The “vernacularization” of global education policy: media and digital literacy as twenty-first century skills in Singapore

Technological changes have reshaped communication, social life as well as the conditions of work, challenging schools to foster skills and capacities that help youth to competently and confidently navigate these new socio-technological terrains as workers, citizens and private individuals. Responding to these changes, media and digital literacy have been at the centre of a global policy push to articulate a curricular plan for twenty-first century skills, resulting in numerous frameworks produced by non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations and adopted by national governments. At the same time, scholars have been critical of the overwhelmingly economic rationale behind twenty-first century competencies and of the influence of global edu-business on national education policies, calling for critical analyses that examine the local uptake of globally mobile policy initiatives. This paper investigates media and digital literacy at the nexus of global twenty-first century education initiatives and their local interpretation within Singapore’s education system, with special attention to the role of creative digital production. Drawing on a critical analysis of both international and Singapore policy, as well as empirical data on teacher and student practice, I highlight the selective process of localization and its impact on twenty-first century competencies in Singapore.