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Background: Painting is the foundational expression across all art forms and is one of the key creative practices for fostering students' aesthetic ability and creativity within fine arts courses. Collaborative painting in the form of socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) can be recognized as an effective strategy for enhancing creativity in both individual and group work. However, the absence of contextual experiences and collaborative spaces poses challenges for students in cultivating their creativity in painting. Objectives: The present study explores students' creativity, socially shared regulation (SSR) and positive painting behaviours using an SSRL‐based collaborative painting approach in the metaverse (Meta‐CP). Methods: Via a quasi‐experimental design, a total of 40 Chinese students in fifth grade were recruited and were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 20 students utilizing the Meta‐CP approach, while the remaining 20 students followed the conventional SSRL‐based paper‐and‐brush collaborative painting (C‐CP) approach. The Meta‐CP approach not only offers an authentic painting context and a collaborative space but also facilitates the collaborative process through the SSRL framework. The data collection included students' creative tendency, painting works and painting process. Results and Conclusions: The Meta‐CP approach effectively enhances students' creativity concerning adventure, curiosity and imagination, as well as results in the creation of more distinctive and logical artistic works. Furthermore, the approach significantly improved the quality of students' SSR. Additionally, students utilizing the Meta‐CP approach displayed more positive painting behaviours compared with those employing the C‐CP approach. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic:Collaborative painting is an effective strategy for enhancing creativity.Socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) fosters collaborative learning.Students in collaborative painting may lack a contextual and synchronized painting space.The metaverse benefits in terms of contextual experiences and collaborative spaces. What this paper adds:Using an SSRL‐based collaborative painting approach in the metaverse (Meta‐CP) is effective in improving students' creativity.The Meta‐CP approach has the potential to improve students' quality of socially shared regulation (SSR), and positive painting behaviours. Implications for practice and/or policy:The metaverse provides an immersive synchronized painting space for art education to stimulate students' creative potential.The metaverse with proper learning strategies (e.g., SSRL) provides an effective collaborative learning environment for creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gao L.-L., Chan S.W.-C. & Cheng B.-S. (2012) The past, present and future of nursing Education in the People's Republic of China: a discussion paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(6), 1429-1438. Abstract Aim. This article presents a discussion of nursing education development in the People's Republic of China in its historical, economic and sociopolitical contexts. Background. China has a population of 1·3 billion with about 2·18 million nurses. With the recent surging economic and social development in China, nursing education has undergone transformation changes in the past two decades. Data sources. Online bibliographical databases from 1990 to 2010 were searched including CINAHL, MEDLINE, Wan Fang Data and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. Search terms included nursing education, China and development. Methods. Thematic analysis and narrative synthesis were used to identify and report themes from literature. Results. Database searches yielded 1674 papers, and 34 met the inclusion criteria for review. The standard of nursing education varies greatly in different parts of China, because of its huge size and population, with pre-registration programmes offered at the secondary, associate degree and baccalaureate level. Multi-level nursing education is one of the major barriers for professional development. There is a need to upgrade the pre-registration education to at least associate degree level. There is also a need to enhance graduate nursing education at master and doctoral level to prepare advanced practice nurses, nurse scientists and nursing faculty. Conclusion. The challenges for nursing education development in China are echoed and encountered in many parts of the world. The experience in China and the lessons learned would be relevant to developing countries. Nursing in China must continue to develop in parallel to international trends. Promoting communication and maintaining international links are important for the global development of nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from an investigation of nature-based practices, from the perspectives of 10 academics/educators from six nations. Participants engaged in a focus group exploring the prevalence and inclusion of nature in social work practice and education. While the study focused on individual members' experiences and perspectives, the findings highlight important context-specific factors for including nature within social work to reconnect humans with nature for health, well-being, healing, and justice. An Integrative Environmental Model for social work is proposed to assist future practice and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks a deeper understanding of how principals strive for instructional leadership with organisational management strategies in China today. Drawing from 116 interviews of district supervisors and school principals from two regions, we first conduct qualitative analysis to map the dimensions and sub-dimensions of Chinese principal practices inductively, then compare them with extant conceptual frameworks designed to capture instructional leadership, learner-centred leadership, and organisational management. We find that the Chinese principal leadership conception and the Western frameworks converge on important aspects that cover curriculum, instruction, teacher professional development, and school climate. We also find that to reach instructional leadership effectiveness, Chinese school leaders use a distinctive set of management tactics that prioritise building tiered organisational structures, developing teacher leadership, responding to top-down mandates, and leveraging external networks. Our study contributes to the cross-cultural research of school leadership under different and dynamic social, political, and cultural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the central government enjoys paramount authority in (re)writing national history, and its interpretation is promoted through various channels to shape people's national identity. Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has promoted a nationalistic history to promote a Han‐dominant Chinese identity. This nationalistic approach to Chinese history stands in contrast to China's multicultural society and the government's affirmation of multicultural aims as the core values and future goals of the nation. It was expected that the government would rethink and revise nationalistic history to recognize diverse groups and accommodate their needs in the Xi Jinping era. However, this paper shows that the current government continues to emphasize a version of national history that encourages a nationalistic sentiment and discourse. This approach to Chinese history risks strengthening xenophobic sentiments and behaviour in China, and could become coercive for Chinese people who hold different interpretations or expect a more comprehensive interpretation of national history. I argue that a critical multicultural approach can help develop a more inclusive and balanced national history and identity in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers and practitioners have discussed the concept of Global Englishes (GE), the degree of GE's influence in the practical use of English is much wider and deeper in the real world than in the field of education. Mainstream ELT practices tend to adhere to native and fixed norms, which are regarded as the central problems in ELT from the perspective of the GE paradigm. Although a GE-oriented pedagogy has been discussed, studies on curriculum in the Chinese ELT context from the GE perspective are relatively rare. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the National English Curriculum (NEC) in China reflects GE-oriented phonology and cultural learning. The study adopted a content analysis in which the NEC statements on phonology and cultural aspects were identified and discussed. After reporting the findings, the paper further discusses some pedagogic implications about curriculum and language teaching from the GE perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to its relevance to the history of education, the study of changes in curriculum design also provides insights into changes in educational attitudes. This paper examines the historical evolution of the Changshi curriculum in China's mainland, explains the concept of Changshi and its different understandings in Changshi or general knowledge courses, and then applies the concept to the narration and classification of history. It also includes a brief discussion on related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With the continuous change of research contents and methods of intelligence science, its integration with other disciplines is also deepening. The purpose of this paper is to further explore the interdisciplinary research characteristics of intelligence science in theoretical depth and application value. Design/methodology/approach: This paper summarizes and explores in two aspects. The first is a large number of literature review, mainly combined with the historical characteristics of the development of intelligence science researches in China and international comparison. The second is to refine the discipline construction ideas suitable for the development of contemporary intelligence science. Findings: From the perspective of the historical development of discipline relevance, the development characteristics and positioning of intelligence science in China are introduced, with the comparison of many disciplines including information technology, library science, information science, data science, management science and other disciplines. In order to better meet the practical needs of intelligence service in the new era, this paper mainly analyzes the construction method of intelligence science research system and the relocation of intelligence science research content. Originality/value: This paper summarizes the historical characteristics and international comparison of the development of intelligence science in China. It proposes the development characteristics and orientation of intelligence science in China from the perspective of historical development of discipline relevance. It also proposes the discipline construction ideas suitable for the development of contemporary intelligence science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial design (ID) undergraduate education in China is seen as a new rapidly growing discipline over the past 40 years. China's ID education is not well known in the West due to several barriers: language, the Great Firewall of China which blocks out most of the Western websites and a 12-h time difference. All Chinese ID curriculum and program information are available in Mandarin. The Ministry of Education administers all Chinese design education as well as ID scholarships and faculty exchange grants and its website and documents require translation. The Great Firewall of China blocks 90% of Western websites including Google making it difficult for Western Scholars to access accurate information about the size and shape of the Chinese ID education landscape. China has a historical relationship between the ID schools in China and the United States. Chinese students are studying or alumni of every American ID program. China and USA share similar program types, dual-track admissions for art and design streams, and academic calendars. In this paper, a model was developed to clarify the features of ID undergraduate education in China and USA, and a survey of eight ID schools was processed. Four aspects were comparatively discussed: (1) types of ID education, (2) ranking, evaluation, and certification of ID schools and programs, (3) curriculum, credits, course features, and yearly schedules of schools, (4) influences coming from the culture and globalization process. Based on the analysis, the similarities and differences in ID undergraduate education between the two countries are discussed. Results show the dual-track modes in China and USA are different. It is mainly reflected in the management and enrollment, curriculum organization, and cultural environment. Implications for the localization, openness, and globalization to ID education are finally discussed together with several directions for future development. The findings are valuable to USA and Chinese ID departments and faculty, researchers, staff and visiting scholars. It is also useful for university administrative units such as registrars, admissions, international offices and exchanges to understand each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good quality teacher education and training has been acknowledged as an effective strategy to reduce sexual prejudice against sexual minority (lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning/queer [LGBQ]) students. However, no mandated programmes have been developed to include LGBQ-related content in teacher training in Hong Kong, a Chinese society in which heterosexism prevails. Based on the concepts of sexual prejudice, minority stress and contact theory, this paper explores the international and regional literature on LGBQ students' school experiences, highlighting the significant role teachers play in supporting these students to transgress sexual prejudice, and presenting suggested themes and strategies for teacher training programmes, drawn from qualitative interviews with eleven Chinese teacher allies. Data analysis led to the identification of the following themes: 1) starting sexual diversity training officially; 2) reconsidering assumptions; 3) engaging with relevant cultural knowledge and skills; and 4) using dialogue as a training strategy. This paper argues that accurate content about sexual diversity should be incorporated into the professional teacher training curriculum, with updated sexuality concepts and prejudice-free, LGBQ-inclusive language relevant to the Chinese cultural context. Teachers need to become more aware of how sexual prejudice is manifested through cultural forces. Intergroup contact can be included as a useful training strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical study on the integration of an intelligent teaching system, Moso Teach (MT), into an