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in this final lesson examining
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educational policy as part of AQA a
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level sociology we're going to talk
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about the idea of globalization as it
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relates to education policy specifically
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we're going to be is discussing the
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issues associated with educational
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policy and the impact it has on
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education and this is the sort of road
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map for this lesson we'll talk about
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International organizations and Global
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standards we'll talk about economic GL
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globalization and the impact on the
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knowledge economy we'll talk about
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standardization of educational practices
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the influence of transnational networks
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and policies and the globalization of
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educational policy as it applies to
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local
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contexts
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so broadly speaking the globalization of
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educational policy refers to the ways in
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which Educational Systems across the
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world are increasingly shaped by global
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influences Global standards and Global
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Trends these Global forces are driven by
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International organizations governments
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economic pressures transnational
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entities and all have a significant
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impact on the way education is
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structured delivered and
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evaluated in terms of the key drivers of
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globalization in education one of the
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most important of of these is
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international organizations and Global
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standards so for for example the
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organization for economic cooperation
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and development the oecd which is
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pictured here on screen the oecd plays a
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major role in shaping educational
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policies around the world for example
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they have initiatives like the program
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for international student assessment or
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Pisa P Pisa tests assess the Knowledge
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and Skills of a 15-year-old in Reading
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mathematics and science across a wide
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range of countries
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the results from Pisa assessments are
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often used by governments to try and
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justify educational reforms and to
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compare them those systems with those
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systems of other nations the oecd also
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publishes recommendations and best
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practice for Education systems globally
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and it advocates for policies that focus
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on skills development increasing access
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to education as well as improving
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teacher quality making education systems
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more
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efficient in addition to this the World
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Bank contributes to education policy
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especially in developing countries and
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they do so through the issuance of loans
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and grants its educational agenda is
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typically centered around the emphasis
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on economic development emphasizing the
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role of Education in the improving of a
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labor market reducing poverty and
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fostering sustainable development the
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World Bank has pushed pushed for
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Education reforms that prioritize cost
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efficiency as well as standardization
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and the alignment of Education with
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labor market needs in many cases for
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example these policies advocate for
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privatization of Education such as
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promoting Charter Schools private
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tutoring and Contracting out of
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Educational
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Services another International
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Organization associated with education
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is UNESCO the United Nations educational
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scientific and cultural organization
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UNESCO has a number of initiatives such
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as the education for all initiative the
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EFA and the sustainable de development
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goals uh number four which is to quote
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ensure inclusive and Equitable quality
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education and to provide lifelong
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learning opportunities for all that is
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the fourth sustainable development goal
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of UNESCO these have both helped to
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drive Global efforts towards Universal
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education UNESCO has played a key role
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in fostering International Dialogue on
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the question and the and and the issue
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of Education promoting policies aimed at
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universal access gender equality in
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education as well as the empowerment of
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marginalized groups through education
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this is a focus that is on inclusive and
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quality education which instrumentalizes
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policy Frameworks and endorses uh and
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endorses um uh and endorses the the the
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uh it endorses sorry uh the the
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influence by global economic Trends
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so these are some of the key
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International organizations that applies
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to education and Global
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standards the next topic I want to
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mention is on the issue of economic
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globalization and something known as the
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knowledge economy now one of the things
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that is interesting to note is this idea
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of global economic integration the
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global shift towards a knowledge economy
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has emphasized the importance of skills
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and human capital in uh in the labor
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workforce and in the economy more
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generally governments worldwide have
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responded to this idea of the knowledge
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economy by restructuring education
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systems to provide workers with skills
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that match the the needs of a globalized
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technologically advanced labor market
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and this trend is often referred to as a
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skills-based education reform
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globalization has increased competition
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among countries for investment
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Innovation and talent education systems
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are often seen as keys to improving
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National competitiveness as a result of
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which many countries have adopted
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policies that prioritize market-driven
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education ideas and try to emphasize the
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idea of standardized testing uh
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performance measurements as well as
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accountability when it comes to their
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International rankings
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moreover we have seen the rise of
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multinational corporations and
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Enterprises when it comes to their
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provision of private education providers
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now theoretically this Channel and this
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whole project is one such example we're
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not multinational but we're at the very
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least private education provider uh and
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this has shaped Global education policy
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maybe the companies that I'm about to
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that are about to use as examples of
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shaped education policy a little bit
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more than the than I have but
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nevertheless technically part of the
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same group but you see that companies
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have involved themselves in education
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technology as well as the publishing of
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textbooks and the application of testing
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services so for example Microsoft in
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education technology and Pearson in uh
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the in things like publishing textbooks
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and testing
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services all of these play influential
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roles in shaping the educational
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curricula and the tools and assessment
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methods that are necessary for providing
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good quality
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education one of the most one of the
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most uh visible impacts of globalization
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on education is this idea that there is
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a standardization of Education practices
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and education systems so for example in
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many countries
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especially in the developing world we
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have seen an increasing adoption of
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similar educational Frameworks in order
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to be able to have Global competition so
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the Pisa that I've already mentioned is
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one such example of this particular um
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this particular issue of of
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international assessments and
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benchmarking so it is a well-known
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example of an international benchmarking
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Education System since its Inception in
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the year 2000 the Pisa has assessed
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students abilities in Reading maths
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science and provided government with a
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comparative measure of their Educational
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Systems performance essentially if every
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single student is taking the same test
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across a particular collection of
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countries then you can see if your
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country is doing better or worse than
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other countries and as countries are
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ranked based on their students
