This book discusses how East Asia has introduced school and curricular reform to reflect democratic citizenship and globalized skills, knowledge, dispositions, and competencies in the 21st century. It also focuses on the tendencies and reasons students from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore receive the highest scores in international students’ assessment such as PISA and TIMSS; yet their curiosity and motivation for learning are the lowest internationally. Moreover, Indonesian and Vietnamese students are likely to receive the lowest testing scores, yet their motivation for learning is quite high. It is worth investigating high academic achievement in East Asia in light of the trend towards democratization. The authors consider controversial issues such as whether the goals of democratic education should be the attainment of high academic scores, consideration of whether to implement competency-based curriculums or meritocratic systems of academic competition, and the provision of equal opportunities in the community of learning. The book illuminates each country’s struggle to realise school reform on the basis of its social and cultural settings, and looks at what connects East Asia’s past, present, and future.

Examining how the increasingly interdependent economic system has driven policy change and education reform, Ka Ho Mok assesses the impact of globalization on the education systems of key East Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, and the "tiger economies" of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Education in east Asia varies widely, due to the cultural and political histories of each country. The communist governments of China, North Korea, and Vietnam mandate schooling differently from the limited democracy of Hong Kong and the parliamentary government of Japan. The history of the educational philosophies, systems, and curricula of seventeen East Asian countries are described here, with a timeline highlighting educational developments, and a special day in the life feature, a personal account of what it is like for a student to attend school in that country.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This edition throws light on the links between education and political transition in a dynamic part of the world. Themes addressed by the book include globalization, internationalization and localization; democratization and nationalization; and liberal versus democratic approaches.

Democracy in East Asia: developing an agenda for reform / 2004.

Schooling in East Asia: Forces of Change focuses on the condition and backgrounds of formal and non-formal education in several East Asian countries, as well as the identification of the factors that have inspired the educational systems that these countries have taken up. The book takes into consideration the backgrounds of the educational system in Japan and China, noting the different social structures that were prevalent there. The text explains how leaders of every social structure have a great influence on the form of education of their people. Relatively, the development of the educational system in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea, and South Korea is discussed. Educational policies, purpose of education, educational administration, and curriculum development are also considered. The text also gives emphasis on the forces that influenced the change in the educational system in these countries, including the educational attainment of teachers, teaching materials, curricula, and teaching methodology. A comparative appraisal of the educational system of these countries is also presented. The book is an important reference for scholars who are involved in promoting education, particularly curriculum development and implementation of schemes aimed at improving education.