English curriculum in a top-ranked four-year university in China. Data sources include the reports and analysis generated by the learning analytics tools in MT, a survey of students, final exam scores, and the instructor's observation of classroom activities. Findings suggest that an intelligent and adaptive learning platform coupled with well-designed team-based activities can indeed increase students' engagement in learning in a wide variety of activities and contexts, from personalized learning to team collaboration, and including classroom participation and asynchronous postings on a discussion forum. These findings are significant because Chinese universities tend to have large-size classes with few opportunities for interaction. Most importantly, this study reveals the impact of collaborative mobile learning on STEM students in both learning engagement and learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epistemicide happens when globalizing West-centric discourses and practices dominate non-Western societies, suppressing and killing the latter's cultural systems of knowledge production. Though scholars worldwide are starting to recognize this fact, China is still forcefully transplanting Western policies and practices in the name of "going global," and of catching up with, and even surpassing, the West. One example is China's ongoing suyang curriculum reform. This reform is largely modelled upon the OECD's and USA's competencies-skills frameworks, but the Chinese state claims that the suyang curriculum reform is more than a replica of the latter. Using the suyang example, this paper dissects epistemicide in China's curriculum knowledge production. Specifically, it analyses the inclusion of some spectres of the modernity-coloniality episteme in the suyang curriculum, including the signifier-signified meaning-making logic, the treatment of language as a representational system, the instrumentalization of language and culture as objects of knowledge, and a mind-body epistemological division. These epistemic spectres, I argue, have thwarted Chinese academics' and policymakers' efforts to re-invoke the cultural suyang discourses as anything but a linguistic trope. Recognizing this as a trope, however, helps to re-articulate the eclipsed suyang episteme which is related to holistic Chinese "body-thinking". This is a first step in countering the so-called darker side of the modernity-coloniality infused in Western knowledge, power, and being (mode of existence). As a decolonial gesture towards "cognitive justice," this case study aligns itself with Paraskeva's Itinerary Curriculum Theory (ICT). In addition, it provides an ontological language lens for China and other countries to (re)produce transnational curriculum knowledge beyond the enslavement of both relativist nationalism and Western modernity-coloniality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'experiment' is used in different ways to mean different things in school science. This study examines the meanings of 'experiment' and how they have changed in the intended chemistry curriculum (ICC) in China since the early 1950s. A mixed methodology was adopted to analyse the 11 ICC documents from a socio-historical perspective. The qualitative analysis identifies four meanings of 'experiment' in these various documents: (1) subject content, (2) pedagogy, (3) scientific processes, and (4) inquiry. The quantitative analysis shows that the frequency of two meanings of 'experiment', subject content and pedagogy, has decreased while two other ones, scientific processes and inquiry, has experienced an upward trend during the period under study. While analysing five typical ICCs in different decades, it was found that the distribution of the four meanings of 'experiment' in these ICC documents has become more balanced from the past to the present. Moreover, explanations are provided for the changing tendencies and the distributions of the four meanings of 'experiment' in the social contexts of China. The implications for science curriculum development, science teacher development, and future research are discussed in the last part of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A unified framework was developed to present reasoning and proof of entire textbooks. • More than 1/3 of exercises and narratives were related to reasoning and proof. • Providing a proof and making a conjecture were most frequently appearing type. • Geometry had much more reasoning and proof opportunities than algebra and statistics. • Reasoning and proof opportunity was continuous, doubled across narratives of Volumes. Despite the importance of reasoning and proof (RP) opportunities in mathematics textbooks has been focused on by many researches, the methodologies were lack of consistency. To make it more accessible to obtain specific details about RP in the mathematics textbooks and compare RP across Oriental and Western mathematics textbooks, this study provides a unified analytical framework to present RP within the exercises and narratives. Meanwhile, this paper utilized this new framework to examine two volumes of Chinese reform-oriented eighth-grade mathematics textbooks. We connected the results with prior researches, and discussed the features of Chinese textbook design regarding to RP compared with U.S. textbooks. Moreover, this framework could also be applicable to examine RP in the enacted lessons in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capability of reading comprehension is one of the essential skills for learning different topics, and has been recognized as a challenging objective in the Chinese curriculum. In this study, a concept mapping‐based summarization strategy was incorporated into flipped learning to improve students' reading comprehension. The participants of the study were 45 fifth graders from two Mandarin Chinese classes at an elementary school in Taiwan. None of the students had previous flipped learning experience. A pretest and posttest of reading comprehension as well as pre‐ and post‐questionnaires for measuring the students' reading motivation, self‐efficacy, and cognitive load were conducted. The experimental results show that the proposed approach improved the students' summarization skills, while the impact of the approach on students' reading comprehension was not significant. Moreover, reading comprehension and self‐efficacy showed a positive correlation, and self‐efficacy was positively correlated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Consequently, it is concluded that employing concept mapping with the summarization strategy in flipped learning and students' summarization ability are directly related, but there may be an indirect relationship with reading comprehension. