Slouching towards decentralization: Consequences of globalization for curricular control in national education systems

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 66-88+154

  Astiz, M Fernanda ^b   Wiseman, Alexander W ^a   Baker, David P ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TULSA   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042353720     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/324050     Document Type: Review

References (90)

1. See, e.g., Scott Davies and Neil Guppy, "Globalization and Educational Reforms in Anglo-American Democracies," Comparative Education Review 41 (November 1997): 435-59.
2. Andy Green, Education, Globalization, and the Nation State (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997); Aseem Prakash and Jeffrey A. Hart, Globalization and Governance (London: Routledge, 1999).
3. Andy Green, Education, Globalization, and the Nation State (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997); Aseem Prakash and Jeffrey A. Hart, Globalization and Governance (London: Routledge, 1999).
4. Prakash and Hart
5. Davies and Guppy
6. Martin Carnoy, The New Global Economy in the Information Age: Reflections on Our Changing World (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993).
7. Examples of formal multinational markets include, but are not limited to, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), European Union (EU), and Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR).
8. Carnoy, The New Global Economy
9. Davies and Guppy; John W. Meyer, John Boli, and Francisco Ramirez, "World Society and the Nation State," American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144-81; Aaron Benavot, Yun-Kyung Cha, David Kamens, John W. Meyer, and Suk-Ying Wong, "Knowledge for the Masses: World Models and National Curricula. 1920-1986," American Sociological Review 56, no. 1 (1991): 85-100; John W. Meyer, "The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation-State," in Studies of the .Modern World-System, ed. Albert Bergensen (New York: Academic Press, 1980), 109-37.
10. Davies and Guppy; John W. Meyer, John Boli, and Francisco Ramirez, "World Society and the Nation State," American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144-81; Aaron Benavot, Yun-Kyung Cha, David Kamens, John W. Meyer, and Suk-Ying Wong, "Knowledge for the Masses: World Models and National Curricula. 1920-1986," American Sociological Review 56, no. 1 (1991): 85-100; John W. Meyer, "The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation-State," in Studies of the .Modern World-System, ed. Albert Bergensen (New York: Academic Press, 1980), 109-37.
11. Davies and Guppy; John W. Meyer, John Boli, and Francisco Ramirez, "World Society and the Nation State," American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144-81; Aaron Benavot, Yun-Kyung Cha, David Kamens, John W. Meyer, and Suk-Ying Wong, "Knowledge for the Masses: World Models and National Curricula. 1920-1986," American Sociological Review 56, no. 1 (1991): 85-100; John W. Meyer, "The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation-State," in Studies of the .Modern World-System, ed. Albert Bergensen (New York: Academic Press, 1980), 109-37.
12. Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, introduction to The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, ed. Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 1-38.
13. Ronald L. Jepperson and John W. Meyer, "The Public Order and the Construction of Formal Organizations," in Powell and DiMaggio, eds., pp. 204-31; DiMaggio and Powell. Examples of multilateral agencies that directly influence the process of institutional isomorphism include, but are not limited to, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and UNESCO.
14. Ronald L. Jepperson and John W. Meyer, "The Public Order and the Construction of Formal Organizations," in Powell and DiMaggio, eds., pp. 204-31; DiMaggio and Powell. Examples of multilateral agencies that directly influence the process of institutional isomorphism include, but are not limited to, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and UNESCO.
15. Andy Green, "Education and Globalization in Europe and East Asia: Convergent and Divergent Trends," Journal of Education Policy 14 (January-February 1999): 55-71; Gerald K. LeTendre, David Baker, Motoko Akiba, et al., "Teachers' Work: Institutional Isomorphism and Cultural Variation in the U.S., Germany, and Japan," Education Researcher 30, no. 6 (August-September): 3-15.
16. Andy Green, "Education and Globalization in Europe and East Asia: Convergent and Divergent Trends," Journal of Education Policy 14 (January-February 1999): 55-71; Gerald K. LeTendre, David Baker, Motoko Akiba, et al., "Teachers' Work: Institutional Isomorphism and Cultural Variation in the U.S., Germany, and Japan," Education Researcher 30, no. 6 (August-September): 3-15.
