The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission convened an important conference in early 2010.A major focus of the conference was the apparent failure of the New Curriculum Reform to take root in schools.One of the concl...The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission convened an important conference in early 2010.A major focus of the conference was the apparent failure of the New Curriculum Reform to take root in schools.One of the conclusions presented at the conference was that school principals were responsible for the gap between the intent and effect of the curriculum reform.This article uses data collected from a group of Shanghai secondary school principals to examine the state of the curriculum reform from“the inside.”The main purpose of the article is to identify why the principals themselves believe that the reform is not working as intended and indeed whether they are in some way complicit in the slow rate of reform implementation.Principals involved in the study suggest the contradictory messages they receive from government officials about how principals’work should be formally and informally assessed do little to promote meaningful reform implementation.Therefore,it is suggested that one of the main reasons why curriculum reform has so far not been able to bring about deep change at secondary school level is the enduring cultural norms which continue to underpin societal expectations and accountability,rather than a lack of curriculum leadership on the part of school principals.展开更多
Purpose-The purpose of the paper is to discuss some of the mysteries around the much-touted recent success of school education in China and to explore some of the key conditions that may underpin the success.Design/Ap...Purpose-The purpose of the paper is to discuss some of the mysteries around the much-touted recent success of school education in China and to explore some of the key conditions that may underpin the success.Design/Approach/Methods-It is a conceptual paper.A wide range of available data and literature has been consulted and analyzed to carefully marshal arguments about how to understand the mysteries and the conditions underpinning the success.Findings-The paper discusses four mysteries around education success in China.It argues for the development of a fuller and more contextualized perspective to view the success.The paper further suggests that neither of the four general conditions for success-values,reform,leadership or teaching approaches-taken alone,can explain pathways to success.Originality/Value-The paper provides an original explanatory description of the mysteries of education success and underlying conditions.This paper helps fill a gap in Western understanding of the“why”and“how”of school success in China.展开更多
文摘The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission convened an important conference in early 2010.A major focus of the conference was the apparent failure of the New Curriculum Reform to take root in schools.One of the conclusions presented at the conference was that school principals were responsible for the gap between the intent and effect of the curriculum reform.This article uses data collected from a group of Shanghai secondary school principals to examine the state of the curriculum reform from“the inside.”The main purpose of the article is to identify why the principals themselves believe that the reform is not working as intended and indeed whether they are in some way complicit in the slow rate of reform implementation.Principals involved in the study suggest the contradictory messages they receive from government officials about how principals’work should be formally and informally assessed do little to promote meaningful reform implementation.Therefore,it is suggested that one of the main reasons why curriculum reform has so far not been able to bring about deep change at secondary school level is the enduring cultural norms which continue to underpin societal expectations and accountability,rather than a lack of curriculum leadership on the part of school principals.
文摘Purpose-The purpose of the paper is to discuss some of the mysteries around the much-touted recent success of school education in China and to explore some of the key conditions that may underpin the success.Design/Approach/Methods-It is a conceptual paper.A wide range of available data and literature has been consulted and analyzed to carefully marshal arguments about how to understand the mysteries and the conditions underpinning the success.Findings-The paper discusses four mysteries around education success in China.It argues for the development of a fuller and more contextualized perspective to view the success.The paper further suggests that neither of the four general conditions for success-values,reform,leadership or teaching approaches-taken alone,can explain pathways to success.Originality/Value-The paper provides an original explanatory description of the mysteries of education success and underlying conditions.This paper helps fill a gap in Western understanding of the“why”and“how”of school success in China.