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic The capability of reading comprehension has been recognized as a challenging objective in the Chinese curriculum.It is time‐consuming and difficult to train students in all kinds of reading skills in class.Flipped learning could be one of the approaches to solving this dilemma as it provides more practice and interaction time with peers and teachers in class.The acquisition of new skills can be technically demanding.The difficulty levels of the skills to be acquired should be considered.What this paper adds A concept mapping‐based summarization strategy for flipped learning is proposed to enhance students' summarization and reading comprehension in a Mandarin Chinese course.The proposed approach improved the students' summarization skills.When learning with the proposed approach, students' reading comprehension and self‐efficacy showed a positive correlation, and self‐efficacy was positively correlated with both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.Implications for practice and/or policy Combining concept mapping with the summarization strategy in flipped learning mode has good potential to improve students' summarization skills.Dynamic instructional strategies in reading should be promoted to stimulate critical and creative thinking.Flipped video assignments at students' own levels should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excellent courses have a stake in the high education reform and in the improvement of instruction quality, so play a significant part in the curriculums of colleges and universities. This paper designs and implements an online Ideology and Political (I&P) learning sharing platform based on classic curriculum repository on the .NET platform in C# language and B/S infrastructure mode by combination with Web Service and SQL technologies. This platform effectively converges a string of I&P quality courses to independently construct an instruction repository for online excellent curriculums whereby to facilitate students to retrieve a variety of quality curriculums for independent online learning, effectively exchange and share the information about the I&P instructions, so as to boost the education cause march on toward informationization, improve the level of I&P education in colleges and universities. After running the test, the platform is stable and reliable with practical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores textbook programmes and curriculum development in four distinct countries - China, Mexico and The Carribbeans. It compares their strengths and weaknesses, while establishing how Nigeria can adopt or improve on what it currently practices. It also highlights the various agencies responsible for curriculum and textbook development in the various countries, including their impact thus far. It concludes that Nigeria needs to develop content based on where the textbooks would be used, as practised in China. Furthermore, it advises that the government need to make approval process seamless and be of high standards without unnecessary partiality and unfavourable policies in book selection and approval for use in libraries and schools in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although engineering education has played important roles in China’s growing power and influence on the world stage, engineering education policy since the Reform and Opening-up in the late 1970s has not been well documented in current English-language scholarship. Informed by historical and sociological studies of education, engineering and engineering education, this paper attempts to address this scholarly gap by relating contemporary Chinese engineering education policy-making to its broader historical, cultural and ideological contexts. Based on analysis of policy documents and reports released by the Chinese government and engineering schools, and drawing on prior scholarship of Chinese (engineering) education policy, this paper employs the concept of ‘past/forward’ as an analytic lens to interpret and understand four major areas of engineering education policy change in contemporary China: institutional reform, disciplines and majors, training objectives, and curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In response to the early Education Reform Proposal's recommendation to provide more diverse opportunities for lifelong learning at the senior secondary level and beyond, there has been a considerable expansion in the post-secondary education sector – Professional and Vocational Education (PVE) – in Hong Kong over the past ten years. The curriculum intention underlying these PVE programmes is straightforward: to equip youth with the necessary knowledge and skills to face future work challenges and continue their studies. However, this ideal is being challenged with regard to the extent to which students are ‘culturally literate'. This paper reports 214 Hong Kong PVE students' views about how important it is for people to possess the knowledge and skills for cultural literacy, and how well they think they are performing in relation to the corresponding indicators. Supported by qualitative interviews, the results indicated that the proposed eight constructs are critical to understanding cultural literacy in the Hong Kong PVE context. Also, while students agreed that these sets of knowledge and skills were important, they were not performing them well. A paired samples t-test suggested a significant difference between their perceptions and performance, and large values of Cohen'sdconfirmed the size of the effect was medium to large. Among the measured eight constructs, nurturing students for ‘social and civic responsibility' was found to be critical. This paper will contribute to the discussion about how to better position the PVE curriculum in Hong Kong to nurture students' cultural literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the upsurge in interest in e-learning (or online learning) in Chinese higher education, little is known about the ways in which lecturers design and run their online courses, or about how they perceive e-learning. This paper reports the results of interviews with higher education teachers in China working in conventional, campus-based universities, concerning their conceptions and beliefs of e-learning. The interviews were analysed from a grounded theory perspective that gave rise to seven emerging themes, namely: the ‘centrality of the lecture’, ‘online cooperative learning’, ‘network learning’, ‘student learning’, ‘lecture plus online work’, ‘infrastructure and access’ and ‘professional development’. Discussion of these emerging themes helps us understand the ways in which these teachers think about e-learning and teaching, the beliefs they hold about their ‘e’ practice, the ways in which they implement e-learning, the problems they face in incorporating e-learning into their courses and the ways in which they perceive e-learners. This provides a fascinating and unique insight into e-learning in Chinese higher education. Evidence shows that it is a complex area with many influences, some of which can be attributed to social, cultural and Confucian-heritage factors. It is concluded that, despite enthusiasm by some for innovating e-learning, the dominance of traditional teaching methods in China suggest that the conditions for mainstreaming e-learning in the near future are not strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of design and technology was introduced to the curriculum for high schools in China 10 years ago. However, the teaching and learning of this subject have become difficult for both teachers and students because there is a lack of qualified teachers with design background to deliver this subject in a way to stimulate the learning interests of the students. This paper presents a research that is aimed at improving this situation by integrating the teaching and learning of design and technology within a computational environment as part of social networks sites. The purpose is to enable the collaboration among the students and interaction between teachers and students. In this research, a series of investigations were conducted, by following through several taught subjects in design and technology in prominent high schools in China. Based on these investigations, a