Theory and Practice on Promoting Curriculum Reform and Establishing Integrated Practice Courses

                               for the Experimental School of Shuangliu Middle School

                                                                                                                                                     Gao Zhiwen

Established in 2003 with an initial starting enrollment student body, Experimental School of Shuangliu Middle School (hereinafter referred to as the “School”) is a modern public/private joint enterprise school utilizing private capital for the junior division of Shuangliu Middle School, which is a national model school. The School covers an area of over 130 mu (1 mu=666.67 square meters) including a building area of nearly 70,000 square meters. Currently, the School has over 3,000 junior students and over 290 faculty members.

From the very beginning, the School decided to take the path of distinctive development for running a high-grade operation, inheriting the fine traditions of Shuangliu Middle School in order to obtain autonomy and flexibility in school operation.

After careful consideration, the School now puts forward its school operating principles: “people-first, standardized, innovative, and modernized”. These principles guide the School’s construction and development. The basic meanings are as follows: “people-first” means to trust, respect, rely on and work for people; “standardized” means to implement schooling according to specific principles and carry out institutionalized management; “innovative” means to constantly pursue new ideas for improvement, constantly update management, schooling, teaching and learning concepts, contents, and methods rather than following outdated conventions; “modernized” means to dynamically and constantly learn from and utilize educational breakthroughs in China and other parts of the world, and apply these new concepts in a way that keeps the School at the forefront of education.

The School’s motto is “being autonomous, cooperative, pragmatic and innovative”. This motto illustrates the style of school leadership, as well as teaching and learning practices, and is consistent with the School’s operating principles. Under these guidelines, the School’s operating objective is to develop into a modern, highly-recognized, and nationally-influential first-class school adopting advanced concepts, and having distinctive features and active involvement with international exchanges. Through these objectives, the School displays its experimental and demonstrative role in moving towards essential-qualities-oriented education, a new trend in education. Carrying out these reforms is a major goal of the School, striving to figure out the best ways for implementing essential-qualities-oriented education into Chinese schools. After several years of hard work, the School has been on the correct path for strengthening the development of school-based curricula and establishing a working model of this educational system.

I. School Features

The implementation of essential-qualities-oriented education has been proposed for many years, and some achievements have arisen from these ventures. Few of these achievements can withstand the test of time and practice, and it is obvious that further work needs to be completed as there is hardly any systematic and operational model.

Working towards improved educational standards, the School focuses its attention on “curriculum”. After,careful consideration, we now recognize that all educational activities including objectives, plans, content, assessment, and programs are curriculum. Curriculum has specific learning objectives, detailed content, plans to be implemented, and assessment methodology. The School’s educational system can only be truly sustainable and effective through the implementation of solid curriculum. Sport-like “activities” that are fun but lack firm learning objectives will not result in any meaningful learning outcomes.

To meet these goals, the School has been reforming the traditional curriculum and promoting the implementation of essential-qualities-oriented education by developing a system of school-based core curriculum.

  After much research, the School has established an essential-qualities-oriented education model with curriculum reform as the core (as shown in the following figure).

In accordance with essential-qualities-oriented education, the School aims for comprehensive and coordinated development of student individuality. This system includes the coordination of critical areas including morality, intellectual development, physical education, mental and physical health, as well as knowledge and skills. The all-around development of student individuality is an important aspect of essential-qualities-oriented education, and contrasts sharply with traditional education’s lack of attention for individual student differences.

As for the reform of teaching processes, we focus on the establishment and implementation of an “autonomous, cooperative, exploring, and researching” model for class instruction, as well as improved preparation and use of lesson plans.

In terms of curriculum structure, we offer complete and high-quality instruction of national basic subjects, and also have developed systematic school-based curriculum plans including integrated practice courses, electives, and even courses in morality and school culture. Open experimental classes are provided for students with special interests, closely following the new experimental reform framework.

The introduction of integrated practice courses will be highlighted later (omitted here).