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performance there is a global pressure
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to implement reforms to try and improve
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educational income uh outcome sorry and
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increase their International
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rankings you also have trend in the uh
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Trends in international mathematics and
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science um this is a study known as the
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tmss and there is also the progress in
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international reading literacy study the
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P the P LS um which are both
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International assessments that
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contribute to the growing globalization
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of educational standards Again by
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providing comparative data for countries
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around the world to see where their
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Educational Systems rank against other
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countries
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a second example is through the adoption
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of best practices the increasing
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availability of education and
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international educational research as
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well as data has led many countries to
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adopt what they see as quote Best
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Practices from the systems of other
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countries so one such example one case
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study that we can illustrate is a
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country like Finland Finland is known
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for its high educational performance
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and so has become a benchmark and a
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model for Many Nations seeking to
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implement similar reforms and similar um
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and similar education
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systems so there has been a a
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significant push for countries to
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improve their teacher training their
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curriculum design and their assessment
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methods many governments have looked to
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try and incorporate uh things like
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Innovative pedagogies and Technical use
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and datadriven decision- making when it
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comes to the process of uh adopting best
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practices for these different
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standardized um
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systems finally then what about the
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influence of transnational networks and
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and their policies so we have for
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example in in an increasingly globalized
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World bilateral and multilateral
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agreements a bilateral agreement is an
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agreement between two states that uh to
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to do a particular thing so a treaty for
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example between State a and State B are
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is a bilateral treaty a multilateral
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treaty is as the name suggests very
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similar but involves more than one
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country okay more than two countries I
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say it involves multiple countries and
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multilateral agreements tend to be more
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all encompassing as you can probably
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imagine and countries have increasingly
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entered into educational agreements or
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Partnerships with other nations in order
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to share knowledge and expertise one
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such example of this is in the case of
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multilateral agreements is found in the
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European Union the European Union
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promotes educational exch changes and
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standardizations through initiatives
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such as the belonga process um which
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seeks to standardize higher education
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you also have the arasmus scheme in the
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European Union which allows for the free
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movement of students across different
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member states of the of the Union
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itself in addition to this you have
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philanthropic foundations that form
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non-government organizations such as the
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bill and M The Gates Foundation that
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have become influential players when it
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comes to education policy globally
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essentially what they do is they they
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fund uh educational initiatives and they
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advocate for reforms that are aimed at
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improving access to education
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particularly and specifically when it
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comes to developing
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countries so while globalization has led
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to the diffusion of certain educational
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policies across the world its effects on
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on local education systems does in fact
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vary widely depending on the national
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and Regional contexts so for example we
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can see that there is the adoption or at
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least the the argument that there is the
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adoption of neoliberal Economic and
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educational reforms and neoliberal
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educational agenda which emphasizes
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Market driven principles has gained
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traction globally due to the influence
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of organizations such as the World Bank
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and the oecd privatization increasing
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the involvement of the private sector in
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education through the growth of charter
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schools or for-profit educational
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institutions and private and tutoring
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Services has been seen growing in
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various different parts of the world
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most notably the United States uh Chile
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and India are prevalent examples of this
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the idea of ppps public private
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Partnerships in many countries has been
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seen where we get private companies run
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schools or Educational Services on
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behalf of the state
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again while this is an approach that is
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marketed as a means of improving
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efficiency it's criticize for
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prioritizing profit over the quality of
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somebody's
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education and there is also then finally
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the idea of choice and competition um
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policies aimed at increasing parental
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choice and competition um have been
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adopted in several countries like the
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United States and even in Sweden but
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these policies often exacerbate
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inequalities in many cases
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and while
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globalization of education politics has
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led to many countries making significant
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strides towards a more Universal
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education standard it has also led to St
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disparities in education so many
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developing countries of course still
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face major challenges including
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inadequate infrastructure teacher
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shortages and limited resources
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lowincome countries um may not always
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align uh with the local realities so for
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example where Global um in global uh
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sorry in low-income countries where
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Global education policies uh are focused
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on standardizing the the test results
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this might not align with the cultural
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differences the economic constraints or
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even the specific needs of a particular
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local
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population we see as well the impact
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that this has on the reinforcing of
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social stratification the globalization
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of Education policies reinforce social
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inequality particularly in countries
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that adopt market-based education
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reforms and as private schools become
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more prevalent and high performing
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schools are concentrated in wealthier
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areas then education the education
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system becomes further um becomes
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further strained and and concentrated in
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wealthier parts of the
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world the emphasis on global
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competitiveness can also result in
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something known as a brain drain this is
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where highly educated individuals leave
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their homes for better opportunities
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abroad often wealthier Nations leaving
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to situations where what is left at home
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is is a a less educated population and
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one that therefore would not have the
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same kind of economic um opportunities
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as would have otherwise been the case
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this can impact local education system
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by depriving skilled professionals
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leading to a system of underinvestment
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in local
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education so overall then there has been
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a profound and widespread impact on the
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way in which education is perceived
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structured and implemented through
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globalization now while International
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organizations like the oecd the World
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Bank and UNESCO have tried to improve
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access to education and enhance
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standards as well as fostering Global
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Knowledge these reforms have often in
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some cases um reinforced neoliberal
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ideas that are associated with
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competition privatization and Market
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Solutions so not all of these Solutions
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have been necessarily positive but some
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nevertheless indeed have been especially
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things like standardized testing and
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just the investing in further education
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systems especially in places uh like
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developing countries