For over a decade, Mainland China has been embarking on an ambitious nation-wide education reform ('New Curriculum Reform') for its basic education. The reform reflects China’s propensity to borrow selected educational policies from elsewhere, particularly North America and Europe. Chinese scholars have used a local proverb "the West wind has overpowered the East wind" to describe this phenomenon of ‘looking West’. But what do we mean by educational policy borrowing from the West? What are the educational policies in China's new curriculum reform that are perceived to be borrowed from the West? To what extent have the borrowed educational policies in China's new curriculum reform been accepted, modified, and rejected by the various educational stakeholders? How does culture influence the various educational stakeholders in China in interpreting and mediating educational policy borrowing from the West? How do the findings of this study on China’s education reform inform and add to the existing theories on and approaches to on cross-cultural educational policy borrowing? This book answers the above questions by critically discussing China’s policy borrowing from the West through its current reform for primary and secondary education. It presents the latest in-depth research findings from a three-year empirical study (2013-2015) with school principals, teachers, students and other educational stakeholders across China. This study offers new insights into China’s educational policy borrowing from the West and international implications on cross-cultural educational transfer for academics, policymakers and educators.

The phenomenon of "travelling reforms" has become an object of great professional interest and intensive academic scrutiny. The fact that the same set of educational reforms is transferred from one country to another made scholars wonder whether policy transfer has increased as a result of globalization. But also the fact that policy makers increasingly import "best practices "and international standards and use them as a tool to accelerate reform has captured the imagination of many that deal with policy studies. An international comparative perspective is key for understanding why reforms travel from one corner of the world to another. Not surprisingly, the study of policy borrowing and lending constitutes one of the core research topics of comparative policy studies; a new area of research that links comparative education with policy studies. The World Yearbook of Education 2012 brings together a diverse range of perspectives on education policy through contributions from internationally renowned authors. It reflects on the way policy borrowing and lending is reconfiguring the world of education and offers a new collection of insights into the changes occurring across the world. It particularly focuses on: The political and economic reasons for policy borrowing, The agencies, international networks and regimes that instigate policy change, The process of borrowing and lending The impact of these systems, agendas and institutions on indigenous settings. This book will prove invaluable to researchers of globalization and to policy experts, especially those interested in comparative and international educational studies. It is also essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and anyone involved in the sociology, economy or history of education. Gita Steiner-Khamsi is Professor of Comparative and International Education at Teachers College Columbia University, New York, US. Florian Waldow is Research Director at the University of Münster, Germany.

This book builds on the Editors’ previous work on the analysis of policy borrowing processes in education. A number of prominent researchers in comparative studies contribute articles describing and analysing policy borrowing in a number of historical contexts, with many of the examples testing aspects of the explanatory models developed by Phillips & Ochs. The countries covered include England, Spain, Germany, France, Austria, Japan and South Africa.

The aim of this Handbook is to present a global overview of developments in education and policy change during the last decade. It has the objective of providing both a strategic education policy statement on recent shifts in education and policy research globally and offers new approaches to further exploration, development and improvement of education and policy making. The Handbook attempts to address some of the above issues and problems confronting educators and policy makers globally. Different articles seek to conceptualize the on-going problems of education policy formulation and implementation, and provide a useful synthesis of the education policy research conducted in different countries, and practical implications. The Handbook, by focusing on such issues as - the OECD (2001) model of the knowledge society, and associated strategic challenge and 'deliverable goals' (OECD 2001:139) - UNESCO-driven lifelong learning paradigm, and its relevance to education policy makers, globally - different models of policy planning, and equity questions that are raised by centralization/decentralization, diversity/uniformity and curriculum standardization issues - the 'crises' of educational quality, the debate of standards and excellence, and good and effective teaching. - will contribute to a better and more holistic understanding of the education policy and research nexus; offering possible strategies for the effective and pragmatic policy planning and implementation at the local, regional and national levels.

