An Examination of the Influence of Globalisation on Science Education in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper takes the view that the emergence of some trends and practices in science education mirrors the influence of the process of globalisation in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa. Through a literature review, an attempt is made to link science education and globalisation by answering the question: ‘What influence does globalisation have on science education in countries in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa?’ The findings of the study show some significant convergence of what is valued in science education in Sub-Saharan Africa in areas such as pedagogy; English language as a medium of instruction; assessment of learning; mobility of students in the region; and in the frameworks for collaborative engagements among stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper concludes with a reflective end-piece calling for more case studies to help scrutinise further the influence of globalisation on science education in Sub-Saharan Africa.     

Sharing best practices in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago: patterns of policy implementation and resistance

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a best practice refers to pedagogy, curriculum or programme that contributes to student achievement. Currently, a number of influential multilateral organisations advocate that developing nations should share their best practices in education with each other. Despite encouragement by multilaterals however, best practices are not shared. At best, foreign ideas are used to legitimise local policies. While these policies are intended to help countries reach their Education for All (EFA) goals, they do not account for the differences between islands and their vulnerability towards larger countries. Attempts to innovate the curriculum by implementing foreign ideas failed due to the forces of tradition. It can thus be concluded that resistance – non‐compliance or opposition – to sharing educational best practices, as well as to the implementation of new curricula, stems from echoes of colonialism and globalisation. Although this study focuses on two islands, there are implications for other developing countries and small states as they fall under the same policy auspices of UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat.     

Changes in Chinese education under globalisation and market economy: emerging issues and debates

Fuelled by forces of globalisation, China has gradually shifted from a centrally planned economy to the ‘socialist market economy’. This study examines changes in Chinese education under globalisation and market economy, focusing on the teaching and living conditions of teachers. The study reveals that the profound transformation of social and economic life has resulted in significant changes to education in China, as manifested in curriculum reform, increased disparity between rural and urban education, marginalisation of minority education and lack of accessible and affordable education for the children of migrant workers. The recent changes have also had tremendous impact on teachers in terms of their workload, payment, wellbeing, social status and teaching and living conditions. The study contextualises the concept of globalisation by examining its impact on China through marketisation and privatisation. Its analysis demonstrates a withdrawal of the state from provision and financing of public education. It also reveals a number of social injustices and inequities whose reduction and elimination require the Chinese government to take immediate and active measures.     

A closer look at the impact of globalization on science education

This paper provides a historical overview of globalisation in order to illustrate how globalisation both shapes and is shaped by external forces. The authors use this perspective to generate a dialogue about the science education project The Case of Sustainability by the Bay, and raise some questions to further the discussion on the impact of globalisation on science education. The paper also discusses the importance of recognizing the historic developments around globalisation in order to understand how changes in the global economy have shaped and continue to shape education through policy regarding funding, curriculum development and implementation, as well as trends in teacher preparation and education. The paper concludes by offering implications for policy makers, researchers, and teacher educators as it relates to science education generally, and globalisation particularly.     

Globalisation and science education: the case of Sustainability by the Bay

It is impossible to consider contemporary science education in isolation from globalisation as the dominant logic, rethinking and reconfiguring social and cultural life in which it is located. Carter (J Res Sci Teach 42, 561–580, 2005) calls for a close reading of policy documents, curriculum projects, research studies and a range of other science education texts using key concepts from globalisation theory to elucidate the ways in which globalisation shapes and is expressed within science education. In this paper, we consider an example from our own practice of a school-based curriculum project, Sustainable Living by the Bay, as one such instance. The first section reviews neoliberalism and neoconservativism necessary to understand how globalisation penetrates education, while the second outlines aspects of the curriculum project itself. As there were many different facets to the development and implementation of a project like Sustainable Living by the Bay, there is space only to elaborate two examples of the globalisation discourse. The first example concerns the government policy initiative that funded the project while the second example focuses on learner- centred pedagogies as globalisation’s pedagogies of choice.     

Problems and prospects in ecocritical pedagogy

Place‐based ecocritical pedagogy (PBEP) has been a key part of ecocriticism since the 1980s. In the last 10 years, the critical, theoretical, scientific and philosophical assumptions with which it has been associated have been subject to sustained critique, and yet PBEP remains the dominant model in pedagogical thinking within the field. In particular, developments in ecocritical thought associated with queer theory, globalisation and postcoloniality, indicate some severe limitations of PBEP. Moreover, published material on PBEP practice and research seems largely ignorant of developments in environmental education generally. I argue for a closer relationship between ecocriticism and environmental education and for ecocritical pedagogy to assume a more sceptical and empirical approach.     