theoretical framework for web-based design learning and teaching system in the style of social networking is developed, implemented and tested, emphasizing three features of design: innovation, collaboration, and interaction. This framework has been tested among high school students and teachers in a high school in Nanjing. It identified and validated necessary techniques and design features required to make an education-related social networking site effective and affective for the students and teachers. The results of this research indicated that social networking sites have significantly positive values in design education, especially for the collaboration and interaction on the subject of design and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we outline the provision of pre-primary education in the Hong Kong SAR and discuss how the educational reform initiatives of 2000 (Learning to Learn) and global imperatives provided the impetus to reshape a new educational approach to early childhood education. We use the example of a half-day pre-primary (kindergarten) programme to illustrate the ways in which policy and guidelines are enacted and how they appear to reflect all the attributes of the reform movement that have adopted contemporary ideas from the international educational arena. We highlight the interpretations and enactments of these new educational imperatives in a system that has a long history of different cultural pedagogical traditions that often do not resonate with western pedagogical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is a prolegomena to discussions about a differentiated Confucian MBA curriculum. We draw upon Kant’s notion of individual autonomy and our observations of practice to argue that there are three models extant for the MBA degree. One of these, that which emphasizes leadership, holds considerable potential if it develops in the context of a genuinely Confucian university. This distinctive MBA—which could emerge in China—would express Confucian metaphysics and thus actively embrace China’s history, philosophy and culture. It would manifest as a genuine alternative to the western, globalized, neoliberal MBA. A Confucian MBA would promote a concept of leadership that emphasizes cooperation and other Confucian ‘values’ (in their full sophistication and complexity) while minimising the role of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a ubiquitous yet under-studied area of language pedagogy, namely materials usage. It explores teachers' enactment of curriculum materials by focusing on English language education (ELE) teachers' use of prescribed textbooks to plan and deliver lessons at the tertiary level in Mainland China. A qualitative multi-case study involving three Chinese ELE teachers represents the design for this study. The interactive patterns of teachers' enactment at the pre-lesson phase were generated along with four domains of influential factors. The implications for materials development and professional development are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Sustainability is receiving increasing amounts of attention in higher education in terms of how it can best be integrated with university curricula. Sustainability is closely related to complexity, innovation, and interdisciplinarity; therefore, it requires alternative approaches rather than traditional, lecture-based pedagogy. This paper reports an educational initiative and research project based on collaboration between Beijing Normal University, China and Aalborg University, Denmark: developing a sustainability curriculum using the methodology of Problem and Project Based Learning (PBL) in a Chinese context. A theoretical framework is established to understand and analyze the culture's change toward a sustainability curriculum that employs PBL methodology. Empirical work is drawn upon first year results from the implementation of this methodology in an engineering and science curriculum. Data generation is based on multiple collection methods, such as survey of students' feedbacks, interviews with students, and analysis of students' project reports and reflection essays. This paper summarizes that a sustainability curriculum as proposed in this research can attract students' interests in not only mastering relevant knowledge, but also in developing necessary skills and competencies. PBL as a teaching and learning method can successfully facilitate participative learning, critical reflection, systemic thinking, creativity, and cultural awareness, which are the core values of sustainability. However, implementing a new curriculum with new teaching and learning methods can be more complex than expected. Many issues impact the implementation process and are therefore remain challenges to further development; for example, how to change the existing grading system, how to provide both teaching staff and students' with prior knowledge about the new PBL methods, how to gain institutional support, and how to change the broader societal and cultural values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper attempts to identify the leadership practices and qualities of school principals engaged in implementing a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that the types of instructional leadership practices that school principals adopt and the contextual conditions in which these practices occur are key factors explaining the differential effectiveness of implementation efforts. Six efficacious instructional leadership practices and two contextual conditions critical to their development were identified. This paper reconceptualises instructional leadership as a collective and transformational endeavour, functioning in communities of practice to support school development at different levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of Chinese traditions for the formation of a felt Hong Kong identity and a national identity among students in the personal and social education curriculum before and after reunification with China in 1997. This paper argues that the addition of China elements to the curriculum after reunification contributes to the continuous ambiguous identity of students, which is consistent with the results of various poll surveys about the civic identity of Hong Kong people in a larger context. This is because the personal and social education reform after reunification assumed a simple correlation between the patriotic feelings of students and their knowledge of China. It does not question how the promotion of an intensely unifying ‘cultural identity’ as political commitment is differentiated from the day-to-day ‘cultural experiences’ of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to describe the growing popularity of international schools in China. Two types of international schools are discussed: independent international schools that only foreign passport holders can attend (e.g. Shanghai American School), and international programs in the public system that both foreigners and Chinese nationals can attend (e.g. International Experimental Class, No. 1 Middle School, Wuhan).Design/methodology/approach – A comparative analysis is carried out of the historical context, mission, curriculum, students, teachers, governance and tuition of two sample schools (one sample from each type of international school in China).Findings – Analysis reveals similarities, differences, and challenges each school experiences. Examples of recent cross-cultural collaborative efforts aiming to alleviate these challenges are