Globalisation and educational policy | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: 3 days ago
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time:Â 50 minutes
Globalisation and educational policy A-Level Sociology revision examines how developments beyond the UK may become connected with changes in national education policy. AQA explicitly requires students to understand the impact of globalisation on educational policy and states that contemporary UK society should be considered within its globalised context. This final Education lesson brings together earlier work on selection policies [Selection and educational policy], marketisation [Marketisation of education], privatisation [Privatisation of education] and educational equality [Equality of educational opportunity and outcome].
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain what the supplied specification establishes about globalisation and educational policy.
Explain how global developments may influence educational policy.
Examine relationships between global developments and changes within education.
Analyse possible consequences of policy change for educational structure, access and experience.
Connect globalisation with contemporary UK education.
Evaluate the significance of globalisation for contemporary education.
These objectives match Lesson 19 in the supplied AQA A-Level Sociology Plan.
Revision Notes đź“š
Globalisation and educational policy A-Level Sociology revision overview
AQA requires students to understand the significance of educational policies including:
selection
marketisation
privatisation
policies intended to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome
the impact of globalisation on educational policyÂ
Educational policies should be considered in relation to the:
structure of education
role of education
impact of education
experience of education
access to education
This means globalisation should not simply be memorised as a definition. Students need to consider whether global developments influence education policy and what consequences any resulting policy changes may have.
What does globalisation mean?
There is an important limitation in the supplied material.
The Education section requires students to study the impact of globalisation on educational policy, but it does not provide a detailed definition of globalisation or identify the particular global processes that affect educational policy.
The wider specification also states that contemporary UK society should be understood within its globalised context.
Contemporary UK education in a globalised context
AQA states that the central focus of the specification should be UK society today, while comparative dimensions should be considered where relevant, including the position of UK society within its globalised context.
This gives students an important principle:
UK educational policy should not necessarily be understood as developing completely independently of wider global change.
Instead, sociologists may investigate relationships such as:
global developments → UK educational policy → educational change
The precise nature of those developments requires evidence.
Global developments and educational policy
The lesson objective asks students to explain how globalisation may influence educational policy.
At a broad level, this involves asking whether developments occurring beyond one national education system influence:
policy priorities
educational structures
educational objectives
decisions about access
approaches to educational inequality
changes in the wider role of education
From global development to policy change
A useful analytical sequence is:
global development
↓
national interpretation of that development
↓
educational policy response
↓
change within education
↓
possible impact on schools and pupils
This sequence is important because global change does not necessarily produce an automatic national response.
Policy still involves interpretation and decision-making.
Globalisation does not mean identical education everywhere
A weak interpretation could assume:
If education is globalised, all countries must adopt the same policies.
The supplied specification does not support this conclusion.
AQA asks students to consider comparative and global dimensions, but this does not mean national education systems become identical.
A stronger approach asks:
What global development is occurring?
How is it interpreted nationally?
What policy response follows?
Does the response differ between societies?
What evidence connects the global development to the policy?
This treats global influence as a relationship requiring explanation.
Globalisation and social change
AQA states that studying Sociology should foster a critical awareness of contemporary social processes and change.
Globalisation can therefore be linked with social change.
A broad relationship is:
global social change → possible policy change → educational change
The important sociological question is how strong the connection is.
Not every educational change should automatically be explained by globalisation.
Educational policy is still policy
Even when global developments influence education, a distinction must be maintained between:
global influence
and:
educational policy
Globalisation is the wider context or influence being examined.
Educational policy concerns decisions affecting education.
Therefore:
globalisation ≠educational policy
Instead:
globalisation → may influence educational policy
This distinction helps prevent vague examination answers.
Globalisation and the structure of education
AQA requires educational policy to be examined in relation to the structure of education.
If global developments influence policy, sociologists may investigate whether resulting policies alter educational structures.
A broad model is:
global development → policy change → possible structural change
Questions might include:
Does policy change how education is organised?
Are relationships between educational institutions altered?
Does access become organised differently?
Do structural changes affect pupils' experiences?
The specification does not provide a particular structural effect of globalisation.
Globalisation and the role of education
AQA also requires policy to be considered in relation to the role of education.
This links with sociological explanations of education's wider role [The role and functions of education].
Sociologists might ask:
Do global developments alter expectations about what education should achieve?
Does educational policy respond to wider social or economic change?
Does the relationship between education and other institutions change?
The specification establishes that education has a relationship with the economy and class structure, but does not specify a particular globalisation mechanism.
