Paper presented at the 1999 N.Z.A R.R.E. /A.A.R.E. Conference,

GLOBAL ISSUES AND LOCAL EFFECTS: THE CHALLENGE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH at the Melbourne Convention Centre, 29/11/99 - 2/12/99.

NOTE: The data included in this paper is not to be cited or used without the express permission of the author:

Margaret Bradford

Employers in Aotearoa/New Zealand, in the nineteen-nineties, tend to have an holistic perception of potential employees. Rather than looking primarily at skills and qualifications, personal attributes are included under the rubric of 'employable skills'. Employers expect potential employees, including school-leavers, to possess not only such characteristics as punctuality and conscientiousness, but also to have such qualities as enable them to work within a team, to communicate effectively with others, to be able to solve problems that arise during the production process, and so on.

Employees hold that the state school system should inculcate these sorts of qualities in students, in order to prepare school-leavers for the workplace. Increasingly, heads of private corporations are using their influence on the education system to promote such perceptions of state schools.

In this era of high youth unemployment, the balance of power between secondary school students and employers from the private business sector can be seen to be heavily weighted in favour of the latter. Questions arise as to tile type of relationship between the expectations of students and those of employers. Do employers' expectations impact upon the school curriculum? If so, in what way? How are employers' expectations to be communicated to the students effectively? This paper will look at some questions raised by the contradictions that emerge when state schools are expected to prepare young people for an ever-shrinking labour market.

The primary data in this paper stems from the qualitative research I am currently undertaking towards a Ph.D. in the Education Department at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand. My aim is to explore some of the impacts that the current intensification of business interest, in state educational policy-making and implementation in New Zealand, may have had upon state secondary school(s). In particular, I am interested in schools which cater for students in lower socio-economic area(s). Coast View High School (a pseudonym), where I am conducting a case study, is one such school, wherein a significant number of students have parent(s) who are unemployed or underemployed.

Globalisation has been described as 'a centrifugal force, a process of economic outreach'. (Oman, 1994:33 - 34). Hobsbawm argues that from the late 1960s, transnational trade and financial exchanges have come to dominate the global Economy, and in so doing, have blurred the traditional fiscal borders of nation states (1994:277). Further and concomitant with the current process of globalisation (Bertram, 1997:44 46), there has been a paradigmatic shift in the ideologies underpinning Western political economics. The influence of globalisation, and political economy, on educational philosophy and practice is highly significant, because the education system of any country Functions within the prevailing political, social and economic processes (Kell, 1993:213; Freeman-Moir, 1997:202).

The paradigm on which Western capitalist ideologies were based, from the end of World War II until the late 1970s or early 1980s, were variations of left-wing, Keynesian principles of social democracy and the welfare state. The first signs of economic instability in welfare states have been noted as labour unrest during the late 1960s, and the oil price crises of 3973 -1974 (Bertram, 1997:44 - 46). The world-wide economic recession which followed the oil shocks was congruent with the rise to international prominence of a right-wing paradigm founded on ideologies of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. The credence given to these ideologies was largely due to the way in which Keynesian economics were cited, by neo-liberal advocates, as the foundation for the international economic downturn (Brown and Lauder, 1997:173;`Dale and Robertson, 1')97:210).

This paradigmatic shift from social democracy to neo-liberalism invoked principles of laissez faire economics, which operate tinder the classic economic maxims of the free market, and incorporate asocial, competitive individualism? and minimal state intervention! (Vowles and Roper, l997:pp. 103 - 105). Neo-liberalism advocates the free market model as the most efficient mechanism through which to rebuild capital accumulation, and national economics (Olssen, 1996: 2 - 6).

(Footnotes. The neo-liberalism model of society is based on an 'ideal' of competitive self-interested individuals persuing their own goals - society is therefore seen as a collection of individuals, rather than as a cohesive community. (Gewintz, 1998:475; Knight, 1993:140). This model also legitimises the pursuit of private profit over social concerns.(Lauder 1990:4)

Under social democracy, the state was an arbiter in social and economic issues. Under neo-liberalism, the state's role is diminished, and ideally intervenes only in matters of law and order. There is no recognition of social or economic inequality.)

