Explorations of the Future Schools in China: Purposes, Understanding, and Practice

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

It is well known that traditional Chinese schools have been dominated by Confucian education for more than 2,000 years. Then, in the mid-19th century, under the attack of foreign aggression, traditional Chinese schools were forced to choose the modern Western school as the fundamental model for constructing modern Chinese schools. In 1904, the promulgation of the Kwai Mao school system(葵卯学制) marked the beginning of the transition from the traditional school to the modern school in China (Chen, 2001). Although modern schools have cultivated a large number of talents for China, promoting China's development from "standing up" to "getting rich," their disadvantages are prominent and constantly criticized. Since the 1990s, China has intensified its reform efforts, but the drawbacks of the modern school have been difficult to eliminate (Ye, 2006; Bu, 2014). In the 21st century, China has become increasingly stronger, and it has become a great country with larger and larger international influence. Yet, it is hard for Chinese school education to break out of the European and American paradigms. Therefore, how to reflect Chinese culture, traditions, and own characteristics, also, contributing Chinese experience to the world has become a significant theme of concern to contemporary Chinese educational circles (Li, 2019).

Since the 21st century, people have some new understanding and expectations for the future society, future talents, and future education, which are driven by factors such as the rapid development of information technology, the increasing speed and magnitude of changes in social life, the intensification of ecological and environmental changes, the emergence of transgenesis and 3D printing, and the Covid-19 pandemic. To this end, some countries and international organizations (such as OECD, UNESCO, and WFS) have actively participated in the exploration of the future school, and many reports have been published. Around 2013, the Chinese government, enterprises, and schools began to zealously engage in theoretical and practical exploration of the future school (Wang, 2016). They are hoping, in this fourth industrial revolution, to seize the opportunity to explore the future school in parallel with the world so that they explore the theoretical perception and practical path of the future school that has Chinese characteristics and belongs to China (Bu, 2022).

This panel will focus on the Chinese theoretical construction and practical exploration of the future school, adopting methods of literature, workshops , and interviews to study the following issues: the essential motivation and vision for the current exploration of the future school in China; the theoretical perception of the connotation, characteristics, and vision of the future school in China; a practical pathway of China to the future school; Chinese characteristics and trends in the future of the future school in an international perspective, et. cl. Meanwhile, this research also comprehensively organized the practical exploration and related reports of the future school in European and American countries as well as international organizations such as OCED, UNESCO, and WSF. Therefore, the core question that this panel hopes to discuss is: according to the current understanding of the exploration for the future school of China, will there be some roads for the future school with Chinese characteristics? Focusing on this core issue, this panel will present five topics: the background and motivation of the rise of the future school of China in recent years; the current understanding and basic vision of the future school research of China; the basic content and features of the future school practice exploration of China; the future impact of the current exploration of the future school of China from an international perspective; the Chinese characteristics revealed by the exploration of the future school of China, as well as the question of theoretical perception to be further clarified.

We believe that if China's future schools want to develop a road with its own characteristics, they need to deal with the following problems: 1) the relationship between the past, the modern and the future needs to critically reflect on the achievements of China's modern school construction in more than 100 years, and analyze what is in line with China's local culture, what is in line with the future society and the future Chinese people, what needs to be eliminated, and what needs to be added in the future;2) It is required to properly handle the theoretical perception issues of the relationship between schools and communities and families; the relationship between schools and nature; the relationship between national identity and global citizenship; 3) It is needed to hold an open and complex view of the future school, and avoid replacing views of a variety of the future school possibilities with an view of absolute future; 4) It is essential to adhere to the internal unity of science and value, to avoid the trap of technological optimism.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• Shijing Xu, University of Windsor

Individual Presentations

• Motivations and Aspirations of Future School Exploration in China - Minglin Fang, East China Normal University; yuhua bu, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University

• The Views and Methodologies of Future Schools Research: A Chinese Perspective - Sun Yuantao, Zhejiang University

• Mapping Preferred Future Schools for Neighborhood Life Circle: A Practical Approach - CHEN HONGYAN, East China Normal University; Lili Liu, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University

• The Basic Orientation of Future School practice in China - Xiaohua Yu

• Deconstructing the Fundamental Questions of Future Schools: Chinese Perspectives - Honglin Wu; Yan Li

Discussants

• yuhua bu, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University

• Zhixin Su, California State University, Northridge