then identified, including the discussion of a third sample school, the Nansha College Preparatory Academy in Shenzhen.Originality/value – This paper provides insight into how international education is evolving in China, and how cross-cultural collaboration can be employed to support growth and improvement of international education in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training of creative talents during K-12 education affects the future of a nation. As a result, researchers in China and other countries give special attention to the field of pedagogy. This paper evaluated an experimental class of Beijing F High School as the case study, and performed an empirical study on cloud-based pedagogy for training the creative talents, a quantitative study based on the 6 basic aspects of Tyler’s theory, a qualitative study using ethnography for classroom observation that included interviews of teachers, students, and observers, and employed a sequential mixed research method used for data collection and analysis. Results demonstrated that cloud-based pedagogy in the creative-talent class of Beijing F High School focused on objectives in its orientation, the curriculum content, implementation and development reflecting the richness, regression, correlation, and rigor of postmodern curriculum. By using the accelerated and enriched cloud-based curriculum and focusing on the Talent Search Model, the Beijing F High School was able to gain rich experiences in the training of creative talents in Chinese K-12 education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Hong Kong, onscreen marking (OSM) is superseding paper-based marking (PBM) across the entire national examinations system. This paper describes a qualitative study of the attitudes of Liberal Studies markers towards OSM. This becomes a compulsory subject in Hong Kong's new senior secondary school curriculum to be first examined in 2012, with a candidature of 80 000 compared to the current candidatures of 3300. The current study describes semi-structured interviews with Liberal Studies markers who provided in-depth opinions on key aspects of the OSM process. Markers were positive about many aspects of the new system including: the advantages of marking by single question rather than by whole paper; improved reliability using control scripts; and relief from administrative tasks associated with PBM. There are, nonetheless, aspects of the new system that markers are unhappy with, primarily logistical, involving travel to marking centres and marking at fixed times when they are tired. Reading onscreen was also an issue. In summary, 43% of markers stated that they preferred the status quo of PBM, 35% stated they felt OSM was better, while 21% were ambivalent. While OSM has not yet been wholeheartedly accepted by markers, its potential advantages are beginning to be appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal studies is a new subject in the new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong. This study attempted to identify factors that shape liberal studies student teachers' decisions in lesson planning. Based on interview data and lesson plans developed by the student teachers, this article maintains that four factors interacted with the subject features of liberal studies to shape the student teachers' planning decisions, namely, teacher knowledge, curriculum requirements, materials and resources, and interaction with equal and more capable partners. This paper further looks into how teacher knowledge expresses itself at different stages of lesson planning. The findings suggest that to facilitate enquiry learning in students, liberal studies teachers need to adopt an enquiry stance in lesson planning. This paper argues that the limitations of liberal studies student teachers' content knowledge need to be addressed in teacher preparation programmes and suggests teacher networking as one way to strengthen novice liberal studies teachers' content preparation. The implications for teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of rapid globalization, space and time are seriously compressed. People from different nations, cultures, religions and other backgrounds have become much more interconnected and interdependent. Since people are rapidly intermingling, what values should be considered as standards and norms in regulating this situation, so that people of different backgrounds can relate peacefully to each other with mutual respect? United Nations (UN) human rights standards could be considered as sets of shared global norms and values in a search for global ethics. As a consequence, the UN has been eager to promote human rights education (HRE), aiming at the cultivation of a human rights culture. This paper reports on two case studies of school-based curriculum development of HRE in two Hong Kong secondary schools. We also recommend some research directions important for the implementation of HRE in schools. It is hoped that the paper can provide some insight into the development of quality HRE in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the close collaborative work our research team has been engaged in with two local schools to study how action research measures may help to facilitate the improvement of the Integrated Humanities (IH) curriculum through school-university partnerships. It attempts to understand action research as a form of cultural practice for education, and examines how such collaborative work with local schools may contribute to sustainable cultural work of education and intervene at different levels of the schooling practices. In all, the paper seeks to offer preliminary analysis and reflection on the re-orientation of Cultural Studies as a research and problem-solving, intellectual and critical project with a potential for long-term input to cultural policy-making. It also aims at examining the role of cultural studies practitioners as action researchers in the process of doing cultural work of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two years, English language teaching at the level of basic education in China has been changing very fast due to the new Standard Curriculum. The paper takes a school in the northwest of China as an example, illustrating the process of implementing the Curriculum, summarizing the work the school has done, the problems encountered and arguing for the need to manage the change. The paper also gives some suggestions in conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current approaches to science-technology-society (STS) education focus primarily on the controversial socio-scientific issues that arise from the application of science in modern technology. This paper argues for an interdisciplinary approach to STS education that embraces science, technology, history, and social and cultural studies. By employing a case study of traditional papermaking technology, it investigates how the interactions between technology and science can be explored in an authentic societal and cultural context across a historical time span. The term technology-society-science (TSS) is used to represent an alternative approach to linking technology, society, and science that aims to redress the imbalance between science and technology, and to resolve the tension between two diverging goals of STS education. The educational implications of this alternative approach to STS education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the demand for modernization of education and the math education requirements of