Educating About Asia in New Zealand Secondary Schools in The 1990s Contesting Policy Curriculum and Practice

Abstract

The thesis is about New Zealand's educational response to the rise of Asian capitalism in the 1990s. The transformation is a significant one because it involves a shift not just in the political and economic sense but also in the opening of the New Zealand mind. Although studying Asia has been articulated in major Western countries as the key to improving a nation's understanding about Asia, the dependence on the fortunes of the Asian economy and on governmental cueing is problematic because the approach is not necessarily consistent with improving the Asia knowledge base. It is argued in this thesis that the educating about Asia project for New Zealand secondary schools in the 1990s is essentially a contested initiative. The study follows a multilevel research framework. It identifies the underlying assumptions and substantive issues in terms of policy, curriculum, and practice. The analyses show that the unfettered global forces are increasingly influential in determining and maintaining educational reform and change. The study has argued that 'Asia 2000' and 'Asia literacy' are primarily economic ideas that have taken on a slogan status broad enough to capture the nation's attention but not defined enough in terms of epistemological and pedagogical clarity. The speedy formation of Asian studies education in the social studies and languages curricula is, therefore, a technical exercise rather than an outcome of analytical or theoretical consideration. The research has further established that Asia-literate teachers are central to implementation. However, the weak connection between policy and practice means that the implementation is not teacher-driven. The lack of ownership of the policy initiatives by teachers explains why the implementation of Asian studies education is at a glacial pace. The thesis concludes that Asian studies education is very much a diminished curriculum and its implementation a decentralised activity. It suggests that there is much more educational space to develop Asian studies education than the narrow and predominantly utilitarian argument allows. As the contextual pressures become more unchartered in the new century, it is important to rethink the taken-for-granted assumptions or run the risk of less formidable policy, curriculum, and practice foci. Asian studies education reform in New Zealand is very much a work in progress.