China's basic education reform: an account of an international collaborative research and development project

Abstract

The current round of basic education curriculum reform in China is considered by many to be the most radical and wide-reaching. However, very little is known about education reform at the school level. Here we document and discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that the reform programme is providing for teachers and schools. We describe the progress to date of an international collaborative research and development project involving teachers, school and district leaders from different regions in China working with Chinese, Canadian and Australian academics on changing teacher practices through “professional learning communities”. This model draws on the success of such communities in Australia and Canada in bringing about substantial teacher development. In this article, we explore the mobility of ideas about teacher professional development and student learning across cultural systems. We provide an insight into how Chinese educators have developed “hybrid models” of teaching and learning and teacher development drawn from experience and expertise of teacher researchers in Canada and Australia. Drawing on observational data over a three-year period, as well as the teachers' and school leaders' own accounts, we demonstrate the value of teacher research, and cross-cultural collaboration, in bringing about profound and sustainable changes to educational practices in a network of teacher professional learning communities in China.