Page 86 - Education in a Digital World

National Policymaking 73

political economy of nation building, therefore, introduces questions of how
educational technology policies are related to broader issues concerning the attempts
of nation states to develop different models of contemporary society that ensure
continued economic growth and social stability. The political economy of the
educational technology strategies outlined in this chapter can therefore be explored
in greater detail through a reconsideration of the stated aims of the programmes in
each country. Indeed, the content of key policy documents produced over the last
three decades the UK, US, Japan, Chile and Singapore can be reinterpreted in terms
of a number of closely inter-related dimensions. These include issues relating to: the
economics of education; the economy of education; education and the economy;
citizenship building; and, finally, the construction of national identity. All these
dimensions are now considered in further detail.

Educational Technology and the Economic Concerns of
Nation States

Most cases of educational technology policy are certainly driven to some extent by
the complex relationship between state, economy, industry and other economic
stakeholders. As such, educational technology policies can be seen to satisfy at least
three specific economic and political criteria (see Ball 2007). These can be described
as the economics of education (i.e. the notion of technology contributing to
the efficient logistics of educational provision); the economy and education (i.e. the
notion of technology contributing to the profitability and commoditisation of
education); and education and the economy (i.e. the notion of technology con-
tributing to countries’ economic competitiveness and efficiency of labour and
knowledge production).
On one hand, many of the national policies outlined earlier can be understood as
seeking to address the practical issue of the economics of education – i.e. the pro-
vision of education that is cost-effective and efficient. Indeed, the discourse of
establishing technology-based provision and practices across the educational systems
of the UK, US, Japan, Chile and Singapore has tended to be expressed in three
different ways, namely: using digital technology to improve educational opportu-
nities; using digital technology to improve educational standards; and, in a more
radical form, using digital technology to remould or transform systems of education.
Indeed, the UK policy drives of the late 1990s and 2000s were often positioned
around the aims of ‘modernising the classroom’ (DfEE 1998) and ‘driving up stan-
dards in schools’ (David Blunkett in DfEE 1998). Over a decade later, the Chilean
government was also describing digital technologies as “provid[ing] fundamental
management tools on all levels of an educational system, from classrooms to minis-
tries” (Chilean Ministry of Education 2011). The fourth US Educational Technol-
ogy Plan similarly placed deliberate emphasis on using technology to “increase
productivity”,to “improv[ing] the education system at all levels” and the promise
of achieving “revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering”