Sophia

Goes to School was one of the storybooks developed by GBEP. It tells the story of Sophia’s (a common name for Muslim girls) first day at school. The book is very popular with girls, who often say “it tells my story!”

I like Tibetan Language class the best. I don’t like PE. I want to be a teacher in the future, then I could pass on my knowledge to other students. During our lessons, we like asking questions.

We also like it when the teacher uses games, like role play.

Jia Huacao is a Tibetan girl. Her teachers have received training in participatory approaches. In Tibetan class, her teacher makes use of role play to help the children learn the language.

STRONGER TOGETHER

Making it happen

A Guidebook for Teaching Research Staff has been developed and training was delivered to both full and part time TRS.

TRS were encouraged to prioritise support to teachers in teaching points and village schools.

A new model of teaching support was developed, which includes notes on best practice, teaching demonstrations, interactive discussions, suggestions for improvement and practice in classroom teaching.

Professional development for young teachers has been encouraged. Consequently some young teachers have become Gu Gan or ‘backbone’ teachers, who play a leading role in their school’s teaching and curriculum development.

Teaching Research Staff (TRS) are employed by the education bureaus to support teaching in local schools. A more effective teaching support system was set up in the project areas to help create a partnership between TRS and teachers.

The role of TRS has now changed from simply supervising teaching to supporting teachers’ professional development, developing teaching resources and providing advice in the classroom.

Yajin, Teaching Research Staff, Liangzhou District

A survey indicated that 80% of village schools and 87.5% of teaching points got TRS support frequently and among them, 95% of teachers were satisfied with the support received.

SUBEP End of Project Report, 2010

There were two stages of developing our teaching support system. In the first stage, teachers who had received training in participatory approaches weren’t sure how to introduce it or even dared not try it. So our full and part time TRS went to the project pilot schools and demonstrated how to use participatory teaching in the classroom. Now we have entered the second stage. We want to integrate this teaching method into Chinese practices and adapt it to the Liangzhou context –combining good Chinese teaching traditions with a participatory philosophy, to improve the quality of basic education.

Feng

Making it happen

Training was provided to teachers in five key teacher training schools. Twelve modules were developed through the project including Classroom Management, Child Learning Strategies and Education Equity. From 2001 to 2005, 2,447 teachers were trained.

A special Masters of Education programme was introduced in Gansu’s Northwest Normal University to improve the academic level of more than 50 teachers in training institutions.

All newly employed teachers were provided with training in child-centred learning. Books and equipment were donated to teacher training institutions to set up Learning Resource Centres.

Twenty training institutions were selected as training bases to implement participatory teacher training for teachers in the 35 counties. This process was closely monitored.

The projects helped to build a connection: a dialogue and cooperation between the university faculties and school teachers. Education practices are complex, so we need to base our teacher training and research on what is actually happening in the classroom.