One feature of the growing importance given to economic concerns in Western countries is the increase of political activism on the part of private enterprise. (Olssen, 1996:6; Rosenberg, 1993:22). As Roper argues (1997,: 150), business associations have a growing influence over state policy-making, as a significant proportion of state revenue comes from taxes levied on capital accumulation (Olssen, 1996:6), and this becomes evident when considering educational ideologies. Under social democracy, education was seen as a basis for a cohesive, democratic society and therefore as a public good. In the neo-liberal model, education has come to be viewed as a private good which an individual may convert to economic capital, and therefore to personal gain in the long term (Grace, 19853:209; Olssen, 1996:6 - 8). This human capital theory of education is extrapolated, under neo-liberalism, to economics. That is, when every individual in the country is working towards her or his own aims through education and work, the result is expected to be a strong national economy based on consumerism, profits and continual capital accumulation (Beane, 1998:F)- 10; Douglas, 1093:83; Lauder et al, 1988:18 19; Ministry of Education, 1997:4; New Zealand Education-Business Partnership Trust, 1993:4; Peters and Marshall, 1996:33).

Therefore, if educational research can be said to be especially well-placed in exploring the local effects of global issues, it is because this perceived relationship between education systems and political economies in Western capitalist countries has been growing in significance (Halsey et al, 1997:156), especially after the international economic recession of the early 19:0s (Halsey et al, 15)97:5). Although economic issues have become influential in all areas of Western stares' policy-making since that time (Codd, 1999:45; Dale and Robertson, 1997:210), it is education that has increasingly been seen, by economists and heads of business, as the key to nations' future economic prosperity, and to capital accumulation (Halsey et al, 1997:7).J As a consequence of economic globalisation, however, it is more difficult now, than ever before, to explore aspects of New Zealand's state education in singular isolation, and to overlook influences from the rest of the world (Dale and Robertson, 1997:209).

(Footnote: Although any correlation between education and a thriving economy have not been specifically proven (Brown and Lauder. 1997:176)

New Zealand's ideological shift in political economy began in 1984 (Kelsey, 1995/1997:10; Olssen, 1996:1, Roper and Rudd, 1997:v). Accordingly, neo-liberal ideals have superceded those of social democracy, and have been transposed into state policy planning and implementation, while input from business leaders has been encouraged by the state (Marshall et al, 1991:81; Roper, 1992:156). To illustrate, when New Zealand's Treasury prepared the 1987 Brief for the Incoming Government, Volume II included only educational policies (New Zealand Treasury, 1987; Olssen, 1996:21). The Brief advocates, inter alia, that slate education should have stronger connections with business, and be "...more responsive..." to both business interests and to bolstering the national economy. (The Treasury, 1957: Vol. II,p.27). The Treasury claims that under social democracy, which put social issues before business 'needs' and the economy, the standards of the education system had fallen, and that pupils had received "...mediocre..." schooling. ( Olssen, 1996:13; Lauder et al, 1988:18 - 19).

The Careers Service echoes these comments in such publications as Growing Partnerships - Practical examples of school-industry partnerships, which extols the benefits of school-business links to businesses. For example, industrial productivity will increase through the employment of up-to-speed' school-leavers as workers. (The Careers Service rapuara, 1996:4). The Ministry of Education also advocates school-business connections, In Working Together - Building partnerships between Schools and Enterprises 1993/1999:2), the ministry writes:

"The nature of work, and the workplace that students car-~ expect to enter, are rapidly changing in response to technological developments and changes in trade relations and the economy. To respond to these changes, schools need to develop in students the knowledge and skills that enable them to be self-reliant and adaptable participants in working life, whether paid or unpaid".

The private sector has also published documents designed to further the cause of closer education-business relations. For example, Secondary Education and the Path to Work, which was published by the New Zealand Employers' Federation, advocates that pupils should be taught to adjust to the 'real world' outside the school, to cope with its competition, and to expect to contribute to it and to be fulfilled by it (New Zealand Employers' Federation, 1981:6). Other similar texts include Successful Schools, Successful Business -Innovations in School Business Links, by the New Zealand Education-Business Partnership Trust in 1993; and Building Better Skills, by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions in 1995. Also, the New Zealand Business Round table formed the Education Forum in 1991, and has since published many documents outlining the need' for schools to align their curricula with the requirements of business interests, and the national economy (Snook, 1996:47 - 56).

The Education Review Office (E.R.O.) p(Footnote: The education Review Office (originally called the review and Audit Agency) was set up in 1988 to monitor the performance of schools. (Thrupp and Smith 1999:187))ublished a review of school industry connections in 1')5)6, in which the rhetoric and terminology of the above publications, and others, are reflected. Extracts from this document, and from that of the Ministry of Education, are cited here as being representative of the general rhetoric through which closer relationships between state schools and private enterprise are legitimated, as, for example, by:

1. assisting d-~e growth of the national economy; (Education Review Office, 1996:9).
2. assisting students to become "...adaptable...", "...flexible..." and ~'...effective..." members of the work force;; (Education Review Office, 1996:9; also Ministry of Education, 1993/1999:2)
3. matching human capabilities to labour market needs and opportunities (Education Review Office, 1996:9).
4. raising the levels of students' achievements at school... (Ministry of Education, 1993/1997:2).
5. making the curriculum "...more meaningful for students..." (Ministry of Education, 1993/1C)1)9:2); leading to enhanced learning opportunities for students (Education Review Office, 1006:10).
6. making connections between the school and post-school experiences of students (Ministry of Education, 1993/1999:2);

7. building "...greater mutual understanding between schools and enterprises...of each other's goals and cultures' (Ministry of Education, 1993/1997: PP. 2 -3; Education Review Office, 1996: 32)
8. alleviating unemployment among younger people. Education Review Office, 1996:9).

The unemployment rate among New Zealanders under twenty-five years of age now stands at thirty-five percent, while overall, nearly eight percent of the working population in New Zeaiand are unemployed. The Treasury has forecast that another ten thousand people will lose their jobs during 2000. (The Joint Methodist Presbyterian Public Questions Committee, 1998:5). A quarter of a million, that is, a third of New Zealand's children, now live in poverty (The Joint Methodist Presbyterian Public Questions Committee, 15)98:1; Snook, 1905):21). Unemployment and poverty are two of the social problems which have been exacerbated by New Zealand's current economic policies, and which increasingly have the potential to disturb the equilibrium of state-business co-operation (Finn, 1987:3 - 5; Kelsey, 195)5/1997:271). The gap between rich and poor in New Zealand is increasing at a rate which is faster than anywhere else in the world (O'Neill, 1996-1997:130).

A consideration of relations between these social crises; the ideologies underpinning the current political economy; and the profit-driven motivations of private enterprise, mises questions about techniques through which the existence of these relations may he legitimated (Hartley, 199j:90), at the same time as resistance to them may be undermined (Lee and Mill, 1996:20). The terms used in the E.R.O. review provide illustrations of such techniques. For example, it is projected that through close school-business association, students will become "...adaptable...", "...flexible..." and "...effective..." workers. While workers are thus expected to become amenable components of the capitalist system, however, the development of students' critical awareness is omitted. (Openshaw, 1996-1997:161). As O'Neill (1996-1997:131) says, a "...dumbing down..." of the education process and, consequently, of the population, is taking place.

Concomitantly, growing social inequalities, stemming partly from unemployment and underemployment, necessitate the marginalisation of resistance to neo-liberal policies, which, in turn, constitutes a form of social control. As Snook writes, organisations which function within and for private enterprise "...are demanding that schools play a central part in social engineering, of the right wing variety. It would be awful to use schools to promote racial harmony, gender equality or social justice, but it is fine to use them to promote the interests of the rich and powerful". (Snook, 1996:8).

It is in such a learning milieu that 'making connections between the school and post-school experiences of students may be seen to be in an implicit juxtaposition with an onus on the young people themselves to find, and keep, a job. If, and/or when, they fail to do so, politically hegemonic discourses underpin adverse assumptions about the unemployed individual's personal, educational and social deficiencies (Gewirtz, 1998:477- 478), rather than question the structure of the neo-liberal capitalist state, in which unemployment is functional and necessary (Grace, 1990:38; Marshall, 1997:304). Thus, obfuscation of structural inequalities serves to compound techniques of legitimation, and marginalisation of opposition (Lauder, 1990:3; Kell, 1993:221; Kelsey, 1995/1997:271). The 'real world', to which students are expected to adjust, is thus constituted by state economists and the interests of private enterprise.

I was able to observe processes which may be attributed to the legitimation of economic policies, as well as to social control, during the course of my research. A clear example of "...dumbing down..." was provided when I attended a job-seekers' seminar one morning, presented by a state-funded job-hunting support service for the fifth and sixth form (year 11 & 12) students. Cardboard stand-up dolls were used to illustrate to these fifteen- and sixteen-year-old students the types of clothes considered appropriate to wear to a job interview. The students were required to undress and dress the dolls, according to the impression of employability conveyed by the various styles of clothing. Later, student 'volunteers' were asked to assemble a jigsaw puzzle, with very large pieces. It formed a picture of the layered contents of a hamburger, and each component carried a reference to the various types of support offered by the service itself. For example, the top bun was 'job', the meat was 'job vacancies', the beetroot was personal development', and the lettuce was 'advice on training and employment'.

More representations of the service's assistance to job-seekers were inscribed on cardboard replicas of a container of chips, and of a milkshake. Then there were magnetised cards bearing legends such as 'birth certificate', 'curriculum vitae', 'school leaving certificate' and 'lotto ticket'. The students were asked to select and separate these cards into groups on the whiteboard, to demonstrate which documents should be brought to a job interview, and which were not to be considered relevant. I1-~ addition, motivational mottoes were used. These were manipulated on the whiteboard only by the presenter, and carried such messages as 'The world's your oyster!'; 'Time to make a decision!'; and 'Get a job!'

After the seminar, the students were given a booklet which provides further examples of O'Neill's premise. In the section entitled What Employers Want, it is stated that "... the decision to hire you is often based on your interview performance". (Document Four, 1997:')). Below are examples of suggestions made in the booklet, as to how the intererviewee should behave during a job interview:

• Do not sit until you have been offered a chair.
• Sit up straight.
• Smile, and be attentive.
• Don't fidget.
• Don't interrupt.
• Maintain eye contact.
• Relax, relax, relax.

I would argue that the pedagogical style and content of this 'lesson', as well as the teaching aids used, add substance to O'Neill's critique, as they were more suitable for primary school entrants than for senior secondary students. Also, the seminar illustrates negative, prior assumptions made by the job-seekers' support service. Not only does it show an assumption that these students are ignorant of both social norms and the expectations of employers, and will therefore dress inappropriately for a job interview', but it also reveals low expectations of the students' intellectual capabilities and maturity. Further, the didactic pedagogical style used adds yet another dimension to the negative aspects of the seminar, as there was no allowance for input from the students themselves.

Also omitted were depictions of objects more sophisticated than hamburgers and milkshakes, but which students are equally as likely to associate with working life. For example, representations of money, or a bank account, or compact discs, or travel, or a car, a motorcycle or even a house, were absent. The job-seekers' service has associated the pastimes and toys of childhood, and contemporary fast food - junk food - with school-leavers attempting to enter the labour market, and has assumed that the students themselves will construct similar meanings from the same symbols. Another meaning which might be constructed from such symbols, however, is the insubstantial and temporary nature of many jobs in the youth labour market today.

Further, in a low-income area such as the school's locality, young people's access to fast food cannot be taken for granted. Therefore, such food would be more closely correlated to the current paucity of secure, full-time jobs for the young, rather than an image of easy and quick availability which is often advertised as being a feature of junk food. On the other hand, motivational mottoes such as 'Time to make a decision' and 'Get a job' locate the responsibility for finding and keeping a job squarely on d-~e shoulders of school-leavers, while legends such as 'The world's your oyster' serves to obscure the structural aspects of high levels of unemployment and underemployment in New Zealand's right-wing capitalist state.

Other data that I have gathered ;It the school indicate that students' experiences of this kind of simplistic 'learning experience' have become a part of their school lives on a daily basis. The school's curriculum now includes a year-long course on 'employment' skills'. Although the name of the course suggests a focus on practical skills, the term is a euphemism for a conduit through which employers' wishes and 'needs', of a more abstract nature, may be relayed to students. Employers' needs are ubiquitous in the literature about school-business partnerships, and always contain requirements that employees have 'the right attitude': that is, school-leavers should be keen to work hard, and be honest, punctual, reliable, and so on. (Interview 5/2/99).

When these attributes are regarded as skills (Beane, 1998:9), the implication is that they can be standardised, taught, measured and assessed. It follows that each individual is responsible for learning these skills', and is therefore to blame if he or she does not acquire them. I would argue that it is misleading to perceive these as skills'. It would be more accurate to view them as traits, or dualities, which are affected by other environments, as well as school. The extent to which these qualities are regarded as skills indicates the degree to which the whole person is being 'packaged' as s commodity in the labour market (Brown, 1997:744).

During my participant observations in the course on employment skills, a private education provider was brought in for a component of the course. As did the speaker at the seminar, "Ms. Hill" (a pseudonym) came to teach the students about their self-presentation skills in terms of job interviews. An ex teacher, she is now self-employed in the modelling industry, and one of the services she provides is that of an 'image consultant'. Ms Hill explained to me that in this capacity, she has assisted employers, such as banks, a temporary employment agency, and an airline, to draw up their "presentation rules". In signing ,an employment contract with these firms, women now agree that they "will wear make-up". The use of cosmetics is seen, by management, as all indication that the employee is "...making an effort, [is] in charge, and [is] in control [of herself]", according to Ms Hill (Interview 15/6).

The woman has been accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to teach "personal presentation", which relates to several Unit Standards, including 62 - Maintain Personal Presentation in the Workplace, and 1293 - Participate in a One-to-One Interview. As a part of her "image presentation" class, Ms Hill told the students what meanings others will construct from the students' body language. For example, she said that to stand with arms folded during a job interview, or with one arm across the body and held by the other hand, "...represents barriers to open-ness with another person". If the students stand with their hands in their pockets but with their thumbs visible and pointing downwards, that stance apparently indicates sexual availability to another person (Ohs

Ms Hill told the students that if they rub their eyes and/or ears during an interview, they will convey, to the employer, a dislike of what the student is seeing and/or hearing. The way in which they should monitor their eye movements was also explored. If they move their eyes around the interviewer's face, that indicates that their attention is wandering. If their eyes move in an up-and-down fashion, that will indicate sexual interest in the other person.

The students must not sit up 'too' straight, according to Ms Hill, because that would portray stiffness and detachment. To lean forward slightly from the waist, but still keeping the back straight, gives the impression of interest and of careful listening. I discovered, at the end of the class, that her resource for teaching about body language is a book which was written by Desmond Morris in the 1970s for the popular market, rather than as a bona fide pedagogical reference work.

Ms Hill then asked one of the young men if he would say, in an interview, "I would do a good job". The young man replied that he probably would say something like that, and that he would add "but no better, probably, than someone else". Ms Hill brought the young man's latter comment to the attention of the class, and said that such "...Kiwi modesty..." is "...annoying..." to her. It is much better, she said, to lay claim to personal excellence. Incidents such as this illustrate the mechanisms through which the neo-liberal ideology of asocial, competitive individualism may he diffused

Other data indicate that the holistic approach to instructing job-seekers now includes not only clothes, posture and mind-sets, but also a critical inventory of students' body features. In the students' activity book provided by Ms Hill, called Personal Presentation for Job Interviews, there is a section entitled "Know Yourself". The instructions direct the students to "describe their face shape", and then to think about such questions as: "What body shape do you have?"; "What are your best features?"; and "How can you accentuate these features?". Following that, in 'You and Your Image", a pen-and-paper exercise given by Ms Hill to the class, the students were faced with the following questions, among others:

1. What sort of person do I want to portray?
2. What clothes fit this image?
3. Tick your best feature: hair; eyes; mouth; neck; waist; hips; hands; chest; thighs; knees; ankles; feet.
4. How can I accentuate my best features?
5. What body shape am I?

At the end of Ms Hill's component of the course, the students' assessment took the form of a check-list. Examples of the checks are as follows :

Hair.

Facial Hair.

Face:

Teeth:

Personal Hygiene:

Body:

Hands:

Clothing.

Shoes:

Accessories:

(Capitals as in original).

Ms Hill gave me her impression of both her own teachings, and of the students, during an interview. In our conversation, she exhibited many hegemonic and negative assumptions concerning these students, as follows:

"With the girls, it's a lot more chatty and casual [than with boys]...and we go into the big butts, the big boobs, and all that sort of thing. And how to dress to get over their anxieties". (Interview 15/6).

"With the state schools, I get the low stream people, the people who are not achieving academically. If they haven't succeeded academically, that's when you get the trouble. They're troublemakers. They get their attention by being bad. And they (the school] want them to do more fun things, more hands-on, and they [the students] get a lot of satisfaction out of playing with their hair". (Interview 15/6).

"I'm passionate about what I teach...it's basically selling their personality, and their communication skills, their appearance, goes ahead of their, whether they've got ninety-eight percent in English, or whatever" (Interview 15/6).

"...I demonstrate things...the optical illusion of your height and your width, and all those sorts of tricks as to how you can make yourself look taller, slimmer, the most flattering lines for your sort of body shape, comparing it with fashion". (Interview 15/6).

Four young women also spoke to me, at another time, with their own, quite different, impressions of Ms Hill's part of the course, which belie Ms Hill's assumptions (Int. 26/7):

The young women's critique is extended by O'Neill, who holds that "...all curriculum documents embody economic, commercial, individualist, market-orientated and intellectually uncritical processes". (O'Neill, 1996-1997:131). Ontological, pedagogical and epistemological issues arise when O'Neill's premise is used as a preliminary analysis of both the job-seekers seminar and Ms Hill's classes. Examples of relationships between state education, social control and neo-liberal economics become evident, as in:

1. the de-personalisation of the school-leaver, and subsequent reconstitution as a commodity in the labour market.
2. the holistic packaging of the commodity, which is then to be presented. during a job interview, in such a way as to be one of an homogeneous group of commodities. However, there is a requirement to make an impression on the employer, through the equally homogeneous -'right attitude'.
3. body shapes are judged against a tall, slender 'norm'. The commodity must become a consumer, in order to change the way 'it' looks. For trample, a short 'body' should buy clothes to make 'it' look taller.
4. the purpose of this is to allow the commodity to market itself to a potential employer. Since the competition in the job market is great and the time in which to make ,In impression is relatively small, the criteria on which the commodity's' suitability is judged is that of image, rather than on indicators of substance, such as aptitude or capability.
5. Female commodities are encouraged to be consumers of cosmetics: not to do so is represented as 'not making the best of your appearance'. The assumption is that women look 'better' with make-up, and therefore un-'enhanced' facial features are seen as an indication of a poorly self-maintained commodity.
6. By stipulating what are appropriate as clothes, accessories, and cosmetics in the workplace, the employer also has the opportunity to say what is not acceptable. In this way, conservative norms and values regarding clothes and behaviour may be upheld.
7. the people who are the target of such re-constitution hold power in inverse proportion to the amount of power distributed among the state, economists and heads of business. These commodities are academically low-achievers, their background is that of the working class and the under-class, and their school has little status in the institutional hierarchy. Students in schools which cater for the middle-class are not subjected to such negative assumptions and adverse 'lessons. (e.g., int. 15/6/99; obs. 20/7/99).
8. most telling is the way in which the responsibility - the blame - for these commodities' possible non-employment or underemployment can be allocated to themselves, rather than to a capitalist political economy. If these commodities' do not get a job, having been schooled in how to look and how to behave during an interview, the fault lies with them.
9. Neo-liberal notions of competitive individualism is fostered partially by this means. A commodity is in competition with other, similar commodities for scarce resources: jobs, and income. Often, also, a commodity must compete with others in order to gel and hold down more than one job. Social cohesion becomes threatened by competitive influences such as this.
10. Such uncritical teachings underpin and sustain the notion of a business-like pursuit of profit or gain as a way of life, as opposed to progressive pedagogies which bring critical attention to bear on social issues such as inequality, poverty, and lack of cohesive communities and democracy.
11. The state may foster the principles of a minimal state through such educational courses. If a commodity believes that 'it' is totally responsible for getting and holding a job, or for the failure to do so, then as such an uncritical and undemanding unit of the state, 'it' will not assume that 'it' has the right to look to the state for support during hardship.
12. Capitalist surveillance and control of possible opposition and unrest among the labour force, and/or other factions of the population, may be left to those who are the subject and object of such control, as, according to neo-liberal, they become self-vigilant in order to maximise their own opportunities and pursue their own goals (Olssen, 1996:8).

