1. Education, Markets and
Globalisation
Presenter: Dr Muavia Gallie (PhD)
Lecture 20 - 21
Week 6: 15-16 March 2010
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Lecture 20
20.1 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation
of education' the encyclopedia of informal education,
www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Commodification and corporate takeover of education
- „consumer-based appropriations of freedom and choice‟ (Giroux 2000, p.6);
- Marketisation of education – look for new markets and areas of activity;
- Neo-liberal economic policies – „roll-back‟ state regulation;
- Transform non-market and „social spheres such as public health and
education services into arenas of commercial activity;
- Colin Leys (2001, p.4) – transformation entails four requirements:
* reconfiguration of goods and services in question to be priced and sold;
* inducing of people to want to buy them;
* transform workforce from „collective aims‟ to „profits for owners;
* underwriting of risks to capital by state; 2
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2. 20.2 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Commodification and corporate takeover of education
- Process of commodification – development of standardised „products‟ and
find economies of scale;
- Restructuring of courses and programmes to market them;
- Modulisation, increased part-time and distance learning programmes;
- Student loans and course fees raised – „buy what you need‟;
- “At a certain point in what had been a steady, slow expansion, large numbers of people
started to feel they really had better get a degree, because not doing so would be such a
bad move. The first wave set off another and so on.” (Wolf 2002, p.178);
- Pressure on university cost have reduced the time for „scholarship and
disinterested learning‟, and doubling numbers of students –decline quality;
- Corporatisation of schooling and non-formal education – rise in
managerialism in „western‟ education system;
- Reframing problems in education as exercises in delivering the right
outcomes – language and disposition of management into classroom;
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20.3 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Commodification and corporate takeover of education
- Process of commodification – development of standardised „products‟ and
find economies of scale;
- Restructuring of courses and programmes to market them;
- Modulisation, increased part-time and distance learning programmes;
- Student loans and course fees raised – „buy what you need‟;
- “At a certain point in what had been a steady, slow expansion, large numbers of
people started to feel they really had better get a degree, because not doing so would
be such a bad move. The first wave set off another and so on.” (Wolf 2002, p.178);
- Pressure on university cost have reduced the time for „scholarship and
disinterested learning‟, and doubling numbers of students –decline quality;
- Corporatisation of schooling and non-formal education – rise in
managerialism in „western‟ education system;
- Reframing problems in education as exercises in delivering the right
outcomes – language and disposition of management into classroom; 4
2
3. 20.4 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Commodification and corporate takeover of education
- School competing for students i.o.t. sustain and extend funding;
- Have to market their activities and develop own „branding‟;
- Have to sell „the learning experience‟ and qualities of institution;
- Have to reduced complex processes to indentified packages, philosophies
to sound bites, students and parents become „consumers‟;
- “The real danger is that unthinking adoption of the private sector model prevents
the development of an approach to management in the public service in general or
to the social service in particular based on their distinctive purposes, conditions
and tasks.” (Steward 1992, p.27);
- Drive towards achievement of specific outcomes and standardised teaching
models;
- Emphasis less on community and equity, more on individual advancement
and need to satisfy investors and influential consumers;
- Education has come to resemble a private, rather than public, good; 5
20.5 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Commodification and corporate takeover of education
- Significant privatisation of education in a number of countries;
* USA – schooling, higher education and training seen as lucrative markets;
- for profit education around $600 billion in revenue (Giroux 2000, p.85);
- 1 000 state schools contracted to private companies (Monbiot 2001, 336);
* Britain – education action zones (EAZ) corporate involvement – Lambert
Zone (Shell), Southwark (Haskins), Kings Manor School in Guildford
(administration by private company in 1999);
* Australia (Kenway and Bullen, 2001) – looking at experience in other
countries, especially trans-national corporations;
- Commodification simply an expression of neo-liberal policies;
- We need to understand the nature of the forces that have pushed
governments into adopting such policies;
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4. 20.6 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Globalisation and Governance of education
- Impacted on agencies of „school‟ children, young people and adults;
- Although increases in education (UK), expansion mainly concern with
economic growth and international competitiveness;
- Politicians are organising education for economic ends – will only lead to
waste and disappointment;
- Leys (2001, p.1) – “It is not just that governments can no longer „manage‟
their national economies, to survive in office they must increasingly
„manage‟ national politics in such a way as to adapt them to the pressure of
trans-national market forces.”;
- Globalisation is less about the direct way in which specific
policy choices are made, as the shaping and reshaping of
social relations within all countries.
