In-Person Panel PS5.6

Navigating Educational Frontiers: Challenges and Opportunities in Asia-Pacific Curriculum

Beyond the Asia Literacy Dilemma: Examining the Impossibilities and Possibilities of Asia Curriculum in Current Policy Contexts 

Rebecca Cairns, Michiko Weinmann

Over the last decade, the evident gap between policy and practice has generated much debate about the ‘wicked policy problem’ of ‘Asia literacy’ and its feasibility in Australian education. In our book The Asia literacy dilemma: A Curriculum Perspective (Cairns & Weinmann, 2023) we argue that the policy construction of ‘Asia literacy’ has long been at an impasse and should be retired. This is not to say that Asia-Australia engagement should be abandoned as an educational goal. Rather, we argue that the continued re-problematisation or re-narrativisation of Asia literacy discourse acts to reinforce its insolubility, and that the curricular conditions which necessitate new ways of doing Asia-related curriculum must be more comprehensively considered. Drawing on an analysis of the latest review of the Australian Curriculum and Version 9.0 of the ‘Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia cross-curriculum priority’, we develop the concept of curricularisation to articulate both the possibilities and impossibilities of Asia curriculum in the current policy context. This includes illustrations from the disciplinary areas of Languages and History and our research with teachers and students. The questions and insights raised by our analysis have implications for the future of studies of Asia across school and higher education sectors.

Challenging Free Range International 'Cash Cows': Australia's China-Born Student-to-Professionals

Abigail Young

Is it a better outcome for national security to attract and keep Australian university-graduated Chinese migrants on shore? Chinese international students in Australian universities are paradoxically treated as a security threat and as ‘cash cows’. Even with COVID-19, the proportion of China-born students of total international enrolments has been stable despite the increasing concerns about foreign interference and espionage in the tertiary education sector. However, the number of temporary skilled visas and temporary graduate visas granted to migrants from China have been consistently decreasing. What is the cause of this reduction? Many factors contribute, not least of which are national security concerns in the backdrop of the securitisation of Chinese influence. Notably, while ‘university lecturers and tutors’ used to be the most common occupation for Chinese migrants on temporary skilled visas, this has rapidly declined. Assuredly, universities, identified as critical infrastructure under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, can be the first control in mitigating foreign interference. It has been questioned whether Australian universities are training their potential adversaries, could it be better to retain these minds? This paper explores the nuances in the relationship between international education and national security to the end of temporary residency visa grants. 

(What) Democratic Hopes? Reflections on Contemporary Citizenship Education in Singapore 

Yeow-Tong Chia 

Scholarship on citizenship education is generally critical of Singapore’s efforts in preparing students to democratically, and effectively deliberate about societal issues. Yet, in the lead up to Singapore’s General Elections held in July 2020, young politicians and citizens (between the ages of 21 to 40) demonstrated a significantly higher than expected level of active democratic political participation 

This was what prompted us to re-examine and re-interrogate the Social Studies curriculum documents between the years 1997 to 2014, the schooling period that voters between the ages of 21 to 40 would have gone through their formal education. Our preliminary reading of the document suggests that while there is still evidence of a utilitarian use of ‘critical thinking’ to advance Singapore’s economic competitiveness, it has also provided greater space for teachers to incorporate critical discussions in classrooms. We argue that Singaporean teachers are capable of exercising their professional agency to engage their students in critical deliberations about societal issues. We continue to advocate for citizenship education in Singapore to be committed to the role that critical thinking and deliberation play as ‘a value indicative of an inclusive society’ and not for serving the dominant utilitarian agenda of neoliberalism.