ABSTRACT
Macao is one of the high-performing education systems in the East Asia. This chapter begins with a discussion of the characteristics of high-performing education systems and how they are created by the global assessments. Using Macao as an illustrative example, this chapter attempts to examine the compatibility between global competence-driven educational discourse and the development of local social studies education, and the future development of this in Macao. Social studies education as a curriculum construct plays a significant role in the contemporary education history of the territory. Stemming from a historical and longitudinal perspective, this chapter reveals the ways in which social, political and economic forces have an impact on the development of social studies education and vice versa. Social studies education as a field of government action and investment during both the colonial period and after the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region has demonstrated its significance in responding to social and political changes at different times. However, under the influence of the global competence movement advocated by international organisations, social studies education suffers from marginalization and “de-disciplinarisation”. The chapter ends with a call for reflection on the price of the global high-performing education system, and to reconsider what studies are socially and locally valuable in our own context.
Keywords social studies education, Macao, moral and civic education, Macao curriculum, high-performing education system
