Citizenship education in Chinese schools

Research in Education, May 2002 by Chen, Yangguang, Reid, Ivan

Third, ideological change has brought about the innovation of moral character education. In contrast to the past, present moral character education stresses very much the cultivation of the individual's manners, behaviour, wishes and emotions, rather than political awareness and moral introspection. This has provided the opportunity for Citizenship Education to extend its reach into the area of moral character education.

Fourth, severe criticism about overloading students with school work on the basis of academically universalist criteria of encyclopaedism and about overemphasis on the proportion of students entering schools of a higher level through the national examination has resulted in a tendency to demand new curriculum reforms. Current reforms do not focus on particular academic subjects but contribute to the all-round intellectual, moral, physical and aesthetic development of the individual and promote worthy civic attitudes among youngsters. This movement has encouraged the implementation of education for citizenship in place of education for leadership.

However, behind those achievements in Citizenship Education in schools there lurk two main weaknesses, which could be obstacles to present and future developments.

First, the curriculum development of Citizenship Education in schools cannot keep pace with the demands of the times, owing to the long-standing neglect of theoretical research into the concept and into curriculum design. As a result, Citizenship Education has been based predominantly on political concerns and current affairs. Many teachers do not fully understand what Citizenship Education encompasses. Even the academic community is divided. Some educational authorities, schools and teachers overtly agree with, but covertly oppose, the policy, so intensifying the difficulties of implementation.

Second, Citizenship Education has been accorded low priority in mainstream schools because for a long time there was pressure on them to increase the proportion of students entering schools of a higher grade or to generate the majority of university candidates in the highly competitive unified national examination. Curriculum development focused narrowly on a small number of academic subjects and teachers were concerned primarily with changes in the public examination, as the curriculum was really driven by these examinations. As a result, there has been little room for Citizenship Education, let alone its improvement.

These issues indicate that Citizenship Education has been and still is evolving. There is still a long way to go both in theoretical exploration and in practical improvement before Education for Citizenship is viewed in the same sort of way as it is in the Western world, combined with Chinese characteristics.

The way forward

In recognition of these issues, some considerable innovation in overall school curriculum development, as well as the specific course dissemination, is inevitable, although the action is likely to be difficult to put into effect. The following are suggestions for reference.