Abstract

In the past two decades, education systems1 around the globe have undergone dramatic changes. In large part this is because of changes within and between nation-states, as the stakes increase in the competitive race between nations and regions in the global economy (cf. Cerny, 1997; Held, McGrew, Perraton, & Dicken, 1999). It is also because there has been a reconceptualization of the role of education across the developed and developing world: on the one hand, to tie education more closely to the economy in order to drive economic growth; and on the other, to develop the formal education sectors in such a way that they directly generate income for institutions, national economies, and for-profit firms who are moving into providing services in particular sectors.