IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON

EDUCATION POLICY AND

REFORMS
 Globalization-driven reforms and
Education policy
“Globalization-driven reforms” in education commenced
to appear in the mid to late 70s as government began to believe
that their stagnating budgets and rising deficits could not support
continued educational expansion. Since then educational policy
makers are facing the challenge of a complicated debate about
the political choice and new kinds of policy action including our
system of knowledge and learning because policy makers so far
responding typically in a simplified domain.
 Types of Globalization-driven reforms

 Competitiveness-driven reforms
 Finance-driven reforms
 Equity-driven reforms
Competitiveness-driven reforms
Reforms that respond to shifting demand for skills in both
the domestic and world labour markets and to new ideas about
organizing the production of educational achievement and
work skills can be called “Competitiveness-driven reforms”.
Competitiveness-driven reforms aim primarily to improve
economic productivity by improving the ‘quality’ of labour.
These reforms are productivity-centered. This means that their
goal is to raise the productivity of labour and of educational
institutions, even if this requires additional spending on
education, including higher teacher salaries and major
expansions of educational levels.
 Competitiveness-driven reforms are
classified into four categories:

• Decentralization
• Standards
• Improved management of educational
resources
• Improved teacher recruitment and training
 FINANCE-DRIVEN REFORMS
 The main goal of these reforms is to reduce public spending
on education.
 Among the international agencies, the IMF, World Bank and
regional banks(African Development Bank, Asian
Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank)
are the main advocates for such ‘finance-driven’ reforms.
These financial institutions are primarily concerned with
reducing the cost of public service delivery. They have settled
on three main finance-driven reforms .
MAIN ASPECTS OF FINANCE-DRIVEN REFORMS
 Shifting of public funding from higher to lower levels of
education
 The privatization of secondary and higher education
 The reduction of cost per student at all schooling levels
 EQUITY-DRIVEN REFORMS
The main goal of equity-driven reforms in education is to increase
equality of economic opportunity.
• To reach the lowest-income groups with high-quality basic
education, especially the large number of youth and adults who
don’t have access to basic skills. Some agencies such as UNESCO,
UNICEF have recommended special educational programmes such
as distance learning and non-formal education.
• To reach certain groups, such as women and rural populations, that
lag behind educationally.
• In OECD countries, these reforms are much more targeted towards
the students of low income background. This include special
programme like improving retention and achievement including
multicultural and bilingual programmes. These reforms also include
special training for teachers who works in such programmes.