Impact of Globalisation on African and Its Implications to Education

Globalisation is one of the most powerful worldwide forces transforming society. It dominates today’s world as a major driver of change. Globalisation has brought about an agglomeration of cultures, where diverse cultures not only interact but also sometimes clash. It permeates through all spheres of life including the environment, politics, economy, prosperity, culture, religion, education, and human well-being in societies across the globe. The present “villagization” of the world has greatly affected many African countries in almost all aspects of life. It has done so in both positive and negative ways. With the emergence of a global society, social, cultural, economic, political, technological and environmental events in one part of the world quickly come to be significant for people in other parts of the world. This theoretical paper assesses the impact of globalisation for Africa and its implications to education.


The Concept of Globalisation
There are different interpretations of the concept of globalisation. According to Baylis, Smith and Owens (2005), globalisation refers to a process of intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across international boundaries. It aims primarily at achieving the transcendental homogenisation of political and socio-economic theory across the globe. For Waters (2001), globalisation is mainly a phenomenon of capital mobility which involves direct foreign investment and international portfolio flows. As a result, transnational companies and financial institutions, operating independently of national boundaries and domestic economic considerations, dominate a global economy. For Fafowora (1999), globalisation seeks to make itself present worldwide at the world stage or global arena. It deals with the increasing breakdown of trade barriers and the increasing integration of world markets. Globalisation is an evolving process, systematically restructuring interactive phases among nations by breaking down barriers in the areas of culture, commerce, communication and several other trends of endeavour. This is apparent from its promotion of free market economies, liberal democracy, good governance, gender equality and environmental sustainability among other holistic values for the people of the member states.
Globalisation entails broadening and deepening the linkages of national economies into a worldwide market for goods and services, and especially for capital. It is principally aimed at the universal homogenization of ideas, cultures, values and even lifestyles as well as at the "deterritorialization" and "villagization" of the world (Ohiorhenuan, 1998). Tandon (1998) notes that globalisation seeks to remove all national barriers that could hinder the free movement of international capital. Globalisation has also been conceptualised as chiefly concerned with the expansion of trade over the oceans and airspace, beyond traditional alliances which were restricted by old political spheres of influence (Gordimer, 1998). This is an important advantage for any part of the world, Africa included. Globalisation presupposes the making or remaking of the world through a basic change in the way in which people think and operate. With the emergence of a global society, economic, political, environmental and cultural events in one part of the world quickly come to be significant for people in other parts of the world. This is a result of advances in communications, transportation and information technologies. Globalisation also involves the growth of multinational corporations (businesses that have operations or investments in many countries) and transnational corporations (businesses that see themselves functioning in a global marketplace). The international institutions that oversee world trade and finance play an increasingly important role in our globalised era (Tabb, 2008).
Globalisation affects the psychology of human society today through its imposition of constraints on the policy-making autonomy and independence of member states, especially (among other functions) on their authority to allocate scarce and critical societal values and resources (Ohiorhenuan, 1998).
Globalisation has continued to attract increased scholarly and analytical attention across the globe-it is not accidental that it is at the epicentre of most developmental and intellectual discourses today. globalising propensities produced a roughly global trade pattern, also exposing the limits of global economic integration (Held, 2004). The integration of the African economy into the capitalist economy was, and is, part of the globalisation tendency of capitalism. Scholars argue that slavery and colonialism provided a legal framework in which the African economy came to serve the economies of western countries; Africans became producers of raw materials for the industries in these advanced capitalist societies. Historically, the modern process of globalisation started in a small way in the nineteenth century when capital was moved from Europe to open new areas in America and Australia, mostly for the building of railroad systems and to support the agriculture that would be central to the expansion of capitalism (Toyo, 2000).
