Handbook of Asian Education

A Cultural Perspective

Yong Zhao, Jing Lei, Guofang Li, Ming Fang He, Kaori Okano, Nagwa Megahed, David Gamage, Hema Ramanathan, Yong Zhao, Jing Lei, Guofang Li, Ming Fang He, Kaori Okano, Nagwa Megahed, David Gamage, Hema Ramanathan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781136721281
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

Comprehensive and authoritative, this Handbook provides a nuanced description and analysis of educational systems, practices, and policies in Asian countries and explains and interprets these practices from cultural, social, historical, and economic perspectives.

Using a culture-based framework, the volume is organized in five sections, each devoted to educational practices in one civilization in Asia: Sinic, Japanese, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu. Culture and culture identities essentially are civilization identities; the major differences among civilizations are rooted in their different cultures. This framework offers a novel approach to capturing the essence of the diverse educational systems and practices in Asia.

Uniquely combining description and interpretation of educational practices in Asia, this Handbook is a must-have resource for education researchers and graduate students in international and comparative education, globalization and education, multicultural education, sociocultural foundations of education, and Asian studies, and for educational administrators and education policy makers.

Part I

Sinic Education

1 A Cultural Overview of Education in Sinic Civilization

Guofang Li and Ming Fang He

Introduction

The Sinic civilization, or Confucian civilization, refers to the shared and related cultures of China and the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, which includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and Vietnam. It also includes the Chinese diaspora, especially in relation to Southeast Asia. In the last few decades, education within Sinic civilization has experienced rapid changes. These changes have engendered some of the most vital, exciting, and revitalizing developments in education in these countries, in the midst of modernization, diversification, and globalization. This development is characterized by a dramatic resurgence of educational reforms, heated debates over educational practices, and ongoing struggles over highly contested educational policies in Sinic societies. This educational development in Sinic civilization is inextricably linked with the processes and impact of diversification of the world landscape which, in turn, further complicates the diversification of cultures, languages, communications, economies, ecological systems, and ways of lives in the East, in the West, and in-between. This diversity and complexity, though creating vitality, excitement, revitalization, and renewal in the field of education, has emerged as one of the most urgent challenges facing twenty-first century educational workers—learners, teachers, educators, parents, community workers, administrators, and policy-makers. Influenced by Confucian ethics, educational workers in Sinic societies have attempted to address diversity and complexity in their educational landscapes by searching for more holistic and eclectic approaches to educational reforms and practices. These efforts are of great significance to our understanding of the educational development in these societies and beyond in the era of diversification and globalization.

In “Part I: Sinic Education,” we discuss current educational reforms and practices in governance and management, curriculum and assessment, teachers and teaching, learners and learning, and home and community in countries and regions with Sinic civilization. We also explore the challenges and future directions for educational reforms as well as the dynamic, fluid, and contested convergence of educational practices within the social, political, economic, and cultural contexts of these Sinic societies. We end this Part by investigating the education of Asian immigrants in the West. Since many emigrants from Sinic civilization have come to live in the West, how they are educated and adapting to their new cultures, language, and places will shed light on the increasing diversity and complexity in the educational landscape across the globe. This Part consists of eight chapters.

Our aim in this introductory chapter is to stimulate the reader’s imagination. We urge readers to compare ideas and discussions presented in chapters in Part I with those in other Parts. These chapters stimulate reflections on the predicaments of Sinic civilization advanced above, and authors push our thinking, individually and collectively, to re-imagine Sinic education in the twenty-first century.

Cultural Overview of Education

Confucian civilization, Sinic civilization, though with different stages of development (Tu 2000), permeates educational practices such as education governance and management, curriculum and assessment, teachers and teaching, learners and learning, home and community through constant changing process of stability, chaos, changes, revivals, and flourishes of cultures, languages, communications, economics, ecological systems, and ways of life in countries and regions with Sinic civilizations, other civilizations around the world, and in-between. The countries featured in Part I, to various degrees, share similar but slightly different traits of Confucian civilization, such as hierarchical relationship, collectivism, humanism, self-cultivation, trust, empathy, compassion, grace, and honesty (see Pang in Chapter 2 for more details). These variations of Confucian civilization are affected by and influence the resurgence of intellectual movements, the fluctuation of economic development, different stages of social and cultural growth and upheavals, and varied forms of political governance. These shared Confucian ethics of “equality over freedom, sympathy over rationality, civility over law, duty over rights, and human-relatedness over individualism” (Tu 2000, 215) seem to oppose the modern Western values of “contract, market, choice, competition, efficiency, flexibility, productivity and accountability” (Pang in Chapter 3; see also Tu 2000) translated in education by modernization and globalization. In the midst of these clashes of civilizations (Huntington 1996; Zhao, Lei, and Conway 2006; Zhao, Zhang, Yang, Kirkland, Han, and Zhang 2008), values, beliefs, and ethics, Sinic societies have been experiencing various educational reforms which demand paradigm shifts in approaches to education systems and practices to meet the challenges brought about by modernization and globalization in the highly competitive world. While the chapters in Part I cover several areas of educational practices for readers to ponder and wonder over, cultural epistemological curiosities about education in Sinic societies emerge: What implications can modernization and globalization engender for the promises and perils of education in Sinic societies? What can educational workers do to adequately meet the challenges of modernization, diversification, and globalization?

