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Deliberating Values for Global Citizenship: A Study of Singapore’s Social Studies and Hong Kong’s Liberal Studies Curricula

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Educating for the 21st Century

Abstract

This chapter examines the role and nature of values in civic education curricula in the Asian global cities of Singapore and Hong Kong. Using a qualitative, comparative case study approach, we situate civic education in broader contexts and analyze the ways values are represented in Singapore’s Social Studies curriculum and the Liberal Studies curriculum in Hong Kong. Through our analysis of syllabus documents and broader societal discourses, we found several common core values across the two settings that simultaneously represented nationalist and global neoliberal discourses of citizenship. Rather than emphasizing political or civic concerns, curricular and societal discourses worked together to underscore self-management and the creation of orderly national societies attractive to global capital and necessary for economic growth in a competitive global economy. However, we found distinctions in each syllabus regarding approaches in values instruction. Documents in Singapore emphasized teaching values through transmissive methods, whereas, in Hong Kong, the Liberal Studies curriculum advocated a more deliberative pedagogy. The chapter poses broader questions regarding narrow, utilitarian forms of citizenship and possibilities for reimagining more critical forms of citizenship education in a globalized world.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Center for Governance and Citizenship, Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Theresa Alviar-Martin

  2. Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Mark Baildon

Authors
  1. Theresa Alviar-Martin
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  2. Mark Baildon
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Correspondence to Theresa Alviar-Martin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Suzanne Choo

  2. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Deb Sawch

  3. Ridgefield Public Schools, Connecticut, USA

    Alison Villanueva

  4. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Ruth Vinz

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Alviar-Martin, T., Baildon, M. (2017). Deliberating Values for Global Citizenship: A Study of Singapore’s Social Studies and Hong Kong’s Liberal Studies Curricula. In: Choo, S., Sawch, D., Villanueva, A., Vinz, R. (eds) Educating for the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1673-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1673-8_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-1671-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-1673-8

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