Globalisation and School-Based Curriculum Movement in China

Abstract

In 2001, China witnessed the founding of a national school-based curriculum movement. In the 10 years since then, Chinese scholars have produced a great many studies of this program. However, a little attention has been paid to the movement’s professional leaders or to the public’s understanding of the value of developing a school-based curriculum (SBCD). How the system operates also needs more study. Even the basic facts about SBCD in China have received scant attention from scholars of education in the West. And those who have tried to examine China’s ambitious program, have tended to draw idealized conclusions based on too few documents and limited data. We will re-examine this important movement from a person-centered and a sociological perspective. Our basic argument is ever since SBCD has been put on the national curriculum reform agenda and is being widely implemented throughout China, its professional advocates have attained unprecedented opportunity and scope for reforming the educational curriculum of the nation. But the task is massive. Rather than relying simply on personal professional influence to achieve their ends, its advocates need more effective tools. At present, the most pressing need is a generally recognized evaluation and reporting system, one that can provide the public with accurate information and certify the value of SBCD. Advocates need to persuade the central authority and the public to invest more in policy support and in resources. Given the unfavorable context of a tradition of centralization and a school system oriented to the college entrance examination, both of which are generally accepted by parents and by the public of a practical, utilitarian society, there is a long way for advocates to go in improving the SBCD enterprise and before resolving policy and structural deficiencies, and the lack of public understanding and support.