Exploration on Curriculum Reform of Basic Education in China

erspectives of Innovation

Beijing Normal University Pei Dina

Abstract:Responding to the requirements of new epoch,the curriculum reform of basic education in China has been experiencing the profound transformation from traditional one to the modern model.This paper attempts to analyze the values,structures and form,contents,implementation and steps,the technical supports and the methodology of curriculum reform of basic education in China based on the macroscopic view and perspectives of innovation.

Key words:innovation on schooling,curriculum reform of basic education,reformative endeavors

Curriculum,as the core of basic education,is the embodiment of the educational institution and thoughts,the essential measures of quality and ways to ensure the realization of educational goals.Curriculum change is a key foundation of modernization of education in China.

Over the past 30 years,curriculum reform of basic education complies with the tendency of time and shifts from the traditional to the modern model based on the reformative endeavors.It is worth of rethinking the on-going change process,faults and experiences and that will provide some inspirations for the curriculum reform of basic education in the future.

Challenges of curriculum reform in China and innovation of schooling

1.Need for curriculum reform

With the transformation of planned economy system to the market-oriented economy system in China since 1990s,it means the human existence has been dramatically changed.As Gu (2001) argues,over the past 30 years,there are not only great changes on the distribution of resources,but the entire social life,or human existence has been incredibly transformed in China,which results to the radical change of schooling.Typically,due to the requirements of industrial society and information age,the challenges of imbalanced development of regional economy,multicultural values,problems of morality and the cultural ecological crisis,curriculum reform and development of basic education are confronted four urgent problems.

(1)Requirements in the transformative time

China is experiencing an incredible peculiar,complex and arduous social transformation,which embodies requirements of the modernization,the marketability,socialism reform.It puts forward the new requirements for skills of the people,specifically,the needs of high-caliber personnel with the optimization of the economic structure,the demands on shifting of rural labor to non-agricultural workers and the requirements for labors of cross-industry.There is an urgent need to the new personnel who is strongly and swiftly adaptable to changes of society and involved in the international competition,has colors in personality.

(2)In conformity with the extreme uneven economic,scientific,cultural and policies development and confront with the dual structure in urban and rural economy in technological,social and regional structure,the goals of curriculum reform should be tailored to the needs of various calibers and capable of adapting different requirements.Schools should step up their irrational educational philosophy,contents,methods and system and increase their awareness of service for all pupils and creativity.

(3)The challenges of schools are facing including the shift of values with the development of market economy,the dilemma of ethnics of network culture,the coexistence of multicultural,the goals of curriculum should focus on how to correct handling of the relationship between the tradition and modern,globalization and localization,how to promote the development of society in succeeding,reforming and creating the modern society.There are four values coexisting among the Chinese people at present,which including traditional and modern culture,the orient and west culture,the mainstream and non-mainstream values and the mass culture and elite culture.Schools in China,however,are lack of the active preparation.Students are short of the judgment,choice and identity on world culture,meanwhile are lack of the understanding the national culture,the ability on focusing the rich resources of culture and the communication of cross-culture.

2.Educational concept and structure

There are various contradiction and integration among multifarious educational concepts.It is emphasized unilaterally the instrumental rationality lead to the divergence of educational objectives,ignorance of students and the marginalization of liberal arts.A set of uniform and the self-enclosed educational system,the examination-oriented education goal are far away from the reality of students' life and society.Students those who should display their high-level autonomy and initiative and creativeness are oppressed by the numerous,confused contents and the formalistic teaching methods.The problems of educational concept and system cause the current education in China is unable to meet the growing needs of the people who ask for the high quality education for their children.

On the basis of above analysis,we have to answer the following questions for curriculum reform in China.

(1)How do we know well the theme,the logical starting point and the domain of curriculum reform?

(2)What are the reflective perspectives on the traditional curriculum theories?

(3)How to search for the theoretical foundation with the coexistence of diverse stream of educational thoughts?

