Globalization and its impact to education

Globalization has a wide-ranging potential to influence all sectors of development. Besides its impact on the pace and pattern of economic development, it also casts its shadow on the system of education. The impact of globalization and the manner in which the system should respond to the needs of globalization would require being studied basically under two broadheads, as follows:

1. The needed reforms within the educational system like content, equity, and excellence, etc., and
2. The fall out of globalization, which will entail determining strategies relating to the impending internationalization of education, finance-related issues, and privatization of secondary and higher education.

But what are these needed reforms in education?
1. Content of Education
Regarding the reforms in the content of education, the following need to be done:
Curriculum Up- gradation.

The modern advances in information technology have revolutionized among others, the content of knowledge and the processes of the educational transaction. The ever-growing use of electronic media has brought education to the doorstep of the common man. Information processing technologies provide an efficient framework for the storage, management analysis, and application of information. It also needs to be stressed that education should help to engender a new “humanism that contains an essential ethical component and sets considerable store of knowledge of, and respect for the culture and spiritual values of the different civilizations, as a much-needed counterweight to a globalization that would otherwise be seen only in economic and technological terms. The sense of shared values as a common destiny is, in fact, the basis on which any scheme of international cooperation must be founded” ( Delors Commission, 1986)

Productivity Orientation.
The basic objective of globalization is to enhance productivity and to make the educational system an instrument system an instrument in preparing students who can compete in the world markets as productive members of society. An important feature of globalization in relation to education is the need for producing higher quality manpower that can successfully face competition in the world markets.

2. The Fall out of Globalization

a. Internationalization of education. Implicit in the system of globalization is the inevitability of the internationalization of the educational system, particularly at the higher education stage. This has become a worldwide phenomenon because of the entry of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the inclusion of educational services under the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) which has given a boost to the internationalization of higher education.

b. Finance –related issues
In order to be a part of the global configuration, the requirement of funds for social services including education will increase manifold. For this purpose, it will be necessary to augment government funding for these sectors.

c. Privatization of secondary and higher education.
As a corollary to the suggestions about reducing public investment in secondary and higher education, a plea has been made to hand over these sectors to private bodies. It has also been suggested that institutions beyond primary basic education should increasingly depend upon tuition fees, the philanthropy of the general public, and the industrial and commercial organizations, which should be allowed to set up, manage, and financial institutions of post-elementary education.
Education -as a service industry is part of globalization process under the umbrella of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

ASEAN INTEGRATION

The ASEAN Community: A Regional Integration of Norms, Values, and Resources
The ASEAN Integration has been one of the central issues of public debates in the recent years. Although these have given Filipinos an overview of what the ASEAN may face once the regional community is established in 2015, a thorough discussion about ASEAN is still imperative to fully comprehend what this process of integration seeks to accomplish.

August 8, 1967, Bangkok, Thailand hosted the first convergence of five Southeast nations, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. These countries, recognizing their historical and cultural ties, common difficulties and struggles, and, mutual interests, established the Association of Southeast Nation (ASEAN) through the ASEAN (Bangkok) Declaration. They found it fitting that with the aspects they mutually share, joining forces would better assist them in strengthening the economic and social stability of the region. The alliance, having five members at that time, was later on joined by the Brunei Darussalam in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999.

Aims and Purposes of ASEAN
To accelerate the economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region through joint endeavors in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nation;
To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adheres to the principles of the United Nations Charter;
To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields.
To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres;
To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples;
To promote Southeast Asian studies; and
To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nation;
The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion, and coercion;
Non – interference in the internal affairs of one another;
Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;
Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and
Effective cooperation among themselves.
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Social Construction in uniting multi-cultural societies
Needless to say, the ASEAN community is a collaboration of nation having a wide array of broad cultural, political and economic dimensions. Consequently, difficulty on how a multi-national alliance can consolidate multi-cultural societies becomes inherent in establishing a unified regional identity.

Human capital in the changing labor market
Apart from uniting different cultures and nationalities, the success of the ASEAN integration also entails education systems to give focus on delivering skills necessary for the imminent changes in the labor market.
Undeniably, fast-changing production processes across the ASEAN community have a caused demand for skills in various industries and services to change. For this reason, the local labor force must be better equipped with vital skills and proficiency to compete with the labor force of other ASEAN members.

The K to 12 Program in the Basic Education Sector
Even with the implementation of the K to 12 program, Philippines may still lag behind due to the delayed implementation of legislation related to our education system. According to Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, there are certain matters the Philippine Government should have done decades ago, but only did recently, because bureaucracy got in the way.
In addition, the Basic Education curriculum should be revised in preparation for helping students get job opportunities abroad and for them to not have difficulties being absorbed in those countries. Likewise, the Education Secretary also said that the country should be prepared in accepting international students. This is also the reason why major universities in the country have now slowly tried to shift their academic calendars from June –March to August-May.