Introduction

The processes of globalisation have produced a reconsideration of the aims of education, the content of education, the processes or methods by which it is delivered and the ways in which the outcomes are assessed. This chapter argues that there has been a qualitative and quantitative change in the intensity and scope of telecommunications in the last decades of the twentieth century and that this has produced considerable social change. It discusses that cultural globalisation is the changing context and means whereby national cultures are produced and reproduced. The chapter examines an historical context the influence of religion and empire. World religions, in particular Islam and Christianity, have been able to move from their place of origin and convert other religions and overthrow other cultures. It explores the effects of the acceleration of change and the term 'future shock' in an American context.