Tenets and Concepts of World Culture Theory Reflected in Experienced Primary School Teachers' Understanding of Educational Changes in Taiwan

The emergence of globalization as a dominant discourse has generated heated debates on whether the world is becoming more homogenous or heterogeneous and if we are witnessing the emergence of a global culture or diversified local cultures. One particular debate involves world-institutionalists and educational anthropologists on world culture and mass schooling. Using a qualitative method 'Portraiture' to understand the worldviews and ways of thinking of the participants the researcher attempts to explore how the perceptions, experiences, and practices of seven experienced primary school teachers whose ages range from forty-three to fifty-two years old in Taiwan might illuminate the theoretical debates. The findings do not provide evidence of world culture at individual fundamental level. In their twenty-plus years of teaching most participants experienced personal moral and spiritual transformations which significantly affect their perceptions on issues relating to world culture theory. It seems that both sides of the debate pay little attention to these transformations, which occurred in their later stages of life, and seemed to come from their lived experiences at human level. Certain ideals in world culture are shared by most participants, such as equality, child-centered primary education, and awareness of a global society; however, the sources of their ideals mostly come from their own morality that operates at human level in contrast to the debate at abstract and conceptual level. They do assimilate abstract ideals into their worldviews and ways of thinking; however they do it in a way which may not seem to resonate with the dominant scientific mentality in policymakers and academics.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Ke, I-Chung

Contributors dc:contributor

• Witz, Klaus

• Education, Elementary

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3202111

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/79886