Developing teacher professionalism through the teaching-research system 教研制度的上海模式

• In Event: Chinese roundtable II (Sponsored by SIG: East Asia)
  In Chinese Round-table Session: Teacher professional development: the Shanghai model 教师专业发展的上海模式

Proposal

With the release of the PISA 2009 and 2012 results, Shanghai became the focus of international admiration. A plethora of transnational policy actors, in particular the OECD, have identified a set of key features attributable to Shanghai’s ‘PISA success’; among these features, the teaching-research system has been highlighted. This study aims to review the historical evolvement of China’s teaching-research system, explore the ways in which the system has influenced teacher professional development and teaching quality, and more specifically examine the distinctiveness of the Shanghai system. In doing so, I have firstly reviewed policy documents pertaining to the introduction and reforms of the system since the 1950s. Secondly, taking three districts in Shanghai as illustrative examples, I have conducted observation of ten teaching-research activities in 2017 and in-depth interviews with 32 participants in five primary and secondary schools.

The analysis shows that, the teaching-research system was originally learnt from the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. While in the ‘Soviet model’ it only served as an administrative organization responsible for daily management of teaching, its early version of the Chinese system was additionally concerned with studying about teaching reforms. In the context of the New Curriculum Reform (xinkegai) from 2001, Shanghai has become the national ‘experimental district of education comprehensive reform’ and has since carried out a range of policy initiatives regarding the teaching-research system. The Shanghai system has been characterised by collaborative research, innovation and sharing, and has combined daily management, academic research, teacher professional development and the construction of teacher culture into an integral whole.
Moreover, the Shanghai system has evolved into diverse and complex forms, setting the models for the rest of China. The exemplars include: (1) the ‘Qingpu experience’ – improving teaching quality through employing the approach of ‘outcome-based teaching’ (changshi zhidao yu xiaoguo huishou); (2) the ‘group preparation-feedback-reflection’ mechanism – a school-based approach developed by the Minhang District Experimental Primary School to provide professional development supports in different stages of teaching; and (3) the ‘Apprentice Project’ and the establishment of ‘Working Stations for Famous Teacher’ – two approaches developed in Baoshan District to facilitate the professional development of novice teachers. Under the joint efforts of East China Normal University and Vanderbilt University, Shanghai’s teaching-research system has inspired the introduction of ‘Teacher Peer Excellent Groups’ project in Tennessee, United States. Looking to the future, Shanghai plans to create more ‘teacher professional development communities’ within the teaching-research system to encourage and assist the interaction and sharing among teachers from different schools or even different districts.

Author

• Xiaowei Yang, East China Normal University