Five Concepts Leading the Curriculum Reform of Basic Education
-China Education Information, Zhang Hua, East China Normal University
Educational democracy
The basic connotation of the "new concept of educational democracy" embodied in national education is to let all citizens enjoy high-quality basic education equally.
The specific requirements of the "new concept of educational democracy" are: actively eliminating educational differences, especially actively accepting marginalized groups (such as street children, child laborers, people in remote areas or nomadic people, some ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups), so that everyone can receive high-quality basic education according to law; Eliminate gender differences and ensure girls and women's right to education; Provide equal educational opportunities for children and adolescents with special educational needs (all children and adolescents with disabilities or learning difficulties); Actively carry out adult literacy education, implement the concept of "functional literacy", guarantee the right to education of adults and meet their basic learning needs.
The pursuit of educational democracy is the main theme of the history of modern education in the world. However, the practice of curriculum reform for decades has proved that simply mentioning "everyone has the right to education" or merely providing everyone with educational opportunities in form may not really realize educational democracy. At the end of last century, with the joint efforts of governments and international organizations such as UNESCO and UNICEF, the democratization of world education entered a brand-new historical stage-the stage of education for all.
The basic connotation of the "new concept of educational democracy" embodied in national education is to let all citizens enjoy high-quality basic education equally. On the one hand, "equality" inherently contains "high quality". If "high quality" is artificially excluded from "equality" regardless of the quality of education, then this kind of education is weak "mediocre education" and only has the form of "democracy"; On the other hand, "high quality" contains "equality" and takes equality (equal opportunity) as the premise. If we only pursue quality, ignore equality, or even trample on equality, we will fall into the mode of "elitism" again.
The specific requirements of the "new concept of educational democracy" are: actively eliminating educational differences, especially actively accepting marginalized groups (such as street children, child laborers, people in remote areas or nomadic people, some ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups), so that everyone can receive high-quality basic education according to law; Eliminate gender differences and ensure girls and women's right to education; Provide equal educational opportunities for children and young people with special educational needs [all children and young people with disabilities or learning difficulties]; Actively carry out adult literacy education, implement the concept of "functional literacy", guarantee the right to education of adults and meet their basic learning needs.
From a global perspective, this "new concept of educational democracy" has become the basic pursuit of curriculum reform in various countries at the turn of the century.
From the end of the "Cultural Revolution" to the promulgation of 1986 Compulsory Education Law, the central task of education in China is to improve the quality of education in order to meet the urgent needs of China society for talents in the era of reform and opening up. After the promulgation of the Compulsory Education Law, education in China gradually turned to the pursuit of quality and equality. Various educational hot issues in the process of deepening curriculum reform in China (such as the dispute over the retention or abolition of "key middle schools", school selection, compulsory education funds, private education and private schools, etc.). ) mostly reflects people's desire for educational equity. If these problems are not properly solved in the education policy, it will affect the further development of curriculum reform. The concept of "improving quality and giving consideration to equality" in people's minds has not adapted to the requirements of the times and should be replaced by the concept of "equality and high quality can and must have both".
(2) International understanding
The purpose of "international understanding education" is to help people treat foreigners not as abstract people, but as concrete people-they have their own rationality, their own pain and their own happiness. The mission of education is to help people find common humanity among different nationalities and advocate mutual tolerance, friendship and cooperation between countries.
The purpose of "international understanding education" is to help people treat foreigners not as abstract people, but as concrete people-they have their own rationality, their own pain and their own happiness. The mission of education is to help people find common humanity among different nationalities and advocate mutual tolerance, friendship and cooperation between countries.
After the end of the "Cold War", the nature of international exchanges has undergone profound changes, and the world has developed towards a multipolar pattern. In addition, since the 1990s, the rapid development of information technology marked by network communication has laid the foundation for mankind to fully enter the "era of globalization". However, violence, racial discrimination, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism, cultural exclusion, terrorism and other phenomena have not ended, but have shown new characteristics. In this context, UNESCO held the "44th International Education Conference" in June 1994+00, which established the basic connotation of international understanding education in the new era and the corresponding "culture of peace". The General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the 44th International Conference on Education and the corresponding Comprehensive Action Program of Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy. The Declaration and the Programme of Action mark the establishment of "pluralistic educational values" in theory and policy, and embody the basic spirit of the era of globalization.
