Culture Transnational Education And Thinking

The notion of thinking skills as a key component of a 21st century school education is now firmly entrenched in educational policy and curriculum frameworks in many parts of the world. However, there has been relatively little questioning of the manner in which educational globalisation has facilitated this diffusion of thinking skills, curriculum and pedagogy in a cultural context. This book will help to redress such an imbalance in its critical assessment of the cross-cultural validity of transplanting thinking skills programs from one educational system to another on an international scale. Culture, Transnational Education and Thinking provides an international comparative study of the intersection of three educational concepts: culture, education and thinking. Drawing on case studies from Malaysia, South Africa and Australia/USA for the purposes of comparative analysis, the book employs the context of an international school program in the teaching of thinking skills, Future Problem Solving Program International. The book explores the associations between Future Problem Solving educators, their cultural background, and their approaches to thinking, evaluating the relevance of transferring thinking skills programs derived in one cultural framework into another. The book also discusses the wider implications of these cross-cultural comparisons to curriculum and pedagogy within schools and higher education, with a particular emphasis on the teaching of multicultural school-based classes and cross-cultural understandings in teacher education and professional development. This book will be of relevance to academics and higher education students who have an interest in the fields of cross-cultural and intercultural understanding, comparative studies in education, and theories and practices of cognition, as well as the development of tertiary and secondary curricula and associated pedagogies that specifically acknowledge the cultural diversities of both teacher and learner.

Discover why and how schools must become places where thinkingis valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothingless than environments that bring out the best in people, takelearning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propelboth the individual and the group forward into a lifetime oflearning. This is something all teachers want and all studentsdeserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We MustMaster to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author ofMaking Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture ofthinking is more important to learning than any particularcurriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplishthis by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time,modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, andenvironment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout thisbook, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is notabout just adhering to a particular set of practices or a generalexpectation that people should be involved in thinking. A cultureof thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that canpropel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can behard and challenging mental work.

Teaching in Transnational Higher Education examines current trends and challenges that face students, teachers and institutions of higher education around the globe. This book comes at a pivotal moment where many universities are offering their courses in offshore locations. Students who could once not access an international qualification can now do so without leaving their home country. The book clearly defines and takes an in-depth look at the various types of transnational education, including: institutions that have campuses abroad, teach specific courses abroad, and form partnerships with diverse schools to teach jointly. Teaching in Transnational Higher Education serves as a forum for debate on such insightful topics as: the modification of teaching to adapt to the needs of diverse students the use of technology in the classroom the view of higher education as a marketable service the importance of cultural awareness and understanding in a transnational classroom the complexities of assuring quality education across borders The authors choose to highlight a broad sampling of transnational programs including those in: Zambia, China, and the United Arab Emirates among others. Interviews with students and teachers participating in these programs of study make this an enjoyable and unique portrait of higher education that is invaluable to those who teach and learn around the world. Lee Dunn is a lecturer and academic developer in the Teaching and Learning Centre at Southern Cross University. Michelle Wallace is an Associate Professor in the Graduate College of Management at Southern Cross University.

In recent years, there has been increasing attention placed on international and transnational aspects of school and higher education curricula, and the different research approaches and lenses through which these issues are studied. This edited volume explores diverse perspectives and discourses of curriculum studies contributed by scholars both within and outside the "majority world". In addition, it tackles both transnational cross-border endeavours involving national governments and policy measures, and the promises, challenges and failings of those formal relationships. The book consists of three sections. The first section provides an introduction and overviews of transnational education in connection with curriculum studies, schooling and higher education. The second section deals with transnational and international perspectives on curriculum studies, schooling and education. The final, third section highlights transnational and international perspectives on higher education. This timely volume tackles the questions often posed by curriculum scholars and educational researchers around the possibility of a transnational approach to curriculum studies and how (and if) a common set of means can transcend national boundaries and sensitivities. It looks at the common issues and problems across nations that international and transnational curriculum and educational research work could address. This volume will appeal to researchers and policy makers interested in transnational education and curriculum studies.

Transnational education seeks equivalence in standards and/or relevance of outcomes through the transfer of Western theories, concepts and methods. Utilising a critique-interpretative approach, Jing Qi argues that equivalence/relevance-oriented approaches to transnational education assume the legitimacy of the global knowledge hierarchy. Euro-American educational theories are imposed as defaults in non-Western educational communities of imagined consensus. Grounded in a study of a five-year transnational teacher education and community capacity-building program in Northern Chile, the book investigates the relationships between theoretical knowledge, knowledge hierarchies and critique. Transnational education communities are recognised as sites of critiques where conflictual and conceptual ‘dissensus’ disrupts global and local knowledge hierarchies. Critique is deployed by educational actors in their everyday engagement in transnational education to stage dissensus, which constantly re-draws the lines of possibility for knowledge co-construction. A matrix mapping system is designed to chart and theorise the Chilean educational actors’ critiques along the trail of concept translation, learning, application and innovation of knowledge hierarchies, which operate at and across global, transnational, local and the newly-created local-global levels. This book examines how these critiques modulate the ascendancy of knowledge hierarchies to enfranchise non-western educational actors for theoretical knowledge production that addresses local needs. Knowledge Hierarchies in Transnational Education will be of key value to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of international education, teacher education and globalisation.

There has been exponential growth in transnational education (TNE) in the last few years as UK universities have looked to expand their markets. Recipient countries have sought short cuts to developing their higher education provision which has proved a lucrative income stream for some universities. But overseas collaborations are not without risk. Recipient countries can be concerned with external influence over curricula, quality being diluted and higher education being infected by neo-imperialism. These concerns are not without foundation. There are risks for providers too. Reputations can be damaged if academic standards are compromised. Conflicts of interest can occur between quality of provision and the pot of gold on offer. Staff can view overseas collaborations as distracting from their research and commitment to home students. Computing is a particularly popular subject for TNE, but critical thinking, analysis, independent learning, and creativity can be compromised. Preventing plagiarism is difficult. Constant changes in technology result in constant curricula revision which causes severe problems for overseas collaborations. This book focuses on TNE in the computing domain. However cross-cultural issues challenge TNE management and administration whatever the subject area. If the ever present tensions are not continuously monitored they can quickly threaten the sustainability of the collaboration. This book identifies many of the threats and some of the solutions. The readership for this book is truly global. Any international development officer in higher education considering an overseas collaboration will benefit from this book. Any academic becoming engaged in, or already involved with a TNE partnership, either as provider or recipient, will gain information and insight into the practice and issues. Researchers in TNE will discover more lines of enquiry. Students considering a course with an overseas provider or in coming to the UK to study will be better prepared thereby enabling a more fulfilling and rewarding experience. Anyone who has an interest in TNE, whether at the senior executive level, operational level, delivering programmes or as a recipient of TNE should read this book. The wealth of experience gathered here will provoke questions, prompt debate and offer solutions. It has been written by people who know the issues, bear the scars and are happy to share their knowledge. It will greatly benefit future transnational collaborations.