Understanding the Process of Internationalization of Curriculum Studies in China: a Case Study

Abstract

The movement to internationalize curriculum studies has initiated complicated worldwide conversations incorporating different nations, intellectual histories, and diversified curriculum visions. However, questions remain regarding how internationalization works in different contexts, what the goals are of such work, and in what ways it might influence the formalization of the field. How local intellectuals’ research on this topic serves to constitute and function in the process of internationalization is an area requiring further study. In examining the vanguard work of a curriculum studies center in China, this qualitative research seeks to understand the forces that drive internationalization in China, and how Chinese curriculum scholars function with, through, and around the process of “complicated conversation.” This research demonstrated that political forces, social realities, and education intellectuals are the primary subjects mobilizing and sustaining the internationalization of curriculum studies, traditional Chinese culture and wisdom serve as the foundation for equal dialogue with the international community, and the nature of the internationalization process appears to be unbounded and democratic. 课程国际化进程已促使不同国家间,不同智识传统间展开了“复杂对话”并且成就了不同的课程观。 然而,在不同的环境下,国际化工作如何进行,他们的希冀如何,又会走向何方,这些国际化工作又是怎样影响课程领域的发展还不明朗。本土的智识传统在国际化进程中的作用是什么值得进一步探索。在对中国的一个课程研究前沿中心的调研中,这个质性研究试图理解在中国有什么样的力量推动课程国际化,他们又是怎样在课程国际化历程中围绕“复杂对话”与国际上的智识来展开合作与对话。研究表明,政治力量、社会现实、和教育知识分子促进着中国的课程国际化,中国传统智识被认为是开展国际对话的根本,课程国际化的历程本身体现灵活多元而又民主的。