Globalisation, education and the economy
AQA explicitly requires students to understand the relationship between education and the economy.
Globalisation may therefore be investigated as part of the wider context in which this relationship exists.
A possible sociological question is:
Do global developments affecting society and the economy contribute to changes in educational policy?
This links with the relationship between education and economic life [Education and the economy].
Globalisation and the impact of education
AQA requires students to consider the impact of educational policies.
Therefore, analysis should move beyond:
globalisation influenced policy
to ask:
What happened after the policy changed?
Possible dimensions include:
educational structure
access
educational experience
opportunity
outcomes
A complete chain is therefore:
global development → educational policy → educational impact
Each connection requires evidence.
Globalisation and educational experience
Educational policies can also affect the experience of education, another dimension explicitly named by AQA.
If global developments contribute to policy changes, those policies may potentially alter pupils' experiences.
The broad process is:
globalisation → policy → educational setting → pupil experience
Possible school processes that could be investigated include:
teacher-pupil relationships
pupil identities
pupil subcultures
hidden curriculum
organisation of teaching and learning
However, the specification does not identify any particular effect of globalisation on these processes.
Globalisation and access to education
AQA also requires educational policy to be examined in relation to access to education.
Therefore, when a policy is claimed to result partly from global developments, sociologists may ask:
Does access change?
Who gains access?
Do all social groups have the same opportunities?
Are existing inequalities reduced or increased?
The direction of any effect cannot be inferred from the specification alone.
Globalisation and educational equality
The previous lesson examined policies designed to increase equality [Equality of educational opportunity and outcome].
Globalisation may become relevant to equality if globally influenced policy changes affect:
access
educational opportunities
pupils' experiences
educational outcomes
A sociologist can therefore ask:
Are globally influenced educational changes associated with greater or smaller educational inequalities?
The supplied specification does not provide the answer.
Globalisation and social class
AQA requires students to examine differential educational achievement by social class, as well as education's relationship with class structure.
When assessing globalisation, sociologists may therefore investigate whether globally influenced educational policies affect social classes differently.
Globalisation and gender
AQA also requires differential achievement by gender.
Sociologists may investigate whether globally influenced policy changes have different consequences according to gender.
However, no such pattern or evidence is supplied in the specification.
No direction of effect should therefore be assumed.
Globalisation and ethnicity
The same principle applies to ethnicity.
The AQA Education content requires ethnicity to be examined in relation to differential educational achievement.
Global educational changes may therefore be evaluated for whether they have socially differentiated consequences.
However, the specification does not identify a particular ethnicity-related effect of globalisation.
Social differentiation, power and stratification
One of AQA's two compulsory core themes is:
social differentiation, power and stratification.
This provides a useful lens for analysing globalisation and policy.
Sociologists may ask:
Who benefits from policy change?
Who experiences disadvantages?
Are educational opportunities distributed differently?
Does global influence alter relationships of power?
Do inequalities between social groups change?
The answers require evidence rather than assumption.
Globalisation and power
Globalisation may raise questions about where influence over education comes from.
A sociologist could investigate:
whether educational policy is shaped only nationally
whether wider global developments influence priorities
how global influence is interpreted within UK policy
whether groups differ in their capacity to shape or respond to educational change
However, the specification does not identify particular global actors or distributions of power.
Globalisation and social structure
AQA requires students to understand the significance of social structure.
A structural interpretation may emphasise that:
education forms part of a wider society
UK society exists within a globalised context
global changes may shape the structural circumstances surrounding educational policy
A broad structural model is:
global context → national institutions → educational policy → educational structure
This approach highlights influences beyond individual pupils or schools.
Limitations of a purely structural explanation
A purely structural account may become too deterministic if it assumes:
global development → inevitable national policy
National actors may interpret global developments differently.
Educational institutions and individuals may then also respond differently to resulting policies.
This creates a role for social action.
Globalisation and social action
AQA requires students to understand social action as well as social structure.
Social action draws attention to interpretation and response.
Applied to globalisation:
global development → interpretation → policy response
At a further level:
educational policy → interpretation by institutions or individuals → social action
This helps explain why global pressures do not necessarily produce identical educational changes everywhere.
Combining global structure and social action
A fuller model is:
global context
↓
global developments
↓
national interpretation
↓
educational policy
↓
institutional arrangements
↓
individual and organisational responses
↓
possible educational outcomes
This recognises both:
larger structural influences
social action and interpretation
Consensus interpretations
AQA requires students to understand consensus theories.
