ABSTRACT
The chapter outlines succinctly the growth of neoliberal ideologies in education since the 1980s and the political debates that have justified the need for reforming education in terms of ineffective performance, low-quality teaching, and marketization. Then, every major element of neoliberal ideology in education are discussed, such as measurement, efficiency, effectiveness, teaching quality, standardization of processes and outputs, decentralization of power to school and educational leaders, clear targets, competition, school choice, and centralized strategies to respond to external pressures and demands. This debate allows a comparison between these elements and the theoretical characteristics of tradition/developing societies in the next chapter. Finally, following a short critique of neoliberal educational reforms in developed countries, the chapter elaborates on globalization and education in our neoliberal era and its implications for developing countries.
