Localization and globalization in curriculum: Paradigm shift and multiple theories

In facing up the challenges of globalization, there is a demand for paradigm shift from the traditional paradigm of site-bounded education towards the new paradigm of triplization including globalization, localization and individualization in education with the support of information technology and various types of local and global networking. This paper highlights how the characteristics of new learning and new curriculum are completely different from the traditional thinking and practice. Given the increasing international concerns with both the positive and negative impacts of globalization on local developments, how to manage the realities of globalization and localization in education inevitably becomes a key concern in curriculum development. A typology of multiple theories of fostering local knowledge and human development in globalizing curriculum and related educational practice is proposed in the paper to address this key concern. It is hoped that the proposed paradigm shift in learning and curriculum development will benefit the policy formulation and practice in ongoing educational reforms and the proposed typology can provide a wide spectrum of alternatives for policy-makers and educators in different parts of the world to conceptualize and formulate their strategies in curriculum development with aims at fostering local knowledge and human resources for the local developments in a context of globalization.