Risks and pleasures: a Deleuzo‐Guattarian pedagogy of desire in education

This article provides an analysis of a pedagogy of desire from a Deleuzo‐Guattarian perspective. A pedagogy of desire can be theorised in ways that mobilise creative, transgressive and pleasurable forces within teaching and learning environments. It also enables a new view on affect in education as a landscape of becoming in which forces, surfaces and flows of teachers/students are caught up in a desiring ontology. This marks an attempt to reclaim the notion of desire away from a purely negative, repressive or libidinal framework. The claim of pedagogy of desire is that through the mobilisation and release of desiring production, teachers and students make available to themselves the powerful flows of desire, thereby turning themselves into subjects who subvert normalised representations and significations and find access to a radical self. Some strategies and practical implications are offered to suggest how this approach to pedagogy may function in educational contexts.     

The Impact of Globalisation on Higher Education Governance in Japan

This paper examines current changes in higher education governance in Japan, linking these with the national strategy in the light of globalisation forces. First, the author describes Japan's social economy that has heavily relied on manufacturing industry and the strong desire for internationalisation. Second, activities in the internationalisation of higher education in Japan are discussed from social and economic perspectives. Third, the current higher education reform aimed at revitalising a society facing "Identity Crisis" under the pressure of globalisation is analysed. Finally, the inconsistency of micro and macro demand, and the lack of trust in higher education are discussed as issues to be overcome for gaining global competitiveness.     

Research in a cold climate: towards a political economy of British international and comparative education

This paper seeks to begin a discussion of the importance of the material environment in which international and comparative educational research is done as a fundamental aspect of any methodological discussion of the activities of the field. It argues that the position of international and comparative education within universities and its relationship to potential funders act powerfully on the types of work that can be done. It also highlights ways in which the intensification and globalisation of market forces shapes not only the social reality being researched but the research environment itself. It is particularly concerned with the ways in which these forces impact upon the early career development of researchers and the long-term impact this will have on the health of international and comparative education.     

浅论英语教学中的素质教育

素质教育是一个综合性的概念,它以人为本,既强调人的整体性（全面素质）,又强调全体性（面向全体学生）,从而达到提高全民族素质的目的.同时,素质教育又注重学生个性差异,提倡因材施教.在学校教育中,实施素质教育的主渠道在课堂,实施素质教育的关键在教师.教师要努力加强对素质教育的认识,在提高自身专业素质的同时,掌握一些教育学和心理学等相关学科的知识,促进教学能力的进一步提高.     

Globalisation,Post-modernity and the State: Comparative education facing the third millennium

In this article, the implications for globalisation and Post-modernity are assessed in terms of the self-understanding and practice of comparative education, particularly in relation to contemporary theories of the state, and civil society. It is argued that, while globalisation and post-modernity are usually seen as discrete phenomena, each raises complex questions of difference and hybridity, power and collective action, which can no longer be seen in relation to the nation-state alone. Different meanings of globalisation are canvassed, based in part on Sklair's taxonomy, while examples of the impact of globalisation, especially on higher education, are given. The implications of post-modern thought are also analysed, particularly for research and understanding in comparative education. Referring to Putnam's work on civil society, it is argued that both globalisation and post-modernity are linked to changes in the nature of late capitalism, and crises in the modern state. It is finally argued that neither offers much in practice to the much needed renewal of democracy, including in education; indeed that both arguably contribute to a trend towards individualism, and a retreat from democratic engagement and visions of the social good.     

School curriculum,globalisation and the constitution of policy problems and solutions

To varying degrees, education policy reforms around the world are driven by educational discourses relating to globalisation. At the same time, national and local histories, cultures and politics mediate the effects of globalisation discourses. This paper employs methods of analysis that draw on the concepts of ‘vernacular globalization’ and ‘policy archaeology’ in order to examine the ways in which the effects of globalisation on National Curriculum policy reform are mediated by conditions and priorities that are specific to national contexts. The enquiry focuses on three curriculum policy problems that are associated with the English school curriculum and have recently been identified as requiring reform: inappropriate curriculum knowledge, the skills deficit and the one-size-fits-all curriculum. The paper concludes by summarising the results of the analysis, identifying some curriculum issues arising from it and offering reflections on the methodological approach it has employed.     

English for Globalisation or for the World's People?

The article explores the role of English in ongoing processes of globalisation, the reasons for its dominance, and the need for conceptual clarification in analysing English worldwide. Examples from the post-colonial and post-communist worlds and the European Union reveal increasing corporate involvement in education, and World Bank policies that favour European languages. Studies of global English range from those that uncritically endorse global English to those which see it as reflecting a post-imperial but essentially capitalist agenda. Many of the contem-porary trends are captured in two competing language policy paradigms that situate English in broader economic, political and cultural facets of globalisation, the Diffusion of English paradigm, and the Ecology of Languages paradigm. A number of studies of various dimensions of linguistic and professional imperialism in the teaching of English to Asians reveal the persistence of western agendas in education. There is also increasing documentation of resistance to this, both at the level of awareness of the need to anchor English more firmly in local cultural systems, and at classroom level. Language pedagogy needs to ensure that English is not learned subtractively. Only in this way can globalisation be made more accountable and locally relevant.     