Optional courses are offered for the purpose of individual development, where a relatively small number of students study special research areas. Currently, the School has a rich selection of elective courses, which guarantees that each student will be able to take at least two elective courses (some elective courses are listed below).

The School advocates moral education, and has developed a moral education curriculum system with healthy personality development as the core:

The integrated practice courses for topic-based learning are the focus of the School, as these courses are particularly conducive for nurturing independent learning, and exploring and researching innovation ability. The integrated practice courses for labor skills are mainly for training students in hands-on tasks, self sufficiency, and to enable students to appreciate the hard work of their parents as well as the difficulty in achieving success through labor. Practice courses in social practice are designed to improve students’ practical application ability, deepen their understanding of social realities, life, and production, and to enhance their sense of social responsibility.

(4) Topic development and implementation

To ensure effective integrated practice courses, the School has developed a system: ① the lessons listed in the curriculum table contain subject-centered topics that are taught from Monday to Friday, and they account for 10% of total lessons. Other larger practice courses, such as school and society / group research, are held on Saturday. Community services, professional experience and labor skills can require parental assistance, and these courses may be held on holidays; ② specific personnel are to develop lesson plans and topics for the integrated practice courses, as well as training other teachers in course content. All teachers are to participate in practice course discussions and meetings, lending their support for course development; ③ Significant funding is required for the establishment and maintenance of the integrated practice courses. These courses involve intensive personnel training, resource development, out-of-school visits, and other large expenditures. The school budget must provide financial support for continual maintenance of these services.

Although the integrated practice courses are defined as compulsory in the basic Education Curriculum Reform Program, the central government has not provided practicable resources for these courses. The individual school is expected to develop specific operating procedures. The School’s development of the integrated practice courses has gone through two stages. At first, the School requested that teachers and students aid in the development of this curriculum, and this request resulted in large-scale practice course development. However, later research and higher requirements led to many areas needing improvement. Some problems include: weak connection between topics, weak integration of different subjects, weak and disconnected general objectives, no standardization in topic selection, and impractical course designs. In order to overcome these problems, the School has developed a three-level topic development system based on the latest research.

The School’s three-level topic development and implementation system:

The A-level topic group is the School’s general topic group with the principal as the group leader, the vice principal as the deputy group leader, and teachers acting as department directors and research group leaders. The general topic group is responsible for developing a general program for the School’s integrated practice courses, specifying guidelines and objectives, defining and classifying the courses, specifying the resources and paths for implementation, standardizing requirements for the design and implementation, defining the duties of personnel, and establishing evaluation standards. The general topic group is also responsible for allocating course funding and materials, assigning personnel to specific tasks, and ensuring continued development, improvement, and implementation of the integrated practice courses.

In accordance with the goals of the integrated practice courses, the School has established three B-level topic groups: research study of science on Monday through Friday, science topics and topics of society activities / group research study outside school on Saturday, research study of liberal arts Monday through Friday, major integrated topics / topics of society activities and group research study of liberal arts outside school on Saturday, and finally labor skills and social practice for integrated practice courses of community services, occupational experience and labor skills. Each B-level topic group consists of subject group leaders, lesson planning group leaders, and teachers engaged in research. The School may assign outstanding teachers to group leader positions. The B-level topic groups are also responsible for guiding and evaluating the development and implementation of the C-level topics.

The C-level topics are developed and implemented by classroom teachers. The small subject-centered topics held on Monday through Friday are mainly taught by subject-area teachers. Based on the discussion of B-level topics with students, the teacher puts forward several C-level topics and the students freely divide themselves into several groups. Each group examines one C-level topic while the teacher plays the role of participant, assistant and organizer during this process. The large-scale cross-subject practice courses on Saturday have C-level topics developed and implemented by the teachers on that day. The teachers first form groups to organize students, who will look at B-level topics first in order to determine the smaller C-level topics. Later the students freely divide themselves into groups, each of which examines one C-level topic and develops a program for exploration and research outside of school. During the activities outside of school, the subject teachers are mainly responsible for assisting and guiding the topic activities while the teachers in charge of the classes are responsible for organizational management, safety, and assistance in topic exploration and research. The courses of social services, occupation experience and labor skills are mainly undertaken by the teachers in charge of classes who first organize students for learning the requirements of B-level topics and then later guide students to freely select the C-level topics looked at with the assistance of parents on holidays. The teachers in charge of classes are also responsible for making a preliminary review of the activity records submitted by students (the courses of labor skills are subject to unified tests organized by the B-level topic groups). As for the courses of society activities, the B-level topic groups put forward some topic activities for students to freely participate in and the guiding teachers are recommended by the B-level topic groups or invited by students. As for the course of group research study, the B-level topic groups select some topics interesting and relevant to students, and the whole class participates by inviting guiding teachers and voluntary students into groups for extensive research.

