A Curriculum Perspective

Teaching Reforms IN CHINA:A Curriculum Perspective

The following is a summary of the paper by Wu GangPing.

Summary:Teaching Reform in China

1. Teaching Reform Vs Curriculum Reform

Need for full curriculum reform instead of a partial reform in order for a teaching reform to occur.

Partial reforms add burden to teachers.

Focus of reforms so far were on teaching methods especially the basic skills of teaching instead of desired outcomes of students and skills/values.

Summary:Teaching Reform in China

1. Teaching Reform Vs Curriculum Reform

Curriculum too centralised and rigid. Curriculum top down approach

without feedback from teachers and students

Summary:Teaching Reform in China

1. Teaching Reform with Curriculum Sense

Curriculum and teaching inherited from Soviet system.

There needs to shift from rigid focus of content.

Need to incorporate findings from theoretical research.

Shift focus from just content which leads to ‘heavy workload’.

Differences between Teaching & Curriculum

1. Objectives- Varied teaching objectives- Curriculum need reasonableness2. Meaningfulness- Single activity (Teaching) vs many

activities (Curriculum) to support objectives.

3. Learning Results- Focus on academic results (Teaching)- Focus on development of students

(Curriculum)

Critique

Main focus is still in comparing teaching versus curriculum.

May have to look at what curriculum encompass. Should provide clearer definition of curriculum.

Look at what students need. Centralised Vs De-centralised: Is there a need

for varied curriculum (different regions/provinces)?

Effects of economic and social changes in China Differences in Urban Vs Rural areas should be

considered

China’s recent curriculum reform: Progress and problemsD, Feng (2006)

Further Reading

Economic Changes In China

Type ofcondition

Condition before 1984 Condition after 20 years of change

Economic

a) Planned economy a) Market economy

b) GDP fluctuation at low level

b) GDP continually increasing

c) Isolation from the world c) Acceding to World Trade Organization(WTO) and access to and interactionwith global economy

d) Little demand for creative, innovative,and self-motivated work force

d) Substantial demand for creative,innovative, and self-motivated workforce

Table 1: Changes in China’s Economic and Political SectorsD Feng (2006). China’s recent curriculum reform: Progress and problems. Planning & Changing, Vol. 37, No. 1&2, pp. 131–144.

Political Changes

Type ofcondition

Condition before 1984 Condition after 20 years of change

Social a) Centralization in governance

a) Move towards decentralization ingovernance

b) No legal system for education

b) Emerging legal system for education

Table 1: Changes in China’s Economic and Political SectorsD Feng (2006). China’s recent curriculum reform: Progress and problems. Planning & Changing, Vol. 37, No. 1&2, pp. 131–144.

Curriculum Reform of Basic Education

2001 : China’s Ministry of Education came up with Compendium for Curriculum Reform of Basic Education (2001)

Curriculum Reform consist of 8 components

1. Purpose & Objectives: A well rounded quality education

2. Curriculum Structure

3. Curriculum Standards

4. Learning & Teaching Processes

5. Development of Instructional Materials

6. Evaluation Systems

7. Teacher Preparation & Development

8. Implementation of Reform

Problems & Challenges

Increased teacher’s workload & expectations: Teacher as “an educator, learner, innovator, facilitator, researcher….”

Challenge for teacher to develop instructional materials to meet specific needs of students.

Students and parents voices may still not be heard or ignored.

Taking ownership and having distribution of leadership roles (Western Vs Confucius style of leadership for Principals).

Pace of curriculum change : gradual or rapid. D Feng (2006). China’s recent curriculum reform: Progress and problems. Planning & Changing, Vol. 37, No. 1&2, pp. 131–144.