middle school, we open the dynamic geometry course in Huazhong Normal University. This paper records our experience of teaching dynamic geometry course and introduces the contents that can stimulate the interest of students or are very useful for students. The main achievements of students and the problems exposed in the teaching practice are also shared in this paper. At the end of the paper, the evaluation and feedback of the students to the course, as well as the expectation and prospect for the future are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective integration of technology into the teaching and learning of mathematics presents a significant challenge to tertiary mathematics educators. Assessment issues are widely considered in the literature as one critical factor in technology implementation, and this was confirmed in a PhD study investigating the overall use of technology in undergraduate mathematics. This paper expands on the findings reported at the 2009 ATCM conference in Beijing. It first introduces the taxonomy developed to describe and compare technology use within individual courses and departments. The taxonomy identifies six overarching characteristics in the construction of an Integrated Technology Mathematics Curriculum (ITMC). The paper then specifically examines the Assessment characteristic of the taxonomy, using evidence gathered from an observational study of technology implementation at The University of Auckland. The findings of this study suggest that aspects of assessment such as curricular congruency, equity and the advantages and affordances provided by different technologies require continued attention and constant vigilance, if integrated technology is to be successfully implemented and sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed primarily to investigate the impact of school-based curriculum development teams on teacher development within the tradition of school-based curriculum development. The results are expected to provide valuable insights for teachers, school management and policy making. Teacher interviews in a primary school in Hong Kong were conducted to evaluate the extent to which teacher engagement in curriculum decision-making processes, which are within two school-based curriculum development teams, led to teacher professional development; these were triangulated with video-taped meetings and tryout lessons. Qualitative evidence showed that participating teachers have each undergone professional development through the processes involved in the planning, experimenting and reflecting (PER) model, which is also upon curriculum practice and innovation under certain conditions. However, the complex structures and processes that have been established to involve teachers in curriculum decision making need further empirical and theoretical work. While previous papers on the studies focused on teacher development and pupil learning, this paper, based on interview data, aims to focus on the functions of distributed leadership, and how the leadership styles of consultants and panel heads mediate the interactional patterns and therefore the discourses in the Mathematics and Chinese development teams in the second action cycle of the innovation project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing resource depletion and environmental issues in China, it is both desirable and practical to promote industrial ecology (IE) education. While industrial ecology education in China is still in its infancy, we believe it can be improved through systematic review of specific experiences. We outline and assess the experience with teaching of industrial ecology at the Dalian University of Technology (DUT) in northeastern China. We first provide an overview related to industrial ecology education in China and then present a detailed description of eight teaching modules focused on industrial ecology at DUT: history and evolution of IE, cleaner production, life cycle management, design for environment, integrated waste management, industrial symbiosis and eco-industrial parks, circular economy, and sustainable consumption. Particular attention is given to teaching methodology. All lectures and discussions are in English; written assignments and verbal presentations in English are required, as is a final research paper and extensive use of Chinese and international case studies. Overall pedagogy emphasizes active learning and critical reflection. The grading system relies on individual written assignments, an oral presentation, participation, and a research paper. Challenges encountered include the difficulties for some students due to their limited competency in the English language, facilitating students to shift from passive to active learning, and attracting management students to the course. Postcourse evaluations indicated that the students’ understanding of industrial ecology increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues against the description of the common approach to English language teaching in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as mimetic and epistemic by exploring the pedagogical practices that primary English language teachers in the PRC adopt for implementing the affective dimension advocated in the new (2001) English language curriculum. The paper starts by presenting how affect is construed in the English language curriculum. It then examines how, guided by their beliefs, eight primary English language teachers from the less socioeconomically developed regions of Guangdong - a province in the South-eastern part of the PRC - address the affective dimension promoted in the curriculum through the employment of entertaining tasks and activities as effective learning tools in a context constrained by limited resources, late start of English instruction and little exposure to the target language outside the classroom. Interviews, documentary analysis and lesson observations are used to examine the teachers' pedagogical practices. The paper concludes by challenging the depiction of teachers in English foreign language classrooms in the PRC as taking a textbook-dependent, teacher-centred, and transmission-oriented approach in their classroom instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, educational and curricular reforms in Hong Kong have been designed to prepare students for the challenges of the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the UK to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. This paper focuses on students' and teachers' attitudes towards a multicultural music education, which includes Chinese music, in response to this socio-political change. A mixed method design, involving a content analysis of relevant official educational and music documents, a questionnaire survey to 3,243 school students, and semi-structured interviews with 20 music teachers have been employed to further understanding of the development of politics and culture in Hong Kong society, which was investigated between winter 2006 and spring 2007. This paper argues that access to various musical cultures is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of music education in Hong Kong. Questions of how to integrate both Chinese music and other musical cultures in music education will remain a challenge for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the process of developing integrated science curricula at junior secondary schools in the Peoples' Republic of China in the past 20 years. The history has witnessed two stages of developing integrated