Cosmopolitan nationalism as an analytical lens: Four articulations in education policy
This paper extends Professor Claire Maxwell’s development of the concept of cosmopolitan nationalism (published in 2020 in the British Journal of Sociology of Education’s 40th anniversary special issue: The current and future shape of the sociology of education). Together with colleagues from Israel, the US, Hong Kong and Australia, this recent paper (selected to be published in a special issue of Policy Futures in Education on ‘Considering the global-local relationship in education’) extends the development of the concept by applying it to education policy and curricular developments in the US, China and Israel.
The analysis highlights how many education systems around the world are grappling with, and simultaneously integrating both cosmopolitan and nationalist elements in policy objectives, curricular content and pedagogic approaches. More specifically, the multi-country case study analysis highlights four different education policy manifestations found across all sites, which can be identified and explained by employing the analytical lens of cosmopolitan nationalism: (i) the increasing prominence and visibility of the International Baccalaureate within public education systems; (ii) reforms of specific curricula elements and pedagogies legitimised with reference to approaches assessed as globally leading through international assessments; (iii) efforts to promote national education systems as international beacons of best practice; (iv) creation of alternative education provisions that are promoted globally for very specific purposes and populations.
The further empirical testing and theoretical development of this concept will take place in a special issue being curated by the four authors for Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education to be published in 2024.
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