Sharing Civilization, Overcoming Inequality, Maintaining Quality, and Cultivating Humanity

In Sinic societies, the primary purpose of education under the influence of Confucian civilization is to “cultivate humanity, integrity, beauty, justice, and equity” (Schubert, 2009) through self-cultivation, which is “the common root of regulation of the family, the governance of state and peace under heaven, the quality of life of a particular society depends on the level of self-cultivation of its members” (Tu 2000, 215). A Confucian society which encourages self-cultivation as a prelude for human flourishing is a society that cherishes virtue-based governance and regulation, communal ways of self-cultivation, families as gathering places for learning to be human, communities as places to invigorate human interaction and sharing, and education as a place to cultivate full human potential. The process of modernization and globalization in Sinic societies is shaped by these common cultural values and ethics, deeply rooted in Confucian civilization.

As modernization and globalization pervade the globe, Sinic societies begin to explore possibilities of communication, negotiation, and accommodation between the fusion and clash of different cultural values, ethics, and civilizations. Traditions continue in modernity and globalization. Sinic societies are becoming modernized and globalized without being Westernized. However, the reconfiguration of modernization and globalization in Sinic societies tends to intensify “inequalities in wealth, power, and accessibility to goods, ideas, and information” (Tu 2000, 200). These inequalities are further intensified in schools, and become one of the major barriers to maintaining the quality of education. There are drastic disparities in facilities, equipment, and resources between city schools and rural schools and between developed regions and underdeveloped regions (particularly in China and Vietnam; see Chapters 5, 6, and 8 for details); disparities in sharing governance in school management and curriculum opportunities (see Chapters 3 and 4 for details); disparities in faculty benefits, salary, and social welfare (see Chapters 5 and 8 for details); and disparities in access, resources, and power for disenfranchised individuals and groups including those with disabilities, and minority groups (see other chapters in Part I for details).

Overcoming inequality has become one of the most important goals of education in the twenty-first century (UNESCO 2009). Education in Sinic societies is infused with Eastern and Western cultures, traditions, and civilizations while absorbing the most advanced concepts, theories, and experiences from modern Western education. Nevertheless, the inequalities and inadequacies within the existing education systems and practices in Sinic societies must be overcome in order to achieve Education for All (UNESCO 2009).

There have been a wide range of reform initiatives in Sinic societies, building upon both Confucian civilization and modern Western civilizations. We hope the chapters in this Part can revitalize ongoing, heated, debate in educational practices, and increasing recognition of the chaos and vigor of clashes of civilizations and challenges over uncertain, confusing, and highly contested educational issues such as inequalities (urban–rural, gender, digital divide, educational provision for disenfranchised ethnic minorities, immigrants, or learners with special needs) and quality of education (visions of education, quality of teachers, active learners, engaging content curriculum, culturally inspiring learning environment, parental and community involvement, culturally responsive policy-making, creative learning assessment and evaluation, teacher training and development, etc.) in countries with Sinic civilizations and other civilizations around the world.

In the midst of these obstacles and challenges, we believe that the key to maintaining the quality of education for all is to fuse Confucian civilization, other Eastern civilizations, and Western civilizations to develop an education of shared interests (He, Phillion, Chan, and Xu 2008; Li 2005). We envision this education of shared interests as one where all members of schools, communities, societies and the policy-making milieu have shared common interests. Families and communities connect their concerns about the education of their children with those of larger societies. Schools share their interest in educating creative and lifelong learners with families, communities, and societies. Individuals have equal opportunities to “take and receive from others” and to have “free interchange of varying modes of life experience” (Dewey 1916, 84) from various civilizations, and are willing to adjust their interests to the interests of others in larger societies. In such an education of shared interests, teachers cultivate cultural competence, full human potential, and world citizenship in learners to recognize themselves not only as members of local communities but also as members of global societies. They develop pedagogical and cultural competence based upon the fusion of Eastern and Western civilizations to enrich the curriculum for all learners. Learners are encouraged to value their cultural and linguistic heritage rooted in their cultural norms and civilizations, to respect and accept differences, to critically examine their positions in societies, and to perceive themselves as agents of positive social and educational change. Policy-makers and administrators learn the nuances of learners’ experience at home, in the community, and at school. They value the knowledge held by teachers, students, parents and other curriculum stakeholders, and incorporate this knowledge into culturally relevant policy-making. Families, communities, and societies share responsibilities with schools and government organizations to create an inspiring learning environment that is equitable, safe, and caring. This environment is the ideal setting for developing an education of shared interests that commits to a high level of achievement and global awareness for all in an increasingly diversified world.

