Education - Globalisation

There is increased movement of people and ideas globally, with education policies being influenced and affected by other cultures, and an increased flow of ideas about education as politicians, specialists and teachers learn of alternative methods of teaching, learning, and assessing students. 

Globalisation presents new challenges such as workers being required to use technology and adapt their skills at a much faster rate than before and an increase in the amount of geographical mobility and different work practises, presenting challenges for educators who need to prepare students for this type of work environment. 

The other challenge is the increasing flow of people coming from different countries and cultures, meaning:

• schools must adapt to ensure that immigrants are suitably provided for,
• teacher training has to be adapted to meet the demands of global influences,
• there must be greater individualism of learning rather than a nationally decided curriculum
•  there is concern over equality and ability to access education for all

Policies that reflect the influence of globalisation:

• Lifelong learning: New Labour’s programme to get mothers back to work and funding to get childcare so that women can update their qualifications to return to work. Greater opportunities in adult education for example access courses and wide participation of mature students at university
• Individual learning: Students are encouraged to think about their style of learning and to develop skills and qualifications that suit them rather than conforming to general education

Policies involving a greater awareness of a global world view:

• enrolling more international students at all levels of education,
• including global issues within the curriculum,
• including citizenship studies to help define what it means to be from the UK, the multicultural nature of the UK, and involvement in organisations working in other countries,
• Ofsted inspecting schools on their ability to embrace diversity so there is focus by schools to show evidence of diversity, equality and inclusion,
• greater emphasis on supporting students who have English as an additional language

Michael Gove defends Scandinavian Inspired Education Reforms after Finland and Sweden fall behind in the global league tables. Teenagers in Shanghai, Singapore and Korea are surpassing European counterparts in Maths, English and Science. Mr Gove argued that his changes to the curriculum and teachers pay were positive, pointing out parallels with successful systems in East Asia. The UK’s performance remains stable and average in world league tables for education; critics argue more will have to be done if UK students are to compete. 

What this suggests about the influence of other countries’ education policies on the UK:

• Other countries’ education policies influence and shape the UK’s attitude towards education, and the style and method of teaching employed within schools, depending on the success of a country and results they achieve compared to the UK’s
• The UK is average, middling in relation to global performance in education, not failing yet not leading the results and standards set
• For UK students to compete in a global economy, strong literacy and math skills are needed, translating into business skills, as well as science skills to rival other countries in the development of technology, medicine, etc. also, language skills