Kindergarten Curriculum Reform in China: History and Studies

In the early 1980s, with the implementation of China's reform and opening-up policy, while learning the ideas from domestic educators (such as Chen Heqin) and foreign development psychology and early education theory, Ministry... [ view full abstract ]

In the early 1980s, with the implementation of China's reform and opening-up policy, while learning the ideas from domestic educators (such as Chen Heqin) and foreign development psychology and early education theory, Ministry of Education in China initiated a new curriculum reform. Some pre-primary institutions and university researchers have worked together for a long time to construct their own curriculum ideas and practical methods, and have influenced the formulation of national curriculum. This session presents several reflective studies on Chinese kindergarten curriculum reform for the past 30 years: (1) a review of the slow changes in key concept over the past three decades, including the goal of early education and the approaches to teaching and learning, which have been emphasized in the government documents and research literature; (2)the reflective review of Nanjing Experimental Kindergarten on the evolution of their "comprehensive curriculum" over the past thirty years, who was the pioneer of curriculum reform in China in 1980s; (3) the reflective review of West Nanjing Road Kindergarten in Shanghai on their action research on the "play curriculum" over the past twenty-eight years; (4) evolution of the family-kindergarten cooperation in the course of China’s kindergarten curriculum reform since 1949, focusing on the expectation of the parents for cooperation.