Almost 20 years ago I wrote one of the first books on the technology of
computer assisted learning (CAL) and distance learning (" Introducing CAL",
Chapman and Hall Computing, London 1984). In the last chapter I made some
specific forecasts. For example, I suggested that, by 1990, CAL programmes
would be extensively downloaded via satellite or cable into homes, schools
and so forth in western countries.
This was before the Internet and the Personal Computer as we know them
today were up and running and, in this respect, my forecast for the
enabling technology was not too far off the mark. But, as to the widespread
adoption of CAL and distance learning, my forecast was premature, and I'm
embarrassed about it now. They're really only just beginning now.
I'd also envisaged CAL and distance-learning as being mainly taken up for
home-based tuition, and in this respect I was wrong. Instead, most CAL
software that's been produced so far has been for young children in primary
schools and most distance-learning material (usually with a human tutor
involved in the background) has been developed for degree standard
teaching, for post-graduate business diplomas and the like.
Even though I think that home-based learning will develop enormously, it's
still probably a generation away before it becomes a normal part of the
educational mix. And, as part of this mix, I think that the standard types
of schools and currricula will have changed enormously into a variety of
new specialist schools. There are already signs of this in private
fee-paying schools in England.
But state-schools will also have to change. In several developed countries
today, such as America, Germany and England, the state systems are, quite
simply, failing badly with steadily falling standards in basic subjects
like literacy and mathematics for the last several decades. In particular,
state schools are unable to educate anywhere near sufficient numbers of
scientists, engineers, mathematicians, doctors, etc -- even teachers
themselves -- to keep their economies going. Increasingly large numbers are
having to be imported from countries which, by rights, should not be losing
such precious talent. Indeed, it's a new form of imperialism. Instead of
exporting soldiers, we are now importing intelligentsia.
If possible, this recent manifestation of imperialism should be nipped in
the bid as soon as possible. Because the answer obviously cannot come from
failing state-systems then it seems to me that the faster that developed
countries privatise schools the better.
With these sorts of background thoughts I was fascinated to read a recent
article which an FWer has sent me. Other FWers might be interested to read
about how education is now being regarded by the WTO as a vital service in
which protectionism must be done away with if there's going to be any
chance for third world countries to develop.
The article is from "The Unesco Courier" (Paris, Feb 2000). It's quite long
and I'll paraphrase it below:
<<<<
WILL EDUCATION GO TO MARKET?
by Nico Hirtt
The World Trade Organisation has launched a process that could open up to
competition the expanding and highly protected world market in education.
Independently of the WTO and national policies, a number of factors are
driving educational systems towards "commercialization."
-------
What issues are at stake?
Education is normally regarded as first and foremost a public service which
is responsible for providing young people with instruction. For investors
looking for somewhere to put their money, it is also an annual budget of
US$1,000 billion worldwide, a sector employing 50 million people and, above
all, a billion potential customers in the form of students.
After the collapse of the Seattle negotiations within the WTO at the end of
1999, it is hard to say when the next round (the "Millennium Round") of
trade talks will start. But education will surely be somewhere on the
agenda, since the education market is growing at breakneck speed.
In 1994, the decision to extend the liberalization of international trade
in commodities to services. The subsequent General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS) which was signed in April included education on the list of
services to be liberalized. To stay outside the scope of this agreement, a
country's education system must be completely financed and administered by
the state, which is no longer the case anywhere. However, each country can
still decide freely what commitments it wants to make, and especially which
educational sectors it wants to expose to market forces. The New Zealand
government, for example, has decided to open up to outside competition the
whole private education sector, from primary to university level.
The situation is likely to accelerate when fresh GATS negotiations take
place, particularly as a number of factors are driving educational systems
towards commercialization, whatever WTO or national governments may decide.
What are the pressures for change?
Education is a rapidly-growing sector in which governments are finding it
harder and harder to satisfy demand, above all in higher education. Between
1985 and 1992, the number of students in higher education rose about 26 per
cent-from 58.6 to 73.7 million. Meanwhile, public spending on education has
tended to stagnate over the past 15 years (5-6 per cent of GDP in rich
countries and 4 per cent elsewhere).
In view of this dearth of public spending, parents and students are
increasingly
looking to private education for a solution. In the United States, every
episode of violence in a state school and every scandal that rocks official
school systems gives a boost to "home schooling", where children no longer
attend school and are taught at home.
Traditional public education is also coming in for strong criticism from
employers who complain it is not geared to their needs and is not flexible
enough. An influential European employers' pressure group, the Industrial
RoundTable, deplores the fact that in most European countries, schools are
integrated into a centralized public system run by a bureaucracy that slows
down the process of change or makes them impervious to demands for change
from outside.
Under pressure from economic interests, a process of "deregulating" education
systems has begun. The growing independence of schools is encouraging them
to look for alternative sources of funding, ranging from sponsorship to
full management by private companies and including many kinds of partnerships
between schools and firms. A European Commission working party on
education and training says "the time for out-ofschool education has
come.... the liberalization of of the educational process thereby made
possible will lead to control by education service providers who are more
innovative than the traditional structures."
The development and spread of information and communication technologies
on a massive scale make possible the development of paid distance learning,
using multimedia and the Internet for tutorials, exams, etc. Secondary and
primary education are also affected. More and more paying Internet sites
bill themselves as alternatives to state schools or traditional private
schools. The computer screen takes over from the teacher, for a fee of
around US$2,250 a year.
The WTO secretariat set up a working goup in 1998 to look at the prospects
for more liberalized education. Its report pointed to the rapid growth of
distance learning and noted the increasing number of partnerships between
educational institutions and private firms such as the Western Governors'
University, which was founded by 17 U.S. state governors and includes
private sector partners such as IBM, AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft and
International Thomson.
The report also noted the increasing deregulation of higher education in
Europe by governments which have begun "a movement away from public
financing and toward greater market responsiveness, coupled with an increasing
openness to alternative financing mechanisms." The WTO report lists many
"barriers" that need to be removed before trade in educational services can be
liberalized. These include "measures limiting direct investment by foreign
education providers" and "the existence of government monopolies and high
subsidization of local institutions".
<<<<
Keith Hudson
___________________________________________________________________
Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org>
6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
________________________________________________________________________