Examples of the instruments of globalisation include the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). These institutions play crucial roles in the matter of global capital. They operate through policies such as liberalisation, which is basically the process of removing artificial restrictions on production, exchange or use of goods, services and factors of production. There has been a massive liberalisation in these areas, as a necessary precondition for firms to globalise. Firms and national companies play crucial roles too, since the motivating force for private enterprise is profits. The movement of companies and capital across borders in pursuit of profit is inherent in their expansion (Held, 2004). Africa cannot be said not to gain from the IMF and World Bank in various ways. For instance, these institutions have helped many African countries build essential infrastructure, such as roads and airports. They continue to assist in many areas devastated by natural disasters like floods, disease and drought, and this is of benefit to African countries and peoples.

The Impact of Globalisation on Africa
African countries often look to the developed world for different support for prosperity and development. Africa has experienced both benefits and shortcomings brought about by the process of globalisation. The positive aspects of globalisation include the development of regional integration, the internet revolution, expansion of the mass media and technological advancement. Through the creation of regional economic and political blocks equal in weight and influence with those of the European Union (EU), Africa can influence the process of globalisation. Africa has regional economic and political blocs such as the Eastern African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the African Union (AU). The question is how can Africa bring the weight and potency of its regional integration up to par with blocs like the EU?
First, it is important to note that these regional institutions are part and parcel of the ongoing globalisation in Africa. Nevertheless, there is still a lot they can do for Africa's development. If they can put into practice their goals for economic growth in Africa, socio-economic standards of living will improve and social evils such as corruption and civil strife will be reduced. Globalisation therefore has the potential to be beneficial for Africa. There are developments to be hoped for from Africa's regional blocs-if they really commit themselves to fulfilling their objectives.
Moreover, the internet-the most influential means of communication in today's age of globalisation, contributes to a computer culture that helps Africans think about their identity in multiple terms. The internet allows for multiculturalism, a way of living that celebrates individual differences in thinking, colour, property and tribal origins, encouraging the development of one community. Through the internet, individuals are capable of building for themselves a self by cycling through many selves (Turkle, 1995). This helps them build their image of personhood and personality. Multiple identities are no longer so much at the margins. Individuals experience identity as a set of roles that can be mixed and matched and whose diverse demands need to be negotiated (Turkle, 1995).The internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constitution and reconstitution of self that characterises postmodern life. One may safely say that the advance in communications systems has been a great boon to many Africans as they are able to communicate and self-fashion their identities.
However, there is still a need for more internet connections in many parts of Africa. immediate contexts of peoples. The intimate connection between physical and political settings that characterised political associations from pre-modern to modern times has been ruptured, and Africa is now linked to the rest of the world (Held, 2004). Globalisation of information technology in turn promotes the globalisation of production and finance, by encouraging the dissemination of information and lowering the costs of linking and of promoting markets internationally.
Furthermore, the internet revolution has revolutionised educational and commercial processes. With the use of electronic media such as the internet, people can look for answers to different questions or send messages and documents across the world in a flash. They can shop, book hotel reservations in another continent, sample new music, "visit" art galleries, read books, chat, follow the latest news in different languages, meet people with similar interests, grab free software, and speculate on the stock market.
The internet and worldwide web are invaluable business tools for everyday correspondence, for marketing products, for providing and receiving support, for inviting customer feedback and for publishing-to name but a few activities. This confirms the claim that "electronic media is a powerful tool of communication" (Kennedy, 1997, p. 5).
Through the internet and web, a teacher can get materials on important issues and can then transmit these materials to students. The teacher can also ask them to research on the internet and come up with key ideas they find relevant to their lives. This is a good educational technique; in that it enables students to be "at the receiving end" and interact fully in their learning. In addition, electronic communication encourages distance learning. It is now easy to send materials from one computer to another, and it can be done instantly. With the advent of e-mail, the contributions of both individuals and groups to public debate have been made much less expensive and less impracticable than they once were. "Thanks to the technology of hyperlinks, digital information may be accessed from anywhere in the world", as Graham (1999, p. 69) puts it. Anyone, anywhere, at any time-even a person with relatively limited means-can generally put things on the web and download materials. Graham adds: "Individuals and groups with limited time, resources, and skills can avail themselves of the technology of the internet and, literally present themselves and their message to the world" (p. 70). In education, this has the advantage that teachers can send materials to their students or to their students' parents.
Given the fact that digital information can be accessed anywhere, at any time, students (especially at a tertiary level) can pursue their education without being in physical contact with their professors.
Despite the benefits brought about by globalisation, its negative effects on the political, economic, social and cultural nerves of the weaker countries cannot be ignored. This is particularly so because globalisation affects developmental thinking and actions of the developing polities; relegates ethical equity and social concerns behind market consideration and reduces the autonomy of the independent states (Amin, 1990). The negative aspects of globalisation for Africa include weakening of sovereignty, marginalisation, constraints on internal management and neo-colonialism. Politically, for instance, globalisation is seen as a powerful force that has weakened the political sovereignty of many African nation states. Many external pressures challenge their independence and threaten their authority in decisions.
Globalisation encourages decreasing national control and increases the control outside players have over the internal economy of the state. In fact, "the gospel of globalization through its economic liberalism has been elevated to the position of absolute truth against which there is no credible alternative" (Tandon, 1998, pp. 2-3). Globalisation can be an awesome and terrifying phenomenon not only for many African countries but also for countries in other parts of the world that are not economically and politically strong and have difficulty competing on the global market. In this aspect of its working, the phenomenon of globalisation threatens to be "nothing but a new order of marginalization of the African continent. Its universalization of communication, mass production, market exchanges and redistribution, rather than engendering new ideas and developmental orientation in Africa, subverts its autonomy and powers of self-determination" (Mule, 2000, p. 7). It is thus more by design than by accident that poverty has become a major scourge in Africa, despite the continent's rich resources such as diamonds, gold, arable land stretching from north to south, uranium, aluminium and more (Mutabaruka, 2006).
Africans have been made to think that they are inherently poor. But this does not have to be so. Africa needs to equip itself economically. It needs to get rid of greed and exploit the wealth that it has for the benefit of all. In the words of Mutabaruka (2006): "All we need to make this happen is an enabling environment. Such an environment is not dished out as aid by the West. It is created, it is made by the people the moment they decide to make it; such an environment starts in the head. By changing the way we think and act, we will create an environment that enables, facilitates and enhances wealth exploitation and creation" (p. 15). This exhortation should become the vision of Africans. However, in the present era, one cannot deny the fact that the burden of external debt to the developing countries continues to grow. In the process, globalisation has increased the venomous hold of mass poverty, and the accompanying multidimensional deprivation of citizens, who lack the basic requisites for meaningful living. Globalisation has caused the disintegration of industrial sectors in most, if not all, African states. Costs of production have become uneconomical, and governments have failed to provide the incentives that could encourage local production. Instead local production has been destabilised through high levels of importation and through currency devaluation, with a depletion of foreign reserves. This raises the spectre of marginalisation, which, according to Ake (1996), is what the dynamics of underdevelopment are about.
In addition, many nation states in Africa are unable to define the rules and regulations of their economy, production and credits and exchanges of goods and services due to the rampant menace of aggressive globalisation and the socio-cultural developments that go with it. Globalisation has put heavy constraints on the internal management dynamics of many African governments. It has made it enormously difficult for them to provide social insurance, for instance, which is one of their central functions and the one that has helped many developed nations maintain social cohesion and win domestic political support. As put by Madunagu (1999): "Trends like this have been mostly dictated by the unevenness of powers that accompany globalization, that is, disparity in the status of the members of the villagized world and their inability to resist imposed policy options" (p. 52). Analogically, the result of globalisation as seen on the ground is the stark contrast between the palatial centres of the rich and the slums where most of the people sink deeper into poverty and misery daily. Globalisation's ideology of "free-market liberalism" remains "a continuous licence for cultural imperialism and the institutionalization of both political and economic domination and exploitation of the weaker partners" (Tandon, 1998, p. 7).
