Explanations for the transition of the junior secondary school chemistry curriculum in the people's republic of china during the period from 1978 to 2001

Taking the Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum (JSSCC) in the People's Republic of China as a case, this paper approaches the issue of the tension between elite and future citizenry orientations in science curriculum. The changes in the JSSCC over the period from 1978 to 2001 are explained from three viewpoints: sociopolitical, individual, and international influences. Based on the data collected from curriculum documents, and interviews with people involved in designing the JSSCC over the period under study, a model is established in terms of the tension between the two curriculum orientations. In this model, it is argued that the elite and future citizenry curriculum orientations are influenced by different forces. For the elite orientation, the forces are the “science for the minority'' policy released by the nation, the subject matter centered input from the West, and a dominant role played by academic scientists. For the future citizenry orientation, the forces are the “science for the majority” policy released by the nation, the socially, personally, and culturally relevant input from the West, and an emerging dominant role played by science educators. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:451–469, 2005