Curriculum, learning and teaching
A key communication principle Richard Mast looks at cultural issues surrounding international schools in China When a Chinese school decides to incorporate an international curriculum or begin to use international teaching methods, it tends to follow a particular pattern of decision making. The assumption is that foreign teachers and administrators need to be brought in to model the teaching, and to assist with training the Chinese teachers. When the foreign teachers and administrators arrive, they take on the role of ‘experts’. That is, they have the role of being the experts in international curriculum, teaching and assessment. As such, they come in to demonstrate their skills and to help the Chinese teachers to understand what to do. The Chinese teachers step back from being responsible for the teaching and learning of the students, because the curriculum, its pedagogy and assessment are unknown. They defer to the experts. As such, they keep silent. Part of this results from cultural deference shown to leaders. In this case the foreigners are the leaders; therefore, they are not challenged or questioned. The problem is that this scenario, although logical and essentially appropriate, has a component that is not helpful. That is, there is a delineation of responsibility that is not helping the students. The students being exposed to the international curriculum are Chinese. Their perceptions, thinking processes, perspectives, values and responses are all based upon their cultural experience. When they are asked to learn according to the expectations of the international Winter
Summer |
| 2020
curriculum, it should not be a surprise that they are confused, stressed and not able to comprehend what is going on, let alone what they have to do. If a foreign teacher could speak fluent Chinese in teaching a class, the students would still not know what is going on. This issue is not about language; it is about two cultures coming together and trying to find a pathway for the benefit of the students. If the foreign teachers continue to teach in their way, as they think they ought to, then the students will not progress in the ways that anyone wants them to. For this coming together of cultures, some things have to happen that are outside of the standard approach taken in these schools. The foreign teachers are the experts in international curriculum, international teaching methods and assessment processes. The Chinese teachers are the experts in the learning of Chinese students. They are the experts in Chinese culture. There are two approaches available. The first is to impose the model of international education and expect the Chinese students to fit into that model: the students have to do all the heavy lifting by changing to fit the expectations that were created for children from western cultures. The second approach is to build a teaching and learning model based upon Chinese culture. If we accept that Chinese students will always think and act in ways that are consistent and built upon Chinese culture, then the path to success has
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