Teaching and the globalization of knowledge

The focus of Western states upon education policy in the late twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries has signalled its assumed primacy in national development together with an unparalleled quest for increased global competitiveness. As such, it presents a specific corollary: the presumed existence of a permanent, global demand for teachers. In popular discourse it is taken for granted that learning and the acquisition of knowledge are contingent upon the actions of teachers and that effective teaching is the key to effective education. Yet, at the same time, some kind of constructivist paradigm has gained hold of the popular imagination, reinforced by late modern technology and moving beyond assumptions regarding teacher intervention and readiness for new learning. Children are increasingly seen as possessing the capacity to be self-taught and therefore questions are inevitably raised about the possibility of according legitimation to sources of educational knowledge beyond the classroom. In the broader context of knowledge sources, this places current and future education firmly within a globalized context characterized by ubiquitous electronic, digitalized information. In short, it can be argued that there has been a fundamental infrastructural change requiring an equally fundamental change in the conceptualization of the role and function of teachers. Previous Chapter