Economic rationalism and education reforms in developed countries

In contrast to those of the earlier decades, recent school changes and educational reforms in developed countries are not governed by ideologies originated from specific social or national contexts, attempting to address unique specific interests or educational concerns. Rather, the universal “economic rationalism” is contended to be the primary driving force shaping the nature and spirit of the global educational reforms. In support of this conviction, reform literature prepared by scholars from America, Canada, England and Australia is examined. By identifying some common threads extracted from diverse articles, a general model is woven, linking rationalistic principles such as efficiency, productivity and accountability with various formats of reforms. Specific objectives include cost‐reduction, higher rate of social return, more reliable and comparable outcome assessment and greater market (public) control. Public educators should realign themselves to this paradigm shift if they are to retain their professional leadership in a more turbulent environment.