This study investigates key cultural differences in teaching between Korean and "western" teachers, and analyses these via questionnaires given to 35 Korean teachers and 36 non-Korean teachers followed by selected interviews. A significant finding was the emphasis Korean teachers place on testing compared to the "Western"…

In this essay, I draw upon Ellen J. Langer's notions of mindlessness and mindfulness to identify and delineate Confucius' views on mindfulness. Langer's theory exemplifies a social-cognitive approach to mindfulness which is a prominent orientation in the extant research. I argue that Confucius, like Langer, rejects mindlessness that is…

Active participation of learners has been viewed as the key to the learning process. To constructivists, challenging materials and cooperative activities where students participate and become engaged are essential in classroom instruction. In comparison, classrooms in Chinese heritage culture classrooms, where lectures are the main form of…

Engaging with students as partners (SaP) in learning and teaching is fundamental about quality learner-teacher relationships. It is a growing and contested arena of pedagogical practice that is dominated by western scholarship. Seeking to expand understanding of partnership approaches, we conducted a scoping review guided by the question: what is…

The nature of the New Policies in China (1901-1911) has been hotly debated for decades. While scholars doubt the sincerity of the Qing government in their pursuit of constitutional reform, there is a general agreement on the high quality of their educational reform. Some even consider their educational innovations as "genuine reform" but…

This article examines the development of Taiwan's Environmental Education Act and how Education for Sustainable Development was mainstreamed into the national policy framework within the country. The goal is to understand the policy tools and governing strategies that were used by the Taiwan government to develop and implement a nationwide…

In contrast to the continued decline of liberal arts education in the US, there has been a revived interest in liberal arts education in Asian countries in recent years. Grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the central tenets of liberal arts education in the West, this paper looks into the struggles Asian countries face in their…

This paper examines the challenges and possibilities facing democratic citizenship education in China. It starts by taking on the increasing political repression under Xi's regime and how it is marginalizing or silencing democratic discourses. Then it examines the rising economically-driven populist nationalism in China, and how it complicates the…

This article expounds on a neo-Confucian approach to mindfulness by drawing upon the writings of Zhu Xi. I argue that Zhu Xi's notion of mindfulness is encapsulated in the concept of 'jing' that refers to the single-minded and reverential attention to self-cultivation through 'gewu' (investigation of things). The desired outcome of mindfulness is…

This study investigates the educational thought of Confucius with focus on the educational relationship in the "Analects," which is a historical text that defines the foundations of Confucianism. The first part of the investigation examines Confucius' concept of the educational relationship and how it is characterized with a dialogical…

Symbiosis is a biological phenomenon in which two dissimilar organisms coexist for mutual subsistence. The concept of symbiosis can be employed to foster mutual learning. In this paper, the idea of symbiotic learning is explored. To achieve this purpose, the concept of symbiosis is interpreted from a philosophical perspective, which is primarily…

Maoist policy in China emphasised the peasants and workers. It integrated academic study with productive labour to nurture socialist citizens useful for the nation's modernisation. More recently, China has been described as having a 'neoliberal turn' but many see the situation as more complex than this due to the significant role given to the…

Adult education is a significant feature of the Taiwanese education landscape and is recognized as significantly contributing to national economic development. Given the importance of adult education in Taiwan, an investigation of teaching approaches and an understanding of interplay of teaching approaches with Taiwanese culture is worthwhile…

Situated within research and practice on intercultural communication education, this paper suggests an urgent inclusion of dialogism and ethics in the ways it is dealt with around the world. Supranational institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Council of Europe, treat intercultural…

Drawing textual evidences from the Analects (Lunyu??) and other Confucian classics, this article attempts to clarify the contents, methods, and ultimately the nature of learning in the eyes of Confucius. The paper set out to argue that a better understanding of the concept of learning by Confucius must be angled on: (i) Confucius's political…