Possibility of educating ‘global citizens’ through a Chinese national school curriculum

Abstract

ABSTRACT While global citizenship education (GCE) becomes increasingly popular, the concept is still contested in definition and assumes different meanings in various contexts. Many countries have started including GCE-related concepts in national educational policies and school curriculum. However, not much empirical research has been conducted on GCE in the curriculum in non-Western countries, particularly how GCE interacts with the existing citizenship education in national or local contexts. This article explores the possibility of educating global citizens in the formal curriculum in Chinese secondary schools dominated by nationalism. Utilizing a multiple case study design, data were collected from six high schools in Beijing and Shanghai, China. The study identified explicit and implicit elements related to global citizenship in the textbooks of a GCE-related subject and in teachers’ conceptions. The curriculum aims to develop qualified citizens with global awareness and global competence as defined in the Chinese discourse. The global elements in the curriculum reflect a tendency to cultivate global awareness derived from Confucianism, which contains a deep sense of collectivism, intertwined with China’s educational requirement to meet the need for building a modern country in the globalized world.