ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the theoretical framework for the author's study on China by discussing the key concepts, theories and models of educational policy borrowing. It introduces the concept of educational borrowing in an era of globalisation. The chapter focuses on Phillips and Ochs' four stages of policy borrowing in education, which was based on their analysis of British interest in educational provision in Germany. It examines the concepts of culture, cultural scripts and indigenisation, as well as their influences on educational borrowing. Terms such as innovation, problem-solving, inquiry, autonomy and cooperation championed in China's current education reform, as the chapter explain are part of international discourses that appear to exist without structural roots or social locations, or what Antonio Nvoa terms planet-speak. Policymakers worldwide have acknowledged that the ability of their countries to compete in the globalised knowledge economy is increasingly dependent upon their capacity to meet the fast-growing demands for high-level skills.
