The Asia Literacy Dilemma

The Asia literacy dilemma brings forward a novel approach to the long-standing global debates of Asia-related teaching and learning. By bringing into focus ‘Asia’ as a curriculum area, the book provides original commentary on the rationale and feasibility of ‘Asia literacy’ and its role and significance within and for twenty-first-century education. The book’s unique contribution lies in a comprehensive problematisation of ‘Asia’ as planned, enacted and experienced curriculum, bringing together policy, teacher practice and student experiences to present an extensive discussion. By contextualising the problematics of Asia-related curriculum within contemporary national and transnational curriculum challenges, Cairns and Weinmann take account of conflicting discourses of nation-building, ethnocentrism, transnationalism, geo-economics and the purposes of twenty-first-century education. Its use of interview data with teachers and students recentres key actors that are often sidelined in official curriculum policy discourse. The book also introduces the concept of curricularisation to describe the process through which objects and discourses of curriculum are produced and reproduced. In doing so, the book presents a comprehensive discussion of the impossibilities and possibilities of Asia curriculum in the Australian context, providing an innovative longitudinal and integrated understanding of the status quo of Asia curriculum. Highlighting the urgent need to reinvigorate the re-emerging centrality of curriculum in recent education debates around policy, teacher standards, assessmentand learning outcomes, this book is an important reference for education policy experts and academics in the fields of curriculum studies, teacher education and studies of Asia.

Focuses on the problem through the identification of specific trends in foreign policy: isolationism, intervention, containment, detente, and disengagement. The conclusion of this analysis is that the US foreign policy process is reactive and lacking in any long-term strategic planning mode. Paper e

Given the importance of student learning in the various types and integration of STEM education, this book provides a landscape of cross-disciplinary STEM learning in Asian primary schools, and a systematic overview of design, practices, and outcomes of STEM learning implementation. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has continued to attract attention worldwide, and there have been calls for the promotion of STEM education in primary schools to nurture students to meet the needs of societies in terms of innovation and technology development. Since STEM is complex in nature and is related to various disciplines, the effort of a single discipline may not be as effective as cross-disciplinary efforts. This edited volume, involving an Asian team of authors, examines how cross-disciplinary STEM learning can be designed for students to achieve viable outcomes, and what opportunities and challenges have been offered to the next generation to equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking, as well as attitudes and values for lifelong learning. A resourceful text for students, researchers, and practitioners interested in the rich development of STEM education and practical methods for a variety of learning approaches from elementary to secondary education has been provided.

This book is the first of its kind to showcase a range of fresh and expert perspectives on decolonising history education in Australia. The research-informed chapters by First Nations and non-Indigenous educators and scholars provide guidance on applying practical strategies for decolonising learning and teaching, and moving beyond the ‘history wars’. History has long been the most contentious area of education in Australia. This book tackles the narrow and overtly politicised ‘history wars’ debates and foregrounds the need to re-examine impacts of settler-colonialism on Australia’s history. First-hand knowledge and much-needed teaching practices are presented, demonstrating how decolonisation can be put into action through Australian history education. The chapters present a range of perspectives from the early years right through to higher education settings and argues that there is an increased need for greater awareness, appreciation, and willingness to explore and engage with multiple narratives of truth-telling that are so often contested. Readers are guided to discover how this translates to classroom practice through unique, provocative, and research-informed strategies that foreground applied decolonising approaches. Combining theoretical perspectives and practical ideas, this book is an essential resource to support pre- and in-service teachers, in all education contexts, in navigating the decolonisation of Australian history education. This makes it an important contribution to local, as well as global, decolonising efforts.

This edited collection documents the challenges experienced by teacher educators, in-service teachers and student teachers in Hong Kong triggered by protests, civil unrest and the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and identifies innovative practices in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment that have enabled them to overcome the challenges in online teaching. It offers implications for teacher professional development through reflective practices and the enhancement of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the teacher education sector in Hong Kong and beyond. Teaching and learning in various education sectors in Hong Kong experienced unprecedented challenges starting in late 2019. The suspension of face-to-face teaching resulted in the reliance on e-technology and online teaching and learning. Many teachers and students felt unprepared and thus experienced emotional distress. However, the challenges opened up opportunities for teacher educators to revamp their instructional and assessment practices to cater for students’ learning needs in the online environment. The chapters are split into five sections, covering the situation of teacher education in challenging times, stakeholders’ experiences and challenges in teaching and learning, curriculum and pedagogical innovations, assessment and feedback practices and finally scholarship of teaching and learning. The book will be of particular interest to those who are committed to professional development through strengthening their reflective practice, online teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. It will also be an ideal text for education scholars and postgraduate students in curriculum planning, innovative online pedagogies and assessment practices in teacher education and the broader higher education context.

Poole’s book illuminates the experiences and perspectives of host country national teachers at internationalised schools in China. The international school sector in China has undergone significant changes in recent years. This is due to the growing demand for international education from local middle-class families. In response, a new type of school has emerged. Going by various names, such as private, bilingual or internationalised, these schools offer a fusion of national and international curricula and are staffed predominantly by host country national teachers. Despite these changes, we still know little about who host country national teachers are and what draws them to the world of international schooling. Accordingly, this book explores the motivations and mobilities of host country national teachers in China. It identifies three types of teacher: Returners, Reachers, and Remainers. Returners are graduates who have returned to China from overseas study. They are drawn to international schools by the opportunity to use their international experience and qualification. Reachers are internal migrants who face structural inequality and attracted to international schools by the opportunity for social mobility. Remainers are married teachers with children. They are motivated to work in international schools by the perceived stability and security these schools offer. Discussing implications for teacher recruitment, development, and retention in international schools, this book is an essential read for international educational researchers as well as students researching international education or teacher identity.

Drawing on the case of moral education reform, this book provides an authoritative picture of how policy is enacted between state policymaking and school practice in Japan, focusing on how national policy is enacted locally in the classroom. The study follows the 2015 moral education reform from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools. The book looks beyond written policies, curricula and textbooks to examine how teachers, school administrators and others make sense of, and translate, policy into practice in the Japanese classroom context. Chapters explore how moral education practice has changed in response to the intentions of national policy, and analyzes the implications for understanding processes of policy enactment in the Japanese education system. This book presents a new perspective on the complexity of education policy making, practice, and the gaps in between. It will be of interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the fields of education policy and politics, moral education, school administration, and international and comparative education more broadly, particularly in Asia.