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National and Global Citizenship Education: Case Studies from Two Singapore Social Studies Classrooms

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Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum

Part of the book series: Education Innovation Series ((EDIN))

Abstract

In Singapore, educators have to balance nationalist ideals with more cosmopolitan values and skills that are deemed essential for the country's survival in the global marketplace. In particular, teachers and students have to grapple with two very different goals articulated in the national curriculum – “Being Rooted” and “Living Global.” Through the use of individual interviews and classroom observations, this study examines Singapore secondary students’ understandings of national and global citizenship. The findings from the study suggest that the students are strongly committed to national priorities and are less committed to the cosmopolitan values. These two case studies also underscore the significant impact of high-stakes national examinations on modes of instruction and are suggestive of the crucial role political and institutional contexts play in shaping students and teachers’ perspectives of citizenship.

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Ho, LC. (2013). National and Global Citizenship Education: Case Studies from Two Singapore Social Studies Classrooms. In: Deng, Z., Gopinathan, S., Lee, CE. (eds) Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum. Education Innovation Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-57-4_10

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