Global Citizenship Education in China from a Policy Point of View

• In Event: Chinese roundtable II (Sponsored by SIG: East Asia)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Global and international education

Proposal

Introduction
Faced with increasing global crises and problems, individual countries have been unable to shoulder these responsibilities solely. As International exchanges and cooperation have gradually gone beyond the national boundaries, the independence among countries in numerous aspects has deepened intensively. At the same time, the preparation for citizenship undoubtedly needs to extend beyond the border. This paper endeavors to survey the policy context of Global Citizenship Education(GCED) in China. This study aims at (1) demonstrating the trend and focus of the Ministry of Education(MOE) policy development in terms of GCED in China; (2) illustrating the policy emphasis through the textbooks used at the stage of nine-year compulsory education; and (3) comparing the case of China with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) view of GCED. The study employs relevant national education laws, strategic plans, curriculum frameworks and other policy documents used in different periods of time to analyze the political context for GCED in China. Next, it discusses some examples from the existing Chinese textbooks especially Morality and Rule by Law (Dao De Yu Fa Zhi) to examine the main dimensions of GCED in schooling. Finally, based on the former analysis, this research clarifies the features of GCED in China in comparison with the GCED scope of UNESCO.
Theoretical framework
Although there is no widely agreed definition of global citizenship(Selby,1994; Heater, 2004; Dower, 2003), and the education for global citizenship is applied in different ways in different contexts, regions and communities, it has a number of common elements. Global citizenship education entails three core conceptual dimensions: cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural domain, which are common in various interpretations of GCED (e.g., Oxfam, 2006; Morais and Ogden, 2011). In order to provide a guiding framework for global citizenship education that can be easily adapted to different national and local contexts, UNESCO (2015) presents an overall GCED structure based on three domains of learning, key learning outcomes, key learning attributes, topics and learning objectives. Though this framework is not definitely exhaustive, it provides a global perspective to review the GCED in different national and local context. This GCED scope from UNESCO is used in this study to compare with the emphasis of GCED in China demonstrated from the policy documents and textbooks, and explore the features of GCED in China.
Aims and objectives
The proposed study attempts to answer the following questions:
1. What is Global Citizenship Education?
2. How does the Chinese government view GCED? What is the trend and focus of the relevant policies in China? How is GCED embodied in the textbooks?
3. What is the feature of GCED in China in comparison with the GCED scope of UNESCO.
Analytical methods
This research mainly uses the methods of literature research and textbook analysis.
1. A comprehensive literature review on GCED, and analysis on the GCED framework of UNESCO was conducted.
2. A systemic analysis of the relevant official nationwide policies in order to describe the political context for GCED in China, and a textbook analysis on existing textbooks used in the Nine-Year Compulsory Education, especially Morality and Rule by Law (Dao De Yu Fa Zhi), which is the main citizenship education teaching materials since 2016.
3. A comparative analysis between GCED in China and the UNESCO view of GCED.
Data sources or evidence
The nationwide policy documents (e.g., national education laws, strategic plans, curriculum frameworks) will be mainly collected from the MOE official website and WANFANG DATA. Relevant newspapers and essential leaders’ speeches will also be reviewed. Besides, the existing textbooks used in the school subjects, especially the course of Morality and Rule by Law will be analyzed in the study.
Expected results
With globalization, the Chinese government pays more attention to developing students’ international mindedness and global perspectives. the official polices in China put more emphasis on cultivating global citizenship, in the way of international education experiences, instead of the GCED in school education.
In the stage of nine-year compulsory school education, the course of Morality and Rule by Law is the most essential way to develop students’ understanding and competitiveness with regard to the local, national and global community. Based on the analysis of policy context and teaching materials in China, we may find that there are some common emphasis between GCED in China and the view of UNESCO, for example, understanding the differences and connections between different groups, the environmental issues. However, there are also some areas emphasized by UNESCO, but neglected by GCED in China (e. g. , human rights, gender equality).
Significance of the study
The UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) calls for “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”, “countries to integrate values-based and action” to meet our global crises. GCED is an essential approach to the realization of the SDGs through educational reform worldwide (UNESCO,2017).
In China, The curriculum reform emphasizes the competence-oriented education instead of exam-oriented education(Chang,2015). “key competences” is an increasingly hot issue in education sector in China, and educators and scholars are very keen on talking about what should be taught and what should children learn. The education for global citizenship will be an important area to which the Chinese education reform should pay attention. Most of current researches on GCED in China mainly focus on the conceptual discussions, there are few empirical work. Therefore, the discussion and analysis of policy context and features of GCED in China is eagerly needed for Chinese domestic educational development and global progress.

Author

• Xi Wu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong