Towards Asia “curriculum-as-lived”: Amplifying student voice in the Asia literacy curricular landscape

Abstract

ABSTRACT For the last five decades, the development of “Asia-literate” students has been a key objective in Australian education policy. The contentions surrounding this educational goal have been well documented by academic literatures, policy documents and media commentary. This paper seeks to redress the absence of student voices in these debates by examining students’ experiences with Asia-related curriculum in the context of Languages and History teaching and learning in secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. Engaging the lens of curriculum inquiry, we use select thematic episodes from qualitative interview data to interrogate students’ understanding and evaluation of planned and experienced Asia-related curriculum. Their stories highlight the incongruences of Asia learning as framed by (and within) formal sites of learning, and students’ lived experiences in other spaces. We argue that in order to effect a shift in the current expressions of Asia-related curriculum policy towards a more student-centred articulation, students’ roles in shaping curricular knowledge warrant more attention and scrutiny. As our analysis suggests, a deeper understanding of students’ experiences of curriculum-as-lived may be the catalyst for a long-overdue reorientation towards a curricular landscape of multiplicity, where new and authentic possibilities for Asia learning could be envisaged.