Global Change and Education Policy

This subject is not offered in 2014.

240 hours

To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted in the Specialist Certificate, or the Postgraduate Certificate or the Master of Global Studies in Education (SC-GLBSTED, PC-GLBSTED, or MC-GLBSTED) . This subject is not available for students admitted in any other courses.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and the Disability Liaison Unit:
http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

In recent years, it has become abundantly clear that an understanding of educational processes requires an ability to interpret and negotiate the profound economic, political and cultural shifts that define the nature of the context in which education now takes place. Most challenges in education have become a matter of understanding and managing change, steering it towards reform, that is, desirable change. This subject is designed to enable students to understand changes associated with the contemporary processes of globalization, and explore the implications of these changes for understanding the requirements of leadership and negotiating them in educational settings.

The subject is based on the assumptions that it is no longer possible to interpret and analyse educational change within their national contexts; and that the processes of globalization not only encourage governments into pursuing particular policies but also shape the ways policies are now developed and monitored.

It will review some of the key debates surrounding the notion of globalization; explore how educational ideas circulate around the world; and examine how global institutions, such as transnational corporations, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and the media now promote a particular 'neo-liberal' view of education as a way of responding to what they view as the demands of the global economy and a globally inter-connected world. Drawing upon a range of case studies, taken from around the world, it will consider some of the consequences of this view of education on individuals, schools and communities; and examine how its negative effects are being resisted around the world.

The subject seeks to:

• Assess how recent changes associated with the processes of globalization, with a particular focus on the changes in the nature of work and labor relations in a global economy;
• Examine shifts relating to political and cultural globalization, with an emphasis on the role international agencies now play in educational policy processes and in driving education reform, and the ways in which mobility of people and ideas are changing conceptions of identity, citizenship and education; and
• Consider how policy makers and educators around the world are responding to these changes, and also discuss the ways in which leaders might manage these changes in various educational settings.

• A short essay based on the online learning activities – equivalent of 2000 words (20%)

• A minor essay 3000 words (topics to be announced) (30%)

• A major essay 5000 words -(topics to be announced) (50%)
  This assignment will build on the first, benefiting from feedback form completion of the first. The key expectation is that the two assignments together will demonstrate that students have an adequate understanding of the issues explored in classes and readings, together with an ability to apply these to issues specific to the student’s place of work.

Students will be required to purchase the following texts:
Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2010) Globalizing Education Policy, London: Routledge

Steger, M. (2004) Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cohen R. & P. Kennedy (2007 Second Edition), Global Sociology, New York: New York University Press.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.