Employers' 'needs' for unproblematic personnel are reflected in the official rhetoric which surrounds the promotion of closer school-business links. The rhetoric underpinning the links obscures the importance given to the national economy and social control over that of crucial issues such poverty and unemployment; to business interests over the concerns of workers; to employable 'skills' and' the right attitude over personality traits, to 'image presentation' over these students academic achievement; and to employers' productivity 'needs' over the intellectual development of these students. This is one of the reasons why, according to New Zealand Education Institute (N.Z.E.I., 1998:-1), "...businesses are so keen to get involved with schools". Arguably, also, it is particularly students such as these, from tile working- or under-class, with low status in terms of education, wealth and power, who are the subject and the object of social control - in the interests of capital accumulation and the national economy (Lauder, 1997:390).

According to state economists, business leaders, and government departments, the success of the national economy now depends upon international trade, and also upon attracting transnational capital investment into New Zealand (e.g. Ministry of Education, 1993/1999:2; New Zealand Education-Business Partnership Trust 1993:4; Rosenberg, 1993:21 - 22). A 'flexible' and uncritical labour force is a major precondition for international investment (Brown and Louder, 1977:177;), in order to produce cheaper commodities and raise profits (Rosenberg, 1993:22).

The implications for educational research, in exploring the local effects of globalisation, begin with Oman's use of the term 'process'. Globalisation, as well as capitalism and education, are all processes, with fundamental social force (Freeman-Moir, 1997:202), rather than fixed and unchangeable entities. Further, while they are all inter-related in many complex ways, the dynamics and operations of each of the processes are differentiated, according to the political, cultural, and economic arenas in which they appear (Dale and Robertson, 1997:211). Some major objectives for educational research would be to chart the courses taken by these processes, to identity the relationships and contradictions betrvecn them, and to consider the external and internal ideologies and influences which impact upon them, singularly and collectively

The challenge for educational research is to identify the various manifestations of global phenomena in local educational settings, and to explore their effects on the lives of students and staff. For example, concerns of epistemology, ontology!', and pedagogy arise when effects of global capitalism - in the guise of close school-business links - on schools, students and staff are explored. The challenge is also to bring critical attention to bear on matters such as the differential effects of global economic and educational phenomena according to the social class, gender and ethnicity of those upon whose lives these processes have impact. Educational research, then, could attempt to answer questions such as:

What forms do the inter-relationships between capitalism, globalisation and education take?

What possibilities exist

What are the possibilities for pedagogical transformation?

What are the contradictions that these processes bring to educational practice?

What are the implications for post-compulsory education and the transition to work!

What other domains of public life are affected by these processes!

What possibilities exist for transformations of these processes?

What does this mean for our perceptions

What possibilities exist for social change?

What research methods and methodologies are most appropriate to use in such studies? and why?

There are as many challenges for educational research as there are influences on the educational process. For example, the ways in which underlying philosophies of education are translated into pedagogical and administrative policies are many and varied. Added to this is the variety of ways in which individual teachers may interpret and implement such policies. Also, there is the often unpredictable ways in which students will construct understandings from their classroom experiences. The overall challenge for educational research, therefore, is to endeavour to diffuse a wider understanding, both as to how education impacts upon society(ies), and the ways in which education may be a catalyst for positive social change.