ABSTRACT
The technology of school effectiveness now constitutes a major UK export commodity on a global scale. Tailor-made courses, and their accompanying software, packaged and delivered by external educational consultants, offer practical business solutions to seemingly intractable educational problems in developing countries. Technical ‘know-how’ thus injected into the management structures and processes of educational systems ostensibly fulfils the important function of ‘adjusting’ and ‘revitalizing’ schools and, in the process, making them more functionally effective, efficient and cost-effective. To a large extent, this reflects the internationalization of market forces ideology that now underpins educational policy in industrialized countries. This refers, especially, to the principles of new managerialism as the expedient means through which systemic change is managed and maintained. It also highlights the important role that international funding agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) play in the shaping of educational development priorities in different parts of the world.
