How neoliberal globalization is shaping early childhood education policies in India, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives

CITATION

Gupta, A. and Adriany, V. (2018) How neoliberal globalization is shaping early childhood education policies in India, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Policy Futures in Education, 16(1), pp.11-28

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ABSTRACT
In rapidly globalizing systems of schooling around the world, economic considerations have led to
a push to impose neoliberal reforms in the field of education. Under this influence early childhood
education and teacher education in Asia have increasingly become positioned as regulated
markets governed by neoliberal policies, leading to peak activities in privatization,
consumerism, standardization and high-stakes testing. This article, based on a series of
qualitative inquiries, presents a review of recent early childhood policies in India, China,
Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The impact of the policies on pedagogy is discussed
within the frameworks of neoliberal globalization and postcolonial theory, emphasizing the
growing need to recognize the third space of pedagogical hybridity in classrooms that are
becoming increasingly multicultural and global.


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