(4)What are the overall strategies of curriculum reform and development?

The point of argument on curriculum reform of basic education in China.

1.Innovation of schooling

Innovation is the mission of schooling.The new initiative and practices,and the new technology and methods should be achieved and surpassed the original unreasonable theories,ways and technology.It is the creative activities which more effectively accomplish the educational objectives.Ultimately,schools could construct an ability of innovation which surmounts numerous restrictions on reform and development,difficulties,and made great achievements in reform.As a result,the schools have seen tremendous changes.

Innovation is based on the philosophy of “development”,the kernel of modern education.It is an advanced school culture and sustained life-force which are dare to explore new paths and put forward new ideas,response to the challenge of epoch.Innovation is a process.The essential of innovation is transformation,transcendence and development.

2.Practice of changing reality in curriculum reform

Education is a kind of constructivism practices,which are the resource of educational theories and the foundation of human being development.The practice of changing embraces the innovations on theories,strategies and methodology,results in the substantial changes in school.Only through putting practices on changing can we keep the enduring vitality on educational innovation.

Transformative Practical Exploration of Curriculum Reform in China.

There are six significant research findings on the practical exploration on curriculum reform based on the innovation perspectives in China.

1.Shifts on the research subjects

There have been shifted on the practical exploration over the past 30 years.First of all,the student-oriented emerges from the practices,which shifts from the instrumentalism to the axiology.The orientation of schooling changes from the “training qualified new students for more advanced schools”,“test scores are the only ways weigh on ability” and “focusing on the elites” to “student-oriented” concept,pay attention to the personal development,transformation of individual life and being.In the process of shifting,curriculum reform aims to rebuild the subjective meaning of individuals,respects to every single life.Therefore,it leads to the profound changes on values and patterns of behavior and surpasses the traditional and unreasonable conceptions of teaching.

The motivation of change in the curriculum reform comes from the concerning the existence of students,activities of schooling.It attempts to help schools,teachers and students to obtain the real development and run schools to satisfy the people.The motivation is the foundation resource of curriculum reform of teachers who are keen to cultivate more successful all-round talents.Therefore,the concepts of curriculum shifts from the learn survival;learn concerns to learn development,which are the substantial transcendence.

2.Reexamine the value orientation of curriculum goals

The issue of paramount importance for curriculum goals is the curriculum construction.One of the major breakthrough in curriculum construction was that consider problems according to the sociology and culturology.The deep considerations including that is that whether the curriculum goal set for students' future development or just for society,for students obtain the real life experiences or just for them to grasp the scientific knowledge,for inheriting and developing the essence of traditional culture or emphasizing the criticism and transcendence,is it adapt themselves to the globalization or localization?

The new curriculum goals put emphasis on the all-round development of human being personal experiences,independence and creativity,which could meet the needs of modern society.The goals of curriculum reform highlight the correct world view,values and spirits of patriotism,strong knowledge and creative thinking those talents with independent thinking.The personal ability could be maximized for personal development,which extricates itself from the shackles of the tradition education and construct the concepts in mind and practices in the classroom.

3.Curriculum structure and forms which meets the need of modernization

The new curriculum reform changed the long-standing framework of planed economy system established since 1970s and it actively explores in curriculum structure system suites to the market economy system.Since economic and cultural development in China is uneven and the regional imbalances,the curriculum structures,therefore,should have the characteristics of flexibility,diversity and alternative,overcome the limitation and ultimately form a multi-dimensional curriculum structure system.The new curriculum focuses on an integration of different subjects,an adjustment of the proportion of classes offered in each subject during compulsory education stage,taking appropriate consideration of the required courses and optional lessons,courses of compulsory education and professional training programs.New curriculum stresses fostering students' ability of inquiry-based learning in comprehensive subjects and the integrated practical courses,school-based courses,which provide larger developing space for students who come from different schools and areas,so it could provide a fundamental guarantee for the implementation of overall development of pupils.

