Page 159 - DEDU505_TEACHER_EDUCATION_ENGLISH

Unit 17: Globalization and Privatization in Teacher Education

prosperity and democratic freedom. It aims at realizing one single unified world community Notes
where no social conflicts exist calling for social and cultural integration.

17.1 Concept of Globalization in Context of Teacher Education
Globalisation, both as a phenomenon and as a creed, may influence and affect teacher education.
Different thinkers, philosophers of education and educators entertain different and contrasting
perspectives on existing global trends and tendencies. Given the number and variety of positions,
it is impossible to consider each and every theory regarding the influence of global trends on
teacher education.
As to the role of teachers, contemporary teacher education, at best, tends to take a politically
neutral direction and, as a consequence, it is limited in the ways it can equip teachers to understand
how forces of globalisation and Neo-Liberalism are not forces in their own right but connected
to a wider system of exploitation.

17.2 Global Teacher Education

The purpose of globalization and global education is to develop a 'global perspective' and sensitize
the youth for understanding the multicultural world and maintaining peace and harmony in the
world. People in general and the youth in particular has to be aware of the global happenings
and issues and the interdependence of people.
Global perspective means sharing and cooperation with others allowing them to use whatever
resources are available to attain individual as well as common goals. Further, empathy towards
others, i.e. understanding and sharing feelings, communication ability in order to express and
exchange thoughts, feelings and information and resolving conflicts by finding satisfactory ways
of dealing with disagreement or argument between people, groups, societies or nations.

17.3 Accepting Globalisation and Adapting Teacher Education to its
Demands

Globalisation' may positively influence teacher education, since it may bring together different
peoples, ideas and resources in a world-wide pool. The whole world is becoming a global
society; media and cyberculture are becoming more widespread. This is providing new
opportunities for research and interaction to people who previously had no access to major
libraries or research institutions (Kellner 2005, 102). Technological tools and developments can
be applied to good use, so as to serve the needs of students across the world. This position holds
that with capital shifting into a knowledge-based economy1, information and knowledge are fast
becoming a high-priced new commodity. Knowledge has become a principal economic currency,
and its rapid production and circulation have become a crucial input for economic performance.

17.3.1 The supply and demand approach
The first focuses on the demand learners themselves make of the educational system and promotes
the 'marketisation' of educational systems, whereby education is considered as a sort of commodity
to be sold, bought and consumed, using the market-place as the analogue of the educational set-
up. Education is considered primarily as an economic output, structured along and responsive to
the market's needs. Neo-Liberal thinkers combine this general approach - treating education
primarily as an economic output - with the laws of supply and demand.
'Demand' here refers to the choices individuals make, as for instance, in choosing a course of
studies at university, regardless of the motives, rationality or feasibility of the choice. If there are
enough students willing to register and pay for a 'career-wise futile' course, then it makes
economic sense for the university to cater to this demand. It is very likely, however, that the
market itself will in the long run decimate such demand, once students realise the unfeasibility
of the course in question. This Neo-Liberal approach is also likely to promote features like

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