This edited volume brings together diverse thinkers and practitioners from the field of teaching and teacher education as it pertains to educational development in South Asia. In this volume, authors draw from their research, practice, and field experiences, showcasing how teaching and teacher education are currently being carried out, understood, theorized, debated, and implemented for the education of children and teachers alike in South Asia. The volume also includes practitioner voices, which are often marginalized in academic discourse. This book acts as a key reference text for academics and practitioners interested in the intersection of education and development in the region, and in particular what it takes to pull off ambitious teaching and teacher education in South Asia.

This book offers a fresh and comparative approach in questioning what education is being used for and what the effects of the politicisation of education are on Asian societies in the era of globalisation. Education has been used as a political tool throughout the ages and across the whole world to define national identity and underlie the political rationale of regimes. In the contemporary, globalising world there are particularly interesting examples of this throughout Asia, ranging from the new definition of Indian national identity as a Hindu identity (to contrast with Pakistan's Islamic identity), to particular versions of nationalism in China, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. In Asia education systems have their origins in processes of state formation aimed either at bolstering 'self-strengthening' resistance to the encroachments of Western and/or Asian imperialism, or at furthering projects of post-colonial nation-building. State elites have sought to popularise powerful visions of nationhood, to equip these visions with a historical 'back-story', and to endow them with the maximum sentimental charge. This book explores all of these developments, emphasising that education is seen by nations across Asia, as elsewhere, as more than simply a tool for economic development, and that issues of national identity and the tolerance - or lack of it - of ethnic, cultural or religious diversity can be at least as important as issues of literacy and access. Interdisciplinary and unique in its analysis, this book will be of interest to scholars of political science, research in education and Asian Studies.

In this study, Runchana P. Suksod-Barger examines the impact of religion on female access to education in Thailand from 1889 to 1931- the early Modernisation Period in Thailand. Although Thailand is traditionally a Buddhist nation-state, Protestant missionaries during this era arrived in the country to convert Thais to Christianity. The Protestant belief in literacy, to enable everyone to read the Bible, opened up educational opportunities for Thai girls that had not previously been available to them. Suksod-Barger investigates the degree to which Buddhist and Christian influences affected Thai educational reforms for girls in primary and secondary education during the early Modernisation Period, using a feminist theoretical framework to understand the social, political, economic, and religious impact. The study contributes to the exploration of the historical and contextual discourse of Buddhism and women in Thailand, the history of education for Thai females during the early Modernisation Period and the overview of Protestant missions in the country, particularly their influence in establishing systems of mass education.

This open access book identifies the multiple ways that IEA’s studies of civic and citizenship education have contributed to national and international educational discourse, research, policymaking, and practice. The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), first conducted in 2009, was followed by a second cycle in 2016. The project was linked to the earlier IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED 1999, 2000). IEA’s ICCS remains the only large-scale international study dedicated to formal and informal civic and citizenship education in school. It continues to make substantial contributions to understanding the nature of the acquired civic knowledge, attitudes, and participatory skills. It also discusses in-depth how a wide range of countries prepare their young people for citizenship in changing political, social, and economic circumstances. The next cycle of ICCS is planned for 2022. In this book, more than 20 national representatives and international scholars from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America assess how the processes and findings of the 2009 and 2016 cycles of ICCS and CIVED 1999/2000 have been used to improve nations’ understanding of their students’ civic knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, current civic-related behaviors, and intentions for future participation in a comparative context. There are also chapters summarizing the secondary analysis of those studies’ results indicating their usefulness for educational improvement and reflecting on policy issues. The analyses and reflections in this book provide timely insight into international educational discourse, policy, practice, and research in an area of education that is becoming increasingly important for many societies.

Education is often seen as the key agency in international development and poverty reduction. Frequently the emphasis is on the economic and social role of education in development. This book, on the other hand, is unusual in explicitly examining the political role of education in development. In particular, it sets out the theories, evidence and arguments concerning the potential and actual relationships between education and democracy and critically explores the contradictory role of formal education in both supporting and hindering democratic political development. A key theme of the book is the importance of considering the type and nature of the education actually provided and experienced – what goes on inside the ‘black box’ of education? Currently in developing countries and elsewhere this is often at odds with democratic principles but the book also provides many examples of successful democratic practice in schools in developing countries as well as discussing a detailed case study of South Africa where democratic change in education is a key aspect of the policy agenda.

East Asian democracies are in trouble, their legitimacy threatened by poor policy performance and undermined by nostalgia for the progrowth, soft-authoritarian regimes of the past. Yet citizens throughout the region value freedom, reject authoritarian alternatives, and believe in democracy. This book is the first to report the results of a large-scale survey-research project, the East Asian Barometer, in which eight research teams conducted national-sample surveys in five new democracies (Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Mongolia), one established democracy (Japan), and two nondemocracies (China and Hong Kong) in order to assess the prospects for democratic consolidation. The findings present a definitive account of the way in which East Asians understand their governments and their roles as citizens. Contributors use their expert local knowledge to analyze responses from a set of core questions, revealing both common patterns and national characteristics in citizens' views of democracy. They explore sources of divergence and convergence in attitudes within and across nations. The findings are sobering. Japanese citizens are disillusioned. The region's new democracies have yet to prove themselves, and citizens in authoritarian China assess their regime's democratic performance relatively favorably. The contributors to this volume contradict the claim that democratic governance is incompatible with East Asian cultures but counsel against complacency toward the fate of democracy in the region. While many forces affect democratic consolidation, popular attitudes are a crucial factor. This book shows how and why skepticism and frustration are the ruling sentiments among today's East Asians.

In Asian Power Play, dive into the heart of Asia’s ever-evolving political landscape, where power, governance, and ideology intersect in fascinating ways. From the rise of authoritarian regimes to the resilience of democratic movements, this book offers an in-depth exploration of the forces shaping Asia’s future. Through detailed case studies, the book sheds light on the unique political systems, the struggle for influence, and the balancing act between tradition and modernization across the continent. Whether examining the power shifts in China, the democratic challenges in India, or the authoritarian resurgence in Southeast Asia, Asian Power Play provides a comprehensive lens through which to understand the political dynamics that are transforming the East.