It is noted that the three-level curriculum system which includes the national curriculum-local level curriculum and school-based curriculum has motivated the schools to a great extent on curriculum design.Some schools provide the high-quality and distinguishing curriculum based on the development and utilization its internal and external resources and local conditions.For instance,Jianping High School in Shanghai offers mathematics modules for pupils according to their needs.The modules include series of mathematics masters (understanding mathematic masters,dialogue with masters,appreciation for masters and track masters' inspiration),mathematics exploration and inquiry (game and mathematics,mathematics in the real life,forms of mathematics and designing of mathematics),mathematical culture (mathematics and literature,mathematics and music,mathematics and the art,mathematics and sports).

4.The selection and construction on curriculum contents

In terms of the selection and design on curriculum contents,we put emphasis on understanding and grasping knowledge,integration of different subjects,connection the real life,the practice or application to teaching and the reconstruction of curriculum contents.

(1)Integrated subjects

The curriculum reform of basic education in China aims to accomplish the integration of various disciplines,formation of subjects groups and restructuring the curriculum based on the inherent features of curriculum reform.

(2)The application in the new curriculum content

Education is the way to build values and life style and the activities of attaining the meaning of life.The new curriculum content highlights the combination between teaching and real life of pupils.Therefore,pupils could undergo the process of inquiry and acquire the experiences,recognize the complexity,diversity and the variation of society according to their own inquiry and experiences.It embraces the value orientation of gaining life experience.Curriculum is more than passively adaption to social life,but a critique and exceeding the social life,which meet the needs of pupils' real life,including their concerns on the environment and human being's future.

(3)Studies on curriculum culture

As the key content of school culture and living ways,curriculum culture is a concept of curriculum and activity forms come from the selection and refinement of human culture in line with the demand for social development by the next generation.The research on curriculum culture is a constructive attempt to establish the curriculum theory,which is not only expand our own horizons but is of great guidance to the development of curriculum of basic education in China.

The preliminary views on connotation,features and forms of curriculum culture include the following characteristics.

First of all,diversity value of curriculum goals.The objectives of curriculum of basic education are including the grasping basic knowledge and skills,life experiences,cultivating creative thinking and shaping emotion.It is the diversity value that brings the rich and colorful activities in classroom.Second,it highlights the modern curriculum culture including the charity and emotion,harmony,value and faith.Finally,it is an implementation culture of understanding,experience,participation and cooperation.

The attempts in line with the features of subjects now being made are in some schools.For instance,Chinese literature,as a subject with humanism,it shows the characteristics of understanding and communication,critical thinking and aesthetic experiences.We stress the identification of self-culture and understanding other culture based on the development on multicultural and Chinese literature resources.In the mathematics class,students should learn knowledge and methods of mathematics,also including attitudes,thinking ways,rational arts and inquiry mind.In terms of teaching of mathematics,it emphasizes the application of mathematics concepts,logical reasoning,accurate calculations,meanwhile,the curriculum culture highlights that pupils should learn how to retrieve the mathematics literatures,explain,select and analyze the information,how to express and communicate the applied questions through notation and mathematics terminologies according pupils exploration on their real life.In a word,pupils should have the mathematics view and grasp of new ideas and new situations,require the full understanding of the problem,sometimes from the surface to its core,from a superficial knowledge to a comprehensive understanding based on their hard working and self-examination.

5.The challenges of implementation of curriculum

The implementation of curriculum,as the crucial of curriculum development,involves the design of teaching process and strategy.The priority issues we need to rethink are whether the design of students activities is appropriate,how to construct the diversified learning ways,how to foster the creative thinking in the teaching process.

(1)Rebuild the new concept of teaching and learning.The new curriculum redefines the notion of “learning”.It reveals the basic structures and factors in the learning process,focuses on the independence,practicality and creativity.The design of teaching should embrace the students' inherent features.

