Higher education curriculum in China has come increasingly under market influences. Until the 1980s, Chinese colleges and universities could not act independently to add to, reduce or change curricula. Everywhere 'the national curriculum' and 'unified teaching materials' were accepted or imposed as a matter of course. All changes to the curriculum and even to a single textbook had to be made with the approval of the central educational authorities. But with the acceleration of reforms the central government gradually relaxed its controls and granted institutions of higher learning greater decision-making power over teaching plans, materials and curricula. A policy issued by the State Education Commission in 1993 to its directly subordinate institutions of higher learning stipulated that institutions could make their own decisions about specialties and subjects, according to the development of disciplines and changing local social needs (State Education Commission 1993).
Subsequent curriculum reforms for Basic Education15 by implication should assist reforms in higher education. The new objectives for basic education which very strongly echo some of the graduate attributes were:
Change the trend toward overemphasizing knowledge delivery. Emphasize students‘ active attitudes and participation in their studies. Convert the process of obtaining basic knowledge and skills to a process of ‗learning how to learn‘;
Change the curriculum structure that overemphasizes separate subjects. Substitute courses that are more ‗integrated‘;
Change the difficult, complicated, and outdated curriculum content with its overemphasis on textbook knowledge. Promote the connection between curriculum content, the students‘ ‗real‘ lives, and modern science and technology. Select basic skills that are necessary for students‘ lifelong studies;
Change the tradition of passive learning and rote learning. Develop students‘ abilities such as collecting and processing new information, gaining new knowledge independently, analyzing and solving problems, and communicating and cooperating with others; and
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Attach more importance to new courses developed by local educational departments (Liu & Teddlie 2003, p. 254).
The goal of learning how to learn or life-long learning is one driver for change. It requires the development of new approaches and techniques for teaching to liberate students from the stress of a single, all important set of examinations and to inspire their creativity and self-directed learning through the use of the internet-based instruction (Ministry of Education PRC 1999; Ministry of Education PRC). Huang (2004) addresses the goal of a dynamic, integrated, student centred
curriculum. While referring to the basic education curriculum, each of his six strategies could play a role in meeting some of the needs of Chinese HEIs: develop a professional curriculum management system that empowers teachers, students and local governments; use a framework of theoretical and experimental research to guide the curriculum reform; promote school based curriculum development that meets the local students‘ needs; integrate information technology with curriculum; support the professional development of teachers; and encourage consultation with public people, social organizations, businesses, educationalists and parents.
Ideological tensions around practice have developed between the conservative/cultural maintenance and the progressive forces, and different strategies have been adopted. To support social goals and to prepare individuals to work towards these goals, schools have kept to mainstream educational
philosophies (Gingell & Brandon 2000; Noddings 2005). The more challenging approach is to change the deep-seated social dynamics of learning inside and outside the educational environment. The quicker approach, if China wants an open-minded, visionary and innovative generation of students, would be to produce creative, thought-provoking teaching resources that present an array of ideas beyond the immediate educational needs. The tension has led to three areas of conflict for the transmission of cultural, political and national values in education:
(a) conflict between the co-existence in the curriculum of communist and political education and the individualist tendencies of popular culture; (b) between traditional Chinese values and culture, and the moral challenges to these values in popular culture; and (c) between schools, teacher education and student interactions in response to the presence of popular culture in the classroom (Ho 2006, p. 354).
Qian surveyed Chinese college students and found that ―the biggest happiness in life‖ was ―a successful career, a happy family, and good friends, all of which were concerned with individuals‖ and in sixth place was ―contribution to society‖ (Qian 2003, p. 30). It appears that materialism and individual values are increasing with the developing market economy. Li‘s survey of desired occupations for Beijing teenagers confirms the importance of money for them. The ratings of
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occupations were highest for entrepreneur, scientist, movie or TV star, teacher, soldier and model worker (Li 2002a, 2002b).
