Power and Moral Education in China
Three Examples of School-Based Curriculum Development- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2014
Summary
Chinese moral education reform in the last three decades represents the most significant decentralization of decision-making power since the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949. On one hand, it shows how de-politicized China’s moral education curriculum has become following the introduction of China’s “Open-door” policy and economic reforms and the resultant social transformations. On the other hand, it reveals persistent problems in moral education caused by political stresses and tight state control.
To explain these tensions, Power and Moral Education in China analyzes the characteristics of power relationships in school moral education curriculum goal-setting, content and pedagogy selection, and implementation. The ultimate purpose is to identify not only what factors impact Chinese moral education curriculum decision-making at the school level, but also how and why.
Through a multiple case study conducted during 2008 in three schools in Shenzhen City, and based on four major data collection instruments (observation, interview, questionnaire, and document review), Wangbei Ye analyzes how power relationships have evolved in school moral education, and how and why school power affects school moral education.
Contrary to the common belief that Chinese schools are passively impacted by external forces in moral education curriculum development, this book suggests that school power is a “semi-emancipatory relationship” that acts as a major force shaping moral education. This means that although both the Chinese Communist Party and the state are positioned to control schools and moral education, schools nonetheless have the power to either negotiate for more influence, or partly emancipate themselves by collaborating with other external forces, responding to grass-root needs, empowering school teachers and adjusting internal school management style. This helps to explain the influence of Chinese schools in moral education and suggests a broader theory of power relationships in curriculum.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2014
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-7391-7547-7
- ISBN-Online
- 978-0-7391-7548-4
- Publisher
- Lexington, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 179
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- List of Figures No access
- List of Tables No access
- Abbreviations No access
- Chapter One: Introduction No access Pages 1 - 6
- Chapter Two: Power and Curriculum No access Pages 7 - 26
- Chapter Three: Power and Curriculum in China No access Pages 27 - 50
- Chapter Four: Example One No access Pages 51 - 70
- Chapter Five: Example Two No access Pages 71 - 86
- Chapter Six: Example Three No access Pages 87 - 104
- Chapter Seven: Toward an Understanding of Powers as a Semi-emancipatory Relationship No access Pages 105 - 136
- Appendix I No access Pages 137 - 154
- Appendix II No access Pages 155 - 156
- Appendix III No access Pages 157 - 158
- Appendix IV No access Pages 159 - 160
- Bibliography No access Pages 161 - 176
- Index No access Pages 177 - 178
- About the Author No access Pages 179 - 179





