CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Globalization is a complex phenomenon that has had far-reaching effects in Adult Education. Not surprisingly, therefore, the term “globalization” has acquired many emotive connotations. At one extreme, globalization is seen as an irresistible and benign force for delivering economic prosperity to people throughout the world. At the other, it is blamed as a source of all contemporary ills.
To different scholars, the definition of globalization may be different. According to Cheng (2000), it may refer to the transfer, adaptation, and development of values, knowledge, technology, and behavioural norms across countries and societies in different parts of the world. The typical phenomena and characteristics associated with globalization include growth of global networking (e.g. internet, world wide e-communication, and transportation), global transfer and interflow in technological, economic, social, political, cultural, and learning areas, international alliances and competitions, international collaboration and exchange, global village, multicultural integration, and use of international standards and benchmarks. UNDP in Human Development Report (1999) describes globalization as the increasing interdependence of the world’s inhabitants, on an economic, technological, cultural, as well as political level. It is seen as a general tendency towards the liberalization of economic trade, a wider circulation of capital, goods and products, and a quasi-abolition of national borders. The speed of communication and the relatively low cost of processing information have caused distances to be eliminated. The categories of time and space have been completely overturned. Models of consumption, values, and standardized cultural products thus tending to make behaviours and attitudes more similar and Wipe out differences across the globe.
People can only contribute and benefit from globalization if they endowed with knowledge, skills and with the capabilities and rights needed to pursue their basic livelihoods. They need employment and incomes, and a healthy environment. These are the essential condition which empower them to participate fully as citizens in their local, national and global communities. These goals, can only be reached if national governments allocate adequate resources to education, basic infrastructure and the environment, and create the institutional framework which ensures broad access and opportunity.
· Global sharing of knowledge, skills, and intellectual assets that are necessary to multiple developments at different levels;
· Mutual support supplement and benefit to· produce synergy for various developments of countries, communities, and individuals;
· Creating values and enhancing efficiency through the above global sharing and mutual support to serving local needs and growth;
· Promoting international understanding, collaboration, harmony, and acceptance to cultural diversity across countries and regions.
· Facilitating communications, interactions, and encouraging multicultural contributions at different levels among countries.
At the same time, globalization, potentially creating serious negative impacts for developing and underdeveloped countries. This is also the major reason why there have been so many ongoing social movements in different parts of the world against the trends of globalization’ particularly in economic and political areas. The potential negative impacts of globalization are various types of political, economic, and cultural colonization and overwhelming influences of advanced countries to developing countries and rapidly increasing gaps between rich areas and poor areas in’ different parts of the world. In particular, the potential negative impacts include the following:
· Increasing the technological gaps and digital divides between advanced countries and less developed countries;
· Creating more legitimate opportunities for a few advanced countries for a new form of colonization of developing countries;
· Increasing inequalities and conflicts between areas and cultures; and.
· Promoting the dominant cultures and values of some advanced areas.
Many people believe that, education is one of key local factors that can be used to moderate some impacts of globalization from negative to positive and converts threats into opportunities for the depot for the development of individuals and local community in the inevitable process of globalization. How to maximize the positive effects and minimize the negative impacts of globalisation is a major concern in current educational reform for national and given the phenomenon of “globalization”, economic growth of the last decades has been accompanied by a worsening of inequalities in the world and in particular, inequalities of access to knowledge.
Integration into world economy todays implies not only mastery of traditional knowledge but also the capacity to acquire the’ new skills required by a knowledge society. It is therefore evident that an unequal sharing of the new communication and information technologies only serves to reinforce existing inequalities.
While education deficits are obviously greater in developing countries, this is a major issue in developed countries as well. In many industrialized countries there is a persistent problem of illiteracy and low skills, which is an important source of social exclusion. Unequal access to education also fuels growing wage inequality and worsens the income distribution. The uneducated and unskilled in industrialized countries face severe disadvantage in an increasingly competitive global market.
However; the provision of both primary and secondary schooling increased during the 90s across the globe, but progress is inadequate and hides the differences between countries and regions. The OECD countries, for example spend 100 times more per pupil in primary and secondary education than low-income countries. There are many evidences indicating that the more rapid progress is possible if the political will and the resources exist, in high- and low- income countries alike.
All countries which have benefited from globalization have invested significantly in their education and training systems. Today women and men need broad based skills which can be adapted to rapidly changing economic requirements as well as appropriate basic skills which enable them to benefit from information technology, increasing their ability to overcome barriers of distance and budgetary limitations. While Internet technology is not particularly capital-intensive, it is very human capital-intensive. Sound education policy also provides an important instrument to offset the negative impacts of globalization, such as increasing income inequalities, with effects which may ultimately be stronger than labour market policies.
Education is a core element of society, and the foundation of democratic choice. The large differences in opportunities in education “between countries are one of the basic causes of global inequality. Furthermore, international migration allows rich countries to benefit from the investments in human capital made in poor countries – giving them a responsibility to support the education systems where those investments are made.
The development of a national qualifications framework is also an important foundation for participation in the global economy, since it facilitates lifelong learning, helps match skill demand and supply, and guides individuals in their choice of career. Access to training and skills development for women is often hindered by family commitments, indicating a need for childcare facilities and possibilities for distance learning. Other priorities include recognition and upgrading of skills for workers in the informal economy and the adaptation of training to accommodate workers with no formal education.
In today’s global economy and information society, knowledge and information are the keys to social inclusion and productivity, and connectivity is the key to global competitiveness. Yet in our unequal world the networked economy is able to incorporate all that it regards as valuable, but also to switch off people and parts of the world that do not fit the dominant model.