This is a commentary on some major issues raised in Carter and Dediwalage's "Globalisation and science education: The case of "Sustainability by the bay"" (this issue), particularly their methodology and theoretical framework for understanding how globalisation shapes education (including science education). While acknowledging the authors' contribution to the literature on globalisation and education, it questions the degree to which their analysis captures and explains how globalisation shapes science education, and examines how the research can be complemented by altering its methodology and expanding its theoretical framework.