Glocalisation: Examining the Globalisation of the Curriculum Change Nexus in the Zimbabwean and Southern African Context

Abstract

This paper examines the increasing influence of globalisation on curriculum apropos of trade liberalisation, curriculum change and innovation projects that have been implemented and are on-going in some countries in southern Africa in general, and in the Zimbabwean education system in particular. New educational programmes, initiated mostly from outside by United Nations (UN) and donor agencies, have been the modality through which globalising influences have become embedded in curricular practices of various countries. Concern has been expressed to the effect that such educational changes initiated from outside lead to lopsided globalisation where post-colonial educational systems are mere replicas of foreign and mostly Western forms thereby deepening erstwhile colonial curricular practices. The research relied mainly on documentary analysis to build a picture of the nature of the globalisation-education nexus in Zimbabwe. It is posited that neoliberal globalisation has had some deleterious effects on educational provision by buttressing colonial-like forms of curriculum continuity and entrenching differential access by the poor and disadvantaged groups such as the girl child. However, it is also submitted that new externally inspired initiatives such as education for human rights and democracy (EHRD), education for sustainable development or environmental education (ESD/EE), among others, have the potential, when guided by indigenous philosophies such as unhu/ubuntu/vumunhu, to create equitable and sustainable globalised educational practices.