Internationalisation of Education

Well here goes, the first post. I hope to be able to use this blog to explore a range of issues relating to education, internationalisation, globalisation, culture and justice. I'm hoping that some of you might engage with me, challenge me, and make me think along the way.

I thought I might start by thinking about the internationalisation of education. Like most things, this means many things to many people. The most helpful definition that I have read comes from Steir, a Norwegian academic who suggested that it is comprised of three ideologies; idealism, educationalism, and instrumentalism. I can see how all three of these fit with my experience. I am an idealist, and I have got to say that for me education is a 'public good' and a right. Education in general and particularly international education should be about working towards a more just, equitable, and harmonious world.

I also identify with the educationalism ideology; some of my most powerful learning has come from travelling and enagaging with other cultures. Without my expereinces in South Africa, I very much doubt I would have become a teacher. Living in Nepal enriched me, and challenged me enormously. This type of experience ties in very closely with Mezirow's theories of adult learning. He explains that new situations can cause us to replace our (ill fitting) meaning schemes or paradigms. Many students and lecturers from Liverpool Hope Uni' attest to the significance of Hope One World placements overseas - for many the word 'transformational' sums up the impact of the experience.

The most topical of the three ideologies is instrumentalism. Its key ideas are explored in the literature under a variety of related though not synonymous labels: commodification; Taylorisation; McDonaldisation, and managerialism These labels all attest to a powerful movement in higher education which is dethroning the notion of education for the public good',and is reshaping it into a commodity to be traded.

If education is a commodity to be traded - as the World Trade Organisation consider it to be, it raises all sorts of ethical and practical questions. I will try to engage with some of those in this blog.

Well I think that is probably enough for the first posting - I don't want this to turn into an essay!