The Social Studies: An International Journal

Decolonizing the Classroom: Teacher Agency and Structural Constraints in Implementing Multicultural Curriculum Reform

2025-11-03T06:31:34+00:00

National curriculum reforms increasingly mandate multicultural and inclusive education to foster social cohesion in diverse societies. This critical ethnographic study, informed by postcolonial theory and the concept of teacher agency, investigates the implementation of such a reform in a ethnically diverse secondary school in Malaysia. Over a 12-month period, data were collected through classroom observations, teacher interviews, and document analysis of lesson plans. The findings indicate a significant gap between policy rhetoric and classroom praxis. While teachers expressed strong belief in the principles of multiculturalism, their agency was constrained by a standardized examination system, a lack of culturally relevant teaching materials, and their own unexamined majoritarian biases. The study identifies a spectrum of teacher responses, from "resistance" and "accommodation" to "transformative adaptation." It argues that effective decolonization of the curriculum requires more than policy documents; it necessitates critical professional development that empowers teachers as reflexive practitioners to challenge hegemonic knowledge structures and co-construct the curriculum with their students.

Global Citizenship or Global Competition? A Critical Discourse Analysis of International Baccalaureate (IB) Mission Statements and Curricular Materials

2025-11-03T06:37:16+00:00

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program has expanded globally as a premier framework for educating "global citizens." This study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to interrogate the ideological underpinnings of this claim. By analyzing a corpus of official IB mission statements, curriculum documents, and marketing materials, this research deconstructs the discourse of "global citizenship" promoted by the IB. The findings reveal a tension within the IB's discourse: on one hand, it espouses values of peace, intercultural understanding, and ethical engagement, aligning with a critical, cosmopolitan model of global citizenship. On the other hand, its emphasis on academic rigor, elite university placement, and the cultivation of "future leaders" firmly embeds it within a neoliberal framework that prepares students for global competition rather than global solidarity. The paper argues that the IB's model of global citizenship primarily serves the interests of a transnational capitalist class, creating a new global hierarchy where the ability to act as a "citizen of the world" is a marker of elite status. This analysis prompts a necessary debate on whose interests are truly served by international education programs.

The Hidden Curriculum of Surveillance: School Securitization and the Cultivation of the Docile Citizen

2025-11-03T06:33:09+00:00

The proliferation of surveillance technologies (e.g., CCTV, biometric tracking, digital monitoring software) in schools is often justified under the discourses of safety and accountability. This paper employs a Foucauldian lens to critically analyze this trend as a potent form of hidden curriculum that shapes student subjectivities. Through a multi-case study of three "high-tech secure" schools in Singapore, this research combines policy analysis with focus group discussions with students and teachers. The analysis demonstrates that pervasive surveillance does more than monitor behavior; it disciplines it, fostering an internalized sense of constant visibility. Students reported self-censoring creative expression and avoiding non-conformist behaviors for fear of algorithmic or administrative sanction. This study argues that the securitized school functions as a panopticon, training students for a life of transparent citizenship in a surveillance capitalist society, thereby prioritizing docility and compliance over critical thinking and democratic engagement. The findings raise urgent ethical questions about the trade-off between security and the development of autonomous, critically-minded citizens.

Reclaiming the Faith: Islamic Education Reform in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan and Post-New Order Indonesia

2025-11-03T07:07:45+00:00

This article explores how two post-authoritarian Muslim societies, Uzbekistan and Indonesia, have sought to reclaim Islamic education as part of national reconstruction after decades of political control. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and Indonesia’s New Order regime (1998), both countries faced the challenge of rebuilding faith within radically different legacies: seventy years of Soviet atheism versus thirty-two years of bureaucratic depoliticization. Through a comparative historical analysis of policy documents, institutional reforms, and scholarly literature, the study examines how each state and society redefined Islamic education’s role in shaping modern Muslim identity. Findings reveal two divergent paradigms of reclamation. Uzbekistan represents a state-managed revival, where the government reintroduces Islam under strict supervision, framing it as a moral resource for nationalism and stability. Religious academies such as the Imam Bukhari Center and Tashkent Islamic Academy symbolize revival with restraint, faith reborn but domesticated. Indonesia, by contrast, embodies a societal-driven integration, characterized by plural, decentralized, and intellectually open reform. Civil society organizations, scholars, and universities (UINs) lead efforts to integrate religious and secular knowledge, producing a vibrant but uneven ecosystem of Islamic education. The comparison suggests that reclaiming faith after authoritarianism is not a simple restoration but a negotiated reconstruction shaped by memory and power. Uzbekistan struggles to move from control to confidence, while Indonesia must evolve from expansion to coherence. Both, however, reveal that faith reclaimed is faith still in motion, learning anew how to think, to teach, and to belong in the modern world.

From Meritocratic Myth to Systemic Barrier: A Longitudinal Study of First-Generation University Students' Social Capital and Belonging

2025-11-03T06:34:43+00:00

Higher education institutions often perpetuate a meritocratic ideology that attributes success solely to individual effort and talent. This longitudinal, mixed-methods study challenges this narrative by tracing the journeys of 50 first-generation university students in Australia over three years. Utilizing surveys, social network mapping, and repeated interviews, the research examines the role of social capital in academic persistence and sense of belonging. Quantitative results show a significant correlation between students' ability to build bridging social capital with faculty and peers and their likelihood of progressing beyond the first year. Qualitative findings reveal that first-generation students frequently lack the "navigational capital" possessed by their continuing-generation peers, leading to feelings of imposter syndrome and institutional estrangement. The study concludes that the "meritocratic" field of higher education is, in fact, structured by unacknowledged advantages. It calls for universities to move beyond deficit models and actively implement mentoring and cohort-building programs that systematically cultivate the social capital essential for the success of first-generation students.