Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

espect to discussion of cultural similarities and differences with other Asian
countries, curricula and textbooks are typically highly Thai-centric, presenting
the country’s neighbours as historical enemies (Mukdawijitra, 2013, p. 110).
Recent research shows that intercultural understanding is weak in Thai education,
which does not directly address the importance of understanding and learning to
live together with other groups, particularly in relation to conflict in the Muslim
South and to migrant workers in the country (Jones, 2014).
A strongly nationalist paradigm may not always entirely exclude coverage of
values related to ESD/GCED. In Viet Nam, the Curriculum Framework for the
Secondary Level stresses the importance of understanding important events in
human history and the relationship between national and global history, and of
respecting other countries and their cultures (p. 763). In Cambodia, human rights
and values education figure prominently in Social Studies and Moral-Civics
Education (also see Box 4.1). The curricula of these subjects feature, among other
things, references to the law against racial discrimination and the importance
of human rights and the rights of minorities, including ethnic minorities and
the disabled (p. 50). But where a highly state-centred and ethno-culturally
essentialist variant of nationalism predominates, discussion of universal rights
is likely to be decontextualised and tokenistic.
Language education and identity
Thirdly, in Southeast Asia, as elsewhere, language education is a crucial carrier
of values, as regards the construction both of a sense of national (or ethnic)
selfhood, and of transnational dimensions of identity. In many societies across
this region, the role of language in this respect is particularly complex and
fraught. This relates not only to the accommodation of generally very high levels
of linguistic diversity, but also to foreign language education. In some regions
of the world — notably parts of Europe — foreign language learning has, in recent
decades, been seen as important in part for its potential to buttress forms of
transnational identity consciousness. This dictates the allocation of considerable
class hours to foreign language instruction, and encouraging many students
to learn multiple foreign languages (see Appendix III for table on instructional
hours). In Southeast Asia, however, the study of foreign or second languages
at school effectively begins and ends for most students with English (plus,
In states where the
process of nation-building
is relatively young, and
mass schooling relatively
new, it is natural for a high
priority to be accorded to
instruction in a national
common language
for minorities, the language of the majority
ethnicity); opportunities to study languages
spoken by domestic minorities or neighbouring
countries (frequently the same) are generally
scarce.
In states where the process of nation-building
is relatively young, and mass schooling
relatively new, it is natural for a high priority
to be accorded to instruction in a national
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Chapter 4: Southeast Asia