Rebecca Cairns - Böcker

The Asia literacy dilemma brings forward a novel approach to the long-standing global debates of Asia-related teaching and learning. By bringing into focus ‘Asia’ as a curriculum area, the book provides original commentary on the rationale and feasibility of ‘Asia literacy’ and its role and significance within and for twenty-first-century education.The book’s unique contribution lies in a comprehensive problematisation of ‘Asia’ as planned, enacted and experienced curriculum, bringing together policy, teacher practice and student experiences to present an extensive discussion. By contextualising the problematics of Asia-related curriculum within contemporary national and transnational curriculum challenges, Cairns and Weinmann take account of conflicting discourses of nation-building, ethnocentrism, transnationalism, geo-economics and the purposes of twenty-first-century education. Its use of interview data with teachers and students recentres key actors that are often sidelined in official curriculum policy discourse. The book also introduces the concept of curricularisation to describe the process through which objects and discourses of curriculum are produced and reproduced. In doing so, the book presents a comprehensive discussion of the impossibilities and possibilities of Asia curriculum in the Australian context, providing an innovative longitudinal and integrated understanding of the status quo of Asia curriculum.Highlighting the urgent need to reinvigorate the re-emerging centrality of curriculum in recent education debates around policy, teacher standards, assessmentand learning outcomes, this book is an important reference for education policy experts and academics in the fields of curriculum studies, teacher education and studies of Asia.

The Asia literacy dilemma brings forward a novel approach to the long-standing global debates of Asia-related teaching and learning. By bringing into focus ‘Asia’ as a curriculum area, the book provides original commentary on the rationale and feasibility of ‘Asia literacy’ and its role and significance within and for twenty-first-century education.The book’s unique contribution lies in a comprehensive problematisation of ‘Asia’ as planned, enacted and experienced curriculum, bringing together policy, teacher practice and student experiences to present an extensive discussion. By contextualising the problematics of Asia-related curriculum within contemporary national and transnational curriculum challenges, Cairns and Weinmann take account of conflicting discourses of nation-building, ethnocentrism, transnationalism, geo-economics and the purposes of twenty-first-century education. Its use of interview data with teachers and students recentres key actors that are often sidelined in official curriculum policy discourse. The book also introduces the concept of curricularisation to describe the process through which objects and discourses of curriculum are produced and reproduced. In doing so, the book presents a comprehensive discussion of the impossibilities and possibilities of Asia curriculum in the Australian context, providing an innovative longitudinal and integrated understanding of the status quo of Asia curriculum.Highlighting the urgent need to reinvigorate the re-emerging centrality of curriculum in recent education debates around policy, teacher standards, assessmentand learning outcomes, this book is an important reference for education policy experts and academics in the fields of curriculum studies, teacher education and studies of Asia.

This book is the first of its kind to showcase a range of fresh and expert perspectives on decolonising history education in Australia. The research-informed chapters by First Nations and non-Indigenous educators and scholars provide guidance on applying practical strategies for decolonising learning and teaching, and moving beyond the ‘history wars’.History has long been the most contentious area of education in Australia. This book tackles the narrow and overtly politicised ‘history wars’ debates and foregrounds the need to re-examine impacts of settler-colonialism on Australia’s history. First-hand knowledge and much-needed teaching practices are presented, demonstrating how decolonisation can be put into action through Australian history education. The chapters present a range of perspectives from the early years right through to higher education settings and argues that there is an increased need for greater awareness, appreciation, and willingness to explore and engage with multiple narratives of truth-telling that are so often contested. Readers are guided to discover how this translates to classroom practice through unique, provocative, and research-informed strategies that foreground applied decolonising approaches.Combining theoretical perspectives and practical ideas, this book is an essential resource to support pre- and in-service teachers, in all education contexts, in navigating the decolonisation of Australian history education. This makes it an important contribution to local, as well as global, decolonising efforts.