"Pluralistic educational values" is essentially the internal unity of internationality and nationality in the field of education. The specific requirements of this course are:
It must be set as the education of peace, human rights and democracy. This educational concept can not be limited to specialized disciplines and knowledge, but should become the soul of the whole education system;
● Curriculum reform should emphasize understanding, understanding and respecting cultural differences between countries, and should link the concept of global interdependence with local actions;
● Emphasize international cooperation in curriculum development, encourage the introduction of textbooks from other countries, and encourage effective international cooperation in textbook compilation;
● Textbooks should provide different perspectives on a subject, and make the national cultural background of these perspectives clear, and the content of textbooks should be based on scientific research results;
● Enhance the understanding of foreign languages. Learning a foreign language is not only to master a language tool, but also to deeply understand and recognize other cultures, so as to lay the foundation for a deeper understanding between communities and countries.
● Teaching methods, various forms of actions and school policies and guidelines must make peace, human rights and democracy a part of daily practice and study;
● Direct contact and regular exchanges between students, teachers and other educators from different countries or cultural environments should be promoted;
The right to education of ethnic minorities or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous people must be respected and implemented in the curriculum, methods and educational organization forms.
(3) Return to life
Returning to the life world is an important trend of curriculum reform. The course of returning to the life world is to cultivate people who can survive in the life world, that is, people who can do things and get along with others. This kind of person not only has the autonomy of sound development, but also has the sociality of sound development, and is good at "discovering others"
1996, the Education Committee of UNESCO International 2 1 Century published a report entitled "Learning: Inner Wealth", which is the most important education report published by UNESCO since "Learning to Live" (published in the 1970s). The report establishes that the purpose of future-oriented lifelong education is "four basic learning" (namely, "four knowledge pillars"): "learn to recognize", "learn to do things", "learn to live together" and "learn to survive". Traditional education relies too much on "learning to recognize", while the new educational concept should seek "each of these four' knowledge pillars' should be given equal attention" and seek the integration of these four. Among these four pillars, "learning to do things", "learning to live together" and "learning to survive" reflect the development orientation of education and curriculum returning to the life world. Learning to do things is not only to master some operational skills and learn some repetitive practical methods, but also to change from "qualification view" to "ability view" "Learning to live together" is another challenge to education in the information society. While information technology facilitates communication between people, it may also cause people's loneliness and alienation in the "global village". Therefore, education should adopt two complementary methods, one is to teach students to "discover others" step by step and understand the diversity and differences of human beings, and the other is to help students find the common foundation of human beings and "work hard to achieve common goals". When people "learn to do things"; When you "learn to live together", you can "learn to survive" in human social life.
The report further establishes the leading position of education in social life, pointing out that "education is at the core of society", and holds that education should not passively adapt to complex and mixed social life, but return to society in a participatory way, and criticize and surpass society by cultivating everyone's judgment ability.
Returning to the life world is an important trend of curriculum reform. The course of returning to the life world is to cultivate people who can survive in the life world, that is, people who can do things and get along with others. This kind of person not only has the autonomy of sound development, but also has the sociality of sound development, and is good at "discovering others" The process of returning to the life world is to break through the narrow scientific world in content and first understand the scientific world as the scientific world in the life world. Although the life world is inseparable from the scientific world, it is not just the scientific world. Besides science, art, morality, personal world and free daily communication are all important curriculum resources. The educational value of these resources is no less than that of science. Only when science is integrated with these resources can we make a positive contribution to the mental journey towards a "perfect person". Returning to the life world curriculum means breaking through the narrow territory of school curriculum, adhering to a "curriculum ecology" vision, and seeking the internal integration and interaction of school curriculum, family curriculum and community curriculum. It seems that it is time to construct a kind of "life world pedagogy".
Protect nature
Caring for nature and pursuing the "sustainable development" between man and nature are important values leading the curriculum reform in the world today. This kind of values is contrary to the thinking mode of binary opposition between man and nature and man controlling and dominating nature in the traditional curriculum system. It uses the perspective of "holism" to understand the relationship between man and nature, and holds that man is a natural man, and nature makes its own meaning manifest and rich because of man. Man is not the master of nature, but the caretaker of nature, and man and nature should be harmonious and unified.
"Learning-Inner Wealth" warns people: "According to the current production speed, resources called non-renewable, whether energy or cultivated land, will actually become increasingly scarce. In addition, industries developed on the basis of physics, chemistry and biological sciences continue to cause pollution, thus causing damage or interference to nature. Finally, more generally speaking, the living conditions on the earth are being threatened: the decrease of drinking water, deforestation, "greenhouse effect", turning the ocean into a huge garbage bin, and so on. These are disturbing manifestations of the general irresponsibility of our generation for the future. " Environmental problems pose challenges to human beings, and naturally they also pose challenges to education and curriculum reform.
