Citizenship Archives

Citizenship Education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and Issues

November 20, 2013

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Edited by: W.O. Lee, David. L. Grossman, Kerry J. Kennedy & Gregory P. Fairbrother

2004, 313pp.

ISBN 10: 962-8093-59-2

ISBN 13: 978-962-8093-59-5

HK$200 (local), US$32 (overseas)

Published by Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) and Kluwer Academic Publishers

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This book is a landmark in citizenship and citizenship education discourse. It combines conceptual debates with case studies on the question whether the notion of Asian Citizenship can be established, and if yes, what its research agenda would be. The book contains polemic discussion, empirical data analysis, consultancy reflections, and descriptions of citizenship education in Asian and Pacific countries. Its themes include citizenship paradigms, democratization, patriotism, social tolerance, globalization and information society, and colonialism. The volume explores various perspectives on citizenship, including Confucian, Islamic, humanist, global, indigenous, cultural, political, and comparative. The book covers a wide range of countries and regions, including China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Taiwan and Vanuatu.

W.O. Lee is Professor and Head of Department of Educational Policy & Administration and Co-Head of Centre for Citizenship Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). David L. Grossman is Dean of the School of Foundations in Education, and Co-Head of the Centre for Citizenship Education at the HKIEd. Kerry J. Kennedy is Head of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the HKIEd. Prior to that he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Canberra. Gregory P. Fairbrother is a researcher with the School of Foundations in Education and the Centre for Citizenship Education at the HKIEd.

Citizenship Curriculum in Asia and the Pacific

November 19, 2013

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Edited by David L. Grossman, Wing On Lee and Kerry J. Kennedy

February 2008

ISBN 978-962-8093-69-4

HK$200 (local), US$32 (overseas)

Published by Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) and Springer

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Based on case studies of 11 societies in the world’s most dynamic region, this book signals a new direction of study at the intersection of citizenship education and the curriculum. Following their successful volume, Citizenship Education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and Issues (published as No. 14 in this series), the editors, widely regarded as leaders in the field in the Asia-Pacific region, have gone beyond broad citizenship education frameworks to examine the realities, tensions and pressures that influence the formation of the citizenship curriculum. Chapter authors from different societies have addressed two fundamental questions: (1) how is citizenship education featured in the current curriculum reform agenda in terms of both policy contexts and values; and (2) to what extent do the reforms in citizenship education reflect current debates within the society? From comparative analysis of these 11 case studies the editors have found a complex picture of curriculum reform that indicates deep tensions between global and local agendas. On one hand, there is substantial evidence of an increasingly common policy rhetoric in the debates about citizenship education. On the other, it is evident that this discourse does not necessarily extend to citizenship curriculum, which in most places continues to be constructed according to distinctive social, political and cultural contexts. Whether the focus is on Islamic values in Pakistan, an emerging discourse about Chinese “democracy” a nostalgic conservatism in Australia, or a continuing nation-building project in Malaysia – the cases show that distinctive social values and ideologies construct national citizenship curricula in Asian contexts even in this increasingly globalized era.

This impressive collection of case studies of a diverse group of societies informs and enriches understanding of the complex relationship between citizenship education and the curriculum both regionally and globally.

David L. Grossman is an Adjunct Senior Fellow of the Education Programme of the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Grossman was formerly Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Sciences, and co-Head of the Centre of Citizenship Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). Before that he was Director of the Stanford University Programme on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE).

Wing On Lee is Acting President and Vice-President (Academic) of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Before that he was Professor of Education and Director (International) for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney in Australia, where he remains an Honorary Professor. Prior to his Australian appointment, he served at HKIEd as the founding Dean of the School of Foundations in Education, Head of two Departments, and co-Head of the Centre for Citizenship Education.

Kerry J. Kennedy is Acting Vice-President (Academic) and Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Professional and Early Childhood Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. He has also served as Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at HKIEd. Prior to that, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Canberra in Australia.

Read the review in Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Vol.30, No.1, pp.123-126

Citizenship Pedagogies in Asia and the Pacific

November 19, 2013

Return to CERC Studies in Comparative Education.

