How/Why the New Curriculum Reform (NCR) Innovation in China Succeed/Fail

A CASE STUDY OF CURRICULUM INNOVATION: HOW/WHY DID NEW CURRICULUM REFORM (NCR) INNOVATION SUCCEED/FAIL?
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A Case Study of Curriculum Innovation: How/Why Did New Curriculum Reform (NCR) Innovation Succeed/Fail?
Section 1: The context
Following the first decade of the New China foundation in 1949, a national curriculum and teaching materials that were based on the Soviet model were introduced, and between 1949 and 1952 and 1953 and 1957 became the first and second waves of curriculum reforms respectively(Cui & Zhu, 2014). The curriculum reforms followed key social and political movements and involved the establishment and implementation of new guidelines in the form of curriculum and syllabi standards for every school subject. Before the recent eighth wave, which has been around since 1999, there had been seven other major waves in previous years. The weakening link between China and the Soviets during the early 1960s witnessed a renaissance in education and the third and fourth wave between 1958 and 1962 and 1963 and 1965 introduced major innovations and new ways of thinking and an attempt to promote agrarian and socialist education. In 1966, the second and third waves were all swept aside following the Cultural Revolution, and the educational system was later rebuilt after the introduction of a national college entrance examination in 1977 (Cui & Zhu, 2014). This marked the fourth wave of education reform in China and the ushering in of the next wave of reforms.
The introduction of the national college entrance examination resulted in the fifth wave between 1977 and 1980 and the sixth wave between 1981 and 1984. However, many scholars have argued that the modern education reform started in 1985, which is the seventh wave that occurred between 1985 and 1998. This modern wave saw the decentralization in the financing and administration of basic education, structural changes in secondary education and vocational education development, implementation of compulsory nine years education system, a move to support local production of textbooks, and key reforms in graduate placement in higher education and student admission. Policies that have been dominant during these reforms are centered on two phases, including the structural reorientation and adaption and restoration of the social order (Cui & Zhu, 2014). However, major problems remained in each of these phases where the restoration phase witnessed the imbalanced curriculum to support intellectual elites, curriculum segmentations, devaluation of elective courses, overburdened students and teachers, and discouragement of recreation and creative arts.
The Compendium of Curriculum Reform for Basic Education (Experimental), also known as the Compendium was introduced in June 2001. This was the most important policy document that was published by the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) together with other 22 curriculum standards for mandatory education in preschool, Grade 1 to 9, and general senior secondary education in between Grade 10 and 12 (Hongbiao, 2013). The NCR was formulated as a response to the requirements of the modern era of globalization. The Compendium in the NCR required that the new curriculum comprises the three stages of basic education, including preschool education, mandatory education between Grade 1 and 9, and general senior secondary education between Grade 10 and 12. This Compendium also described the plan for reforms based on reform goals, curriculum evaluation, development of teaching materials, curriculum structure, curriculum management, curriculum standards, teacher training, organization of the curriculum reform, and teaching and learning (Hongbiao, 2013). The Compendium introduced the requirement for the curriculum to establish a new basic education system that was consistent with quality-oriented education.
The Chinese government aimed to solve issues or problems in education reforms by introducing a quality-oriented education system or sushi jiaoyu (Hongbiao, 2013) This system was projected to cultivate love and collectivism for socialism, the spirit of patriotism, and advancing the fine Chinese traditions among students. In this new system, students are also encouraged to develop capabilities for action, innovative spirit, life-long learning skills, and gain artistic and scientific literacy as well as environmental awareness in the 21st century. Another common issue that nation-states have been grappling with concerns the health of the population. Health concerns have resulted in the proliferation of policies and initiatives that have influenced education reforms in China. For instance, with an elaborate public education system globally, China has aimed at transforming the health of the nation via a national curriculum reform that is informed by other countries (Meng et al., 2020). Notably, the NCR and the Compendium were aimed at specific goals that would transform the education system in China.
The curriculum innovation aimed at changing the focus from knowledge transmission to the learning process and transforming the discipline-centered structure of the curriculum to an adaptable and integrated system that could satisfy the needs of learners in different regions. The new system also aimed at renewing the rather biased, complicated, outdated, and hard curriculum content as well as strengthening the relevance of materials to the lives of students, society, and advancement of science and technology. Drafters of the Compendium also saw it as a way of changing the emphasis of teaching and implementing the curriculum from the densely drilled method of learning to focus on active learning and gaining inquiry skills. Another motivation for the change in the curriculum was for China to change the focus on curriculum assessment on screening to stress the importance of assessment in the promotion of the development of teachers, learners, and schools. Lastly, China must replace the curriculum management that was heavily centralized with a three-tier system of local, national, and school-based curriculum management (Hongbiao, 2013). This would render the curriculum to be adaptable to local areas, students, and schools.
