Convergence and divergence in conceptions of citizenship within Ghanaian, Singaporean, and Welsh citizenship education curricula: a mixed-method comparative analysis

James, Robert 2026. Convergence and divergence in conceptions of citizenship within Ghanaian, Singaporean, and Welsh citizenship education curricula: a mixed-method comparative analysis. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates changing conceptions of citizenship in the national curriculum documents of three postcolonial countries, Ghana, Singapore, and Wales, between 1991 and 2024, to assess the extent to which their conceptions of citizenship are converging. Against a backdrop of accelerated globalisation, it examines how Citizenship Education Curricula (CEC) interpret and emphasise three core dimensions of citizenship (Rights and Responsibilities, Participation, and Identity and Belonging). While citizenship is widely considered to be an essentially contested concept, research has largely focused on implementation and the subjective experiences of teachers and pupils, rather than the concept itself, via the intended curriculum. This study addresses that gap. Employing an innovative cross-national and temporal research design, the study analysed twenty officially sanctioned syllabi, using a mixed-methods approach, combining content analysis, an innovative Key Syllabus Mechanism (KSM) analysis, and detailed textual analysis. This enabled a robust comparison of CEC across countries and over time, which is a necessary approach if one is to demonstrate curriculum convergence. Findings showed in all three countries curricula emphasis on citizen’s responsibilities has grown, whilst aims and content addressing citizens’ rights has declined, sharply in Singapore, moderately in Ghana, and unevenly in Wales. Furthermore, representations of citizens’ responsibilities have shifted from broadly socio-political to almost exclusively social and civic, and representations of rights, have seen Ghana increasingly combine constitutional and human rights framings, Wales consistently foreground universal human rights, and Singapore largely omits them altogether. Additionally, a strong trend toward shaping autonomous, decision-making individuals also emerged, along with new responsibilities related to digital citizenship, accompanying consistent concerns with economic development and environmental stewardship. The citizenship dimension Participation has become more prominent across the board, particularly as a KSM and curricular aim, but participation is also, increasingly framed as social and community engagement rather than political involvement. Efforts to foster iii participation in government, politics, and democracy have weakened in all three cases. Instead, Ghana stresses participation in nation-building, Singapore, as social cohesion, and Wales, as social action. The most convergent citizenship dimension, both in terms of emphasis and meaning, was Identity and Belonging, which saw the concept’s syllabus coverage expand universally, in all three countries, where it’s meaning also evolved, from monocultural and nationally-bound, towards multilayered conceptions, inclusive of self, social, cultural, national, and global belonging. National identity remains central and global identity is only tentatively emerging by comparison. Overall, the study finds evidence of convergence in the emphases each nation places on the three citizenship dimensions (rights and responsibilities, participation, and identity and belonging), reflecting shared international pressures, but simultaneous convergence and divergence in terms of what these concepts actually mean and how they are framed in each nation’s CEC, reflecting different national, political, cultural, social, geographic, and historical contexts. Citizenship remains framed as a national enterprise, even as global influences reshape its expression. This thesis contributes to the fields of curriculum and citizenship studies, and comparative international eductaion, offering new insight into how states define the citizens they seek to shape in a globalising world.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > School of Social and Spatial Sciences
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 October 2026
Last Modified:	06 Oct 2026 15:48
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190018

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