ITF - UTSA Provost Home - The University of Texas at San Antonio

ITF Evaluation Study, 2010 46This paper argues that key education policy initiatives since the introduction of theNational Curriculum in the UK are Government-mediated responses to pressures in the globalknowledge economy. Successful implementation of these policies has required a change inthe way in which education institutions and professionals are controlled and managed.George Ritzer's 'McDonaldization' thesis, a conceptualization of a dominant form of economicand cultural globalization, is outlined and it is then argued that national education policy hasled to the 'McDonaldization' of the state school education system in England. BenjaminBarber's concept of 'McWorld' is used to represent the consumerist world which a narrowededucational vision seeks to serve.25. Ibrahim, T. (2005). Global citizenship education: mainstreaming the curriculum?Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(2), 177.There has been a resurgence of interest in global education in the UK as global issuesare included within the requirements of citizenship education in national curricula. This paperexamines the significance attached to global citizenship through Citizenship as a statutorysubject at Key Stages 3 and 4 within the National Curriculum for England. Drawing on a webbasedproject funded by the UK Department for International Development, the paperanalyses a number of secondary school texts designed to support teachers and students inincorporating global perspectives into citizenship education. It seeks to answer the question:in what ways is global citizenship being mainstreamed? It suggests that NGOs andcommercial publishers have different but complementary approaches to resources for globalcitizenship and that there is a strong case for greater collaboration between the two sectors.26. Hibbert, K. & Iannacci, L. (2005). From dissemination to discernment: Thecommodification of literacy instruction and the fostering of ‗good teacherconsumerism‘ The Reading Teacher, 58(8),716."Globalization and the educational reforms it has spawned have contributed to themarketization of education and the increased pressures on schools boards, administrators,and teachers to adhere rigidly to the management and measurements of standardizedcurricula testing and to rely on market solutions. Hibbert and Iannacci examine themandatory import of such solutions into language arts classrooms with reference to literacygoals such as ""the exploration and expansion of human potential."27. Vidovich, L. (2004). Towards internationalizing the curriculum in a context ofglobalization: Comparing policy processes in two settings. Compare, 34(4), 443.The primary focus of this paper is two case study schools, one in Singapore and one inAustralia, which have both been actively pursuing an agenda to build a uniqueinternationally-oriented curriculum, in a context of globalization, but also within theconstraints set by national/State curriculum frameworks, examinations and league tables.Interviews were used to collect data in each school, and then cross-case analysis wasconducted to reveal both similarities and differences in the way the two schools are movingtowards internationalizing their curriculum. Emergent meta-level conceptual themes aroundpolicy for 'internationalization' of the curriculum are discussed: enablers and constraints; the