Education, Globalization and the Nation State.

Overview & Synopsis

The role of the nation state is now changing, and with it the place of education. This book explores the role of education in the "post-national" era, and asks the following questions: How far can national states control their education systems in a world of global markets and supranational political organization? How distinctive will national education systems remain against pressures for international convergence? How far can states promote "national cultures" through education and what forms should these take in pluralistic societies? Does the national education system have a future at all? Chapter 1 reviews the literature on postmodernism and assesses the claims of postmodern education theorists as regards the current and future trends in education. Chapter 2 compares the role of education in nation-building in European and East Asian "developmental" states. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the historical and contemporary role of the state in technical education and training in Britain, Germany, and France. Chapter 5, from an original article written with Richard Aldrich, looks at the relations between education and national consciousness in one multinational state: the United Kingdom. The sixth chapter draws on the author's recent research with Hilary Steedman on qualification rates in Britain, France, Germany, Singapore, and the United States, and analyzes the causes of differential outcomes in centralized and decentralized education systems. Chapter 7 is an extended essay on globalization theory and its implications for the future of national education systems. Three figures are included. (Contains 314 references.) (LMI)