Internationalization of Curriculum

Blog 7
I would really like to share what I learnt about international of curriculum studies in my previous course. Internationalization of curriculum studies as found in William Pinar (cited in Carson, T., 2009) describes as, a global collective in order to understand curriculum as an interdisciplinary text that enables an interpretation of our personal and collective lives. Also, other reading I find very interesting as it gives a clear view when Gough (2004) states “internationalizing curriculum inquiry might best be understood as a process of creating transnational ‘spaces’ in which scholars from different localities collaborate in reframing and decentering their own knowledge traditions and negotiate trust in each other’s contributions to their collective work..”. It totally changed my view about internationalization of curriculum, as, I used to think it is just the techniques of teaching the conventional subjects. But, knowing that it is a way to know and understand different cultures and addressing the contributing of scholars from different parts  of the world is completely new to me. Although it is something so obvious, but, I think I failed to notice it or never looked at it that way.

When I first saw Canadian curriculum in India I was so excited to know the way it should be taught. I even participated in few of the ‘Canadian teacher training’ workshops in an International school in India. To me it was a chance to bring the Canadian education system in India. I was studying the curriculum for the first time and it was a big folder. This made me ask, “How does the curriculum of India look like?” Unfortunately, I still don’t know the answer.

But, what is the need of internationalizing curriculum? To me before reading the articles I would say, because we don’t find any curriculum from India that addresses the conventional subjects according to the international standards in order to adapt and become fit for the global market. But now I find, it addresses other critical issues like political, ethical and, etc. It is not just about the conventional subjects but also the prevalent issues globally for example in Gough (2004 ) the study of Dean Ashenden et al’s (1984) describes ’ Manifesto for a democratic curriculum’. I find how curriculum study was affected after 9/11 and raised the questions about the presence of nationalism and patriotism in the curriculum (Carson, T., 2009). Also, in  (Tröhler, D. (2014),  the comparative study of Germany and United States to understand curriculum, exposed me to  the differences related to the curriculum research between two countries. Therefore, “the complexity of education in the context of economic and cultural globalization” as Allan Luke (cited in Carson, T., 2009) states, is the result to economic globalization and reactionary nationalism (p. 147).

 The need for internationalization of curriculum is also, as Gough (2004)  states, ” the formation of new publics – democratic, multicultural, and transnational citizenries ” and “ ..building transnational coalitions for public education … to prepare  future labour for global economy”. Moreover, we find in (Carson, T., 2009) that by internationalization of curriculum we can also make paths to reconciliation and reparation by for example by studying  history(p. 150). Tröhler, D. (2014) best describes the main reason for need of internationalization of curriculum by giving example of United states in 1900 when it was trying to handle the immigrant problems in 1900 and was  inclined to think about the interrelation between education and democracy.

We have seen how, through curriculum critical issues are answered and how it can help in reconciliation, we see there is a need to study internationalization of curriculum with increased pressure of globalization. And also the scenario of United States in 1900 can be seen all around the world which is raising the questions of handling equity, social justice and, democracy under diversity. And to me Canada is one of the best examples of Immigrant issues. Further (Carson, T., 2009) states,” in the face of globalizing pressures of a world culture in education, the search for one best curriculum does matter, because of its influence on education officials who have the power to affect teachers’ lives”.

What do you think about internationalization of curriculum ? 

References:

Tröhler, D. (2014). “International curriculum research: Why and how?” In W.F. Pinar(Ed.) International Handbook of Curriculum Research. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge

Carson, T. (2009). Internationalizing curriculum: Globalization and the worldliness of curriculum studies. Curriculum Inquiry, 39(1), 145-158

Gough, N. (2004). A vision for transnational curriculum inquiry. Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, 1 (1), pp. 1-11.