The Emergence of A Knowledge Economy

Dr D.E. Lynch 2004

The term Knowledge Economy was coined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in their report The Knowledge-based Economy (OECD, 1996). The term describes the emergence of economies based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information. By comparison, the economy of the twentieth century relied predominantly on the sale of raw resources, commodities and primary processing to generate income and wealth. The key commodity in the Knowledge Economy, by contrast, is ‘knowledge’ and its use to create new products and services (Donkin, 1998; Gibbons, Limoges, Notwotny, Schwartzman, Scott and Trow, 1994).

Characteristic of the Knowledge Economy are ‘man-made brain power industries’ where there is rapid development, and the subsequent merging of new information and communication technologies, creating a global inter-connected economy (Thurow, 2000,p: 1). In this global economy, time and distance are compressed through advances in information communication technologies and travel, leading to the intertwining of the world’s economic and cultural systems, in a process known as Globalisation (Nowotny, Scott and Gibbons, 2001). Globalisation  is defined as “a set of economic, social, technological, political as well as cultural structures and processes arising from the changing character of the production, consumption and trade of goods and assets that comprise the base of the international political economy” (Milani and Dehalvi, 1996, p:3). Globalisation is one of many phenomena within the Knowledge Economy, and is the result of a larger building process of a world markets that started when mankind first began exploring the world by land and sea expeditions (Thurow,2000; Milani and Dehalvi,1996).

An effect of globalisation is an increasing structural differentiation of such goods and assets, having spread across traditional political borders and economic sectors, resulting in a greater influence of political and economic changes. Consequently governments of today are dispensing with their ‘regulator role’ or the function of controlling their national economies “to become ‘platform builders’ that invest in infrastructure, education and research and development, so as to allow their citizens to have the opportunity to earn world class standards of living” (Thurow, 2000, p:1). The ‘Smart State’ strategy in Queensland is one such example of governments coming to terms with the Knowledge Economy and the resultant effects of globalisation (Beattie,1999).

The characteristics of the average worker in western economies, for example, and the nature of work itself have changed enormously over the past few decades. Part-time, temporary and casual work, coupled with an upward trend in unemployment and the widening earning dispersion has become ‘the norm’ in the ‘job market’, while privatisation, deregulation and downsizing of public services, and more and more pressure on business to increase productivity has been characteristic of the workplace (Doyle, Kurth and Kerr, 2000, pp1-2).

Commentators such as Ilon (2000), Thurow (2000), Starr (2001) argue that advances in various technologies have, had and will continue to have, an impact on the labour market. Thus, “technological advancement will certainly destroy many jobs, however at the same time it will create many new and as yet unknown employment opportunities, changing dramatically the balance of skill requirements” (OECD, 1996, p. 14). The skill elements referred to are ones that place great importance on the diffusion and use of information and knowledge as well as its creation. This skill-base, it is argued, will allow incumbents to gather and utilise knowledge, where strategic ‘know-how’ and competence are developed interactively and shared within sub-groups and networks. Continual innovation and learning will be driven by a hierarchy of networks. (OECD, 1996).

Reference List

ABBOTT, J. and RYAN, T. (1998), “Making the Case: Understanding the Disconnects that Explain Why Good Schools Will Never be Good Enough to Meet the Learning Needs of Children in the 21^st Century”, House of Commons Parliamentary Monitor, May.

ANTA. (1999),  A new look at the labour market, August, Brisbane, ANTA.

Bauman, Z. (1997), “Universities: Old, New and Different”, in Anthony Smith and  Frank Webster (Eds.) The Postmodern University? Contested visions of Higher education in Society. Buckingham: Society For Research into Higher Education & Open University press, pp. 18-26.

BARLOW, J.(1995) cited in Tunbridge, N., (1995). “The Cyberspace Cowboy”,  Australian Personal Computer. September.

Beattie, M. (1997), “Fostering reflective practice in teacher education: inquiry as a  framework for the construction of a professional knowledge in teaching”, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Vol 25, No 2, pp. 111-128.

