HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION IN CHINA : Challenges and Priorities

1. HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION IN CHINA:Challenges and Priorities YANG Jin B.Sc M.Ed Ph.D Deputy Director-General Department of Basic Education Ministry of Education, P.R. China Dr YANG Jin

2. General social and economic policies • Building a well-off society all-roundly • Improving the socialist market economic system • Developing a new type of industrialization which includes higher scientific and technological intensity, better economic benefit, less environmental pollution, better use of the advantage of human resources • Adhering to people centred, well-rounded, coordinated and sustainable concept of development • Making great efforts to build a socialist harmonious society Dr YANG Jin

3. Major Challenges • Clear trend of the globalization of production and work, major multinational manufacturing and trading companies move their production and service into China. • Very fierce international economic and technological competition, the Chinese enterprises are facing heavy pressure for technological innovations. • The innovations of enterprises and improvement of efficiency lack strong qualified human resources support. In 2004, on average, the population of 15 years old and above had received about 8 years of education, similar to education level of the USA population 100 years ago. Dr YANG Jin

4. The average schooling years of urban and rural inhabitants Years of Schooling Urban Rural Dr YANG Jin

5. The Education System in China Schooling year Age 27 22 Ph.D 26 21 25 20 24 19 Master’s degree 23 18 22 17 21 16 Bachelor’s degree 20 15 本 科 Higher vocational ed. 19 14 18 13 17 12 General high school education Vocational high school education 16 11 15 10 14 9 Vocational middle school education General middle School education 13 8 12 7 11 6 10 5 9 4 Primary education 8 3 7 2 6 1 5 4 Pre-school ed. 3 Dr YANG Jin

6. 2004 Major Data of the Education System Dr YANG Jin

7. Dr YANG Jin

8. Quantitative target: Universalizing 15 years of education is one of the major targets in 2020: • 3-year preschool education; • 9-year compulsory education; and • 3-year high school level of education. Dr YANG Jin

9. Making great efforts to enhance equity and quality of education • Improving education provision in rural and western areas • Making great efforts to carry out curriculum reforms • Strengthening and reforming moral education • Making changes of teaching/learning pedagogy • Strengthening pre-service and in-service teacher development Dr YANG Jin

10. Improving education provision in rural and western areas • 800 million of the 1.3 billion people of China live in the rural areas. Of the students receiving compulsory education, 80% is in the rural areas. • The Central Government of China has been earmarking special funds for building boarding schools, providing living expenses for students from poor families and promoting modern distance education. Dr YANG Jin

11. Making great efforts to carry out curriculum reforms • From Sept. 2005, new curriculum is going to be implemented for all new enrollment in primary and middle education Dr YANG Jin

12. The Planning of Curriculum Reform for High School Education

13. Strengthening and reforming moral education • There is a urgent need for improving moral education and psychological guidance to students for developing healthy ideology, moral integrity and personal character. • Education in China has important roles to play for inheriting and advocating the 5000 years of Chinese culture, and for building a modern harmonious society. Dr YANG Jin

14. Making changes of teaching/learning pedagogy • From teacher-centred approach to student-centred approach • From the delivery of knowledge to foster the students’ creative competence Dr YANG Jin

15. From paying attention of the commonalities of students to paying attention of the individualities of students • From paying great attention on “good learners” to paying great attention on students with learning difficulties • From a rigid and examination-oriented type of assessment to a formative and “value-added” assessment system Dr YANG Jin

16. Strengthening pre-service and in-service teacher development • Improving the system of teacher training and life-learning of teachers; • Deepening the system of teacher management and ranks system so as to enhance the professional development of teachers; Dr YANG Jin

17. General Remarks • In the last 20 years or so, China has made tremendous progress in social and economic development. But, after all, China is still a developing country. • China is running the biggest education system which enrolls 20% of the world’s students with only 2% of the world’s educational funding. Dr YANG Jin

18. International Education Development Dr YANG Jin ©Knowledge for Development WBI

19. Some outstanding features of the U.S. education system: • Great flexibility • Offering more choices and opportunities for students • Developing students’critic thinking ability and creativity • Social sectors’ and communities’ strong involvement • No Child Left Behind philosophy and action • Making use of modern technologies of instruction Dr YANG Jin

20. Considerations for future cooperation • Facilitating US states and Chinese provinces twin-ups for educational co-operations in various types and levels of education • Joint empirical comparative researches to identify, generate and promote good practices • Comparison of curricula standards • Comparison of textbooks • Comparison of assessment • Comparison of models of pre-service and in-service teacher training Dr YANG Jin

21. yj1@moe.edu.cn -86-10-66096369 Thanks Dr YANG Jin