Source:
Education International
What is emerging from this report and other studies conducted by the World Bank recently, is the importance attached to competition, testing, and performance-related pay for teachers and school principals. Therefore, teachers' unions have an enormous challenge to respond appropriately and collectively to these developments. September 2008.
[see more]
BACKGROUND
"McDonaldization of education" is the term used by some observers to describe the slow but relentless process of integration of higher education into the market. And it is precisely that association -crystal clear and "fitting" when it comes to illustrating a process of change involving both globalization and huge technological developments that enable the dissemination of knowledge- which gives rise to great controversies.
Using this comparison, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, John Daniel, underlines three aspects that can help us ponder education's current evolution: firstly, according to Daniel, in spite of its ubiquity, this food chain offers only a small portion of what people eat; secondly, it sells because people like what it serves; and lastly, the key to its success is its limited menu which is replicated with exactly the same flavour, aspect and quality and sold in identical stores throughout the world.
This evidences the homogenization that befalls any activity thus commercialized, but the controversy around education also hinges on whether this evolution -or incorporation into the market- is good for education and society or not.
What is not debatable is the fact that education is turning into a commodity.
Not by chance has higher education become a subject of study for corporations specialized in banking investments, such as Merrill Lynch. Nor is it fortuitous that the two leading companies promoting the commercialization of higher education in the United States (Apollo and Sylvan Learning) are listed on the stock market, and that the General Agreement on Trade in Services has included education among the services to be liberalized.
And this is where the key issues seem to lie. If education is profitable -which it is-, who will determine the contents of the "Combo Menus" served by these "classroom McDonalds"? And further, continuing with John Daniel's line of reasoning that the offering of these fast food establishments represents a minimum portion of the food that people eat, shouldn't we be concerned by the fact that there are also increasingly less "people who are able to consume it". Moreover, is it true that what they serve is what "consumers" really want? Or is it what the market demands? One side of the controversy argues that massification of higher education benefits potential students because it reduces production costs, thereby placing the "product" within reach of a larger number of people.
Thus, the advantages seem to lie exclusively in a greater dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge which on the surface seems to be increasingly closer to the "common people", brought to them by the new information technologies or by the opening of markets to foreign education providers. These providers are specifically targeting the least developed countries who turn to this option as a way of compensating the shortfalls of state-funded education.
The other side points to the undeniable and steady standardization that the market forces on the menu, turning out "combos" designed for consumers in the developed world, for whom educational ingredients -the disciplines- must satisfy the appetite of a cost-benefit education, to the detriment of the more "unsavoury" -or less lucrative- fields of knowledge, such as the humanities. Not only is the range of subjects limited to market demands; it is shaped by the dominant Western model. Not to mention the costs involved in accessing these educational menus, since commercialization of higher education brings greater privatization to educational services. Services which most people will be looking at increasingly from the outside, as they are forced out of the picture by the impossibility of paying for them, with the ensuing aggravation of social inequality.
Lastly, the controversy today also revolves around acknowledging that leaving education entirely in the hands of market forces entails ignoring that it is a right recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The debate then focuses on accepting education as a common good and the importance that it has and must have for the development of any society. In this sense -and to judge from how things are evolving- this McDonaldization of education may result in research being driven not by what serves the public interest, but rather by what is profitable for large corporations.
In a real sense, higher education institutions are acting as multi-nationals, delocalizing, franchising and setting up branches overseas, leading at least one author to write about the "multi-nationalization" of higher education. The long-term impact on those institutions or nations that are in the driver's seat of these processes in contrast to those that are subjected to them is uncertain (pdf format).
Like other public services, higher education is slowly being drawn into the world of the market. Students are now consumers and there is big money to be made by private firms. But will this clash with education's main goal of giving as many people as possible access to knowledge?
A recent UNESCO/OECD study confirms that investment in education and economic growth go hand-in-hand. But though the benefits are huge, investments have to be considerable. Up to now, governments have met most of the bill. But countries rich and poor are beginning to look to the private sector to share the load.
World Declaration and Framework for Priority Action for Change and Development in Higher Education: the funding of higher education requires both public and private resources. The role of the state remains essential in this regard.
A centre for training and research, created by UNESCO in 1963, specializing in educational planning and management, whose core activities are training and research.