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20.7 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• De-localisation and changing technologies and
orientations in education
- De-localisation of schooling – parental choice in which schools to apply to
at both primary and secondary levels;
- Although primary schools application is local, significant secondary school
application is not;
- Result of scares around child protection and truancy;
- Access to neighbourhood and of neighbours to the school been restricted;
- Security gates and fences are part of perimeters of schooling – fuelling idea
that school is separate from community, and also testing regime and central
curriculum construction;
- Less room for local community-oriented explorations and student projects;
- Changes in technology – internet, computer forms, growth in distance
learning – high individualised learning with limited interaction with others;
- Students from different parts of world engage in same programme; 8
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5. 20.8 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• De-localisation and changing technologies and
orientations in education
- Shift from „adult learning‟ to „adult education‟ (Courtney 1979, p.19);
- Major growth in attention to notions of lifelong learning;
- UK – Labour‟s learning revolution – “It requires a shift in our thinking about
the fundamental organisation unit of education, from the school, and
institution where learning is organised, defined and contained, to the
learner, an intelligent agent with the potential to learn from any and all of her
encounters with the world around her. (The Economist, Oct 9, 1999, p.42);
- Learning oriented to employer or consumer interests;
- Most of „information societies‟ have strong individualised tendencies;
- Significant increase in residential courses, study tours, fitness centres,
sports clubs, heritage centres, self-help therapy manuals, management
gurus, electronic networks and self-instructional videos, etc.;
- Growing trans-national presence in education and learning. 9
Lecture 21
21.1 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation
of education' the encyclopedia of informal education,
www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Branding, globalisation and learning to be consumers
- “It is time to recognise that the true tutors of our children are not school teachers or
university professors but filmmakers, advertising executives and pop culture purveyors.
Disney does more than Duke, Spielberg outweights Stanford, MTV trumps MIT.” (BR Barber
quoted by Giroux 2000, p.15);
- Best way to make money from education – advertise at schools;
- Corporations bring their branding directly into the classroom;
- Help with „legitimancy‟ and „brand awareness‟;
- Shortfall of funding – corporates have stepped in;
- “They are fighting for their brands to become not the add-on but the
subject of education, not an elective but the curriculum.” (Klein 2001, 89);
- Many teachers and managers remain „deeply ambivalent‟ about the
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movement of commerce and advertising into schools;
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6. 20.7 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Branding, globalisation and learning to be consumers
- Children need at least one „commercial –free zone‟;
- “These pressures (due to lack of funding) have created a conflict of interest
between schools‟ mandate to educate, and their moral and ethical duties to protect
children from exploitation by consumer culture.” (Kenway and Bullen 2001, 102);
- Students in northern counties (Western) are generally „intense consumers‟;
- They are prepared to and/or want to „spend large amounts of money on brand
names and fashionable and popular items‟;
- “The main role of the teacher-turned-classroom manager is to legitimate
through mandated subject matter and educational practices a market-based
conception of the learner as simply a consumer of information.” (Giroux
2000, p.92);
- We are controlled by Commerce, Managerialism, Market-thinking and
Consumerism;
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20.7 Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Globalization and the incorporation of education' the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm.
• Conclusion
- Distortion of education and exploitation of learners – matter of profound concern;
- Fundamental attack on notion of public goods, and liberal ideas of education;
- Learning seen as a commodity or investment rather than what make for a good life
or human flourishing;
- Teachers‟ ability to ask critical questions has been deeply compromised;
- Market ideologies have assimilated, direction of curriculum they need to deliver,
etc. have degraded their work no more education, rather training;
- “Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been
transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him
the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions.” (Fromm 1957, p.67)
- It is about „having‟ rather than „being‟ (Fromm 1976);
- Solution? Adopt ways of thinking about, and acting in, the world that have at
their core an informed commitment to human flourishing in its fullest sense;
- Reassert the public domain and police boundaries;
- Teachers must do what is „right‟ rather than what is „correct‟. 12
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