A broad consensus interpretation of globalisation and educational policy might ask how education responds to wider social change and continues to perform its role within society.
Possible questions include:
How does education adapt to changing social conditions?
How might policy respond to developments in the wider world?
What wider social purpose is attributed to those changes?
Conflict interpretations
AQA also requires conflict theories.
A broad conflict approach directs attention towards:
power
social inequality
competing interests
social differentiation
unequal policy consequences
Applied to globalisation, sociologists might ask whether globally influenced educational changes have different effects on different groups.
The supplied specification supports the theoretical question but does not provide a named conflict explanation.
Comparing broad theoretical interpretations
Interpretation | Main emphasis | Useful evaluative question |
Consensus | Education adapting to wider social change | Does this give enough attention to unequal consequences? |
Conflict | Power, inequality and competing interests | Does it fully explain why policy change occurs? |
Structural | Global and institutional influences on policy | Does it make national and individual responses appear too automatic? |
Social action | Interpretation and response to wider change | Does it underestimate larger structural pressures? |
These approaches remain within the theoretical categories explicitly required by AQA.
Globalisation and selection
AQA separately requires selection as an educational-policy area.
Sociologists could investigate whether global developments influence national approaches to selection.
The concept should therefore remain distinct from selection policy and educational access [Selection and educational policy].
Globalisation and marketisation
AQA explicitly requires both:
marketisation
the impact of globalisation on educational policy
A sociologist may therefore investigate whether the two are related.
Globalisation and privatisation
The same applies to educational privatisation [Privatisation of education].
AQA includes both globalisation and privatisation in the Education policy content, but does not state the relationship between them.
Therefore:
globalisation ≠privatisation
and:
globalisation does not automatically cause privatisation
Any relationship must be supported with sociological evidence.
Globalisation may operate through policy
An important distinction is between:
global developments
national educational policy
effects within individual educational institutions
A useful analytical chain is:
global change → policy response → school-level change
This is stronger than claiming that globalisation directly changes pupils' behaviour.
Educational policy may act as an intermediate process.
Policy continuity and change
Global influence does not necessarily mean all aspects of education change.
A sociologist should ask:
What actually changed?
What remained the same?
Was the change genuinely global in origin?
Did national factors also contribute?
This creates more balanced evaluation.
National factors may remain important
If a policy change occurs during global social change, it does not follow that globalisation is its sole explanation.
Possible national influences may also be relevant.
Global influence versus national decision
A useful distinction is:
influence ≠determination
A global development may influence policy without completely determining it.
National policy decisions involve social actors and institutions.
Therefore:
global development → possible influence → national policy decision
is more defensible than:
globalisation → automatic policy
Direct and indirect influence
Globalisation might be claimed to influence education directly or indirectly.
However, the supplied specification does not identify particular direct or indirect mechanisms.
Students should therefore avoid inventing detailed pathways unless supported by evidence.
A safe analytical question is:
Through what process is this global development claimed to influence educational policy?
If the mechanism cannot be identified, the explanation remains incomplete.
Evidence and sociological explanation
AQA requires students to examine both the evidence of and sociological explanations for substantive content.
This is especially important when studying globalisation.
Evidence might demonstrate:
that educational policy changed
that similar or different changes occurred elsewhere
that educational structures changed
that access or outcomes changed
Explanation attempts to establish:
why the policy changed
whether globalisation contributed
through what process global influence operated
why consequences developed
Therefore:
evidence of policy change ≠proof of globalisation as its cause
Comparative evidence
AQA explicitly says comparative dimensions should be considered where relevant.
Comparative research could potentially help sociologists examine whether:
educational changes occur across different societies
societies respond differently to similar global developments
UK policy resembles or differs from policy elsewhere
However, comparison alone does not demonstrate causation.
If two countries introduce similar policies, this does not automatically prove that globalisation caused either policy.
Evidence from contemporary UK society
AQA's central focus remains UK society today.
When using evidence about globalisation and educational policy, ask:
Is the evidence relevant to contemporary UK education?
When did the policy change occur?
Is the global development still relevant?
Has the education system changed since the research?
Are international comparisons genuinely comparable?
This helps keep the answer focused on the specification.
Researching globalisation and educational policy
AQA requires students to understand research design and a range of sociological methods.
Evidence about educational policy might potentially draw on:
documents
official statistics
interviews
questionnaires
comparative research
The methods specified by AQA remain subject to theoretical, practical and ethical considerations.