17. See, e.g., Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, vol. 1, A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997); and Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (London: Verso, 1996). Other views talk about how nation-states react to multilateral agencies through resistance (Roland Robertson, Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture [London: Sage, 1992]).
18. See, e.g., Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, vol. 1, A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997); and Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (London: Verso, 1996). Other views talk about how nation-states react to multilateral agencies through resistance (Roland Robertson, Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture [London: Sage, 1992]).
19. See, e.g., Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, vol. 1, A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997); and Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (London: Verso, 1996). Other views talk about how nation-states react to multilateral agencies through resistance (Roland Robertson, Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture [London: Sage, 1992]).
20. Mann Ibid
21. For examples, see Bruce Fuller and Richard Rubinson, eds., The Political Construction of Education: The State, School Expansion, and Economic Change (New York: Praeger, 1992); Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli, "The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalization," Sociology of Education 60 (January 1987): 2-17.
22. For examples, see Bruce Fuller and Richard Rubinson, eds., The Political Construction of Education: The State, School Expansion, and Economic Change (New York: Praeger, 1992); Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli, "The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalization," Sociology of Education 60 (January 1987): 2-17.
23. Fuller and Rubinson
24. DiMaggio and Powell: Ramirez and Boli; John Boli, Francisco O. Ramirez, and John W. Meyer, "Explaining the Origins of Mass Education," in New Approaches to Comparative Education, ed. Philip Altbach and Gail Kelly (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 145-70; John W. Meyer, Francisco O. Ramirez, and Y. Soysal, "World Expansion of Mass Education, 1870-1980," Sociology of Education 65 (1992): 128-49.
25. DiMaggio and Powell: Ramirez and Boli; John Boli, Francisco O. Ramirez, and John W. Meyer, "Explaining the Origins of Mass Education," in New Approaches to Comparative Education, ed. Philip Altbach and Gail Kelly (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 145-70; John W. Meyer, Francisco O. Ramirez, and Y. Soysal, "World Expansion of Mass Education, 1870-1980," Sociology of Education 65 (1992): 128-49.
26. Martin Carnoy and Henry M. Levin, Schooling and Work in the Democratic State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985).
27. In an exemplary work, Diana Rhoten, using a global-local conditions of possibility model, examines the "international origins," "national intentions," and "local interpretations" of the educational decentralization policy carried out in Argentina in the 1990s. She shows, through a comparative analysis of three provinces in Argentina, that the processes and outcomes of the international-origin decentralization policy are not universal and that the policy interpretations and actions depend on the local geocconomic conditions, political and cultural identities, administrative capacities, and the local state-society relations of power and authority. See Diana Rhoten, "Education Decentralization in Argentina: A 'Global-Local Conditions of Possibility' Approach to State, Market, and Society Change," Journal of Education Policy 15 (2000): 593-619.
28. Raymond A. Morrow and Carlos A. Torres, "The State, Globalization, and Educational Policy," in Globalization and Education: Critical Perspectives, ed. Nicholas C. Burbules and Carlos A. Torres (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp. 52-59.
29. Ibid. In particular, "localization" has come to mean the decentralization of governance over public services such as public education. For a full explanation, see Noel McGinn and Susan Street, "Educational Decentralization: Weak State or Strong State?" Comparative Education Review 30 (November 1986): 471-90.
30. Ibid. In particular, "localization" has come to mean the decentralization of governance over public services such as public education. For a full explanation, see Noel McGinn and Susan Street, "Educational Decentralization: Weak State or Strong State?" Comparative Education Review 30 (November 1986): 471-90.
31. Robert Arnove, "Neoliberal Education Policies in Latin America: Arguments in Favor and Against," in Latin America Education: Comparative Perspective, ed. Carlos A. Torres and Adriana Puiggros (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997), chap. 3; Carlos A. Torres and Adriana Puiggros, "Introduction," in Torres and Puiggros, eds.