Despite the challenges and the clash between the ‗harmonious society‘ ideal from traditional Chinese culture and the orthodox Marxist-Leninist view of class struggle, Confucian knowledge structures continue to influence the content of traditional education. Previously, Chinese traditions and morality were downplayed and during the Cultural Revolution, mocked, but nervousness about rapid economic changes and international influences has led to a resurgence of Confucian values (Keane 2005). In 1989, the Chinese People‘s Congress started promoting a cultural and ethnic identity using a
nationalist discourse based on ―creating a wide-spread awareness of the myths, history, and linguistic tradition of the community‖ (Guo 2004, p. 5). Chua (2001, p. 114) argues that ―a ‗Confucian-based‘ cultural China promotes ‗ethnicity as cultural and as identity[sic]‖‘. Furthermore, filial obedience and communal solidarity have been chosen as good Chinese virtues in the Implementation outline on Ethic Building for Citizens, the rewritten student conduct code, and in textbooks (Law 2006; Ministry of Education PRC 2004; Wang 2004).
To support the teaching of cultural heritage and to build cultural memory, calligraphy has been added into many schools‘ extra-curricular programs (Li 2004) and ―the promotion of traditional festivals is intended to cultivate the spirit, affections and feelings of the Chinese nation, and to create solidarity among the people of different ethnicities on the mainland‖ ('China to revive traditional festivals to boost traditional culture' 2005). According to Ho (2006), the Chinese government has been trying to reinforce and reinstate traditional Chinese culture, values and art forms into the educational context but also use popular culture: ―Modernisation in the school curriculum is being perceived as part of the process of transformation in Chinese political culture from collective communism towards openness to popular culture‖ (Ho 2006, p. 353). However, successfully implementing this in HE will be difficult as it goes against many previous years of schooling practices. For example: ―the newly compiled list of 100 patriotic songs for Shanghai secondary schools has sparked controversy because it includes some songs that encourage individualism rather than a traditional collectivist and heroic dedication to society‖ (Ho 2006, p. 353).
Turner and Acker (2002, p. 21), based on their study which showed a lack of diversity, believe that lack of alternative models is why ―many of the educators in the Chinese system remained the Confucian-educated, conservative, urban, intellectual elite‖. The student participants in their study were consistent in their accounts of the uniformity of the centrally organised curriculum and teaching methods. They also commented on the absolute nature of knowledge, that was not open to discussion and which consequently influenced the behaviour exhibited by staff, students and in the interactions between them and is a continuous pattern from primary school through to tertiary education.
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Teachers were also often mentors and exerted influence not unlike the Confucian master-disciple construct. This manifestation was context related and there could be significant difference between their strict public classroom and private pastoral behaviour. To be successful, students needed high levels of concentration and conformity. Punishment, as both a means for discipline and motivation, was by shaming, humiliating or embarrassing students in front of peers or families. The astute students also developed interpersonal skills that helped to cultivate relationships and limited giving offence. There is no mention of enjoyment in their paper, but rather overt and covert forms of control.
In China, ―national curricular policies, which are representative of the interests of the party state, play a decisive role in determining the degree to which international trends are reflected, and who or what will take the leading role in the future of the People‘s Republic of China remains to be seen‖ (Ho 2006, p. 358). An example of the fundamental dilemma is the free expression, equality and free trade promoted by the Internet, which contrasts with the meaningful relationships, social harmony, and cooperation that Confucianism represents as the basis for humanity (Bockover 2003). For all the discussion of embedding popular culture into the teaching curriculum, it is achieved within a Confucian framework that values harmonious interdependence over autonomous independence (Bockover 2003, p. 164). As a medium for sharing resources and ideas web-based education can promote harmonious interdependence and as a solitary learning event web-based education promotes autonomous independence; both are graduate attributes.
3.5.1 Web-based education
In 1999 the Ministry of Education (MOE) released the Action Scheme for Invigorating Education Towards the 21st Century with a stated aim of increasing university participation rates by 15 per cent by 2010 and to support this, instigated a project called the Modern Distance Education Project, which would use technology ―to extend China‘s limited educational resources to … its vast population‖ (Zhang, Niu and Jiang 2002, p. 4). Web based education is significant for a nationwide open education network and lifelong learning system. In 2000 the MOE gave substantial autonomy to 31 universities by granting them online learning licenses; this was increased to 45 universities in 2001.
Zhang, Niu and Jiang (2002, p. 8) examined the consequences and implications of web-based
education to the stakeholders which included students, teachers, administrators and policy makers but not employers. They suggested that web-based higher education was a successful alternative route for many people, that it extended the use and sharing of quality educational resources, and allowed for new approaches to thinking and teaching. The result was courses that were more thought provoking, gave students more control of their learning and required teachers to be facilitators. In 2001 the MOE decided that conventional universities (on-campus students) should offer online programs to their students as part of the Chinese lifelong learning system.
