About the Book

Holger Daun and his associates argue that globalization is transforming educational systems. In this ambitious new book, they demonstrate that while change may not yet be showing up at the classroom level, at a more macro level globalization is deeply impacting the way the world's public sector deliver schooling. This study posits that change is being driven mainly by financial forces, new patterns of economic growth, and market ideology. Global financial flows are very large, and governments increasingly rely on foreign capital to finance economic growth. One way of attracting foreign capital is to provide a skilled labor force by increasing the average education level of the laborers. Globalization provides the context for these debates, with the market ideology espoused by globalized capital forces arguing that public bureaucracy impedes the delivery of more and better education for the same amount of resources. The book goes on to examine the forces opposing such globalizing processes, such as religious and ethnic/social movements throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the former European socialist bloc. The analysis of the different regions and the variety of responses to globalization indicates that governments can respond to globalization in different ways, and that the changes occurring are both global and local as the social effects of globalization are passed through the policy structures of national states. Finally, the analysis suggests that there may be more political and even financial space for the public sector to choose alternatives for education than is usually admitted.