This article unpacks how neoliberal discourse functions as a dominant but problematic system of reasoning that changes and shifts the ways in which we come to think about early childhood education and care. A post-structuralist lens is deployed to understand the production of fears and hopes under the looming shadows of contemporary education reforms and social policies. Highlighting Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea as three cases from East Asian cultures, this article seeks to elucidate how a similar neoliberal economic and political imaginary is at work to (re)construct East Asian children as human capital for the alchemy of productive citizens in the 21st century.
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This paper seeks to present a framework for the school curriculum in the twenty-first century. It first describes and appraises critically the Tyler rationale, which has been influential for many decades. The rationale forms the basis of the school curriculum in many eastern and western countries. Next, the concept and features of modernism which underpin the rationale are described, leading to a discussion of its major strengths and weaknesses.
The paper goes on to present an alternative view of the curriculum - Doll's Model, which better meets the challenges of the fast changing world. The model, with its prominent nature of postmodernism, is discussed. Strengths and weaknesses of the model are also analysed. The author also makes a comparison of the two models, explaining why the latter is preferable to the first in laying the foundation of school curriculum in the coming century.
In the concluding section, recent curriculum initiatives in Hong Kong are described. There is discussion on the merits and limitations of The Target Oriented Curriculum. Then the new curriculum framework and its features are described leading to discussion on the implications for the Hong Kong curriculum. It is stressed that key concepts of postmodernism need to be taken into consideration so that the quality of education can be improved.
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