglyinformed
byarangeofneo-liberalpreceptswhichhavefundamentallychangedthewaysinwhichwe
think about educational governance. They also suggest that whilst in some countries these
preceptsareresisted,tosomeextent,theyhavenonethelessbecomehegemonic.Thebookpro-
videsanoverviewofsomecriticalissuesineducationalpolicytowhichthishegemonicviewof
globalizationhasgivenrise,including:
• devolutionanddecentralization
• newformsofgovernance
• thebalancebetweenpublicandprivatefundingofeducation
• accessandequityandtheeducationofgirls
• curriculumparticularlywithrespecttotheteachingofEnglishlanguageandtechnology
• pedagogiesandhigh-stakestesting
• theglobaltradeineducation.
Theseissuesareexploredwithinthecontextofthemajorshiftsinglobalprocessesandideo-
logical discourses currently being negotiated by all countries. The book also outlines an
approachtoeducationpolicyanalysisinanageofglobalizationandwillbeofinteresttothose
studyingglobalizationandeducationpolicyacrossthesocialsciences.
FazalRizviisaProfessorintheDepartmentofEducationalPolicyStudies,UniversityofIlli-
noisatUrbana-Champaign,USA.
Bob Lingard is a Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Education, University of
Queensland,Australia.

Globalizing Education Policy
Fazal Rizvi and Bob Lingard
Firstpublished2010
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711T hirdA venue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2010FazalRizviandBobLingard.
TypesetinGaramondbySaxonGraphicsLtd,Derby
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom
thepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Rizvi,Fazal,1950-
Globalizingeducationpolicy/FazalRizviandBobLingard.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Educationandstate.2.Educationandglobalization.I.Lingard,Bob.
II.Title.
LC71.R592009
379—dc22 2009016869
ISBN10:0-415-41625-6(hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-415-41625-2(hbk)
ISBN10:0-415-41627-2(pbk)
ISBN13:978-0-415-41627-6(pbk)
ISBN10:0-203-86739-4(ebk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-86739-6(ebk)
ForPatricia Rizvi and Carolynn Lingard

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
1 Conceptionsofeducationpolicy 1
2 Perspectivesonglobalization 22
3 Globalizingeducationpolicyanalysis 44
4 Educationpolicyandtheallocationofvalues 71
5 Curriculum,pedagogyandevaluation 93
6 Fromgovernmenttogovernance 116
7 Equitypoliciesineducation 140
8 Mobilityandpolicydilemmas 161
9 Imaginingotherglobalizations 184
References 203
Index 221
Acknowledgements
Weviewthisbookasasequeltoabookwewrotemorethan12yearsago,with
Miriam Henry and Sandra Taylor. And although Miriam and Sandra have not
collaboratedonthisbook,itwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouttheringing
inourearsoftheirvoicesandwisdom.Thisbookhasbenefitedgreatlyfromthe
commentsofourstudentsattheUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaignin
the United States, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, the University of
SheffieldinEnglandandtheUniversityofQueenslandinAustralia.Fazalwould
liketothankhisstudentsintheIllinoisprogrammeinGlobalStudiesinEdu-
cation, particularly Jason Sparks, Laura Engel, David Rutkowski, Viviana
Pitton, Rodrigo Britez, Esther Kim, Gabriela Walker, Ergin Balut, Daniel
Taseema,RushikaPatel,JamesThayerandShivaliTukdeo.Hewouldalsolike
to acknowledge the support and wise counsel he has received from his Illinois
colleagues: Michael Peters, Tina Besley, Nick Burbules, Linda Tabb, Nicole
Lamers, Garret Gietzen, James Anderson, Walter Feinberg, Bill Cope, Mary
Kalantzis, Jan Nedeveen Pieterse and Cameron McCarthy. Bob would like to
thank the students in his policy classes at the Universities of Sheffield, Edin-
burghandQueensland,aswellashisrecentdoctoralstudents,especiallyGeor-
gina Webb, Kentry Jn Pierre, Shaun Rawolle, Ian Hardy, Hazri bin Jamil,
FarahShaikandSajidAliandhiscolleaguesatthoseuniversities.Inparticular,
hewouldliketothankShereenBenjamin,SotiriaGrek,MartinLawn,Pamela
Munn, Jenny Ozga, Lindsay Paterson, David Raffe, Sheila Riddell, Lyn Tett
and Gaby Weiner at the University of Edinburgh, Wilf Carr, Jennifer Lavia,
JackieMarsh,JonNixonandPatSikesatSheffieldUniversityandMartinMills
andPeterRenshawattheUniversityofQueensland.Ourgratitudealsogoesto
our friends at Routledge: Anna Clarkson, who unfailingly supported this
project,evenasweaskedforextensions,andalsoCatherineOakley,forheredi-
torialsupport.SincerethanksalsotoGlendaMcGregor,whoproofreadvarious
versionsofthetext,toStephenHeimanswhoproofreadthepenultimateversion
ofthebook,toIanHextallwhoreadtheentiremanuscriptandcommentedon
it, to Holly Chen and Minglin Li, who helped with the reference list, and to
RebeccaDonohuewhoassistedwithformatting.Finallythisbookisdedicated
toPatriciaRizviandCarolynnLingard,whohavetoleratedandsupportedour
livesasgloballymobileacademics.
Preface
In 1997, together with Miriam Henry and Sandra Taylor, we published a
book on education policy studies called Educational Policy and the Politics of
Change.Thebookwasdesignedtoexaminethewaysinwhicheducationpoli-
cies are developed and can be analysed, within the broader context of the
politics of change. We explored the ways in which particular interests were
servedbypublicpoliciesineducation,andsuggestedthateducationalpolicy
analysis was an inherently political activity. We argued that through public
policies the state laid out a framework which guided educational practices
but did not wholly determine them. Education policies were articulated at
various levels of specificities; some were merely symbolic, while others had
morematerialconsequences,suchastheredistributionofresourcesoralloca-
tionofauthoritystructuresandvaluepositions.Throughpublicpolicies,the
state expressed its value preferences, either as an expression of democratic
choicesofacommunityorinsteeringthatcommunity’sexpectations.Butwe
insistedthatjustaspoliciesembodyparticularvalues,sodoestheiranalysis.
Policyanalysis,wemaintained,servednumerouspurposes,fromprovidingan
environmentalscanforthedevelopmentofpolicyoptionstoevaluatingtheeffec-
tivenessofparticularpolicies.Muchdependsonthereasonsforundertakingpolicy
research, and on the terms of reference set. Sometimes a distinction is made
between analysis for policy, which contributes to actual policy production, and
analysisofpolicy,whichisamoreacademicandcriticalactivity.Academicresearch
into the political processes of policy development, analysis of policy, is likely to
differ markedly, for example, from consultancy work conducted to determine
policyoptionsortoholdparticularinstitutionsaccountable,orfromresearchcon-
ducted by policymakers located inside the educational bureaucracy, analysis for
policy. The tasks allocated to policy analysts thus determine, to a significant
extent, how the context in which the policy was developed is interpreted, the
theoreticalandmethodologicalresourcesthatareused,andtherecommendations
thatarearticulated.Thelocationofthepolicyanalystissignificant.Analysiscon-
ductedbytheloneacademicresearcher,positionedwithinauniversity,islikelyto
adopt a different approach from someone working with a team of evaluators
withinanorganization,suchasalargebureaucracy.Thisisnottosaythatthere
arenogeneralstandardsforassessingthequalityofpolicyresearch,butsimplyto
notethatthenatureoftheanalyticaltaskundertaken,thelocationoftheanalysts