关于发展教育学的理论思考

发展教育学缘起于发展理论研究向教育领域的深入和教育学科自身建设的传统及需求两个方面,是上述两种力量合乎逻辑的时代“交汇”。“发展”一词丰富的内涵和外延,决定着发展教育学具有广泛性、动态性、开放性、发展性等学术特征。发展教育学以“发展”的观念审视、理解、预测教育,以期能更好地促进教育发展。要使发展教育学具备更强的解释力与实践力,就必须对教育事实与教育价值作全方位的分析与阐释。以发展的眼光去理解教育,就必然会进行多门学科的交汇,形成一系列具有学科特质的发展教育学领域。发展教育学的直接着眼点是教育实践与理论中的各种各样的问题域。     

中国特殊教育学学科论初探

特殊教育学学科论主要探讨特殊教育学的研究对象、特殊教育学的学科性质、特殊教育学的学科体系、特殊教育学的研究方法、特殊教育学的学科发展历程。特殊教育学是研究特殊教育现象,揭示特殊教育规律的一门科学。它是教育学的一门分支学科,是应用性学科。它的学科体系包括教材体系和著作体系。它所运用的研究方法包括哲学方法论、一般学科方法论、具体研究方法。其学科发展经历了两个阶段,目前仍处于发展中的“初级阶段”。     

Crossed looks: globalisations and curriculum in Guinea-Bissau

This article focuses on education in Guinea-Bissau in the context of globalisations, examining the concept of globalisation and its relation to education and the curriculum. It focuses on the relatively neglected area of national education policies in Guinea-Bissau, comparing differences and common points of interference/influence of multilateral (international and regional) and bilateral organisations in these policies. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents – the Education Act, the document of Portuguese Cooperation Programme, the Education Sector Policy Paper, the Education for All National Plan of Action, and Policy n. 3/2007/CM/UEMOA – and field notes collected from 2009 to 2012. The article argues that there is a tendency for the homogenisation of curriculum policies, at least at the macro-level, due to the different types of pressures coming from international/regional organisations.     

Globalisation and Higher Education Development: A Critical Analysis

This article sets out to analyse critically the nature of globalisation and how it is affecting higher education. The author first reviews the nature of globalisation, and then examines its international impact on higher education development. He contends that globalisation is predominantly economic, and points out that global exchanges in the economic, cultural and educational domains continue to be unequal. At the same time, education is increasingly treated as a business. By exposing the negative side of globalisation and its effects on universities, the author aims to counter the uncritical acceptance of globalisation as a positive force for higher education and society as a whole.     

Financing Education in Transitional Societies: Lessons from Russia and China

Recent years have brought emerging theoretical propositions about the nature of educational change in societies undergoing transition from socialism to market economies. Focusing particularly on the financing of education, this article examines patterns in Russia and China in the light of this literature. It shows that although transitions in the two countries have displayed major differences, they have also displayed significant similarities. These similarities have been evident despite the fact that changes in Russia and China have been made independently of each other. This has largely been because of the impact of market forces, though it has also reflected broader forces of globalisation.     

Nationalism and globalism in the junior secondary history curricula of Hong Kong and Shanghai

Facing the trend and pressure of globalisation, the history curricula of Hong Kong and Shanghai have been undergoing reforms in order to better equip the youth for coping with rapid contextual changes. At the same time, there have been attempts to reposition nationalism in the changing contexts. This paper aims to compare and contrast how the forces of nationalism and globalisation affect, and are re‐presented in, the contents of the junior secondary history curricula of the two cities, with a view to exploring the convergent and divergent trends of development in the two systems (capitalist and socialist) within one country. It is expected that the findings will shed light on the continuities and changes in the junior secondary history curricula of the two cities, and explore possible alternatives for the improvement of history education.     

Globalisation and Higher Education Development: A Critical Analysis

This article sets out to analyse critically the nature of globalisation and how it is affecting higher education. The author first reviews the nature of globalisation, and then examines its international impact on higher education development. He contends that globalisation is predominantly economic, and points out that global exchanges in the economic, cultural and educational domains continue to be unequal. At the same time, education is increasingly treated as a business. By exposing the negative side of globalisation and its effects on universities, the author aims to counter the uncritical acceptance of globalisation as a positive force for higher education and society as a whole.