BEATTIE, P. (1999), “ A Brighter Future for Our Kids in the Smart State”, Luncheon  on Education, Brisbane Institute, Brisbane, December 14.

BECK, CLIVE., & KOSNIK, CLARE. (2002), “Professors and the Practicum: Involvement of  University Faculty in Preservice Practicum Supervision”. Journal of Teacher Education. Vol 53, No 1, pp. 6-12

BENTLEY, T. (1998), ‘Learning Beyond the Classroom: educating for a changing  world’, pp. 38, Routledge, London.

BINGE, J. (1998) “Communication and intelligence: distance education and culture,  Futures”, 30(8), pp. 843-849. Business Week (1999) Class is where the computer is, 11 January, p. 133.

Casey, B. & Howson, P. (1993), “Educating Preservice Students Based on a Problem-Centred Approach to Teaching”, Journal of Teacher Education, Vol 44, No 5, pp. 361-369.

CHAFY, R. (1997) “Science and Technology Education in China: Skills for

Modernization in the Absence of Criticism”, Bulletin of Science Technology and Society, 17(1), pp. 37-46.

DARLING-HAMMOND, L. (2000), “Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: a Review of State Policy Evidence”, Education Policy Analysis Archives, January 2000, Vol 8, No 1.

DEMBO, M. H., & EATON, M. J. (2000), “Self-regulation of Academic Learning in Middle-level Schools’, The Elementary School Journal, May, Vol 100, No 50, pp. 473-490.

DE VANEY, A. (1998) “Can and Need Educational Technology Become a Postmodern Enterprise?”,  Theory into Practice, 37(1), pp. 72-80.

DONKIN, R. (1998), “Year of the Knowledge Worker”, Financial Times, January 9.

DOYLE,L., KURTH, B., AND KERR,E. (2000), Knowledge Work and the Rise of the Office Economy, National Training Authority Report, Brisbane.

EDGAR, D. (1999), “Learning to Live with Complexity: Social Trends and Their Impact on Queensland Education”, Discussion Paper for 2010 Queensland State Education, Education Queensland Printer, Brisbane

EDUCATION QUEENSLAND (2000), 2010: Queensland State Education, Education Queensland Printer, Brisbane.

FREEMAN, C. and L. SOETE: 1997, The Economics of Industrial Innovation. Third edition (Pinter).

FLETCHER, (2000), The Art of Looking Sideways, New York, Phaidon.

FLORIDA, R. (2002) The Rise of the Creative Class: and How it is Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.

FOLEY, K. (1998), “The initial transition  - from k-12 to post-secondary education: Bridging the Gap through Experiential Learning”, Challenge Paper prepared for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

GARDENER, H. (1985), The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Paladin, London.

GARDNER, H (1996), “Probing More Deeply into the Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, NASSP Bulletin. Vol 80, No 583, pp. 1-7.

GARDNER, H. (1999), The Disciplined Mind: What all Students Should Understand, New York, Simon and Schuster, New York.

GIDDENS, A. (1999), The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy, Polity Press, New York.

GIBBONS, M. (1994) Innovation and the Developing System of Knowledge

Production. University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RF, located at http://edie.cprost.sfu.ca/summer/papers/Michael.Gibbons.html

GIBBONS. M., LIMOGES,C. ,NOTWOTNY. H., SCHWARTZMAN,S., SCOTT, P. and TROW,M.  (1994) The New Production of Knowledge. London: Sage.

GOODLAD, J. (1994), Educational Renewal, Josey-Bass, San Francisco.

GRAHAM, J. (1999), “Improvement through inspection? Quality Assessment and the Role of Ofsted in the Regulation of Teacher Education in England”, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education and Development, Vol 2, No 2, pp. 29-41.

GROENNINGS, S. (1997), “The Fulbright Program in the Global

Knowledge Economy: The Nation's Neglected Comparative Advantage”, Journal of Studies in International Education, 1 (1), pp. 95-105.

