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 reasonableness 2. 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 problems D, Feng (2006) Further Reading

Economic Changes In China Type of condition Condition before 1984Condition after 20 years of change Economica) Planned economya) Market economy b) GDP fluctuation at low levelb) GDP continually increasing c) Isolation from the worldc) Acceding to World Trade Organization (WTO) and access to and interaction with global economy d) Little demand for creative, innovative, and self-motivated work force d) Substantial demand for creative, innovative, and self-motivated work force Table 1: Changes in China’s Economic and Political Sectors D Feng (2006). China’s recent curriculum reform: Progress and problems. Planning & Changing, Vol. 37, No. 1&2, pp. 131–144.

Political Changes Type of condition Condition before 1984Condition after 20 years of change Sociala) Centralization in governancea) Move towards decentralization in governance b) No legal system for educationb) Emerging legal system for education Table 1: Changes in China’s Economic and Political Sectors D 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.