These are the hidden drivers of most curricula. In one of the keynote papers I once delivered, I indent infield the phenomenon of 'the curriculum that hides' in this context, I argue that curricula sometimes are designed to consciously hide their drivers behind an exterior of conventional factors. In my view therefore, all the factors you cited are influential. The main issue is with continuity of curriculum. When a curriculum is handed down, it is easy to overlook or indeed, simply miss the original drivers and simply accept the curriculum as it is handed down. You might want to look at the work if Cumbleth, 2000 on the framework, models and ideology that could inform curriculum development

In what respect(s) can changes in globalization, socio-economic, and socio-political variables affect curriculum planning in countries?

A lot of factors affect curriculum planning. Among them include changes in social, cultural, economic, political and globalization issues. How has curriculum planning at all levels been influenced by these social variables?

This is obviously a very complex area of discussion.  I argue that all curriculum designs incorporate socio-economic, political, cultural influence, ethnic influence, language nuance, and hopefully, specific course content acquisition as determined by the influence of these (and other) factors on school administration.  Short version; we teach what we are told - explicit and implicit - so as to achieve the understood objectives stressed by the teaching environment.  Example: a college in a remote rural environment would not design a curriculum the same way a college in a major urban environment.  It seems reasonable that essential facets of course design would/could align with one another regardless of particular environment - but realistically design differences would/should exist.  

Teaching method also intrudes in the course design. Online courses would/should not duplicate in classroom design - far too many divergences in student environment, including even something as "simple" as attendance.  

Just my thoughts

Thanks

David  

There are riding herds of globalization: Transplantation process of educational model:

Education for trade, education for fame, education for wealth creation. These are forms of education for dehumanization. Because education is primarily for humanness. This kind of education makes man more human: education for knowing the reasons for the existence of things, education that can bring about ultimate concerns, and education that can bring about answers of the puzzling questions men are confronted with.

Hello Anthony, 

"A lot of factors affect curriculum planning. Among them include changes in social, cultural, economic, political and globalization issues. How has curriculum planning at all levels been influenced by these social variables?"

David William Stewart is right about the complexity of the topics you ask about. I would like to make a brief comment on how curriculum planning has been influenced by changes in cultural issues, and then give you a resource.

It seems that culture changes slowly, but that recognizing the importance of culture as a context for how education is delivered (and received) is an area with recent and accelerating emergence.

Chapter Four of this book will begin your process to answering your own question:

Carter, N. (2003). Convergence or divergence: Alignment of standards, assessment, and issues of diversity. ERIC.

It is available in PDF form online: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED480849.pdf

Best wishes, 

Carly Jennings

Texas A&M University

Unfortunately economic issues have taken over the tertiary curriculum in many countries, tertiary institutions being focused on earning money and turning out graduates who can earn money. At the same time there is a rhetoric about preparing students for global citizenship when what they really mean, and are doing, is preparing global entrepreneurs. There is a growing literature on  global citizenship and the need for students to be actively engaged in sustainability of the planet, social justice, equality, realising that every decision they make and every action they take in their work and in their lives affects other people.

In a lighter mood Valerie, I think you flatter them with the term global entrepreneurs. I think the apt term is global predators

Gordon an Valerie, thanks so much for sharing your views on the subject. I however also am of the opinion that a society's values and what it cherishes influence some of the factors you have sought to explain. Education is influenced greately by politics 

I would like to offer economic globalization as a major force that could impact curriculum in the 21st century. If one goal of education is to prepare people to work, the more parallel the educational system is with the workforce, the less "waste" there might be. When we examine the relationship between education and economic systems, two of the first logical questions could be “how to globalize a curriculum and where to start?”

As with any ambitious project, it is more manageable to start with small ideas. Of course this means something different to educators everywhere. We should presume that the role of the school leader and future learning will look much different than it does today. The classroom strategy that I would employ would be a project based learning platform that would offer multiple potential learning paths (Hill & Johnston, 2010). Most recently I constructed a course called Concepts of Global Economies. There are two section titles that warrant mentioning for your consideration. The first is “Using Agriculture to Aid Undeveloped Countries”, and the other chapter title is “Population Migration.”

With global agriculture, the idea is that by integrating the markets of developing countries into the global food market, developing countries can gain wider access to more markets for their produce. When this happens, there will be an expanding demand for their crops and, simultaneously, meeting the demand for increased food production in developed countries with poorer supplies.

In terms of population migration, people have always generally moved from more rural, farming communities to more populated urban centers when there is more opportunity and greater wealth to be had. It is well documented that when poorer populations become more mobile they tend to improve their income, education levels, and their general standard of living.

Canada already claims to have an enormous shortage of semi-skilled laborers in trades such as mining, forestry, and plumbing. These labor gaps will likely be filled by those poorer countries with more workers than they have jobs. Richer countries, in general, will likely be forced by their need for labor to have more friendly immigration policies (NIH, 2012).

Professionals who deal with these migration populations will need various forms of education that are relevant to their circumstances. This is where global transformation in culture and cultural imperialism could potentially collide (Lewis, 2006).

Maybe as a second and final point, I would like to mention the methods of delivery for information. In the past, traditional education has required the students to come to the content via well-sequenced instruction, charismatic teachers or dogged determinism on the part of the learner. As learners have started to have more access to more educational diversity in the form of collaboration through social media platforms, teaching methods must adapt to the changing tones. I am preparing an online class series, which will debut later this term. I will be excited to share with my classmates. I clearly see now how possible it is to place learners, learner pathways and learner collaboration on full display, removing the institutionally centered idea of compartmentalized "content areas".

Lewis, R. D. (2006). When cultures collide: Leading across cultures (3rd ed.). Boston, MA/USA:

Nicholas Brealey International.

Not coming to America: Why the U.S. is falling behind the global race for talent (National

Institutes of Health, Comp.). (2012, May).

“Simply expanding reading resources is not enough,” write psychologists Sakshi Ghai, Lee de-Wit and Yan Mak after they revealed a striking lack of voices from under-represented groups and regions in their university’s undergraduate psychology reading material. The team has four recommendations for others wanting to do similar audits: tailor the definition of diversity to your field, start by dissecting the curriculum’s foundational courses, gather diversity data while remaining aware of its limits, and place people from minority ethnic groups at the heart of the audit...

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00614-z