Schooling in times of acceleration

Abstract

Modern societies are characterised by forms of acceleration, which influence social processes. Sociologist Hartmut Rosa has systematised temporal structures by focusing on three categories of social acceleration: technical acceleration, acceleration of social change, and acceleration of the pace of life. All three processes of acceleration are closely linked to processes of internationalisation and globalisation. Given this background, developments in the context of school education are analysed in this article, paying special attention to the question of which areas of academic learning the categories of social acceleration affect and whether internationalisation and globalisation speed up these processes. The analyses show that effects of globalisation in the fields of management, market, and performance on education are closely linked to social acceleration.

Keywords:

• Globalisation
• international school achievement studies
• social acceleration
• schooling

Notes

1. This quote has been translated from German into English by the authors of this article.