Catering for diversity in small classes in Nanjing

Xiaomei WANG, Jian YANG, Kam Wing Paul CHAN, Kwok Chan LAI

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapters

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The development of small class education (SCE) or small class teaching (SCT) in mainland China started in the economically developed provinces and cities in East China in the late 1990s and early 2000s (see Chapter 2 and 3 of this book). In 2001, Nanjing, which served as an ancient capital of China and is currently the capital of Jiangsu province, began to carry out experimental schemes in SCT in 14 primary schools with a class size of 28 students, (relatively small by Chinese standards) and five years later extended this to eight lower secondary schools with a class size of 36 students (Zhou and Yang, 2009). The decision to implement SCT was both influenced by the drastic fall in student enrolment and inspired by the pioneering SCT experiment in Shanghai (see Chapter 13). At the same time, the top officials of the Education Bureau were keen to learn from the advanced education systems in western Europe, which were seen as ‘studentdevelopment based’ with small class sizes. The first seven years were the phase of ‘rational thinking’ and ‘exploration through practice’ (Yen, 2015). From the beginning, teachers’ professional development was regarded as crucial to the successful development of SCE and a variety of professional development programmes were organized for principals and teachers by teacher training institutions and by schools (Zhou and Yang, 2009). SCE was portrayed by the Nanjing Education Bureau (2007) as one of the highlights of education in the city. Copyright © 2016, 2017 P. Blatchford, K.W. Chan, M. Galton, K.C. Lai, and J.C. Lee.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationClass size: Eastern and western perspectives
EditorsPeter BLATCHFORD, Kam Wing CHAN, Maurice GALTON, Kwok Chan LAI, John Chi Kin LEE
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherRoutledge
Pages220-231
ISBN (Electronic)9781315760872
ISBN (Print)9781138228146, 9781138793781
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Citation

Wang, X., Yang, J., Chan, K. W., & Lai, K. C. (2017). Catering for diversity in small classes in Nanjing. In P. Blatchford, K. W. Chan, M. Galton, K. C. Lai, & J. C. K. Lee (Eds.), Class size: Eastern and western perspectives (pp. 220-231). New York: Routledge.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Catering for diversity in small classes in Nanjing'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.