GROSSMAN, J., (1990, 2001), Tell them who I am: a Book to Help People

Understand Children with Attention Deficit Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Social Welfare, Milwaukee, Wis.

HAMONDS, K. H. (2001), “Ford's Drive for Balance” . Fast Company, May. 

http://www.fastcompany.com/lead/lead_feature/ford_balancingact.html

HARGREAVES, A. (2003) Teaching in the Knowledge Society:

Education in the Age of Insecurity (Professional Learning). Place: Publisher.

HARGREAVES, D. (1997) In Defence of Research for Evidence Based

Teaching: A Rejoiner to Martyn Hammersley, British Education Research Journal, 23, pp405-419.

HARGREAVES, D. (1998), The Argument in Creative Professional: The

Role of Teachers in the Knowledge Society, London, Demos, pp13-26

HOOD, D. (1999),  Address to The Pacific Vision Conference, New

Zealand Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs Conference, Auckland, July 28,1999 , located at www.21learn.org

ILON, L. (2000), “Knowledge ,Labour and Education”, Compare, Oxford,

October 2000.

KANIGEL, R. (1997) , The One Best Way, Viking Penguin: New York.

KELLY, K. (1998) New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies

for Connected World. New York: Viking.

KIRBY, P.,(Editor). (2000), ‘Ministerial Review of Post Compulsory

Education and Training Pathways in Victoria’, Final Report, DEET, State Government of Victoria.

KLEIN, J., Grossenbacher-Mansuy, W., Haberli, R., Bill, A., Scholz, R. W.,

Welti, M. (Editors). (2001), ‘Transdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving Among Science, Technology and Society’, Birkhauser, Verlag, Basel, pp. 7.

KORTHAGEN, F. (2001), Teacher Education: A Problematic Enterprise,

Linking Practice and Theory: The Pedagogy of Realistic Teacher Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, pp1-19.

LAMB, S. & BALL, K. (1999), “Curriculum and Careers: the Education and

Labour Market Consequences of Year 12 Subject Choice”, Research Report Number 12, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne.

LOGAN, G. and WATSON, T.,(1992), Soldiers of Service , AEBIS

Publishing,       Brisbane.

LOONEY, M. & LYMAN, P. (2000), Portals in higher education: What are

they, and what is their potential, Educause, July/August.

LONG, M., CARPENTER, P. & HAYDEN, M. (1999), “Participation in Education and Training 1980-1994”, Research Report Number 13, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne.

LUNDVALL, B-A., BORRAS, A. (1999) The Globalising Learning Economy. Report on contributions from seven pilot projects under the TSER programme. Luxembourg: Official Publication of the European Communities.

LYNCH,D,. and SMITH, R. ,(2002), “Australian Schooling: What Future?”,

Unicorn On-Line Refereed Articles, No:17, Australian College of Educators, located at http://www.austcolled.com.au/resourcespage.html, 

MARTIN, M.,., MULLIS, I.., GONZALEZ, E., SMITH, T.., & KELLY, D, (1999), ‘School Contexts for Learning and Instruction. The International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1995’, International Study Centre, Lynch School of Education, Boston. Available http://timss.bc.edu/

MARZANO, R. J., GADDY, B.B., DEAN, C. (2000) What Works In

Classroom Instruction. Aurora, CO: McREL. http://www.mcrel.org

MILANI, C. and DEHLAVI, A. (1996), Global Transformations and Coping

Strategies: a Research Agenda for the MOST Program,  United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural organisation, Paris.

MORAN, C. & SELFE, C. L. (1999) Teaching English across the

Technology/Wealth Gap, English Journal, 88(6), p. 48.

NOWOTNY, H., SCOTT, P., GIBBONS, M. (2002), Rethinking Science:

Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. London: Polity.

O’BRIEN, P. & BURNETT, P. C. (2000), ‘Counselling Children using a Multiple

Intelligences Framework’, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, Vol 28, No 3, pp. 353-371.