Documents and global policy change
Documents could potentially provide evidence about:
policy aims
official explanations
changes in educational arrangements
Researchers might use them to investigate whether policymakers explicitly refer to wider developments.
However:
official claim that globalisation influenced policy ≠proof that it was the only influence
Policy documents themselves need sociological evaluation.
Official statistics
Official statistics may potentially show:
changes in educational participation
differences in access
changes in educational outcomes
These may help sociologists evaluate consequences following a policy change.
However:
change after policy ≠proof policy caused change
and:
policy change after global development ≠proof globalisation caused policy
Causal reasoning remains essential.
Interviews
Interviews could potentially investigate how people involved with education understand policy change.
They might provide evidence about:
interpretations of policy
perceptions of global influence
experiences of educational change
Such evidence may help researchers examine meaning and social action.
However, participants' interpretations are themselves sociological data rather than automatic proof of causation.
Quantitative and qualitative evidence
AQA requires both quantitative and qualitative research.
When studying globalisation:
quantitative evidence might identify broad patterns of educational change.
qualitative evidence might help investigate how policy change is interpreted.
A stronger investigation may distinguish:
What changed?
from:
Why did participants think it changed?
and then evaluate whether the evidence supports the proposed explanation.
Research design and globalisation
The design of research used to obtain evidence, including its strengths and limitations, must be integrated throughout Sociology.
When evaluating claims about globalisation, ask:
How is globalisation defined?
What global development is being investigated?
What educational policy changed?
What evidence connects the two?
Could a national factor explain the change?
Are comparative cases genuinely comparable?
How is educational impact measured?
Are findings relevant to contemporary UK society?
These questions can produce strong AO3 evaluation.
Correlation and causation
Imagine that:
a global development occurs
UK educational policy changes afterwards
This sequence alone does not prove:
global development → caused policy change
To establish causation, sociologists need evidence of the process linking them.
Possible questions include:
Did policymakers respond explicitly to the global development?
Did similar developments produce similar policies elsewhere?
Could national conditions provide a stronger explanation?
Was the timing consistent with the claimed explanation?
The supplied specification does not provide such evidence.
Evaluating the significance of globalisation
The third learning objective asks students to evaluate the significance of globalisation for contemporary education.
"Significance" means more than identifying that globalisation exists.
A strong evaluation considers:
Scale
How extensive is the claimed global influence?
Mechanism
How is globalisation said to influence policy?
Evidence
What supports the claim?
Alternatives
Could national factors also explain policy change?
Consequences
What impact does the policy then have on education?
Social differentiation
Are different groups affected differently?
Contemporary relevance
Is the evidence relevant to UK education today?
Globalisation may be important without being the only influence
A balanced judgement does not have to choose between:
Globalisation explains everything.
and:
Globalisation explains nothing.
A more sociological conclusion may be:
globalisation provides an important context for educational policy, but its significance depends on how global developments interact with national institutions, policy decisions and social responses.
This captures the difference between influence and determination.
Globalisation and AQA's core themes
Globalisation can be connected with both course-wide themes.
Socialisation, culture and identity
Changes in educational policy may alter the social contexts in which pupils experience education and construct identities.
Social differentiation, power and stratification
Globally influenced policy changes may have different consequences for social groups and raise questions about power and inequality.
The specification requires both themes to be integrated across substantive content.
Drawing the Education unit together
Globalisation is the final policy topic in the Education lesson sequence.
It therefore provides an opportunity to connect the entire unit.
A broad model is:
global context
↓
educational policy
↓
structure and role of education
↓
organisation and processes within education
↓
pupil experience and access
↓
educational outcomes
↓
possible differences by class, gender and ethnicity
This demonstrates AQA's requirement to draw links between topic areas.
What the supplied sources support
The supplied AQA sources support study of:
the impact of globalisation on educational policy
contemporary UK society within a globalised context
comparative dimensions where relevant
educational selection
marketisation
privatisation
equality of opportunity and outcome
structure, role, impact, experience and access to education
education's relationship with the economy and class structure
differential achievement by class, gender and ethnicity
socialisation, culture and identity
social differentiation, power and stratification
consensus and conflict
social structure and social action
sociological evidence and research design
Applying this knowledge in an examination ✍️
A strong paragraph should show the connection between global development and educational policy.
For example:
Point:Â Globalisation may influence educational policy.
Explanation:Â AQA requires UK society to be understood within its globalised context and explicitly requires the impact of globalisation on educational policy.
Development:Â Wider global developments may create circumstances to which national policymakers respond.
