Traditionally, the role of school education, as an important tool to shape a distinctive national identity, has been widely discussed. Nearly all nation states employ mass schooling to develop a distinctive national identity explicitly or implicitly. However, both of the landscapes for nation-states and national identity have shifted in an era of globalization. National identity education no longer enjoys the level of importance it used to have worldwide, hence being frequently questioned. Meanwhile, the discourse of global citizenship education has been widely explored in the literature and are being used increasingly evitable in various educational arenas, calling for cultivating students’ global identity. The research aims to explore how a sense of national identity is cultivated in balance with global identity through elementary schools in Mainland China and Scotland. To be more specific, the research has three sub-questions. 

Q1: How is a sense of national identity in balance with global identity intended through elementary schools in Mainland China and Scotland?

Q2: How is a sense of national identity in balance with global identity implemented through elementary schools in Mainland China and Scotland?

Q3: How is a sense of national identity in balance with global identity attained through elementary schools in Mainland China and Scotland?

Based on the existing literature, the research builds up a coordinate system to explore the relationship between national identity and global identity reflected in the school education. After the study of national identity and global identity respectively in each national context, the research will try to locate each case school in different quadrants and further explain their rationales.

(1)Inclusive-global: Education with a range of multidimensional identity topics combined with a global identity

(2)Exclusive-global: Education with a strong mono-dimensional global identity

(3)Exclusive-national: Education with a strong mono-dimensional national identity

(4)Inclusive-national: Education with a range of multidimensional identity topics combined with a national identity

The research is qualitative in essence and employs case study as the methodology. With the aim of illustrating the case in richer depth and highlighting cross-case issues, the research chooses one primary school in each national context. Firstly, interviews are conducted with education policy makers to explore the underlying philosophy of the curriculum regarding national identity and global identity. Secondly, content analysis is employed to explore how national identity and global identity are constructed through related curriculum standards and textbooks. Thirdly, interviews are conducted with head-teachers and teachers to explore how national identity and global identity are currently promoted explicitly in the school and classroom levels. Fourthly, non-participant observations are employed to explore how national identity and global identity are promoted implicitly through hidden curriculum. Finally, in order to explore how the learning experience is perceived and how students understand national identity and global identity, focus groups are employed with 10-year-old students.

After the study of national identity and global identity reflected in educational settings in Mainland China and Scotland, the research wants to locate the case schools in the coordinate system. Based on that, the research wants to promote the understandings of the issues of education, culture and politics between Mainland China and Scotland.

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