A Study On Localization Of International Curriculum From The Perspective Of Public Governance

In an increasingly globalized world,international curricula,a significant representative of which is the International Baccalaureate(IB),gained worldwide popularity via progressive visions and instrumental adoption as an internationally-recognized diploma.In this context,China adheres to the overall requirements of opening-up policies,enhances cross-cultural cooperation,gradually realizes the transition from "in" to "out",and is devoted to telling the story of China on the stage of global educational governance.This study hopes to explore the localization pathway of international curriculum with theoretical support of public governance,furnishing new perspectives for international curriculum research.Combining external experiences for China to promote the high-quality development of elementary education,this article thrives to enlighten China to deal with the problem of international curriculum localization under wider globalization processes.Based on current related literature,this study discovered a lack of theoretical foundation as a practical limitation and therefore introduces the public governance theory.A contextual framework concerning four major stakeholders(government,school,market and society)is summarized from the existing education public governance models.During localization of the international curriculum,which is an imported product representing global concept,different stakeholders are attracted to participate,and engage in negotiations to jointly construct the local international curriculum governance ecology.This study takes Shanghai,a national experimental zone for comprehensive educational reform,as a sample for case study to conduct a qualitative study on actors practicing in the action network with different roles by means of interviewing,so as to retrace policy changes over the past thirty years,and to extract the attributes of stakeholders and their interaction process.Tracing the policy evolution of IB education in Shanghai,the study finds that it has undergone three stages: introduction,intervention,and restriction.From the perspective of public governance,the negotiating process involves multiple actors based on four stakeholders.After clarifying the attributes of the subject elements,three interactive networks are established: the interaction network of IBO,government,and schools regarding access and introduction;the interaction network of government,schools,and society concerning institutional legitimacy;and the interaction network of government,schools,and market in the dynamic process of expansion and retraction.By analyzing the consultation among stakeholders in the three process-oriented network systems,this study draws consensus and tensions in various aspects of policy understanding,role positioning,and interest reconciliation in stakeholders’ interaction of international curriculum governance in Shanghai from the perspective of public governance.This study points out that actors on the supply,demand,and connection sides need to be more actively involved to ensure international curriculum plays its due role in China.The government promotes the development of the industry and broadens the channels of dialogue,schools need to make good use of multiple resources,the market should promote the orientation of capital activation and integration,and society needs to value positive evaluation and feedback.In the process of interaction and consultation among various stakeholders,actors playing different roles need to establish awareness of preconceiving,bridging,consensus,and cooperating to jointly create a harmonious,efficient,and win-win international curriculum governance ecology.