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Alternative Education Spaces And Pathways: Insights From An International Christian School In China, Menusha De Silva, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong Dec 2020

Alternative Education Spaces And Pathways: Insights From An International Christian School In China, Menusha De Silva, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The nascent scholarship on geographies of alternative education focuses on alternative education spaces, most located in the UK, that resist and/or negotiate neoliberal restructuring of education, some of which cater to socially marginalised groups. In contrast, through an ethnographic focus on an underground Christian international school in China, we examine an alternative education space that responds to parents’ aspirations for their children to be inculcated with global cultural capital, Chinese values and Christian beliefs. These aspirations are not fulfilled in mainstream state schools or international schools in China, but are demanded by parents looking for a “superior” set of skills …


Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra Dec 2020

Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In this report, we will focus on education at the primary, secondary, and junior college levels, and will not discuss the education offered in polytechnics (vocational colleges) and universities. We will also focus exclusively on Singapore’s public school system, which Singapore citizens are required to attend unless they are granted a special exemption. In addition to public schools, there are also international schools, which cater to the relatively large expatriate population in Singapore and typically offer a curriculum leading to the IB diploma. All public schools …


The Transnational Frontiers Of Japanese Education: Multiculturalism, Cosmopolitanism, And Global Isomorphism, Hiro Saito Jul 2020

The Transnational Frontiers Of Japanese Education: Multiculturalism, Cosmopolitanism, And Global Isomorphism, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Japanese education system today faces three transnationally created challenges. The first is multiculturalism. Given an increasing number of students whose parents are either migrants or naturalized citizens, the government needs to rethink the nature of public schools, which have traditionally catered to ethnic majority students, and explore how to make them culturally more inclusive. The second is cosmopolitanism. Although cosmopolitanism is regarded as a desirable disposition and competency in a globalizing world, the government has difficulty incorporating it into the education system that continues to function as a central vehicle of nation-building. The third is global isomorphism. While world …


Competing For Academic Labor: Research And Recruitment Outside The Academic Center, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Meng-Hsuan Chou, Jue Wang Jun 2020

Competing For Academic Labor: Research And Recruitment Outside The Academic Center, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Meng-Hsuan Chou, Jue Wang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Increasing competition among research universities has spurred a race to recruit academic labor to staff research teams, graduate programs, and laboratories. Yet, often ignored is how such efforts entail negotiating a pervasive hierarchy of universities, where elite institutions in the West continue to attract the best students and researchers across the world. Based on qualitative interviews with 59 Singapore-based faculty, this paper demonstrates how migrant academics in competitive universities outside the West take on the burden of seeking other ways of attracting academic labor into their institutions, often resorting to ethnic and transnational ties to circumvent limits imposed by a …


Commentary: What Lies Ahead? Considering The Future Of A ‘New’ Vietnamese Higher Education, Yasmin Y. Ortiga Jan 2020

Commentary: What Lies Ahead? Considering The Future Of A ‘New’ Vietnamese Higher Education, Yasmin Y. Ortiga

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this commentary, Ortiga discusses two main tensions in how the authors in this volume portray the future of Vietnamese higher education. The first tension is the issue of autonomy or how universities must redefine their purpose and role in Vietnamese society as the state loosens its monopoly over higher education. Meanwhile, the second tension is the issue of privatisation or whether for-profit corporations and private agencies should play an increasing role in providing higher education services in the country. In reflecting on the future, Ortiga compares the case of Vietnam to higher education systems in neighbouring countries like the …