Globalisation has effects like a new colonialism. It creates a process through which the "poor countries are analysed, dominated, exploited by the rich countries, and a vicious circle of vulnerability of African governments to outside parasitic economic manoeuvring as does the lack of the capacity for independence of socio-political, cultural and psychological thinking relative to concrete actions" (Wohicke, 1993, p. 56). Globalisation has become a threat to the poor instead of a force undertaking global action to eradicate poverty, which it had the opportunity to do. Obadina (1998) contends that the concept of absolute freedom that underlies the rationale for globalisation is just the same notion as was used to justify slavery and colonisation. It is equally anchored in the belief that the strong, however defined, should be free to exercise their strength without moral or legal limitations that protect the weak (Obadina, 1998). This vaunted "freedom" is utterly different from the positive freedom in which "people should be free as long as they do not deny the rights and freedom of others". "People should not be at liberty to deny others freedom and basic rights. There must be limits on freedom otherwise the liberty of the powerful becomes the oppression of the weak" (Ojara & Madigan, 2004, pp. 35-36). Obadina (1998) notes how the globalisation of the free market extols is anchored in "greed, an ethos of 'winner takes all' and a 'beggar thy neighbour' philosophy irrespective of its seeming moral terms of freedom" (p. 32). This has increased the debt burden of most countries in Africa. Again, "Western relations with developing countries are not predicated on a desire to eradicate mass poverty but on the penchant to impose the free-market system founded on the notion of absolute freedom" (Obadina, 1998, p. 32 Chevron, Texaco, Total and Shell (whose operation in Nigeria alone amounts to 14 per cent of its total global operations). The impact of their exploitation of resources in the area has been enormous. It has affected the social organisation of the Ogoni people and the population of the Niger Delta in general.
As the World Bank notes, agricultural productivity has decreased, as has fishing, leading to the prevalence of poverty well above the national average (World Bank, 1996). Thus, from an Ogoni's point view, globalisation is most definitely a negative force for Africa. Rust (2004) suggests three categories of responses to globalisation-receptivity, resistance and restoration. Receptivity involves the process through which countries respond positively to external influences by adopting aspects of other countries with the objective of improving their own. The second response to globalisation is resistance. This response is an attempt by countries to counter the oppressive forces of globalisation through concerted efforts to maintain and celebrate differences in cultures, languages and political ideologies. These countries support resistance to cultural imperialism as a result of colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalisation, which has been responsible for the decline and destruction of many indigenous languages and cultures. Finally, restoration which emphasises efforts to ensure the preservation and promotion of a country's heritage such as indigenous languages and cultures. While Rust' three categories provide a useful framework for responding to the forces of globalisation, this paper suggests that African countries should be more critical and creative in the global sphere to bring international influence to bear in a way that strengthens domestic socio-economic and political development.

Implications to Education
How is globalisation affecting education in Africa? Globalisation challenges educational institutions to empower students to become engaged global citizens; students who can understand that factors like diseases, global economic crisis, refugee crisis and climate change challenge traditional boundaries because of their ripple effects. To empower students to become engaged global citizens, reflection on the former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda's words of wisdom can inspire the process. In his Letter to my children, he asserts: "You will grow up to be not only citizens of Zambia and children of Africa but also people of a world struggling to find wholeness and unity" (Kaunda, 1973, pp. 98-99).
Kaunda's words remain relevant to our education, especially in this era of globalisation, when we interact so much more with different cultures. Thus, global and international dimensions should be encouraged in our educational curricula, so that students are prepared not only for national responsibilities but also for international socio-political and economic participation.
In today's age of global knowledge and technology, an interconnected network and global awareness are increasingly viewed as major and sought-after assets. With the current labour market requiring graduates to have international, foreign language and intercultural skills to be able to interact in a global setting, institutions are placing more importance on internationalisation (Hénard, Diamond, & Roseveare, 2012). "The accelerating rate of globalisation has focussed attention on student mobility, international research collaboration and education as an export industry" (Hénard, Diamond, & Roseveare, 2012, p. 7).
