China’s reform and opening up policy has not only freed the country to become a global economic giant but also tuned its higher education in with international trends. This study examines how internationalization has impacted core university values and whether or not this newly globalized higher education will embrace diversity so that Chinese cultural and scholarly traditions are given space to develop. Adopting notions of diversity and “dialogue among civilizations” as the conceptual framework, this study finds that, rather than nurturing a genuine meaningful sense of intellectual openness and plurality, globalized higher education in China has tended to foster countervailing tendencies of conformity and homogeneity with Western models, and the historical dilemma of integrating Western perspectives with Chinese indigenous ideas is not yet being resolved.
Christian higher education (CHE) had been totally disappeared from the China mainland since the 1950s, and related studies only revived in the past 40 years since Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up policy in 1978. The present paper is an attempt to report what had happened in the past 40 years, and to illustrate some significant contributions the resurgence of the study of CHE had made to the academia in the development of higher education in China. New forms of representation of CHE are found and new approaches to the study of CHE are also explored.
The present study is set in the context of ongoing educational reform that advocates fostering self-regulated learners and using assessment to improve learning. Drawing on existent research on classroom assessment (CA) and self-regulated learning (SRL), the authors have formulated a conceptual framework outlining the CA features that promote SRL among students. Guided by this framework, the 12 high school teachers’ CA practice was scrutinized to find out to what extent their CA was pro-SRL. Based on interview data and classroom observation, gaps were found in Chinese high school teachers’ CA. First, CA tasks are primarily low-level closed-end problems, with rare exceptions. Second, students are not allowed much autonomy in CA. Third, self-assessment practice is mostly self-grading. Fourth, peer-assessment is uncommon and mainly involves simply marking peers’ work. Fifth, teacher feedback is focused on task and process levels; regulation-level feedback is less common. Sixth, despite teachers’ encouragement, most students feel threatened by CA.
This paper reports findings from a comparative study of urban vs. rural school principals in China. It is an extension and replication of an earlier study on the profiles and preparation of school leaders in the US and China. The study illustrates modern portraits—demographic characteristics of urban and rural principals in China, explores their entry perspectives and examines their professional commitment to principalship as a lifelong career. Findings from the comparative study indicate that urban and rural school principals in China differ greatly in their profiles and characteristics. They share similar intrinsic or extrinsic reasons for becoming principals, but they also vary on some key reasons. Unfortunately, most of the principals in our study are not firmly committed to principalship as a lifelong career because of a range of disturbing factors. Findings from this study shed new light on the profiles and preparation of educational leaders in China and offer thoughtful recommendations for change to both Chinese and international education community.
This paper was written in response to a growing need to address the perceptions and experiences of immigrant teachers. Based on a critical intercultural theoretical perspective, which moves beyond typical “culture shock” and “adaptation” models of understanding and explaining immigrants’ experiences, this paper makes use of the concepts of teacher beliefs, ideologies and imaginaries (Holliday, 2010) in considering how Finland-based Chinese immigrant teachers perceive the position of being teachers of Chinese in Finland and Australia. An analysis of data from group discussions during a teacher training workshop indicates that these teachers constructed a “utopia” (Australia) and “dystopia” (Finland) of Chinese language teaching, and reveals that multiple factors have influenced these immigrant teachers’ perceptions and experiences. Findings provide information for teacher educators and stakeholders to better understand and support immigrant teachers from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Based on four longitudinal evaluation reports of the China-England Mathematics Teacher Exchange (MTE) and related materials provided by the Chinese and English program teams, this article analyzes the impact of the MTE on English mathematics education. Certain positive impacts on mathematics teaching in England were found, especially regarding the formation of new knowledge concepts, the sharing of teachers’ professional knowledge and the generation of practical knowledge. Furthermore, as a platform for two-way communication and cooperation between the two countries in teaching resources, the MTE program has proven to be an innovative way for the sharing of educational resources. Moreover, as the program improves and develops, its impacts on mathematics education in Western countries and beyond will continue to grow.