The NCR was the eighth round of the Chinese curriculum reform and it was known as the most systematic and ambitious attempt to transform the basic education system since 1949. Hongbiao (2013) has provided a discussion on contradicting aspects of the NCR between 2001 and 2011 based on the contexts, processes, and results from the NCR implementation. These aspects include policy learning or borrowing, evolution or revolution, and failure or success. This discussion has provided policymakers with an understanding of the implementation of large-scale reform in other countries such as China in various ways. First, the discussion informs that the NCR is a sign of the Chinese response and reaction against the requirements of the modern era of globalization. Second, the author disagrees on the destructiveness of the setbacks and debates during the NCR implementation but recommends that a more integrative view needs to be adopted by the NCR in balancing between innovation and tradition and between global and localized concerns. Third, Hongbiao (2013) argues that it is not wise to make rash conclusions on the results of the NCR implementation outcomes, particularly the profound and invisible Chinese cultural changes. Generally, this reform has had significant success in the education system in China and those opposed to the progress need to reconsider their positions and views on the role of education in society.
Section 2: The Innovation
The NCR is the eighth round of a systematic, serious, and ambitious move to transform the basic education curriculum system that existed since 1949 (Hongbiao, 2013). Following the mid-1980s, an elementary education system that was based on the Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China required that schools be run in stages and level-to-level administrations that were governed by local administrations under the National Council with unified leadership (Cui, Lei, & Zhou, 2018). Under the “many textbooks under one syllabus” policy, the curriculum reform was launched and a trial system of “multiple textbooks” was later implemented in one province. China has always viewed changing the curriculum as an effective way of changing classroom practice and influencing learning among students to meet the needs of today’s ever-changing world. The MOE revised the national curriculum to meet the contemporary and future needs of learners (Wang, 2019). There are reasons behind this newly written curriculum and changes it aimed to implement as well as factors that led to its implementation.
The NCR experimentation began in 2001 and by 2005 the reform had achieved widespread adoption in most provinces and counties (Adams & Sargent, 2012). This curriculum has successfully overhauled all past curriculum materials and involved massive investments in teacher training to foster teaching and learning practices and beliefs. The curriculum has ensured that textbooks are revised and more engaging and interactive to learners. Besides, teachers have also been advised to engage learners so that they are the center of learning through encouraging and motivating students instead of involving punishment or imparting fear among students. The NCR encourages teachers to bold experiment with novel approaches such as small group work and inquiry learning. While the initial stages towards the full implementation of the NCR were made back in 2001, authors have little knowledge of whether the reforms have changed the experiences among Chinese students, especially those in rural areas. In terms of innovations making changes in society, it is therefore worthy to consider how students have positively been impacted by the NCR. This section focuses on innovations that are specific to the quality of education in China in terms of the pedagogue, government spending, examination approaches, and other aspects that involve teaching and learning.
The large-scale NCR in China signified the country’s multidimensional and complex processes and efforts to empower its educational system in meeting the challenges and opportunities in a globalized world (Guo-Brennan, 2012). The reform that involved 474,000 schools, 200 million students, and 10 million teachers resulted in a dramatic shift from traditional Chinese education practices and introduced new opportunities and challenges for teachers charged with the responsibilities of translating the new curriculum into teaching practices. Since the 16th century B.C, the Chinese education system was highly centralized and dominated by Confucian tradition characterized by merit and a system of hierarchical examinations. While the examination-oriented education system had not been stable during ancient and present China’s period, the culture has been part of the social fabric of the everyday life of the Chinese people. This explains the reasons why the teaching and learning in Chinese schools have largely focused on assisting students to perform better in examinations at various levels through standardized tests.
The emphasis on exams led to the teacher-centered and content-oriented education system and left a lasting impact on the professional identities of teachers. However, during the early 1980s, the Chinese government shifted the country’s economic system from a planned to a market economy, and this led to dramatic changes toward democracy and decentralization. In June 2001, the Chinese MOE released the Basic Education Curriculum Reform outline dubbed the NCR (Guo-Brennan, 2012). The written curriculum was aimed at six objectives, including curriculum structure and administration, education philosophy, curriculum content, pedagogy, and standards, teacher education and development, curriculum assessment and evaluation, and the development and use of curriculum resources. The changes in the education curriculum also saw significant reforms in teaching spaces and practices. The phase that began in 2000 to the present day was an experimental period that was aimed at promoting quality-oriented education and comprehensive reforms. this phase defined 9 years education curriculum which was comprised of 6 years of compulsory education and 3 years of senior high school. The Curriculum Scheme for the Senior High School was established in 2018 and was aimed at enabling key competencies among students (Chen & Park, 2018). Key changes affected curriculum standards for mathematics, Chines, foreign languages, and computer studies or ICT.
The NCR required that teachers and students embrace technology by collecting and sharing curriculum resources on the Internet and on websites. Teachers demonstrated increased enthusiasm for multimedia and information technology and became accustomed to multimedia courseware (Guan & Meng, 2007). With the introduction of the NCR, a three-level model of curriculum management was established to include the state, local education administrators, and schools. The state was charged with the responsibility of establishing macro plans for developing the curriculum, issuing national standards for courses, deciding subject categories and periods, and offering macro-directions to the implementation. The local educational administrators, including the provincial and lower levels layout projects to be implemented to match the needs of the local areas such as localizing the national curriculum, selecting the teaching materials, and building local instructional resources. On the other hand, the schools are also encouraged to select textbooks a...