The benefits of globalisation to education include global citizenship education-to enhance the development of students' global and intercultural competence; cross-national educational transfer and borrowing-adopting aspects of other educational systems with the desired objective of improving one's own; education policies-should consider the local, national, international and global contexts, e.g., the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the campaign for inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion lifelong learning opportunities for all (SDG 4). Additionally, globalisation influences international academic mobility-students, staff, credit mobility, exchange and study abroad; international research collaboration-widening of interest in international interdisciplinary research; education as a commodity-export industry; increased enrolment of international students; virtual access to education-mass participation in education, e.g., via MOOCS (massive open online courses); sharing of information and knowledge-textbooks, journals; global networking-professional associations and conferences; curriculum development-necessitates the need to integrate global issues into the curriculum; transnational education-globalisation enhances delivery of education through off-shore campuses, joint programmes, distance learning, e-learning. Finally, globalisation has impact on brain gain-globalisation encourages the movement of skilled workers internationally. This represents the brain gain for the countries that benefit from their skills, knowledge and experience while representing brain drain for their countries of origin.
However, globalisation is not devoid of challenges to education. These include cultural imperialism, e.g., emphasis of the English language that contributes to the dominance of that language; brain drain-emigration of highly skilled people, especially scientists and technical workers, to countries offering better opportunities or greener pastures; dependency syndrome; neo-colonialism; protectionism in education-making it difficult or even impossible for foreign institutions to enter a national system, whether virtually or physically, through highly protective regulations; commercialisation of education; international accreditations-recognition of foreign qualifications; competitiveness attached to globalisation-mistakenly being linked to ranking and branding by focusing on the economic benefits rather than academic benefits (devalued); curriculum design and language of instruction; and privatisation of education.

Twenty-first Century Skills
Twenty-first century skills are essential for learners to take on the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. A twenty-first century education focuses more on equipping learners with transferable skills and competencies they need to be successful in the dynamic and interconnected world. The twenty-first century skills call for a paradigm shift in education to increase learner's achievement within and outside of learning institutions. Do educational institutions see the twenty-first century education as priority? Are learners being prepared for the dynamic and interconnected world as change agents within it? What are the promising practices of fostering the twenty-first skills?
The Partnership for twenty-first Century Skills (P21) (now the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) has identified four essential skills (the 4Cs) for the twenty-first century: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Creativity involves the use of skill and imagination to produce something of value, often aesthetic, original, and inspired (Pacho, 2013). Creativity enables learners to recognize and take advantage of opportunities. It encompasses innovation and entrepreneurial skills, which are important in empowering learners to be job creators more that job seekers. Critical thinking, on the other hand, implies making a careful judgement about values and drawbacks, strengths and limitations or positive and negative aspects of someone, something or an actual or proposed event. A person can follow this by coming up with his or her own position, reactions or synthesis. Often there is a process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis (Pacho, 2013). Critical thinking skills is about analysing information, critiquing claims and making judgements.
It enables a learner to assess the credibility, accuracy and value of information, analyse and evaluate information, make reasoned decisions and take purposeful action (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Communication is understanding things well enough to share them clearly and timely with other people across cultures. Collaboration is about teamwork and the ability to interact competently and respectfully with others (Partnership for twenty-first Century Skills, 2008).
How does the twenty-first century skills impact education? The twenty-first century skills have implications on the curriculum, pedagogy, teaching and learning environments, teacher education, and the role of the teacher and learners. A twenty-first century curriculum should integrate thinking and innovation skills; information, and digital literacy; and life and career skills in context across all subjects in an interdisciplinary way. It should also involve the competency-based approach to curriculum development which puts emphasis on the outcome of a learning process in terms of competencies and less on content and its mere acquisition. Finally, there must be a continuous critical review of the relevance of curricula content to integrate twenty-first century skills.