Analysis:Â Resulting policies may then alter educational structure, access or pupils' educational experiences.
Evaluation:Â However, a policy occurring during a period of global change does not prove globalisation caused it. Evidence is required to establish the mechanism linking the global development with the national policy decision.
For stronger evaluation, distinguish:
global context from national policy
influence from determination
policy intention from actual effect
evidence of change from explanation of change
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Globalisation | The global context within which contemporary UK society and educational policy should be considered, as required by AQA | Introduce discussion of global influences on educational policy |
Educational policy | Policies affecting the structure, role, impact, experience of or access to education | Explain how global developments may lead to educational change |
Globalised context | The wider global setting within which contemporary UK society exists | Show why UK education should not always be analysed in isolation |
Social change | Change in social structures, relationships or processes over time | Connect global developments with possible educational-policy change |
Educational structure | The institutional organisation of education | Analyse possible consequences of policy change |
Access to education | Opportunities to enter or participate in educational provision | Evaluate the impact of globally influenced policies |
Social differentiation | Social distinctions between different groups | Examine whether educational changes have unequal effects |
Social structure | Patterned institutions and relationships that organise social life | Explain larger global and institutional influences on education |
Social action | Meaningful actions and interpretations by individuals | Explain why global influences do not produce automatic or identical responses |
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating globalisation as a specific educational policy
Why this is incorrect: AQA asks students to examine the impact of globalisation on educational policy.
How to improve: Use the relationship:
global development → possible influence on educational policy
Mistake: Assuming globalisation automatically produces policy change
Why this is incorrect: A global development may influence national decisions without determining them.
How to improve: Identify the process connecting global change with national policy.
Mistake: Assuming every educational change is caused by globalisation
Why this is incorrect: Other explanations may also be relevant.
How to improve: Evaluate alternative explanations and the strength of the evidence for global influence.
Mistake: Assuming globalisation makes every country's education system identical
Why this is incorrect: AQA requires comparative dimensions where relevant, but does not state that national differences disappear.
How to improve: Consider whether different societies interpret and respond to global developments differently.
Mistake: Confusing globalisation with marketisation
Why this is incorrect: AQA identifies marketisation as an educational policy and globalisation as an influence on educational policy.
How to improve: Keep marketisation policy [Marketisation of education] conceptually separate unless evidence supports a relationship.
Mistake: Confusing globalisation with privatisation
Why this is incorrect: AQA separately identifies privatisation and the impact of globalisation.
How to improve: Treat educational privatisation [Privatisation of education] as a distinct policy concept.
Mistake: Ignoring contemporary UK society
Why this is incorrect: The specification states that the central focus should be UK society today within its globalised context.
How to improve: Relate global influences back to contemporary UK educational policy.
Mistake: Ignoring the consequences of policy
Why this is incorrect: AQA requires educational policy to be studied in relation to structure, role, impact, experience and access.
How to improve:
Move from:
global influence → policy
to:
global influence → policy → educational consequence
Mistake: Using named global organisations or examples without an approved source
Why this is incorrect: The supplied specification does not provide them.
How to improve: Only include named organisations, programmes, countries or research where an approved source supports them.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Identify two aspects of education that AQA requires students to consider when examining educational policy.(2 marks)
Question 2
Outline two reasons why globalisation may be significant for understanding contemporary educational policy.(4 marks)
Question 3
Explain two ways in which global developments may be connected with changes in education.(6 marks)
Question 4
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A Contemporary UK education exists within a globalised context. Developments beyond the national education system may influence policy priorities, although national institutions may interpret and respond to these developments in different ways.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which globalisation may influence educational policy.(10 marks)
Question 5
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B Educational policy can affect the structure, role, experience of and access to education. Therefore, if global developments influence national policy, their consequences may extend to schools and pupils.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which globally influenced policy change may affect education.(10 marks)
Question 6
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C Evidence that educational policies have changed at the same time as wider global developments does not necessarily show that globalisation caused the policy change. Sociologists need evidence about the processes linking global and national developments.
Applying material from Item C, analyse two difficulties sociologists may face when assessing the influence of globalisation on educational policy.(10 marks)
Question 7
Evaluate the significance of globalisation for contemporary educational policy.(30 marks)
Answers and mark scheme
Question 1
Award 1 mark each for any two of:
structure of education
role of education
impact of education
experience of education
access to education
These dimensions are explicitly identified within AQA's educational-policy content.
Question 2
Possible answers include:
AQA explicitly requires the impact of globalisation on educational policy.
