Balancing Spirituality and Secularism, Globalism and Nationalism: The Geographies of Identity, Integration and Citizenship in Schools

• Main Author: Kong, Lily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Citizenship; Faith-based schools; Geographies of education; International schools; Spirituality; Education; Nationalism; Research; Asian Studies; Human Geography; Religion
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1781; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3038/viewcontent/Balancing_spirituality_2013.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Geographies of education have drawn more research attention in the last decade. The varied motivations for geographical attention to education have led to divergent approaches. First, a macro, political economy or "outward looking" approach has examined educational provision and what it tells us about wider social, economic and political processes. Second, a micro, social-cultural or "inward looking" approach has emphasised social difference within school spaces, and the links between home and educational spaces. This latter approach has also acknowledged the importance of the voices of children and young people in understanding educational experiences. In this paper, l take stock of existing research in the geographies of education and then make a case for the examination of two types of schools that have received little or no geographical attention thus far, namely international schools and faith-based schools. I propose a multi-scalar framework for analysing the former and a relational framework for understanding the latter.