OECD (1996), The Knowledge-Based Economy, OECD, Paris.

OECD Education Committee. (1999), ‘Thematic Review of the Transition

from Initial Education to Working Life’, Interim Comparative Report, OECD.

OECD. (2000), ‘Knowledge and Skills for Life: First Results from PISA

2000’, OECD. Available http://www.pisa.oecd.org/knowledge/home/intro.htm

OECD (2002) Understanding the Brain: Towards a New Learning Science.

Paris: OECD Publications.

PFEFFER,  J. (1998) “Danger: Toxic Company”. Fast Company, November 19,

p. 152.

PRENSKY, M. (2002), “Evolving instruction? Seven challenges

On The Horizon”, The Strategic Planning Resource for Education Professionals, Emerald, Vol. 10 No. 2 Page: p2l

PUTNAM, R. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American

Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.

QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT (2002) Reforms for the Future Education and

Training. A White Paper. Brisbane.

RAMSEY, G. (2000), ‘Quality matters - Revitalising teaching: critical times,

critical choices. Report of the Review of Teacher Education’, NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney.

REIGELUTH, C. M. (1999) “What is instructional-design theory and how is it

changing? In Instructional Design Theories and Models”, Volume II: a New Paradigm of Instructional Theory. Mahwah, NJ.: London, Lawrence Erlbaum, 5-29.

ROSCHELLE, J., PEA, R., HOADLEY, C., GORDIN,D.,and MEANS,B.

(2000), “Changing How and What Children Learn in a School with Computer-based Technologies”, The Future of Children, Los Altos, Vol 10., Issue 2, pp76-110.

RYAN, T. (1998 ), “What Changes in Technology and the Economy May

Mean for Education Systems” Paper presented at International Conference ‘Media and Education’, Poznan, Poland, April 1998, located at http://www.21learrn.org

SAINSBURY, M. (2001), “The Progress in International Reading

Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001”, International Study Centre, Lynch School of Education, Boston. Available

SCHERER, M. (1999), ‘The Understanding Pathway: a conversation with

Howard Gardner’, Educational Leadership, Vol 57, No 3, pp. 13-17.

SELTZER, K. and  BENTLEY, T. (1999) The Creative Age: Knowledge and Skills for the New Economy. London: DEMOS.

SMITH, R. (2000), “The Future of Teacher Education: Principles and

Prospects”, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 28, Number 1.

STARR, T. (2001), “Leading the Education Function into the Future”,

Benefits Quarterly, Brookfield, Fourth Quarter, 2001.

STEINBERG, L. (1997) ,  Beyond the Classroom, New York: Simon and

Schuster.

STEPHENSON , J. (1999), “Corporate Capability: Implications for the

Style and Direction of Work-based Learning”, Public Lecture at University of Technology Sydney, located at www1.11e.mdx.ac.uk/iclml.asp

TOM, A.,(1997) Redesigning Teacher Education, University of New York

Press, New York.

TOPPER, A., (2000), ‘Teachers' Beliefs About Technology, Teaching,

Learning, and their Role in Shaping Plans for Classroom Technology Use’, GVSU School of Education, U.S.A.  Available This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

THUROW, L. (2000), “Globalisation: the Product of a Knowledge-Based

Economy”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Thousand Oaks, July 2000.

WALTERS, J. (1992), ‘Application of Multiple Intelligences Research in

Alternative Assessment’, Proceedings of the 2^nd National Research Symposium on Limited English.

WEHMEYER, M., PALMER, S., AGRAN, M., MITHAUG, D. E., and MARTIN, J.

E. (2000), ‘Promoting causal agency: The self-determined learning model of instruction’. Exceptional Children, Vol 66, No 4, pp. 439-453.

WISE, D. (2002), “When the Art of Teaching Meets the Science of

Learning”, Second International Online Conference, Technology College Trust, 13-26 October and 24 November – 7 December, 2002, located at http:www.cybertext.net.au/tct2002/disc_papers/learning/printable/wise%20-%20printable.htm