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National Education: Framing the Citizenship Curriculum for Singapore Schools

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Globalization and the Singapore Curriculum

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

Abstract

National Education (NE) is one of latest nation-building initiatives to address citizenship in Singapore. Introduced in 1997, the agenda centres around a revitalized conception of nationalism and citizen loyalty in response to globalization. This chapter examines what curriculum-making entails in the context of National Education at the programmatic level, and addresses the substantive issues and tensions surrounding it. It suggests that National Education is a top-down and state-driven curriculum that is more political than educational. National Education promotes a minimal interpretation of citizenship, built upon a fixed and unproblematic notion of national identity. If the desired outcome is to have citizens stand by the nation in an ever-changing global society, National Education in its present form is inadequate. It needs to be reconceptualised to take into account a more balanced approach, inclusive of the realities of young Singaporean, as well as the space for responsible criticism of enshrined values.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Jasmine B.-Y. Sim

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  1. Jasmine B.-Y. Sim
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Correspondence to Jasmine B.-Y. Sim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Zongyi Deng

  2. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    S Gopinathan

  3. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Christine Kim-Eng Lee

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Sim, J.BY. (2013). National Education: Framing the Citizenship Curriculum for Singapore Schools. 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_5

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