32. Robert Arnove, "Neoliberal Education Policies in Latin America: Arguments in Favor and Against," in Latin America Education: Comparative Perspective, ed. Carlos A. Torres and Adriana Puiggros (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997), chap. 3; Carlos A. Torres and Adriana Puiggros, "Introduction," in Torres and Puiggros, eds.
33. Seminal works on this view, particularly regarding education, are Meyer (n.8 above); Fuller and Rubinson (n. 14 above); and McGinn and Street.
34. Seminal works on this view, particularly regarding education, are Meyer (n.8 above); Fuller and Rubinson (n. 14 above); and McGinn and Street.
35. Seminal works on this view, particularly regarding education, are Meyer (n.8 above); Fuller and Rubinson (n. 14 above); and McGinn and Street.
36. McGinn and Street.
37. Torres and Puiggros; Martin Carnoy, Globaliiation and Educational Reform: What Planners Need to Know (Paris: UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning, 1999); Morrow and Torres.
38. Hans Weiler, "Comparative Perspectives on Educational Decentralization: An Exercise in Contradiction?" Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 12 (Winter 1990): 433-48, and "Control versus Legitimation: The Politics of Ambivalence," in Decentralization and School Improvement: Can We Fulfill the Promise? ed. Jane Hannaway and Martin Carnoy (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993). pp. 58-83; McGinn and Street.
39. Hans Weiler, "Comparative Perspectives on Educational Decentralization: An Exercise in Contradiction?" Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 12 (Winter 1990): 433-48, and "Control versus Legitimation: The Politics of Ambivalence," in Decentralization and School Improvement: Can We Fulfill the Promise? ed. Jane Hannaway and Martin Carnoy (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993). pp. 58-83; McGinn and Street.
40. Davies and Guppy (n. 1 above).
41. M. Fernanda Astiz, State Reform, Neoliberal Structural Adjustments Policies, and the Decentralization of Education: The Argentine Case in Comparative Perspective (doctoral diss., Pennsylvania State University, Department of Educational Policy Studies, 1999).
42. David Tyack and Larry Cuban, Tinkering toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995).
43. Carnoy and Levin (n. 17 above).
44. This is particularly true given the large number of educational researchers in the United States and the recent U.S. policy debate about the effects of increasing decentralization of educational responsibility and centralizing curriculum in mathematics and science (e.g., national voluntary testing). Examples of research on educational decentralization are Dan Gibton, Naama Sabar, and Ellen B. Goldring, "How Principals of Autonomous Schools in Israel View Implementation of Decentralization and Restructuring Policy: Risks, Rights, and Wrongs," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (2000): 193-210; Stephen P. Heyneman, "From the Party/State to Multiethnic Democracy: Education and Social Cohesion in Europe and Central Asia," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (Summer 2000): 173-91; James P. Spillane and Charles Thompson, "Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency's Capacity for Ambitious Reform," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19 (1997): 185-203.
45. This is particularly true given the large number of educational researchers in the United States and the recent U.S. policy debate about the effects of increasing decentralization of educational responsibility and centralizing curriculum in mathematics and science (e.g., national voluntary testing). Examples of research on educational decentralization are Dan Gibton, Naama Sabar, and Ellen B. Goldring, "How Principals of Autonomous Schools in Israel View Implementation of Decentralization and Restructuring Policy: Risks, Rights, and Wrongs," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (2000): 193-210; Stephen P. Heyneman, "From the Party/State to Multiethnic Democracy: Education and Social Cohesion in Europe and Central Asia," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (Summer 2000): 173-91; James P. Spillane and Charles Thompson, "Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency's Capacity for Ambitious Reform," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19 (1997): 185-203.
46. This is particularly true given the large number of educational researchers in the United States and the recent U.S. policy debate about the effects of increasing decentralization of educational responsibility and centralizing curriculum in mathematics and science (e.g., national voluntary testing). Examples of research on educational decentralization are Dan Gibton, Naama Sabar, and Ellen B. Goldring, "How Principals of Autonomous Schools in Israel View Implementation of Decentralization and Restructuring Policy: Risks, Rights, and Wrongs," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (2000): 193-210; Stephen P. Heyneman, "From the Party/State to Multiethnic Democracy: Education and Social Cohesion in Europe and Central Asia," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 22 (Summer 2000): 173-91; James P. Spillane and Charles Thompson, "Reconstructing Conceptions of Local Capacity: The Local Education Agency's Capacity for Ambitious Reform," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19 (1997): 185-203.
47. David L. Stevenson and David P. Baker, "State Control of the Curriculum and Classroom Instruction," Sociology of Education 64 (January 1991): 1-10.
48. For results that suggest a high degree of between-school variation in curriculum within a relatively centralized national system, see also Aaron Benavot and Nura Resh, "The Social Construction of the Local School Curriculum: Patterns of Diversity and Uniformity in Israeli Junior High Schools" (paper presented at the ESCR/EURESCO Conference "Educational Differentiation in European Societies: Causes and Consequences," Giens, France, 2000).
49. Davies and Guppy.
50. McGinn and Street (n. 20 above); Donald R. Winkler, "Fiscal Decentralization and Accountability," in Hannaway and Carnoy, eds. (n. 25 above), chap. 5; Noel McGinn, "Education, Democratization, and Globalization: A Challenge for Comparative Education," Comparative Education Review 40 (1996): 341-57; M. Fernanda Astiz and Kate Riordan, "The Governance of the Curriculum and Teachers' and Principals' Beliefs: The Experience of Four Countries: Colombia, France, Spain, and the United States" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Toronto, March 1999).
51. McGinn and Street (n. 20 above); Donald R. Winkler, "Fiscal Decentralization and Accountability," in Hannaway and Carnoy, eds. (n. 25 above), chap. 5; Noel McGinn, "Education, Democratization, and Globalization: A Challenge for Comparative Education," Comparative Education Review 40 (1996): 341-57; M. Fernanda Astiz and Kate Riordan, "The Governance of the Curriculum and Teachers' and Principals' Beliefs: The Experience of Four Countries: Colombia, France, Spain, and the United States" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Toronto, March 1999).
52. McGinn and Street (n. 20 above); Donald R. Winkler, "Fiscal Decentralization and Accountability," in Hannaway and Carnoy, eds. (n. 25 above), chap. 5; Noel McGinn, "Education, Democratization, and Globalization: A Challenge for Comparative Education," Comparative Education Review 40 (1996): 341-57; M. Fernanda Astiz and Kate Riordan, "The Governance of the Curriculum and Teachers' and Principals' Beliefs: The Experience of Four Countries: Colombia, France, Spain, and the United States" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Toronto, March 1999).
53. McGinn and Street (n. 20 above); Donald R. Winkler, "Fiscal Decentralization and Accountability," in Hannaway and Carnoy, eds. (n. 25 above), chap. 5; Noel McGinn, "Education, Democratization, and Globalization: A Challenge for Comparative Education," Comparative Education Review 40 (1996): 341-57; M. Fernanda Astiz and Kate Riordan, "The Governance of the Curriculum and Teachers' and Principals' Beliefs: The Experience of Four Countries: Colombia, France, Spain, and the United States" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Toronto, March 1999).
54. For detailed information on Colombia and Spain, see E. Mark Hanson, "La descentralilizacióny democratización de la educación Española," Occasional Paper, Formas y Reformas de la Educación, Series Políticas (Santiago: Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas, December 2000); Juan Prawda, "Educational Decentralization in Latin America: Lessons Learned," International Journal of Educational Development 13 (1993): 253-64.
55. For detailed information on Colombia and Spain, see E. Mark Hanson, "La descentralilizacióny democratización de la educación Española," Occasional Paper, Formas y Reformas de la Educación, Series Políticas (Santiago: Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas, December 2000); Juan Prawda, "Educational Decentralization in Latin America: Lessons Learned," International Journal of Educational Development 13 (1993): 253-64.
56. Edward Fiske, Decentralization of Education: Politics and Consensus: Directions in Development Series (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996).
57. E. Mark Hanson, "Democralization and Decentralization in Colombian Education," Comparative Education Review 39 (1995): 100-119.