This book offers a critical examination of contemporary higher education reforms in Thailand situated in the broader historical, socio-economic and political changes. Through a qualitative case study with three methods of inquiry, this book explores why different 'global education policies' such quasi-privatisation, internationalization, as quality assessment (QA) have resonated in Thailand higher education sector. Grounded in policy borrowing and lending, this book uses the politics, economics and culture of borrowing to analyse major reforms in Thailand for the past one hundred years. It is argued that historical legacy, policy contexts and belief systems of policy elites play pivotal roles in facilitating policy changes or the lack thereof. While historical analysis elucidates that the Thai state has always been an active borrower of western ideas, the perseverance of the 'Thai-ness' discourse has often been used to suggest its so-called independence and idiosyncrasy. This in-depth analysis of the Thai case aims to contribute to the critical studies in Asian education, comparative higher education, policy borrowing and lending and Thai studies. The Culture of Borrowing intensively studies the policy appropriation in the Thai education system by analysing: • Selective Borrowing and the Historical Development of Thai Higher Education • The Asian Economic Crisis as Window of Opportunity: Autonomous University • Internationalization of Teaching: Quantitative and Qualitative Challenges • The Emergence of Quality Policies and their Rationales • The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Quality Policies This book will appeal to researchers in Education, particularly to scholars studying educational policies within the context of tertiary education. It will also interest scholars specialising in Asian and South-east Asian Studies.

The globalization of educational policy has become a popular, if not ubiquitous, phenomenon among educational policymakers across the world. It has led many observers to conclude that educational systems in different parts of the world are converging towards one international (neo-liberal) model of school reform. This practice of borrowing and lending school reforms requires a serious examination of the politics and the economics of transnational educational transfer. In this volume, Steiner-Khamsi and her colleagues provide an in-depth empirical and critical examination of the practice of global educational policy. Contributors question the value of importing and exporting educational policies, analyze who benefits from these arrangements, and test the effectiveness of adapting one country's policies in other (often quite culturally distinct) countries. The book investigates how global policies have been implemented locally, and examines the extent to which they work in diverse locales. teiner-Khamsi and her colleagues also examine the role and practices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multilateral organizations, and the World Bank in fostering how educational policies are disseminated and adapted across national and cultural boundaries.

In the World Library of Educationalists, international experts compile career long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces of work – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. Bob Lingard has spent the last 30 years researching and writing in universities in Australia, England and Scotland about changing education policy issues. His work is written from a sociological perspective and with a commitment to social justice. He is the co-editor and co-author of 17 books and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. In Politics, Policies and Pedagogies in Education, Bob Lingard provides critical sociological engagement with the politics of education. The focus is education policy and the impact of globalization, including epistemological and methodological issues necessary for researching education policy today. Topics analyzed include: educational restructuring new accountabilities and testing mediatization of education policy policy as numbers the global policy field and policy borrowing pedagogies. Lingard also considers the nature of educational research today. He has selected 12 of his key writings and in a critical introduction situates and contextualizes the work against key developments in the field and in the changing world.

This book builds on the Editors’ previous work on the analysis of policy borrowing processes in education. A number of prominent researchers in comparative studies contribute articles describing and analysing policy borrowing in a number of historical contexts, with many of the examples testing aspects of the explanatory models developed by Phillips & Ochs. The countries covered include England, Spain, Germany, France, Austria, Japan and South Africa.

This book addresses the intersections of globalization, policy borrowing, and educational reform. Drawing upon multiple disciplines, it provides a comprehensive overview of globalization’s history, processes, theories, and trends, both generally and in education specifically. The book includes an in-depth discussion of policy borrowing, emphasizing its political nature, to provide an understanding of globalization’s impact on education. Portnoi interrogates the dominance of the Global North and the influence of the global governance organizations that serve as the core of the aid and development regime. Using a critical perspective, Portnoi emphasizes the manner in which local agents intervene to mediate the forces of globalization. The book provides a comprehensive foundation for students and scholars of comparative education and associated disciplines, including social foundations, educational policy, teacher education, higher education, globalization studies, sociology of education, and policy studies.