A twenty-first century instruction should integrate innovative pedagogies, technologies, real world resources and contexts to prepare learners for the twenty-first century life (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Education is not an affair of "telling" and being told, but an active and constructive process (Dewey, 2011). Examples of twenty-first century pedagogical approaches include (1) collaborative learning, where learners construct knowledge through discussing course-related matter and topics with other, (2) cooperative learning, where small groups of learners work together to solve a problem or complete a task; (3) problem-based learning, where learners are tasked with a problem which they must solve by collecting data, analysing the data, and offering an explanation and discussion on the results; and (4) service-learning, where community service is integrated with academic study, reflection and analysis to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities (Fiske, 2002). The social environments in which we are raised generally have an influence on how we behave. Since education is a social process, promoting a democratic and non-domineering teaching-learning environment is vital for promoting the twenty-first century skills. A democratic teaching-learning environment is one where respect for learners' freedom of thought is encouraged, where criticisms and divergent opinions are respected, where diversity is seen as a spice of life rather than as a threat. Thus, a democratic classroom should encourage heterogeneity more than homogeneity, flexibility rather than inflexibility, and critical and creative thoughts more than uncritical and uncreative ones. A classroom atmosphere should be one in which both divergent and convergent thinking is encouraged, because they are a basis for discoveries (Pacho, 2013). The role of the educator should be to act as a guide or facilitator, while the learners constructs their own knowledge through experiential learning. In the twenty-first century, the learner should be treated a co-creator of knowledge. The learners should be counted as active participants in the learning process and their views should be taken seriously.
Teachers are the most important factor affecting learning (change makers). Yet, they often lack the skills or motivation to be effective (World Bank, 2018). Thus, they need the training and motivation to be effective to foster the kind of education that can enhance the twenty-first century skills among learners.
The twenty-first century skills should be integrated across all curriculum; they should be part of all learners' education. To promote the twenty-first century skills, there must be a deliberate effort to shift from traditional approaches to education which are more teacher-centric, banking, passive, monological, authoritarian, content-based, examination and marks oriented, and involving zero to minimal digital literacy. To foster twenty-first century skills among learners, educational institutions must embrace more innovative and active approaches which are learner-centric, active, competency-based, problem-based, dialogical, democratic, up to date, and incorporates the use of modern educational technologies. There is no one best way to develop the twenty-first skills as every context is unique. A variety of methods should be used interchangeably for unique circumstances. However, learners learn best with practical and real-world tasks that build on what they know.

Conclusion
There is no doubt that globalisation is one of the greatest developmental forces in all world history. In a broad sense, it is part of an irresistible tide of development, systematically restructuring interactions between nations, and breaking down barriers in the areas of culture, commerce, communications and much else. Globalisation can indeed be beneficial for Africa as, among other things, it has allowed the continent to link itself to the rest of the world. But some effects of globalisation are ugly and call for a broader critical understanding and for creative integration. A generally passive and culture-bound people cannot cope with the many challenges and opportunities of globalisation. Hence, there is a need to develop people who can imagine, construct and creatively devise new ways of dealing with the emerging realities of our world in a morally justifiable way. Educational institutions in Africa must re-examine their curricula and pedagogical approaches to prepare students to be effective in the dynamic, competitive and diverse environment (globally-competent graduates). In the era of globalisation, education should help in the development of students' global consciousness and competence to: (1) live and work effectively in a globalised society; (2) understand the interconnectedness and interdependence of different countries and populations of the world; (3) address global challenges; and (4) contribute to make the world a better place. Though globalisation may be inevitable, its consequences for Africa are, overall, devastating. Hopefully, Africans will be able to develop measures that reduce its catastrophic effects. The responses Africans require are ones informed by their own historical development. For African countries to get out of their entrapment, they need to reduce their over-dependency on the Western powers. They must cease to be mere onlookers, failing to act on issues affecting their economic, political and socio-cultural well-being, or even conniving in them. For Ake (1996), "the people of Africa will have to empower themselves to repossess their own development" (pp. 122-123). This could be achieved by the overcoming of negative images and the construction of new, positive ones, by fighting corruption, and by insisting on Africans' own preferences and terms of membership in the "global village". Such a change can only be made possible through a sincere and committed sociological, cultural, economic and political realignment that is truly African in nature. Without this Africans will be unable to plan political and economic independence, integration, improvement and sustainable development in the twenty-first century.