Basic Education in China Wang, Dinghua,PhD 2006 Basic Education Department
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Basic Education in China Wang, Dinghua,PhD Basic Education Department Ministry of Education, PRC 2006 China is developing country with a population taking up one fifth of the world’s total. 367 million people are below 18. The Choice of China Converting the population pressure into huge human resources Adopting the strategy of reinvigorating the country through science and education The Chinese Government has put forward the scientific development outlook of “putting people in the first place” and “promoting the harmonious development of economy and society” and the idea of building a socialist harmonious society. Great Achievement in China’s Basic Education 95% of total population receives 9 year compulsory education. High school education grows up quickly. Curriculum reforms are undergoing pretty well. Teachers are respected. A series of educational laws promulgated and revised. Pressing Challenges in China’s Basic Education Inequity Although K-12 education in China has made significant advances, the overall development has been quite uneven and imbalanced. Obvious gaps exist between different schools. It can neither respond well to the needs of rapid socio-economic development, nor satisfy the aspiration of the broad masses for balanced basic education. As a developing country, the urban-rural divide is evident in China. International metropolitans like Beijing and Shanghai But in Vast rural areas, agriculture is still chief industry Urgent demand for Quality Quality is the lifeline for education. Basic Education in some areas and many schools in some areas can not meet the increasing demand from the public for a high quality education. Parents have very high demand for high quality. High quality education not only refers to education with better infrastructure, but also refers to qualified teaching contingent, improved teaching process, better management, and proper philosophy of running schools. Teacher’s quality needs to be improved. Irrelevance Curriculum must be more oriented and relevant to students in the country-side. Examination-driven Although innovations are undergoing with entrance examinations into higher education institutions. Examination related subjects emphasized. Too much learning burden is faced up with students. Campaigns for basic education Compulsory Education To universalize the 9-year compulsory education in the entire country has great bearings on China’s modernization effort. It is both a grave challenge and a task that must be carried out by this interim government. Curriculum Reform Conduct comprehensive reform of curriculum, textbook, in basic education. Leverage the excellent cultural and educational traditions of China as well as the advanced curricula, textbooks and teaching methods of the other countries. Objectives of new curriculum in China 1. To understand China’s history and her current status thus become ready to assume responsibilities for their personal and national development, in the meantime to respect other nations and their cultures and to be ready to participate in international development and communication; 2. To master the basic skills for reading, writing and arithmetic operation, basic knowledge for culture and science, necessary skills to express themselves and communicate with others, capacity to process information, to acquire basic labor skills, so that they can adapt effectively to the learning society; 3. To develop, through observation and experience, a scientific understanding of the environment, sustainable development and ecological ethics, and to be able to identify, analyze and solve problems in their daily life; 4. To understand and care for the society, to form appropriate moral values and behavioral habits, ready to serve the people and the community; 5. To develop sound self-consciousness and independent personality thus to take good care of life, learn to rationally plan for and assess one’s own development and to cope with frustrations in the social life; to be accustomed to engage in regular physical exercise and proper living habits; 6. To develop healthy interest for esthetic appreciation of the beauty of the nature, society, science and art; to be inclined to join in different cultural activities. Math: Increase • multiple solutions for problem solving. • concept of space development. • content of statistics. • practice and comprehensive application. • calculator and computer as tools. Decrease • difficulty level and speed. • conceal deliberately-man made questions. • delete some complicated and seldom-appeared contents. • Reduce complexity of formulas and terminologies. • reduce requirement for identifying skills. Chemistry: Increase link of student life experience and demand for chemistry. chemical experiment and chemical social survey activities. In the light of modern sciences, add new material. consciousness of students to environmental pollution, enhance capacity of self protection. Decrease some unnecessary and boring chemistry concepts. chemistry calculation. demonstration experiment. Teacher preparation and professional development Build upon the current teacher’s training, attract more talented people to join the teacher’s profession. Implement the “Gardeners Project” Reward excellent teachers by every Teacher’s Day Set up codes of conduct of teachers Improving the qualifications of teachers Laying much emphasis on the turning out of qualified teachers in the western part of China. Student learning Active learning Interactive learning Hands-on ability How to fish instead of giving fish Teaching Process Teaching reforms Classroom teaching Social participation Project oriented study Team work In teaching process, ICT is widely applied. Teaching Assessment Grade instead of 100 marks More encouragement Qualities at all aspect are encouraged Continuous innovations toward entrance examination will be conducted Through introduction of computer labs, satellite reception devices, CD-ROM playing devices, and VCD and DVD materials, quality educational resources will reach rural schools in remote and poor areas. Model 1: DVD player at teaching points From 2003 to 2007, DVD Players and various teaching DVDs will be equipped for 110 thousand rural teaching points, in order to provide educational resources for 5.1 million pupils in rural and mountainous areas. Model 2: Satellite receiving stations at all rural primary schools The satellite teaching receiving stations are being built up in 384 thousand rural primary schools so that the needs of 81 million rural pupils to educational resources can be met. And this job could help improve educational quality and teacher level of rural primary schools. Model 3: Computer classrooms at all rural middle schools We are establishing 38 thousand computer classrooms in 38 thousand rural middle schools so as to deliver educational resources and information technology to 31 million rural middle schools. Any nation belongs to the world. The Chinese nation enjoys a historical and cultural tradition not broken for 5,000 years. Education in China can not and will not sustain without the Chinese cultural traditions. Our collaboration and cooperation in the field of education will bring us even closer.