science curricula during this period in China: one was at the provincial level in the 1980s/1990s, while the other was at the national level in the new millennium. Using the concept of curriculum emphases, this paper purported to investigate the advocated forms of integration and the reasons and causes behind them in integrated science curriculum during the period under study. Data were collected from two sources: curriculum documents related to the integrated science curricula, and interviews with key informants who were involved in designing the official documents of this kind of science curriculum. Two models of integration have been identified from the two stages respectively: one is 'integration within science subjects', while the other 'integration beyond science subjects'. The social-political roots of the two models of integration have been traced. To meet the goal of scientific literacy, it is suggested in the final part of this paper that the model of 'integration within science subjects' should be abandoned while the model of 'integration beyond science subjects' should be advocated in the process of developing integrated science curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a case study of the use of language objectives within a newly developed English language teacher education programme in Hong Kong. The programme development team decided to adopt a content-based language teaching approach to support students' second language development through content learning. The teacher education programme (the content) prepares Chinese-speaking students to become secondary level English teachers. Because of students' level of English language proficiency upon entry, the programme must provide substantial support for students' English language development in addition to their learning of subject content knowledge and ELT pedagogy. There is also a government-stipulated proficiency level for all qualified English language teachers, which essentially becomes the language syllabus for the programme. The language objectives serve as a medium for mapping the language syllabus on the content curriculum. There are reasons to believe that the approach adopted has been successful in supporting students' language and content learning. This paper describes the programme development and implementation process and the problems and constraints met. The paper also shares the lessons learnt from the curriculum development and implementation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the introduction in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of the new Chinese curriculum for basic education. In contrast to many previous initiatives since 1949 the present reform attempts to change not only what is taught, and by whom, but fundamental notions of how learning is best facilitated. The paper considers the connections between the reform and current directions in international education policy, and seeks to explore the ways in which the values inherent within this approach to teaching and learning relate to the practices that characterise Chinese/Tibetan classrooms. It is suggested that the meaning attributed to education at the local level shapes profoundly the types of cultural production that can emerge from it. International and national reform efforts must be and are always mediated through such understandings. In the case of Tibet, where often incompatible interests are at play, the impact of national level reform is unpredictable and uneven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Hong Kong (HK) school curriculum, especially the general curriculum for civic education and other social subjects, in relation to the political events of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident, and the return of HK's sovereignty from the United Kingdom (UK) to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. This paper will argue that since 1984, the school curriculum of HK has been marked by tensions brought about by political cultures shaped by the UK and the PRC, the bureaucratic mechanisms of which are used to make sure that those curriculum contents that are judged to be politically correct are taught in school. Over the last two decades the school curriculum has been depicted as being shaped by the emergence of the nation-state and the transfer of sovereignty. Granted that political and national education forms part of the school culture, the question of how to shape students to be patriotic through the curriculum will continue to be contentious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral education is always closely associated with politics in China, and the term ‘moral education’ is often interchangeable with such other terms as ideological and political education. Officially, moral education is seen as an important tool in upholding the socialist nature of the school and society. This paper examines the changing political and ideological orientations in China, and their implications for policy change in moral education since 1978. The paper reports on a case study on The new three character classic movement in Guangdong province, a focal point of opening up. This demonstrates some changes in the orientations of the moral education curriculum, including the growing concern about individual well‐being and the moral quality of citizens that would fit with a society that is fast changing under the reform and opening‐up policy, and being integrated into the world. It is argued that there is a clear reorientation for moral education to be disassociated from politics, and replaced by an emphasis on personal moral quality, as well as individual well‐being, such as psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are living in a fast-changing, technology-driven world, where technology affects the daily lives of every person, directly or indirectly. While the importance of providing young children with technological knowledge and experience has been well-recognized, how the curriculum should be developed deserves greater study. Using early childhood education in Hong Kong as a case study, this paper argues that to be successful in planning and implementing a technology curriculum, we cannot consider only the technological aspects. We also need to take into consideration the social and cultural factors. Among various social and cultural factors, this paper focuses on: (a) the background of the students and their parents, (b) society's perceptions of technology, and (c) society's expectations of children who learn about technology, and (d) the approach and method of teaching and learning technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses aspects of a Hong Kong school curriculum reform, which recommends amongst other things, a greater focus on assessment for learning. It outlines the principles of the reform as it pertains to assessment and discusses how structural changes are being employed to lend support to changes in the assessment culture in Hong Kong. The paper draws on a previous problematic attempt to introduce formative assessment through the Target-Oriented Curriculum initiative. Two examples of assessment for learning practice of 'early adopters' are used to illustrate both the potential and some of the challenges of implementation in the Hong Kong primary school context. From these cases, are drawn out some of the facilitating and inhibiting factors impinging on the implementation of assessment for learning in schools, building on a model of professional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]