This introductory article serves as a hermeneutical tool for interpreting the subsequent articles in this special issue, which explores the nature and roles of comparative education in the 21st century within the context of a changing world order and the growing prominence of comparative education in the Asia-Pacific region. A review of the…

The article examines two key concepts in research on policy borrowing and lending that are often used to explain why and how educational reforms travel across national boundaries: reception and translation. The studies on reception analyse the political, economic, and cultural reasons that account for the attractiveness of a reform from elsewhere.…

The broad goals of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) are: (1) to advance education for international understanding in the interests of peace, intercultural co-operation, mutual respect among peoples and observance of human rights; and (2) to improve education systems so that the right of all to education may be more…

By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the English language had become the de facto "lingua franca" of the modern world. It is the most popular second or foreign language studied, such that now there are more people who have learned English as a second language and speak it with some competence than there are native English…

Despite the wealth of theoretical literature on globalization and global citizenship, empirical studies on the topic are lacking, especially in the context of pedagogical needs in relation to global citizenship education. In order to address this gap, a study was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate the attitudes of university students towards…

The idea of cosmopolitanism is emerging as an explicit aim of the Korean educational system. Over the course of its 5,000-year history, Korea has been characterized by a largely homogeneous population. In recent years, however, it has begun to face the challenges of a multicultural society, and thus the notion of cosmopolitanism plays an important…

This article examines the relevance of postcolonialism in early childhood education, with special reference to the kindergarten education system of South Korea. Most of the research on Korean kindergarten education has conceptualized it as preparing children for their later schooling and helping them learn the moral and social values most desired…

Under pressure of the continuing need to modernize, Vietnam is rapidly reforming its education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based CL is encouraged…

The impetus for this argumentative paper is anecdotal evidence overheard in West Australian educational settings indicating that there continues to be "othering" of learners from Asian backgrounds. Exploring prevailing Western social, theoretical and educational discourses associated with Asia, the author argues that teacher education in Western…

The introduction of an Australian curriculum is likely to have a widespread and long-term impact on schools, teachers and students, and yet there has been a swift and an almost unquestioning acceptance of its introduction by the Australian public and by educators. This paper will use theoretical frameworks informed by Gramsci's cultural hegemony…

Globalization and the increasingly multicultural characteristic of many countries and societies have placed an acute spotlight on whether nations are able to develop citizens who are multiculturally educated and globally engaged. While the character and citizenship education literature in Asia and the Pacific often mentions intercultural…

Globalization and the knowledge economy have opened up worldwide agendas for national development. Following this is the emphasis on the social dimension, otherwise known as social capital. Much of social capital includes "soft skills" and "twenty-first century skills", which broadly cover critical, creative and inventive thinking; information,…

Since 2004, the Hong Kong government has sought to build a regional education hub and develop an education industry. However, the rationales and intentions behind this move and the implications these have for the nurturing of local human capital and economic capacity are not always clear. This article seeks to contextualize Hong Kong's economic…

How do Asia Pacific educators make sense of culture in the curriculum in terms appropriate to the twenty-first century? With the advance of globalization, is the idea of a culture (whether national, ethnic, or indigenous) as a way of life sustainable? In such a paradoxical setting where global forces appear to both affirm and undercut local…

Under the influence of globalization, English has almost become the default language in scientific academia. While the culture-independent nature of scientific research may result in scholars' preference for using one common language, over-reliance on English may shape non-English-speaking scholars' negative attitudes toward their national…