Globalisation and localisation in music education in Hong Kong and Taiwan

The purpose of the study is to analyse and discuss the influences of globalisation and localisation on music education in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It argues that the reform of music education concerns changes to the contents of the curriculum that envisage the cultural and political developments that arise from processes of globalisation and localisation in these two Chinese societies. ‘Glocalisation’ throughout this essay refers to the interface of the global and the local. I conclude by discussing three issues relating to the processes of glocalisation that have shaped music education and cultural identity in these two changing societies: (1) the multiculturalism of music education; (2) the promotion of local music cultures in the curriculum; and (3) the inclusion of Confucian ethics in song lyrics. This study argues that education that promotes family values and social harmony can satisfy concerns that glocalisation involves the adoption of both Chinese and foreign songs in the school curriculum.     

Producing global citizens for the future: space,discourse and curricular reform

This article inquires into discourses of globalisation as they are put to use to accelerate higher education’s seemingly ready acquiescence to the demands of the market. We maintain that globalisation operates as a way to reason about space that produces images and narratives of universities, knowledge and students. We focus our analysis on curriculum reform as a way universities materialise the seemingly abstract economic logic of the so-called ‘knowledge society’ at the level of student-citizens, who are to be educated to become economic globalisation’s next agents. In order to locate curriculum’s productive role within university respatialisation, we offer a discourse analysis of the circulation of ideas about globalisation and higher education through intergovernmental and national documents, which take material form in a US state university system’s attempted curricular reform of its general education core. We inquire into the ways space, as a rationality, acts to create systems of reasoning about institutions, knowledges and subjects that furthers the production of a neoliberal global imaginary.     

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.     

从福利制度走向市场化——芬兰高等教育改革透视

芬兰高等教育长期秉承了北欧福利制度的特征,如政府办大学、教育平等和免学费政策等。从20世纪90年代以来,在新自由主义和全球化的影响下,芬兰逐步在高等教育中引入市场机制。特别是2010年新大学法的实施,把芬兰的高等教育改革推向了一个市场化的进程,其目的是给予大学更加充分的自主权,扩大社会参与,拓展经费来源,提高办学效率和效益。但其改革过程中出现了一些不确定的因素,芬兰高等教育改革的效果还需要进一步观察。     

Gender politics in 21st century literacy reform

From 2001 to 2004 Education Queensland undertook significant literacy reform in schools through the Literate Futures Project. Research into the impact of this reform has revealed that significant demands were placed on women at all levels, from those producing resources to those leading change within schools. Although the reform was a government response to globalisation, many women were driven by a commitment to a collaborative approach to professional learning that addressed equity and improving educational outcomes for all students. But what was the cost of this commitment to the project? Failure to acknowledge the emotion work demanded by educational reform effectively silences women and the significant contribution they make. This paper examining a 21st century literacy reform draws on the work of Fraser and Boler to argue for gender justice and acknowledgement of emotion work.     

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.     

Globalisation and education for sustainable development: emancipation from context and meaning

This article tries to contribute to the critical debate on the ideological and globalising potential of education for sustainable development (ESD), which exists in the research field of environmental education, by highlighting potential contradictions in the argumentation for ESD’s ideological and globalising tendency. Further, the authors of this article argue for an alternative perspective on how education policy on ESD can be seen to contribute to globalisation and homogenisation by merging two conceptualisations of ‘globalisation as connection' and the role of ‘empty signifiers' in political discourse. The ambition with the merger is not to provide a universal explanation of globalisation and ideology, instead, the intention is to outline an alternative theoretical outlook that allows for an empirical study of the processes that can be seen to feed into or interrupt the preservation of hegemony in a global setting.     

Globalisation and the Restructuring of Higher Education for New Knowledge Economies: New Dangers or Old Habits Troubling Gender Equity Work in Universities?

This article undertakes a feminist critique of the restructuring of the modern university in Australia. It considers the interaction of the processes of globalisation, corporatisation (through the twin strategies of marketisation and managerialism) and the social relations of gender, and their implication for gender equity work in the academy. The paper locates the reform of Australian universities within their Western context, and considers the gendered effects of the new disciplinary technologies of quality assurance and online learning on the position of women academics. It concludes with some comments about the shift in language from equity to diversity which has accompanied corporatisation, and how this has effectively coopted women's intellectual labour to do the work of the entrepreneurial university.     

Globalisation and Higher Education Restructuring in Hong Kong,Taiwan and Mainland China

Globalisation and the evolution of the knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic changes in the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalisation on universities are not uniform even though similar business-like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In the last decade, government bureaucracy, public service institutions and higher education institutions and universities have been significantly affected by the tidal wave of the public sector reform around the world. Apart from improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, universities are confronted with a situation in which the principles of financial accountability and responsiveness to stakeholders prevail amidst the massification stage under the condition of global economic retrenchment. In response to such pressing demands for change, policies and strategies of decentralisation, privatisation and marketisation are becoming increasingly popular measures in university governance. Reform strategies and measures like quality assurance, performance evaluation, financial audit, corporate management and market competition are adopted to reform and improve the performance of the higher education sector. This article examines the most recent higher education reforms and restructuring in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, with particular reference to the issues related to globalisation of decentralisation and marketisation in higher education.     

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.     

