1. A Response to Professor Wu  Zongjie’s“Interpretation, Autonomy, and Transformation: Chinese Pedagogic  Discourse in a Cross-cultural Perspective”

Author: Thomas D.  Curran

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 305-312

Abstract: In response to an essay by  Prof Wu Zongjie that was published in the Journal of Curriculum Studies [43(5),  (2011), 569–590], I argue that, despite dramatic changes that have taken place  in the language of Chinese academic discourse and pedagogy, evidence derived  from the fields of psychology and the history of Chinese educational reform  suggest that patterns of Chinese thought and culture have proven resistant to  change. Not only have deeply rooted tendencies to perceive the world in ways  that may be distinguished from Western analogues persisted but, not unlike  contemporary school reformers, educators in the early twentieth century  typically found that their efforts to borrow Western models were frustrated by  the alien nature of those models and the need to adapt them to Chinese  realities; ultimately, the reformers had to accommodate their plans to the  wishes of local patrons and the expectations of Chinese families. Thus, the  lesson that contemporary Chinese educators may take from a study of the past is  that, since elements borrowed from the West may have limited viability in China,  they need not be excessively concerned that reforms will transform key elements  of Chinese culture.

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2. Hopes for Confucian Pedagogy in  China?

Author: Ruth Hayhoe

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 313-319

Abstract: This commentary on Wu  Zongjie’s article ‘Interpretation, autonomy and transformation: Chinese  pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective’ begins by suggesting the  usefulness of Wu’s polar opposite depiction of Confucian and modern pedagogy as  ideal types for comparative exploration. It goes on to suggest that the term  ‘modern pedagogy’ may need to be de-constructed, along the distinctive lines of  rationalist and pragmatist epistemologies of modernity and the ways in which  they have affected the development of a modern pedagogy over China’s  20th-century. Then, the life stories of three influential Chinese educators of  different periods are drawn upon to identify echoes of the Confucian ideal type  in their remarkable educational legacy, suggesting the continued dynamism of a  Confucian pedagogy that persists under the surface of the modern epistemologies  that have shaped the terminology of modern education in China.

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3. “Speak in the Place of the Sages”:  Rethinking the Sources of Pedagogic Meanings

Author: Zongjie Wu

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 320-331

Abstract: This is a response to the  commentaries on my essay, ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation’.  However, the response is reoriented to further interpretation of Chinese  pedagogic discourse in the late-19th century, which is often blamed for  hampering China’s educational advance. Instead of considering Classical  Confucian pedagogy as a blueprint for future development, my inquiry aims to  provide alternative ways of thinking about sources of pedagogic innovation in  the philosophical perspective of language. By presenting and analysing an  eight-legged essay of the Imperial Civil Examination, I argue that pedagogy is a  process of meaning-making, which is not only a question of synchrony inside a  system attributed with causality and analysis, but also of diachrony by  registering meanings to what was said by sages. ‘Speak in the place of sages’  should be taken as a continuous tradition to secure flow of meanings from the  past for the purpose of meeting with the challenge of modernity in  China.

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4. Understanding China’s Curriculum Reform for  the 21st Century

Author: Wing-Wah Law

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 332-360

Abstract: This article uses  curriculum-making frameworks to analyse and reconstruct the Chinese  curriculum-making model and unpack the dynamics, complexity and constraints of  China’s curriculum reform since the early 1990s. It argues that curriculum  reform is China’s main human capital development strategy for coping with the  challenges of the 21st century, and that the state plays an important role in  the reform of curriculum-making mechanisms and in the social distribution of  knowledge, skills and dispositions through curriculum making. Data are drawn  from a discourse analysis of public texts, such as official documents and  curriculum standards. This study has four major findings. First, China uses  curriculum reform as a key strategy to counter manpower-related global  challenges and to empower the country in the 21st century. Second, to this end,  China has re-oriented its curriculum making from a state-dominated model to one  that is state-led, expert-assisted and evidence-based. Third, China’s new  curriculum reflects the increasing tension between globalization and  nationalism; while preparing its students to compete globally, China also urges  them to identify with and take pride in the nation’s achievements and culture.  Fourth, Chinese curriculum reform for the 21st century may not unfold as the  state expects, as it is constrained by curricular and extra-curricular  factors.

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5. MarketizedPrivate Tutoring as a Supplement  to Regular Schooling: Liberal Studies and the Shadow Sector in Hong Kong  Secondary Education

Author: Claudia Chan and Mark  Bray

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 361-388

Abstract: Around the world, increasing  numbers of students receive after-school private supplementary tutoring. Such  tutoring may be provided through informal channels or by companies, and it may  be received one-to-one, in small groups or in large classes. The tutoring is  commonly called shadow education since its content mimics that of regular  schooling. The spread of shadow education is part of a global shift of balance  with increased roles for the private sector. Hong Kong is among the societies in  which shadow education enrolment rates are particularly high. Much of the shadow  education focuses on techniques for performance in external examinations, and is  not consistent with the emphases stressed by teachers and the government. This  paper focuses on a newly introduced subject called Liberal Studies in which the  tensions are especially visible. Although the official curriculum emphasizes  creativity and critical thinking, many students have sought large-class tutoring  focused on formulae for passing examinations. Interviews exposed the needs that  the students felt were not being met in their schooling. The findings illustrate  some of the complexities in relationships between the public and private  sectors. Viewed in a wider context, the paper illuminates some of the mechanisms  and effects of marketization, which are increasingly evident  globally.

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6. Lived Literacy Curriculum in a Globalized  Schooling Context: a Case Study of a Sino-Canadian Transnational  Programme

Author: Zheng Zhang and Rachel Heydon

Source: Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(3): 389-418

Abstract: This paper focuses on the  lived curriculum from the vantage of the students in a case study of a  Sino-Canada transnational education programme in China. The programme consisted  of subject area curricula transplanted from Ontario, Canada, and taught in  English, as well as subject area curricula from Mainland China that was taught  in Mandarin. The study’s methodology capitalized on nine student participants’  creation of multimodal texts that were designed to articulate their identities  and experiences within the programme. The paper reflects on the affordances and  constraints of multimodal data collection and analysis with the goal of  illuminating the participating students’ literacy learning opportunities and  identity options as they experienced them in the programme. Key findings include  that students experienced the curriculum and the programme in sometimes  contradictory ways. The programme seemed to allow students to interact with  imagined global others and the curricular learning opportunities seemed to  expand students’ literacy and identity options. SCS’s Canadian/Chinese literacy  curriculum, however, seemed to be bifurcated along linguistic and cultural lines  and did not seem to promote syncretic literacy practices where students were  encouraged to create new forms of meaning making.