Edited by Kerry J. Kennedy, Wing On Lee & David L. Grossman

March 2010

ISBN 978-988-17852-2-0

HK$250 (local), US$38 (overseas)

Published by Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) and Springer

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How are students in Asia and the Pacific taught to be effective citizens? Following two successful volumes previously published in this series, Citizenship Education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and Issues and Citizenship Curriculum in Asia and the Pacific, this volume focuses on citizenship pedagogies that are promoted by governments in the region, advocated by scholars, and adapted in the schools and classrooms where citizenship education takes place every day. Thirteen case studies from diverse societies in Asia and the Pacific highlight the ways in which teachers and students think about, experience or plan for citizenship teaching and learning. Different methods - vignettes, student surveys, case studies and literature reviews - are used to portray these experiences, from both macro- and micro-analytic perspectives. The wide array of case studies provides rich information and insights into the realities and possibilities of pedagogies for citizenship across the region.

What we discover from this volume is as diverse and complex as the region itself. Conservative teacher-dominated pedagogies are common in many places, but more progressive pedagogies can also be found. In some places teachers struggle to implement new methods, while in others, students seem to be more radical than their teachers in seeking more engaging pedagogies. Many cases highlight also the pressures of examination cultures that influence teachers' choices of and students' preferences for particular pedagogical approaches. From a comparative perspective, the volume shows how pedagogical approaches from other contexts are interpreted locally, and how government directives are adapted in classrooms. It describes how integrated and hybrid pedagogical approaches evolve when teachers in the region struggle to respond to national, global and person-oriented approaches to citizenship education. As curriculum gate-keepers, some teachers in these case studies seek an appropriate instructional space by judiciously choosing pedagogies to suit their own conceptions of citizenship education. For other teachers there are more limited choices, because of strong societal mandates, perceived community expectations, or simply because of a lack of skills to teach in any other way.

Collectively these chapters constitute a remarkable study of the delivery of citizenship education across the region and of the variety of pedagogies that influence the lives of teachers and students in this context.

Kerry J. KENNEDY is Chair Professor of Curriculum Studies at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, where he is Dean of the Faculty of Education Studies and Associate Vice-President (Quality Assurance). He is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Governance and Citizenship. Before moving to Hong Kong, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Canberra in Australia.

Wing On LEE is currently Vice-President (Academic) and Deputy to the President at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, where he is also Chair Professor of Comparative Education and Co-Director of the Centre for Governance and Citizenship. He was formerly Director (International) in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney in Australia, where he was also Professor of Education. He is a member of Hong Kong's Central Policy Unit, Education Commission and Curriculum Development Council.

David L. GROSSMAN is currently Dean of the Division of Education at Chaminade University in Hawaii and an Adjunct Senior Fellow of the Education Program of the East-West Center. Prior to that, he was Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Sciences at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and Co-Head of the Centre for Citizenship Education.
A review published in the journal Comparative Education, Volume 48, Number 3, 2012: 403-406

Seminar

Seminar: Becoming Global Citizens

November 28, 2012

Speakers: Tina Besley & Michael A. Peters

Chair: Liz Jackson

Discussants: Wing-Wah Law & Sarah Aiston

View a slideshow of the seminar:

Despite the forces of globalisation and the efforts of various civil institutions, global citizenship is not yet a reality. Many governments have promoted a range of policies such as multiculturalism, biculturalism and now interculturalism to deal with diversity in its many guises – ethnic, religious, cultural, language etc. Openness and dialogue are vital components in interculturalism.

 First, we explore the social imaginary of global citizenship: how this is a contested notion as held

by civil society and the state on the one hand, and by transnational corporates on the other.

 Second, we elaborate a multidimensional notion of “openness” as (i) a characteristic of mind, (ii) an emergent form of social media, (iii) a policy for managing diversity, and (iv) a form of ethics toward others.

 Third, we raise the issue of interculturalism and dialogue against the background of

ethnocentrism and globalisation.

Tina Besley, Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Global Studies in Education, University of Waikato, recently returned to New Zealand after 11 years in UK & US universities. She has published widely in philosophy of education, educational policy, subjectivity, youth studies, interculturalism, and the global knowledge economy.

MichaelA.Peters, Professor of Education at the University of Waikato and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois is the executive editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory and editor of two international journals, PolicyFuturesinEducation and E-‐Learning andDigitalMedia. His interests are in education, philosophy and social policy, and he has written over 60 books.