Abstract:

In recent years the influence of the “high performing” Asian cultures has been felt in UK education, particularly in mathematics teaching. However, China, and in paticular the region of Shanghai, also does exceptionally well in teaching the reading of Chinese. Reading consists of a set of skills and aptitudes whch are very dificult to teach through rote learning, so the success of Shanghai in teaching these skills suggests that a model of Chinese education which reduces it to learning by rote will have difficulty explaining this success. It appears that something else must be happening in Chinese reading pedagogy to account for its success.

This article describes and analyses a single reading lesson taught in a school in Shanghai and considers the policy and theory background underpinning this lesson. The data for this analysis is the observation and discussion of one Shanghai teacher’s lesson by a British researcher/observer and the subsequent discussion and explanation. The critical consideration of a lesson in this way is a very traditional Chinese research methodology and the results of this process offer a series of insights illustrating ways in which this lesson is the product of a theory-based system committed to introducing an increasingly child-centred approach supported by high quality professional development.

This lesson highlights the way teacher and pupil time is used for learning and the complex role of parents and teachers fully engaged in promoting high standards for all.

Finally, this paper suggests that rather than considering the naïve transfer of particular policies from one country to another, teachers and researchers would do well to consider the basic issue this lesson raises - how teaching reflects our educational and, ultimately, cultural values.

Keywords:

Teaching, teacher development, educational values, Shanghai.