58. I b i d.
59. E. Mark Hanson, "Educational Decentralization: Issues and Challenges," Occasional Paper no. 9 (Santiago: Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas, 1997).
60. Prawda.
61. Fiske.
62. E. Mark Hanson, "Decentralization and Regionalization in Educational Administration: Comparison of Venezuela, Colombia, and Spain," Comparative Education 25 (1989): 41-55.
63. Oliver Boyd-Barrett, "Structural Change and Curriculum Reform in Democratic Spain," in Ed ucational Reform in Democratic Spain, ed. Oliver Boyd-Barrett and Pamela O'Malley (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 7-31..
64. Ibid.; Hanson, "Democratization and Decentralization.
65. Ibid.; Hanson, "Democratization and Decentralization.
66. Hanson, "Democratization and Decentralization.
67. Boyd-Barrett.
68. Jean-François Botrel, "Decentralization y desconcentración en el sistema educalivo Francés," Novedades Educativas 68 (1996): 13-15.
69. Torsten Husén and T. Neville Postlethwaite, eds., International Encyclopedia of Education, vols. 1-12 (New York: Pergamon, 1994); R. Teese, "Australian Education in Cross-National Perspective: A Comparative Analysis with France,"Comparative Education 24 (1988): 305-16.
70. Torsten Husén and T. Neville Postlethwaite, eds., International Encyclopedia of Education, vols. 1-12 (New York: Pergamon, 1994); R. Teese, "Australian Education in Cross-National Perspective: A Comparative Analysis with France,"Comparative Education 24 (1988): 305-16.
71. Botrel.
72. David B. Tyack, The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974).
73. Richard Elmore and Susan Furhman, "Governing Curriculum: Changing Patterns in Policy, Politics, and Practice," in The Governance of Curriculum, ed. Richard Elmore and Susan Furhman (Alexandria, Va.: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994), chap. 1.
74. Tyack.
75. National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983).
76. Elmore and Furhman
77. Stevenson and Baker (n. 31 above).
78. Eugenio J. Gonzalez and Teresa A. Smith, Users Guide for the TIMSS International Database: Primary and Middle School Yean (Chestnut Hill, Mass.: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 1997).
79. World Bank, Selected World Development Indicators (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996), Selected World Development Indicators (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1999), and Selected World Development Indicators (Washington, D.C.: World Bank. 2000).
80. See Husén and Postlethwaite (n. 48 above).
81. A complete description of the methodology involved in creating the "extreme curricular consistency" variable is available from the authors. We also created a "Moderate Curricular Consistency" variable, which measures the national percentage of curricular topics taught by more than 75 percent or less than 25 percent of teachers. Although included in preliminary analyses, the Moderate Curricular Consistency variable did not provide significantly different effects from the Extreme Curricular Consistency variable. More information on these preliminary analyses is available from the authors.
82. Stevenson and Baker; Ian Westbury and Chao-Sheng Hsu, "Does States Control of the Curriculum Matter? A Response to Stevenson and Baker," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 18 (1996): 343-47; Spillane and Thompson (n. 30 above); LeTendre et al. (n. 11 above).
83. Stevenson and Baker; Ian Westbury and Chao-Sheng Hsu, "Does States Control of the Curriculum Matter? A Response to Stevenson and Baker," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 18 (1996): 343-47; Spillane and Thompson (n. 30 above); LeTendre et al. (n. 11 above).
84. Stevenson and Baker; Ian Westbury and Chao-Sheng Hsu, "Does States Control of the Curriculum Matter? A Response to Stevenson and Baker," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 18 (1996): 343-47; Spillane and Thompson (n. 30 above); LeTendre et al. (n. 11 above).
85. Spillane and Thompson.
86. Full information on other coefficients in the model is available from the authors on request. See note c in table 2 for the full model specification.
87. The same is true for educational expenditures as a percent of the GDP.
88. The third group of mostly centralized nations' mean is adjusted for the outlier Cyprus.
89. Stevenson and Baker (n. 31 above).
90. William Schmidt, Curtis McKnight, and Senta Raizen, A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education (London: Kluwer Academic, 1997).