Contemporary UK society should be considered within its globalised context.
Global developments may influence national educational policy.
Globally influenced policies may affect educational structures.
They may have consequences for access or educational experience.
Comparative dimensions may help sociologists understand UK educational change.
Credit two clearly outlined reasons.
Question 3
Possible explanations include:
Educational policy
Global developments may become relevant to national policy decisions. A policy response may then produce changes within education.
Educational structure
If global influences contribute to policy change, the resulting policy may alter institutional arrangements.
Educational role
Wider global social change may be associated with changing expectations concerning education's role.
Educational access or experience
Policies influenced by wider developments may alter pupils' opportunities or experiences.
Credit two developed explanations.
Question 4
A strong response should apply Item A.
Possible route 1: global context and policy priorities
Item A refers to developments "beyond the national education system".
AQA explicitly requires the impact of globalisation on educational policy.
Wider developments may therefore create pressures or circumstances that become relevant to national policy.
Policymakers may respond by changing educational priorities or arrangements.
Possible route 2: national interpretation
Item A states that national institutions may "interpret and respond" differently.
This links to social action.
A global development does not automatically produce one educational response.
National interpretation helps explain why the influence of globalisation should not be treated as deterministic.
A strong answer should explain the process between global development and policy change.
Question 5
Possible routes include:
Educational structure
Item B identifies the structure of education.
A policy influenced by global developments could potentially alter institutional arrangements.
These structural changes may then affect the contexts within which schools and pupils operate.
Access
Item B refers to access.
Policy change may affect who has access to educational opportunities.
Sociologists may then examine whether consequences differ by social class, gender or ethnicity.
Educational experience
Policy may change the contexts in which pupils participate in education.
Sociologists can investigate whether these changes alter pupils' experiences.
Role of education
Global developments may be associated with policy changes concerning what education is expected to do.
Sociologists may evaluate whether the role or functions of education therefore change.
Credit two developed analytical routes.
Question 6
Possible difficulties include:
Establishing causation
Item C states that simultaneous change does not prove causation.
A policy may change while global developments are occurring without the latter necessarily causing the policy.
Researchers need evidence showing the mechanism connecting the two.
Alternative explanations
National social or political developments may also contribute to educational change.
Researchers therefore need to assess whether globalisation provides a stronger explanation.
Defining globalisation
The term is broad unless researchers identify the particular global process being examined.
Different definitions could affect conclusions.
Comparative evidence
Similar policies in different countries may suggest a broader pattern but do not by themselves prove a shared global cause.
Differences between societies may also limit direct comparison.
Credit two developed issues.
Question 7
A successful 30-mark response should evaluate the impact of globalisation on educational policy, the wording explicitly required by AQA.
Relevant source-supported content includes:
globalisation and educational policy
contemporary UK society within its globalised context
comparative dimensions
structure of education
role and impact of education
educational experience
access to education
selection
marketisation
privatisation
equality of opportunity and outcome
education and the economy
differential achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity
socialisation, culture and identity
social differentiation, power and stratification
consensus and conflict
social structure and social action
evidence and research design
A useful essay structure could be:
establish the requirement to understand UK education within a globalised context
explain the possible relationship between global developments and national educational policy
analyse possible effects on educational structure
examine possible changes in education's role
consider consequences for access and educational experience
consider potential implications for educational equality
evaluate relationships with selection, marketisation and privatisation only where evidence supports them
analyse globalisation using social structure and social action
compare broad consensus and conflict interpretations
assess whether globalisation is the cause of policy change or one influence among several
evaluate the evidence and research design
reach a reasoned judgement
Strong evaluation should ask:
What specific global development is being discussed?
Through what mechanism is it claimed to influence policy?
What evidence supports that relationship?
Could national developments provide an alternative explanation?
Does global influence determine policy or merely affect the context in which decisions are made?
What part of education actually changes?
How are access and pupils' experiences affected?
Are consequences socially differentiated?
Does evidence demonstrate causation?
Are comparative cases genuinely comparable?
Is the evidence relevant to contemporary UK education?
A strong conclusion might argue that globalisation is sociologically significant because AQA explicitly locates contemporary UK society within a globalised context and requires its impact on educational policy to be studied. However, globalisation should not be treated as an automatic or complete explanation for every educational change. The strength of the explanation depends on identifying the specific global development, demonstrating the mechanism through which it influences national policy, and evaluating evidence concerning the resulting effects on educational structure, role, access and experience.
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