Gender Relations and Schooling in the New Century: Conflicts and challenges

This paper highlights the challenges that schools in the future may face in relation to egalitarianism (in relation to gender, ethnicity and social class). It argues that new forms of egalitarian politics are likely to emerge, first, around differentiations within rather than between subordinated and powerful groups and, second, around the individualisation of learning processes and flexible educational careers. New gender concerns will challenge the concepts of educational excellence, the masculinisation of science, and schools' responses to disengagement. Traditional gender identities are changing and schools may have to respond to the gap between the educational success of young women and the discrimination they face on the labour market, and the disadvantages associated with a celebration of masculinity. The processes of individualisation and globalisation suggest that educationists and feminists have to engage with male and female experiences that could be even more different and unequal.     

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education – This paper examines policy documents produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the European Union (EU) in the field of adult education and learning. Both these entities address adult education as an explicit object of policy. This paper investigates how globalisation processes are constructed as policy problems when these transnational political agents propose adult education as a response. The author’s main argument is that while UNESCO presents the provision of adult education as a means for governments worldwide to overcome disadvantages experienced by their own citizenry, the EU institutionalises learning experiences as a means for governments to sustain regional economic growth and political expansion. After reviewing the literature on globalisation to elucidate the theories that inform current understanding of contemporary economic, political, cultural and ecological changes as political problems, she presents the conceptual and methodological framework of her analysis. The author then examines the active role played by UNESCO and the EU in promoting adult education as a policy objective at transnational level, and unpacks the specific problem “representations” that are substantiated by these organisations. She argues that UNESCO and EU processes assign specific values and meanings to globalisation, and that these reflect a limited understanding of the complexity of globalisation. Finally, she considers two of the effects produced by these problem representations.     

Conceptualising Curriculum Knowledge Within and Beyond the National Context

The core theme of this article is the implications of a global language for the curriculum and how it can be dealt with in terms of content knowledge and reform. First, the article conceptualises curriculum from the perspective of schooling within a geographical territory, symbolising its own cultural history and the nation as a key agent in reform. Second, it takes a closer look at current reform designs and asks how they represent equivalent but also contrasting arguments and rationales about curriculum beyond the national. Third, the article discusses implications of globalisation for curriculum pertaining to both cultivation and qualification as indispensable parts of education and schooling. The main empirical point of departure is the formal curriculum guidelines in Norway, written policy documents, expert reports and evaluation frameworks, written within the last two decades. Through the application of a new language for change, these documents advocate world-wide expectations which could harmonise curriculum across national boarders. However, the design of the reform is of core significance in standardisation processes, and highly dependent on the way matters and meanings are conceptualised in the professional semantics which accompany reform efforts within and beyond the national context.     

Singapore Education in “New Times”: Global/local imperatives

This paper critically examines recent education reform in Singapore launched under the rhetoric of “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation” (TSLN). I will make explicit the context and the premises underlying the new state‐initiated TSLN education reform. I argue that the re‐alignment of education change is a response to the trajectories of (global) economic conditions, concomitantly framed by (local) sociopolitical and cultural–ideological needs. Next, I tease out and critique the pedagogical problems and contradictions embedded in the TSLN education reform. The paper concludes by asking what critical perspectives can be drawn from the Singapore case vis‐a`‐vis globalisation and education reform.     

Capital and Knowledge Flows: Global higher education markets

Accelerating global flows of people and information have formed new communities and networks across social and political borders. Higher education is one such globalised knowledge community in which new patterns of knowledge, accreditation, research alliances, and social and professional relationships are emerging. In this paper I outline the push–pull dynamics of globalisation in higher education: the co-constitutive nature of local and global interests and educational formations; disjunctive flows of capital, information, people, and knowledge; and the new politics of knowledge capital as they affect academic research and the public archive of scholarly publishing and university libraries. I close with reflections on the differential consequences of globalisation on: the role of the nation state in higher education provision and reform; the role of education in nation building and national identity politics; and the governability of a global eduscape.     

Impacts of Globalisation on Higher Education Reform in China: A Trend of Decentralisation and Autonomy

By tracing back the historical context of educational changes, this article explores in detail the impacts of globalisation on China’s higher education reform. A trend of decentralisation in both rights and responsibilities is revealed in terms of structural adjustment, human resource exploitation and retention, curriculum development, and education provision. Also some remaining problems and new challenges from the progress of globalisation are discussed to draw a conclusion that there is a need of combining both centralisation decentralisation approaches in China’s both present and future reforms.     

Nationalisation, Localisation and Globalisation in Finnish Higher Education

This article analyses and discusses the interplay between the social processes of nationalisation, localisation and globalisation in a single European nation state. The view of nationalisation put forward draws on a national case study based on historical and sociological research findings. The second part of the article presents a case study of the nature of globalisation and localisation in an average Finnish university. The article shows that nationalisation of Finnish higher education has created a cultural understanding of higher education institutions important for competition with other nations. As for localisation, on the one hand higher education institutions support their local communities and provinces to gain social and economic benefits. On the other hand, local communities and provinces support their higher education institutions in the hope of benefiting from them. The case studies also suggest that economic globalisation creates new dynamics within higher education institutions both through strategic alliances between higher education and commercial enterprises and through the emergence of alternative new funding sources for research.     

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.     

Teaching in transition: Examining school-based gender inequities in central/southeastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

In the last decade, gender equity has become one of the most prominent issues in education reform efforts worldwide. Yet, questions of gender equity have received very little attention in the education reform efforts in the post-socialist countries during the transition period. Focusing on the political, economic, and social changes of the 1990s, this article examines school-based gender equity as it is treated in textbooks, curriculum, teacher attitudes, school environment, leadership and tracking. The article presents gender-sensitive strategies for reform and explores how existing ‘gender-neutral’ education practices detrimentally affect gender equity in schools, providing country-specific examples. The article concludes with recommendations for teaching in transition, given the education sphere's strong potential to redress gender inequities.     

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.