Globalization, state transformation, and educational re-structuring: why postmodern diversity will prevail over standardization

Over the past two decades the educational policies of neo-liberal nation states have exhibited contradictory tendencies, promoting both bureaucratic standardization of curriculum and standardized evaluation on the one hand, and postmodern diversification on the other. Despite recent increases in bureaucratic standardization, I argue that the economic, social and cultural effects of globalization will pressure these states towards postmodern diversification of educational arrangements to strengthen their perceived legitimacy.