From 65438 to 0992, the largest and highest-level "United Nations Conference on Environment and Development" was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Congress adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (also known as the Earth Charter) and 2 1 Century Agenda and other famous documents. The outstanding contribution of the congress is to establish the concept of "sustainable development" and the "educational direction facing sustainable development". The concept of "sustainable development" means the birth of a new value concept and a new human spirit. This kind of values holds that man is the guardian of nature, not the master of nature, and he should live in harmony with nature and engage in a "sustainable development" lifestyle and mode of production. To achieve "sustainable development" is not to supplement some environmental protection measures against the background of the existing life and production mode, but to completely change the existing life and production mode with a concept of "harmonious development between man and nature". In view of this, the "sustainable development-oriented education direction" is not to supplement some related disciplines of environmental education on the premise of maintaining the existing education system and curriculum system, but to completely transform the existing education system and curriculum system with the concept of "sustainable development". Agenda 2 1 century points out that "education on environment and development should be integrated into all disciplines." In other words, "environment and development education" is not only a discipline, but also an idea that runs through the whole curriculum system.
From this perspective, caring for nature and pursuing the "sustainable development" between man and nature are the important values that dominate the current world curriculum reform. This kind of values is contrary to the thinking mode of binary opposition between man and nature and man controlling and dominating nature in the traditional curriculum system. It uses the perspective of "holism" to understand the relationship between man and nature, and holds that man is a natural man, and nature makes its own meaning manifest and rich because of man. Man is not the master of nature, but the caretaker of nature, and man and nature should be harmonious and unified. This is an "ecological ethics" and a "caring ethics". This kind of values should be an important spiritual force to reform the current curriculum system, especially the science curriculum.
(5) Personality development
"Combining a person's physical strength, intelligence, emotion and morality to make him a perfect person is a broad definition of the basic purpose of education."
"In a rapidly changing world with social and economic reform as the main driving force, imagination and creativity may receive more attention; They are the most obvious manifestation of human freedom. " "Many countries attach importance to utilitarianism rather than cultural education, and art and poetry should regain their important position in schools."
"The diversity, autonomy and initiative of personality, and even the love of challenges are the guarantee of creativity and innovation."
Relevant discussions in documents such as Learning to Live and Learn: Inner Wealth show that the international community has reached a consensus on human personality in the following aspects:
First, personality is complete, and qualities such as creativity and imagination are the manifestations of sound development of personality. Learning to survive points out: "Integrating a person's physical strength, intelligence, emotion and morality to make him a perfect person is a broad definition of the basic purpose of education." Therefore, personality is the synthesis of moral character, physical strength, intelligence, aesthetic consciousness, sensitivity and spiritual value. It is a "complex", that is, a complete person. One or several qualities cannot be cultivated in isolation from the whole person, otherwise it will cause personality split. Learning: Inner Wealth further develops this idea, pointing out: "In a rapidly changing world with social and economic reform as the main driving force, imagination and creativity may be more valued; They are the most obvious manifestation of human freedom. " Many countries attach importance to utilitarianism rather than cultural education, and art and poetry should regain their important position in schools. "
Second, individuality is independent, concrete and special. Although the development of personality is inseparable from communication with others, each gender has its inherent independence first. Most education systems don't regard the individual as a person with characteristics, whether in mechanism or spirit. However, every learner is indeed a very specific person, who has his own history and personality. How can we not consider this when deciding the ultimate goal, content and method of education?
Thirdly, the development of personality inherently contains the development of sociality, and the development of everyone will inevitably bring about the development of the whole society. The isolation, opposition or juxtaposition of personality development and social development, individual development and the whole social development are all products of dual thinking mode, and the essence of personality development cannot be correctly understood. "Learning: Inner Wealth" points out: "The diversity, autonomy and initiative of personality, even hobbies and challenges are the guarantee of creativity and innovation."
Fourthly, personality development is an endless process of perfection. Learning to survive points out that an important difference between human beings and other creatures is the "incompleteness" of human beings, that is, human survival is an endless process of improvement and learning. "In fact, he has been constantly' entering life' and constantly becoming a person." Therefore, lifelong learning is not only the requirement of society, but also the internal need of personality development.
According to these ideas, we believe that the pursuit of learners' personality development is an important trend of education reform or curriculum reform in the world.