Discourses of Citizenship in Two Global Cities: Comparing Official Curricula in Hong Kong and Singapore

• In Event: Social Studies Education in Global Contexts

Abstract

This qualitative, comparative case study examined intentions for global citizenship education as described in official rhetoric, state-level policies, and curriculum documents in Hong Kong and Singapore. Informed by logics and discourses of global cities and perspectives of curriculum as discursive practice, we surfaced justifications for global citizenship education in both settings. Findings yielded two categories unique to each case, whereas, cross-analysis resulted in two common themes: “depoliticized citizenship as inoculation against global ills” and “discursive contradictions in the hourglass economy.” The study expands current research by illuminating the predominance of narrow, utilitarian forms of global citizenship education amidst competing global, national, and local discourses, and implicating possibilities for curriculum to accommodate reimagined, critical forms of citizenship in a globalized world.

Authors

• Theresa Alviar Martin, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

• Mark C. Baildon, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University