Whether in liberal democracies or military-led régimes, central or federal governments, developing, industrialized or transitional economies, education is being decentralized in many countries as part of a larger move to reform public management systems. Policies aim to reduce government size, reorganize delivery, expand private initiatives and create new partnerships. A heavy agenda which needs careful thought (pdf format).
OECD/UNESCO World Education Indicators (WEI) programme report that addresses the financing of education systems by examining spending and investment strategies in WEI countries from both public and private perspectives. It looks at the rationale for public spending, how public resources are distributed across levels of education and the role of the private sector both as a provider of educational services and a source of educational expenditure (pdf format).
This handbook aims to assist those involved with educational development in addressing the pressing issue of greater participation by the private education sector, arguing that education can be perceived as a consumer good. The key issue for national governments is to provide the best education in the most cost-effective manner. This requires the combined efforts of the public and private sectors in new forms of partnerships (pdf format).
EdInvest, the education investment information facility, is a forum for individuals, corporations and other institutions interested in education in developing countries. A service of the World Bank Group, EdInvest provides information for making private investment possible on a global scale.
"It is not right for any longer for independent private schools to cream off the best pupils, the best teachers, the best facilities, the best results and the best university places, thereby perpetuating the apartheid" warns a College headmaster in the midst of new landmark rulings on the role of public schools in Britain. The warning comes in times of global cutbacks on public education, as countries rich and poor look to the private sector to share the load. January 2008.
Education in the US has become big business. The "education industry," a term coined by the investment banking firm EduVentures, is estimated at US$ 680 billion in the United States. The stock value of 30 publicly traded educational companies is growing twice as fast as the Dow Jones Average and Brokerage firms like Lehman Brothers and Montgomery Securities have specialists seeking out venture capital for the 'education industry.'
The privatization of basic public services has become a dominant issue in policy discourse in industrialized as well as developing countries. Over the last few years, policies affecting water, electricity, health and education in some countries have generated as much political controversy and social mobilization as taxation, land reform or even trade.
The Civil Society Network (Red SEPA) was organized to bring together civil society groups throughout the Americas that have an interest in protecting and enhancing public education as a basic institution of democratic development and human rights.
World-wide trade union organization of education personnel, with 26 million members representing all sectors of education, and gathering 310 national trade unions and associations in 159 countries and territories.
Global network headquartered at the University at Albany, SUNY that seeks to build knowledge about private higher education around the world. It focuses on discovery, analysis, and dissemination, as well as creation of an international base of trained researchers. PROPHE neither represents nor promotes private higher education. Its main mission is scholarship, which, in turn, aims to inform public discussion and policymaking.
A UNESCO-affiliated organization that provides access to its World Academic Database (WAD), including brief descriptions of higher education systems in over 170 countries worldwide.
Over the last few years policies to privatize water, energy, health, social security and education have given rise to political controversies and social mobilizations in many countries.
Civil society is expressing concern over the privatization process that is affecting essential services such as education, health and basic infrastructure.
Educating girls and women has a significant impact on reducing poverty. However, countries aren't fulfilling their commitment to getting them into school.
World Bank report on the state of higher education and current trends, as well as proposals for WB interventions. Without making a specific case in favor or against privatization, nor discarding the role of government, it looks at the current expansion of private enterprise in education, amid the public sector's increasing inability to satisfy the demands generated by the massification of education, meet growing technological costs, and face the challenges of the knowledge-driven economy (pdf format).
Higher education is of paramount importance for economic and social development, yet it is in crisis throughout the world, particularly in the developing world. Using data from many reports and case studies, it suggests four main directions for reform of higher education in developing countries (pdf format).
EKE is a three year analytical program, initiated by the Human Development Network of the World Bank, to understand and articulate how education and training systems need to change in order to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy, and to offer practical and sustainable policy options for developing countries. It is divided into thematic topics, including lifelong learning and tertiary education.
As of January 2000, 140 WTO member governments have been participating in negotiations towards increased liberalization in the world services market. WTO members are currently tabling proposals regarding both the structure and the contents of the new negotiations. Services proposals by sector – education.
Website of the Task Force on Higher Education and Society, convened by the World Bank and UNESCO to explore the state of higher education in developing countries. The Task Force's report, Higher Education and Developing Countries: Peril and Promise (March 2000) is available on this site.
What is emerging from this report and other studies conducted by the World Bank recently, is the importance attached to competition, testing, and performance-related pay for teachers and school principals. Therefore, teachers' unions have an enormous challenge to respond appropriately and collectively to these developments. September 2008.
