ABSTRACT
Globalization in its economic, cultural and social manifestations has been the focus of many educators especially over the past few decades (see for instance Townsend and Cheng 2000; Hershock, Mason and Hawkins 2007). Economic globalization with its implications for national economic competitiveness has led numerous governments to re-examine their national education systems with a view to developing specic skills and attitudes that are supposedly essential for preparing young people for success within a knowledge economy. In addition, there is now an emerging literature on how the fruits of economic globalization have not been equitably distributed in various societies. If anything, existing inequities in income distribution have been exacerbated. On the cultural front, the advent of the internet and other forms of information technology, with its accompanying rapid spread of ideas across national boundaries, has been viewed as a potential threat to cultural, linguistic and religious homogeneity. Many governments have renewed calls for education systems to emphasize values education in a bid to strengthen social cohesion and maintain cultural continuity (see for instance Lee, Grossman, Kennedy and Fairbrother 2004). However, governments do not always nd it easy to reconcile sometimes wildly contradictory functions of schooling. For instance, schooling systems o©en serve as key sorting or si©ing devices to prepare students for their future roles in the workforce, which sometimes leaves them open to accusations of perpetuating social class inequalities. At the same time, in a bid to enhance educational outcomes, some governments have fostered market forces and inter-school competition at the risk of sidelining more humanitarian values.