The practices discussed earlier have demonstrated that the School’s three-level topic development system has a variety of features that make the integrated practice courses more effective and useful for students.

After the establishment of the three-level topic development system for the integrated practice courses, the School has also strengthened the development of topics. Problems with poor topic selection, lack of subject connection, and disconnected objectives are easily solved by having teachers require the B-level topic groups to have a unified plan for the development of topics. In other words, the depth of the content, and the degree of difficulty and intensity need to be increased gradually in accordance with the actual cognitive level and knowledge of the students (grades 7 and 8). Knowledge and methods discussed in the early exploration phase shall lay the foundation for the later, more difficult topics. The topics are coherent and step-by-step with a common course objective.

Series of A, B and C- Level Topics for Courses of Practical Activities outside the School

First semester of grade 7            A-level topic: visit to Huanglongxi Ancient Town

(5) Management and evaluation of integrated practice courses

Because the School regards the integrated practice courses as critical for the essential-qualities-oriented education model and achievement of the educational objectives, special attention has been paid to the management and evaluation of the integrated practice courses.

(I) School leaders’ responsibilities for relevant departments.

 The Department of Academic Affairs is responsible for the topic-based integrated practice courses on Monday through Friday at school and outside school on Saturday, and the summary of evaluation results of labor skills and the integrated practice courses; the Department of Moral Education is responsible for community services and occupational experience; the Department of Education Science Research is responsible for society activities and group research study; the Vice Principal is responsible for specific coordination and tracking management of implementation processes; the Principal is responsible for development of the School’s general program, supporting personnel, funds, and materials and tracking management of implementation processes. (II) establishment of a system for evaluation: the evaluation system applies to topic development personnel and course teachers, and takes into account lessons (number of days teaching) specified for all integrated practice courses. An allowance system looks at topic development and course implementation, a reward system for outstanding achievements made in the integrated practice courses, a checking and punishment system for unauthorized behavior, carelessness, or ineffective teaching, and finally a staff meeting system for the evaluation process.  

We believe that evaluation is the most powerful lever to promote curriculum reform, because timely and appropriate evaluation can motivate teachers and students to participate in the practice courses. It can also help uncover existing problems that when fixed can vastly improve the system.

To this end, we will now highlight the evaluation process in accordance with the concepts of the new curriculum. The School’s evaluation system of the integrated practice courses: ① evaluation criteria we have set: A) reflection of students’ independence and effective cooperation between teachers and students / among students; B) contents beyond national subject-centered curriculum and reflecting extension and integrated application of knowledge; C) use of knowledge for hands-on activities and experience; D) exploration and research of valuable production, life and social issues, and enhancement of social responsibility; E) application of certain scientific methods and processes explored and researched to a certain degree; F) specific achievements. According to the different types of integrated practice courses, the above requirements may have a different focus; ②evaluation mechanisms implemented: as mentioned above, the A-level topic group is responsible for the evaluation of the B-level topic groups who are responsible for the evaluation of the C-level topic groups. Teachers (and teachers in charge of classes) are responsible for the evaluation of students, and then the relevant departments summarize and supervision the evaluation. The School has also developed an evaluation method for integrated practice courses of research study: a system of spot-checking and evaluation of courses during the semester and a final evaluation of achievement at the end of the semester has been implemented; ③ credit-based evaluation system established: the School implements a credit system which means students at the School shall gain certain credits for all courses and require a certain number of total credits for graduation. The total number of credits for all courses offered by the School is 400, which includes 200 credits from national subject-centered courses, 160 credits from integrated practice courses (140 for topic-based research study, 40 for community services and occupational experience and 20 for labor skills) and 40 credits from elective courses. From the sheer number of credits available from integrated practice courses, it is obvious that the School attaches great importance to these courses; ④ displaying student achievement and accomplishment: the School holds a science and technology festival, as well as a humanities and arts festival every year. High-quality integrated practice courses and student achievements are displayed in these festivals and evaluated on site. These meetings mobilize enthusiasm for the practice courses; ⑤ the School has also established a system of record keeping for each teacher’s professional growth as well as student growth for the purpose of recording evaluation results. These records can be used for reward purposes.