(2)According to the strategy of promoting students' development through their activities,the implementation of new curriculum displays the features of problem-solving,constructivism,as the major break with simple traditional teaching method of “instruction-acceptance”.It involves the new characteristics of cooperation,participation,experiences and inquiry.Also,it concerns the reliability of students' involvement,the substantial effectiveness of learning and suitability on employing ICT in the classroom.

(3)The new curriculum is reinforcing the concept of teaching quality and values,stressing the effective assessment of teaching.It aims to promote the changes on teaching and learning and involved pupils in learning and creativity.

Briefly,the implementation of new curriculum encourages pupils to understand the process of learning,promotes them to embrace the rational thinking and expressing,to find the questions in their life and understand the relation between life and knowledge.It will inspire them with confidence and reflection.

6.Problems of underpinning of educational technology

A profound historical change is taking place with the ushering in the high-tech era.The information technology is an important content of education;meanwhile it causes the changes on curriculum and teaching.We need to learn the precious experiences from other countries and proceed from our national conditions,search for the equilibrium of high technology and modernization of curriculum.Our studies focus on how the high-tech impact on the development of curriculum resources and how it changes the learning ways.

It has been proven that the high-tech is exerting an important and far-reaching influence on the curriculum and teaching,bringing the changes on teaching time and space.Particularly,the digital resources have resulted in the development of network learning,virtual learning,flexible learning and distance learning.

In short,the curriculum reform on basic education in China is achieving three goals.It promotes students learn how to learn,to realize an all-round development according to optimize their culture environment.In accordance with its national conditions,based on the basic law of curriculum construction and setting up the curriculum system with Chinese characteristics which belongs to the worldwide as well.A great number of experts and scholars of curriculum with outstanding accomplishments have emerged.The various practical models of curriculum reform and the theoretical account based on China experiences has been preliminarily formed.

The dilemma on studies of curriculum reform and reflections on methodology

We need to engross in serious thinking on curriculum reform and development from the view of strategy:how could we construct the mutual theme and paradigm of research,to raise the level of theory and further advance the accelerated development on curriculum reform.

(1)Construct the mutual theme and academic discourse.

The urgent questions confronted to the current teaching and learning is how to grip with the trend of development of contemporary teaching,the logic starting point and the domain of research? What are the reflective perspectives on traditional teaching theories and practices? How could we explore the foundation of theories and the new approaches under the circumstance that the various theories coexisting in the research field?

(2)Search for the theoretical foundation on curriculum reform of basic education in China.Given the current debates,we need to make a breakthrough the frame of positivism and focus on the following questions:how could we rethink the values of Marxist philosophy on the creative development in education;what are the valuable experiences provided by the contemporary western philosophy? How should we deal with the features of Chinese traditional culture?

(3)Involved in educational practices and understand subjects,teachers and pupils.The curriculum reform of basic education was produced in the exploration and emerged in the practices.Right now some problems,for instance,the formalization and simplification of curriculum reform need to be urgent settled.It is understandable that the key problem of change is the development and transcendence.How could we analyze the relevance between fact judgment and value judgment? How could we summarize the rich and vibrant practice in the process of curriculum reform?

(4)The conditions for curriculum reform of basic education in China.

The accumulation of the unreasonable educational philosophy and the obstacles of system have caused a certain number of contradictories,which includ the keeping of the balanced relations between operation and changes in the educational system;the transformation from the theoretical exploration and practices,the relation between inherence and innovation,the internal change and external pressures,the individual exploration and generality and so on.It is the development of these contradictions that pushes curriculum reform forward.

Conclusion

In the educational research sphere,China has an advantageous position of originality.In order to maximize the predominance,we need to focus on the solid resources,experiences and understanding of local scenario,whilst promoting scientific theoretical exploration and constantly obtaining the new comprehension on curriculum reform,based on the deep and reciprocal dialogue with the new thoughts and similar curriculum reform situation in the world.