The Impact of Globalization on Educatio

Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2011

The Impact of Globalization on Education Policy of Developing Countries:
Oman as an Example
Khalaf Al’Abri
Sultan Qaboos University, Oman [e-mail] Abstract
Globalization can be thought of as the speedy, free movement of people, services, capital, goods, ideas and knowledge across national borders, encompassing the entire globe. It is claimed that globalization makes the world akin to a small village through time and space compression with new technologies being an important facilitator of this interconnectivity. Accordingly, national systems, in particular education systems, of nation-states have been affected critically by these processes. By reviewing the literature and analyzing some education policy documents, this paper investigates how globalization has reshaped the terrain of education policy in developing countries. Such changes in education policy of developing countries will be illustrated through the case of the Sultanate of Oman. An argument is presented that education policy in Oman has been affected seriously by globalization processes, leading to deep shifts and changes in the ways in which education policies are developed, implemented and evaluated. This paper will contribute to future research on similar topics.

1. Introduction
Globalization as a concept has been used in both positive and negative way by different people in different situations. Everyone looks at the concept from his or her point of view and interests. However, there is an agreement among all theorists that globalization has had enormous impact on societies at economic, political, and cultural levels. From the literature on globalization, it seems like everything is globalizing in this world as a result of the transformation of the world to a small village, a global village. This means borders are not any longer insurmountable barriers to any kind of connections and integration

References: [13] Dale, R., & Robertson, S. (2002). The varying effects of regional organizations as subjects of globalization of [1] Abrahamsen, R. (2000). Disciplining democracy: Development discourse and good governance in Africa. 97.9793&rep=rep1&type=pdf. (Access date: 5 December, 2010). [3] AlHinai, K. (2006). The effectiveness of educational planning centrality in education system in Sultanate of Oman (Doctoral dissertation, College of Social and Human Sciences, 2006).Tunisia. [4] Almamari, S. (2009). Citizenship education in initial teacher education in the Sultanate of Oman: An University of Glasgow, 2009). Retrieved from http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1081/01/2009saifphd.pdf date: 12 January, 2011) [5] Alnabhani, M central headquarters - a case study. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Glasgow, 2007) [7] Berg, E. (1994). Poverty and Structural Adjustment in the 1980s: Trends in welfare indicators in Latin America [8] Bonal, X. (2002) . Plus ca change…The World Bank global education policy and the post- Washington [9] Cerny, P. (1997). Paradoxes of the competition state: The dynamics of political globalization [10] Dale, R. (1999). Specifying globalization effects on national policy: A focus on the mechanisms [11] Dale, R. (2000). Globalization: A new world for comparative education [12] Dale, R. (2005). Globalisation, knowledge economy and comparative education [14] Dakopoulou, A. (2009). The appropriation of the global discourse in the formulation of national education [15] Fine, B. (2001). Social capital versus social theory: Political economy and social science at the turn of the [16] Fischer, S. (2003). Globalization and its challenges. [17] Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. [18] Green, A. (1997). Education, globalisation and the nation state [19] Green, A. (1999). Education and globalization in Europe and East Asia: convergent and divergent trends. [20] Green, A. (2002). The many faces of lifelong learning: recent education policy trends in Europe [22] Held, D. & McGrew, A. (Eds.). (2000). The global transformation reader: An introduction to the k1Chapter5.pdf. (Access date: 2 January, 2011). [37] Ohamae, K. (1990). The borderless world. London: Collins.