References

Dewey, John. 1916. Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: The Free Press.

He, Ming Fang, JoAnn Phillion, Elaine Chan, and Shijing Xu. 2008. Immigrant students’ experience of curriculum. In Handbook of curriculum and instruction, ed. F. Michal Connelly, Ming Fang He, and JoAnn Phillion, 219–39. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Li, Guofang. 2005. Culturally contested pedagogy: Battles of literacy and schooling between mainstream teachers and Asian immigrant parents. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Pang, Nicholas S. K., ed. 2006. Globalization: Educational research, change and reforms. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, the Hong Kong Educational Research Association and the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research.

Schubert, William H. 2009. Love, justice, and education: John Dewey and the Utopians. In Landscapes of education (book series), ed. William H.Schubert and Ming Fang He. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Tu, Wei-Ming. 2000. Implications of the rise of “Confucian” East Asia. Journal of the Academy of Arts and Sciences 129(1): 195–218.

UNESCO. 2009. Overcoming inequality: Why governance matters. France: UNESCO Publishing.

Zhao, Yong, Jing Lei, and Paul F. Conway. 2006. A global perspective on political definitions of e-learning: Commonalities and differences in national educational technology plans. In The international handbook of virtual learning environments, ed. Joel Weiss, Jason Nolan, Jeremy Hunsinger, and Peter Trifonas, 673–697. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer/Springer.

Zhao, Yong, Gaoming Zhang, Wenzhong (Eric) Yang, David Kirkland, Xue Han, and Jianwei Zhang Zhao. 2008. A comparative study of educational research in China and the United States. Asia Pacific Journal of Education 28(1): 1–17.

2 Educational Governance and Management in Sinic Societies

Nicholas Sun-keung Pang

Globalization is a product of the emergence of a global economy. The process of globalization is seen as a blurring of national boundaries, a shifting of solidarities within and between nation-states, which deeply affects the constitution of national and interest group identities (Morrow and Torres 2000). The term “globalization” is generally used to refer to a complicated set of economic, political, and cultural factors. As a result of expanding world trade, nations and individuals experience greater economic and political interdependence (Wells et al. 1998). New communication technologies that facilitate expanded world trade as well as cultural interaction are considered the determinants that lead to the emergence of globalization. It is widely believed that globalization is transforming the political, economic and cultural lives of people all around the world, whether in the developed countries or developing ones, and that globalization is driving a revolution in the organization of work, the production of goods and services, relations among nations, and even local culture (Pang 2006a).

The Impact of Globalization on Education

The potential effects of globalization on education are many and far-reaching, due to its scale and nature. Because the main bases of globalization are knowledge-intensive information and innovation, globalization should have a profound impact on education (Carnoy 2002). Almost everywhere in the world, educational systems are now under pressure to produce individuals ready for global competition—individuals who can themselves compete for their own positions in the global context, and who can legitimate the state and strengthen its global competitiveness (Daun 2002).

Globalization has brought a paradigm shift in educational management, administration and governance in many countries. Under the impacts of globalization, Mulford (2002) observes that the old-fashioned values of wisdom, trust, empathy, compassion, grace, and honesty in managing education have changed into the so-called values of contracts, markets, choice, and competition in educational governance and administration. At present, governments and educational administrators are probing more into the instrumental skills of efficiency, accountability and planning than the skills of collaboration and reciprocity. Education nowadays puts more stress on the short term, the symbolic and the expedient, having the answers, and conformity, than in the past, where the focus was on the long term, real and substantive goals and objectives, discretion and reserving judgment, and character.

In the competitive global economy and environment, nation-states have no choice but to adjust themselves in order to be more efficient, productive, and flexible. To enhance a nation’s productivity and competitiveness in the global situation, decentralization and the creation of a “market” in education have been the two major strategies employed to restructure education (Linga...

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the Book
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Sinic Education
• Part II: Japanese Education
• Part III: Islamic Education
• Part IV: Buddhist Education
• Part V: Hindu Education
• Index