I teach across three interdisciplinary postgraduate programs at SNU: the Interdisciplinary MA/PhD in Global Education Cooperation in the Department of Education; the Interdisciplinary MA in Peace and Unification Studies in the College of Social Sciences; and the Interdisciplinary MA in International Development in the Graduate School of International Studies. I also teach postgraduate and undergraduate courses on sociology of education and comparative education in the Department of Education.
Among the courses I have recently taught is:
1. Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding (MA/PhD): The global education development community has set as a goal to get all children into schools by 2030, and to provide them quality education, yet war and violent conflict around the world remains the greatest barrier to achieving this goal. This course examines the policies and practices that local, national and international agencies adopt to resolve conflict and war, provide access to schooling, and build peace in and through education. [Click here for a copy of the syllabus]
2. Peace Education: Comparative Perspectives (MA/PhD): Peace education (PE) as a field of study examines the roles that education plays in promoting peace, justice, nonviolence, and equity in society. The field is transdisciplinary, cross-national, and multi-sectoral. It is situated within the broader fields of Comparative Education and International Development. PE is primarily concerned with identifying and mitigating all forms of direct, structural, cultural, and poststructural violence through curriculum, pedagogy, and policies, in domestic and global contexts through formal, non-formal, and informal learning. The field is especially concerned with examining education in conflict-affected, fragile, and post-conflict contexts in regard to issues of development, democracy, human rights, social justice, and environmental sustainability, among others. Students of PE learn how to examine and plan appropriate educational interventions to mitigate violence and promote justice through education policy and practice. Critical, decolonial, and postcritical perspectives on PE, and case studies of PE in practice around the world, will be discussed. [Click here for the syllabus]
3. Education and International Development (MA/PhD): Why are so many people around the world so poor? Why do so many people globally lack access to education? What, if anything, can developed countries do to assist? Education is a core facet of development and there is nearly universal support for the right to education, yet still the world has not achieved education for all. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the history, theory, methods, and debates in international educational development. [Click here for the syllabus]
4. Postcolonial and Decolonial Thinking in Education (MA/PhD): This course will explore key readings in postcolonial and decolonial theory and apply these theories to educational practice. Case studies of recent decolonial movements in Hong Kong, South Africa and the UK will be discussed. Students will use the theories to rethink their ongoing research projects and consider the implications for educational theory and practice more generally. [Click here for the syllabus]
5. Qualitative and Decolonial Research Methods (MA/PhD): This course is directed toward the needs of MA/PhD students who are assumed to be experienced practitioners of many kinds. It is designed as an exploration into a range of qualitative and decolonial research methods appropriate for work in formal and non-formal educational spaces, such as ethnography, case study, grounded theory, narrative studies, decolonial thinking, and postqualitative inquiry. Students in turn learn the standards that qualitative researchers use to judge the rigor and strength of a study. [Click here for the syllabus]
6. Comparative Education, Peace and Development (BA): How does education differ across countries, cultures and communities? What sorts of policies and practices have been borrowed from one setting to another? What is the role of education in promoting peace and development in and between societies? This course provides students an accessible introduction to comparative international education with a particular focus on examining educational practices and policies across the global North, global South, and conflict-affected contexts. Students have the opportunity to apply their learning to a comparative case study.[Click here for the syllabus]
Other courses taught include: Research in Comparative and International Education: Critical Approaches; Modernity, Globalization and Education; Sociology of Education; Educational Thinkers and Theory; Theories of Peace and Conflict Studies; Introduction to Global Affairs; and Conflict Resolution and Negotiation, among others.
Fall 2023 Graduate Student Teaching Assistant: Christine Joo