Action Aid launched its latest report called: "Confronting the Contradictions: The IMF, wage bill caps and the case for teachers" in Washington at the Spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank. The report includes shocking original research from Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Malawi, documenting how the IMF and Ministries of Finance set wage bill ceilings which directly limit the recruitment of teachers without any regard for national education contexts or the investment needed to achieve education goals. April 2007.
International union organisations representing public sector workers, among which was Education International, have expressed serious criticisms of key sections of the World Bank’s latest World Development Report (WDR), Making Services Work for the Poor.Pdf format.
GATSwatch is a joint project of Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute, whose main objectives is research and analysis of the role and agenda of corporate lobbies with regards to the WTO GATS negotiations. The GATSwatch website provides links to key organisations and institutions as well as relevant documents.
Much of the public policy debate over the alleged downsides of the GATS, including (but not only) for education services, is rooted in a number of fallacies about the Agreement's design and operation (pdf format).
Trade in higher education services is a billion dollar industry, including recruitment of international students, establishment of university campuses abroad, franchised provision and online learning. The current debate on the impact of GATS on higher education is divided, if not polarized (pdf format).
Many of us think of education as socialization, cultural transmission and personal cognitive and social development, as well as general preparation for employment. Others see education as a commodity and a commercial opportunity-the last huge area of public expenditure in most countries that has until now been only marginally privatized. Privatization and commodification are key to making education tradable and profitable to private interests.
In the global economy where neo-liberal values of privatisation and market competition are dominant, it is crucial for those committed to public education to reaffirm the principle that education, including higher, technical, and professional education, is a right and not a merchandise. June 2006.
EI, an international trade union organisation of education personnel, is concerned that proposals for a significant increase in the scope of, and degree of, liberalisation of trade might cover education services. EI's central objective is to have education excluded from the scope of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
The privatization of basic public services has become a dominant issue in policy discourse in industrialized as well as developing countries. Over the last few years, policies affecting water, electricity, health and education in some countries have generated as much political controversy and social mobilization as taxation, land reform or even trade.
Two interests join together around the question of the liberalization of education. On the one hand, the businesses traditionally active in the educational domain see the means of conquering new and juicy markets; on the other, employers estimate that an educational system liberated from the control of the state, structured into autonomous and competing entities, will adapt more spontaneously and quickly to the changing demands of the economy and technological change. This double movement is in turn sustained by two powerful catalysts: the introduction of new ICTs, and the spending restrictions operating in public education budgets.
Beyond simply generating more income, higher education has become a terrain for marketization agendas. Since the 1980s universities have been urged to adopt commercial models of knowledge, skills, curriculum, finance, accounting, and management organization, in order to deserve state funding and protect themselves from competitive threats. Moreover, higher education has become more synonymous with training for 'employability' (rtf format).
The World Trade Organization has launched a process that could open up to competition the expanding and highly protected world market in education. What issues are at stake?
This report looks briefly at three broad themes discussed at the forum: nature and development of trade in educational services; implications of new trade objectives and rules in the development of cross-border educational services; and, scope for a stronger international educational framework to support this trade concerned with quality assurance, recognition of qualifications and accreditation of institutions (pdf format).
What values and presuppositions seem to underlie each position? How does each organization conceptualize the current crisis in higher education? What does each position recommend for reforming higher education? Source: Latin American Network Information Center http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/lasa95/kent.html The threat to higher education Negotiations are underway that could dramatically transform the Higher Education sector, yet few people in the UK are aware of them. These crucial decisions are being made through the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which has an agenda of sweeping deregulation and privatisation of services (rtf format).
The reforms in public services implemented by the military regime during the 1980's -which included promoting the participation of the private sector and facilitating the establishment of private universities- effectively managed to reduce the burden of education on government expenditure and achieved a more efficient management of the system, but dramatically increased segregation and unequal opportunities.
Across Africa and in over 100 impoverished nations worldwide, the most vulnerable children - AIDS orphans, girls and the poor - are denied access to education. The greatest obstacle between these children and a seat in the classroom and in turn their prospect of a better future is ‘the school fees that schools continue to impose'. July 2004.
The right to education is a right that is often denied to young people, who are mostly reliant on external parties to provide them with educational facilities and resources. While the processes of globalisation make education more accessible to the privileged, marginalised, disadvantaged and isolated groups are left behind (pdf format).
