ABSTRACT
Education is essentially a highly domestic aff air. Governments engage in educational reform within the framework of the nation state, refl ecting their distinctive historical, political, economic, social and cultural conditions. In a country’s educational reform, problems are addressed and solutions proposed, according to the country’s specifi c domestic context. At the same time, in today’s increasingly globalized international community, many countries are confronted with similar challenges in education and approach educational reform in a somewhat standardized manner. This is a clear manifestation of the infl uence of neo-liberal ideology. In other words, deregulation, decentralization and the principle of free market competition have been introduced into the realm of education, encouraging schools and teachers to become autonomous and independent. This trend has also triggered many problems, including widening inequality and the intensifi cation of competition. These problems are particularly conspicuous as disparities among social strata.