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3.5.2 Student examinations
In imperial China knowledge was tested through a highly competitive, rigorous examination system and focused on repetition of theoretical knowledge. Interestingly, much later other countries adopted the examination system as an exemplar of good governance. Assessment is still largely via national examinations and with the further massification of education it is likely to remain so. As mentioned, examinations serve a number of purposes, not least of which is their apparent fairness and objectivity (Gao 2002). Unfortunately, due to the emphasis on set answers in the national examinations and as ―both sides of teaching and learning take the success of national examination as the only goal‖, comprehension, problem solving and creative thinking are overlooked (Gao 2002, p. 109). This contrasts with the ideals of the Chinese MOE‘s 2004 objectives (see page 3).
3.5.3 Graduate attributes
A Chinese focus on graduate attributes may not occur quickly, or even be appropriate, if the purpose of education in China and the west is different. The traditional Imperial examination system served to acculturate and socialize people to a desired moral code but was short on delivering practical
knowledge. Current educational reforms are not overtly altering this paradigm; Gao (2002, p. 99) states that ―creative thinking [is] implicit in the aims of educational service institutions‖. Industry partnerships with higher education develop as a source of research income, voluntary community activities enhance social awareness, and fieldwork encourages ―correct‖ attitudes and respect for rural people and physical labour (Yin & White 1994). All of which may be akin to employability skills, but curriculum change in Chinese universities has not been an outcome. In both China and Australia there is a hidden curriculum of acculturation and socialisation which in Western educational practices is addressed through the acquisition of pragmatic, often curriculum linked, practical knowledge (Curran 2005). Reducing the implicit curriculum in Australia has contributed to the explicit development of graduate attributes, usually through assessment practices. In China the curriculum, and hence by default the graduate skill, focus is on the technical, theoretical knowledge and many of the employability skills are not explicitly included. Eventually the social market-oriented economy might change this. In the meantime, guanxi for example (see 4.1.5), which is probably implicit and assumed in China and may not need to be explicit, would have to be explicit if a Chinese curriculum were being taught in Australia because the cultural context does not automatically require it.
While the parents of the current generation have a reduced role in choosing their offspring‘s career or work unit, hence making graduate and employability skills more important, this major change has had little impact on some quite instrumental attitudes. Westwood and Lok‘s (2003) study on the meaning of work in Chinese contexts, found that ―workers in Beijing remain very concerned about the concrete pragmatics of working – adequate financial reward, good working conditions and job security‖ (p.
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157). Furthermore, because of this time of transition, relationships have remained critical but not so much for humanitarian reasons as for maintaining social order and ―enabling things to function‖ (p. 157). Training and developmental opportunities have always been valued, but the current
employability pragmatics of understanding the labour market and ―what is required to survive and prosper‖ has not led to a serious focus on the ―soft‖ skills which are part of the graduate attributes. As the Chinese population becomes better educated and competition for ‗good‘ jobs increases, these foci will change with employing organizations or government funding linked to graduates finding
professional employment. Westwood and Lok conclude: ―In China the ongoing reform process continues to reconfigure work, the workplace, the employment relationship, and the labour market. As these changes unfold, accelerate and intensify, it is almost certain that the meanings people attach to work and working will continue to be reshaped‖ (2003, p. 160). Eventually these meanings and any ―convergence of the goals and values of business, government and education‖ (James, Lefoe & Hadi 2004, p. 2) might radically affect the curriculum.
Although discussion around graduate attributes and where they fit into the curriculum in China is occurring, in the classroom little is changing. While classes are large, exams are still the main form of assessment, and employers are still looking for the top graduates from the top universities, there is no place for graduate attributes. It is a low priority for students who see their examination mark as all important and for teachers who are partly paid according to how well their students perform in the subject‘s examination (Liu & Teddlie 2003).
Graduate attributes have been difficult to embed in Australia (Barrie et al. 2009) and James, Lefoe and Hadi (2004, p. 4) note they ―open up a particularly interesting pedagogical space despite the notion of graduate attributes being firmly rooted in the idea that the contemporary western secular university is an entrepreneurial university. This is a teaching space which encourages, even demands, that our teaching practice be more than content transmission‖. The Chinese MOE uses language that suggests a desire for certain graduate attributes but if, as is commonly reported, teaching in China is via the transmission method even more so than in Australia, then that exacerbates the challenges for embedding many of the graduate attributes.