A comparative study of global citizenship education and international curricula in two school settings, Singapore and Australia

Abstract

In recent years, global citizenship education (GCE) has been a trending concept used by national and international educational institutions, as well as researchers, to explain the increase in the internationalisation of education. The rise of GCE is set against globalisation and ever more diverse populations within nations, in the condition of super-diversity. GCE has emerged as a result of the shift from multiculturalism to post-multiculturalism. The implication of this shift is an emphasis on international education, where GCE is one of the key markers in schools’ responses to providing an internationally minded curriculum. This at times has resulted in schools incorporating GCE in their visions and mission statements, sometimes without a full understanding of the extent of this concept.This research study focuses on a comparative analysis of GCE in two primary schools, one international school in Singapore (Stamford International) and an independent school in Australia (Coastal College). The research focuses on how these two schools have engaged in the processes of internationalisation of their education through the adoption of international education models, utilising the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) or the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) and other local curricula to generate hybrid internationally minded education programs.The study is located within the domains of “comparative education” and “international education,” areas of enhanced research interest as a result of the growth of international schools globally and the existence of state and independent schools that have adopted international curricula. An internationally minded curriculum is perceived to evoke notions of inter-culturalism, transnational connectivity, and global sensitivity in its design of curriculum, implicit pedagogical approaches, assessment practices and research knowledge and skills. It is believed that embedded within such a curriculum is a distinctive set of knowledge and skills, relevant to both the global and national schooling landscapes. However, in a more market driven competitive schooling environment, global citizenship education is also at times linked to branding and used by schools to position themselves advantageously in their specific school market contexts.Drawing on various theoretical resources on global education, global citizenship education, international education, as well as theories of post-multiculturalism, this research sought to investigate how each case study school responded to the concept of GCE through their curriculum. The broad overarching research question framing this study is: How have schools, with an internationally-minded focus, responded through the curriculum (IPC and IB respectively) to the impact of globalisation and the attempt to produce global citizens? The research specifically investigated firstly how each case study school has responded to the concept of GCE through their curriculum (IPC and IB). It also aimed to examine the factors that enabled the take-up of GCE through curricula in the two case study schools. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, school website analysis, as well as field notes, were analysed both inductively and deductively, teasing out the key themes. Document analysis included school policy papers, curriculum materials, syllabuses, websites, newsletters and other forms of documents that shed light on the issues being researched.The research presented a number of important findings. The findings indicate that various factors within the specific contexts of schools, such as curriculum and resources, school culture, school leaders’ and teachers’ values, and the utilisation of human and financial resources play an equally important role in determining and moulding how schools engage with GCE in their quest towards internationalisation. This response was situated in multiple influential contexts, which include the national contexts of the schools, including the nature of each society, the geo-political positioning of the society, the provision of schooling, the nature of schools and the specific policies governing the schools, which have influenced their approaches towards GCE.Firstly, both schools saw a need to navigate the global-local dynamics to engage with an internationalisation that is context-specific. Stamford International’s key curriculum initiatives, predominantly the IPC, the Singapore Math and the Daily Mandarin curriculum, were results of this fusion. Coastal College’s hybridisation of International Baccalaureate Primary Year Programme (PYP) and the Australian curriculum, the adoption of languages such as Japanese, and cultural exchange programmes, were also attempts to link global and national elements in their approach. Despite the above commonality, the “non-government”/ independent status of the Singapore case study school provided greater autonomy for curriculum development, compared with the independent school in Australia, which still needed to adhere to the Australian curriculum requirements or approved alternatives. The above initiatives were also part of both schools’ marketing strategies to remain distinct and to attract potential students in their respective school markets.Secondly, the school leaders in both schools demonstrated cosmopolitan competencies and were hence able to respond to and adopt organisational practices that were aligned to the demands of the 21st century global society. However the Principals’ leadership styles and their management of GCE practices within the schools also affected the GCE take-up in the respective schools.Finally, the targeted utilisation of human and financial resources was also a significant enabler that further cemented both schools’ practices towards GCE. The human resources, which included the selection of staff, appointing teachers with diverse teaching CVs and international experience, value added to the organisation and moved the GCE agenda forward. In the area of financial resources, both schools had a targeted approach in their utilisation of funding for professional development and curriculum development resources aligned to GCE.A key overarching finding of the research relates to the tensions between critical democratic and educational domains and neo-liberal market rationales, which had affected the schools’ decisions in curricula and GCE enactment within both schools. Despite their commitment to GCE ideals, they were mindful about being distinctive and remaining competitive within their educational markets. The global focus was thus linked at one level to their overt branding and positioning in their respective school markets.Overall, this research study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge, particularly in respect of empirical research on GCE practices in schools. The findings of the study and the literature review have resulted in the design of an encompassing conceptual model that is able to capture the multi-faceted nature of GCE and provide a more critical understanding of the GCE concept. Most importantly, the comparative investigation of global citizenship education, which is very much lacking in current research, allowed for the exploration of two varying global and national contexts. Looking at two different contexts also facilitated a broader understanding of the global citizenship education policies, models and practices being studied, and enabled an interrogation of the interwoven local, national and global factors at play in the two research schools. The cross-national comparative perspective of GCE as policies and practices in schools also encourages global inter-culturalism and fosters intercultural exchanges of ideas that school leaders can use to effectively run their schools.