III. Achievements and Outlook

From the first large-scale integrated practical activity - “School Badge Born Here” in 2003 when the School was established to the recent topics of “Visit to Provincial Science and Technology Museum”, “Visit to Tanghu Park” and “Visit to Huanglongxi Ancient Town” that won first prizes at the national, provincial and municipal levels, and now with the implementation of the School’s curriculum reform, the School has come a long way in achieving the goals of the new curriculum reform movement. Integrated practice courses are a key component of this change.

Teachers’ understanding of the integrated practice courses has changed significantly, and now we have a clear understanding of what these courses should look like.

 Teachers have  adapted to the demands of curriculum reform, and are gradually becoming more familiar with the new requirements. Teachers’ role awareness and teaching methods have also changed greatly as the goal now is to enable students to be able to learn independently. In particular, teachers are naturally incorporating research techniques into their classes by actively guiding students in discovering problems, exploring and researching, and practicing innovation, which raises standards for all classes. Teachers attach great importance to a variety of student activities, for example having research-based competitions, which also aids in student learning. Teachers’ professional development has also been promoted in this model. Thus, teachers are now recognizing that the integrated practice courses do not hinder but instead complement the subject teaching.

Students have also rapidly improved their ability to research independently, have gained proficiency in scientific exploration and research methods,and have shown more diverse learning styles, have improved learning outcomes, and have exploited their individual strengths. Students’ topic of “Paying Attention to Water Resources and Protecting the Mother River - Investigation and Treatment of Water Pollution of Bai River in Shuangliu County” garnered a strong response from the community and won the second place prize in the 24th Annual Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition. The topic of “Sustainable Environmental Development” co-developed with High Bridge Middle School was displayed at the world famous climate conference held in Copenhagen in 2009 and the BBC spoke highly of the environmental protection research carried out by the School. In 2011, the science and technology activity called “Cherishing Hope and Dream - Visit to Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Museum” won the first prize in the 26th Annual National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition. The “Visit to Tanghu Park” from the class of reporting and displaying achievement of integrated practical activities outside school won the first prize in the national achievement display of integrated practical activities. In 2012, the School students’ topic of “Visit to Huanglongxi Ancient Town” won the first prize in another competition within Sichuan Province. And these awards are only a few examples of the many achievements the School has made with its rich integrated practice courses.

Currently the School has a fantastic series of topics for the integrated practice courses that students can take, has established fixed practice bases outside of school, has established a resource database of school-based curriculum, has formed a workable curriculum reform system, and has entered the normal stage of implementing the curriculum. The practice of the curriculum reform has won the understanding and support of students, parents, and the public. The development of systematic school-based curriculum, support for student individuality, independent and cooperative exploration/research, and other great efforts for implementing the integrated practice courses have brought the School into the limelight as a leader in education.

Looking forward to the future, the School will continue to improve the quality of school-based curriculum,to persist in developing coherent and innovative new topics, and to constantly improve students’ ability to conduct independent exploration and research. The School will also improve the developmental evaluation system to enhance the evaluation process for new courses. With these goals in mind we believe that the School will develop the integrated practice courses and other school-based courses to a more satisfactory level.

                                                                 2012.10.16