A Chinese Perspective on Teaching and Learning

Betty C. Eng

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136597084
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Bringing together educators from a range of backgrounds - psychology, sociology, social work, counseling, and teaching - this volume shows how Asian cultural values and beliefs can provide a lens through which to understand and envision how curriculum and pedagogy can be creatively adapted, not only in a local Chinese classroom context, but in a global context as well.

1 Introduction

Why a Chinese Perspective to Teaching and Learning?

Betty C. Eng

All individuals are like no others

All individuals are like some others

All individuals are like all others

(A Chinese Proverb)

This seeming contradictory saying from a Chinese proverb conveys how people from around the world are unique, similar and the same. The central purpose of A Chinese Perspective on Teaching and Learning is to explore how a Chinese perspective can inform, contribute and transform ways of teaching and learning that can be shared by educators and policy makers while also focusing on our diversity and commonalities. Learning from Asian cultural values and beliefs provides a different lens through which to understand and envision how our curriculum and pedagogy can be adapted and transformed for the students we serve and to our local teaching context. The context for A Chinese Perspective on Teaching and Learning is international Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and the reader will find many of the educational issues are different, similar to and the same as their own classroom. By understanding how such issues are viewed and addressed from a Chinese perspective, the reader is provided the opportunity to reflect and rethink new ways of teaching and learning. This chapter discusses the origins of the inquiry, its significance and contribution and frameworks that guide the discussion, followed by an overview of the book’s contents.

The Roots of the Inquiry

All authors of the book are teachers or research project staff in the Department of Applied Social Studies at the City University of Hong Kong, one of the eight universities or tertiary level institutions in Hong Kong funded by the public through the University Grants Committee. Founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, it attained university status in 1994. The Applied Social Studies Department is interdisciplinary and is composed of the fields of social work, psychology, sociology, criminology, counseling and education. A significant characteristic of the department is its commitment to and care for learners, which has resulted in its teachers receiving a high proportion of the annual Teaching Excellence Award, one of whom is featured in this book, and consistently achieving one of the highest teaching evaluation ratings in the College.

The idea for the book began as part of an exercise for assessing and monitoring quality assurance for the university, which became an ongoing and sustained journey to explore fundamental and complex issues of pedagogy and curriculum-making deliberations when the department’s staff was invited to share their “good practices.” The pioneering research conducted by Tak-yan Lee, Esther O. W. Chow and Joannes M. W. Lee in their chapter, “Subjective Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Social Work Methods Course: Findings Based on the Perspective of the Students,” is illustrative of the systematic efforts to intentionalize the curriculum with outcome based teaching and learning. Though not explicitly directed for the authors to address, the discussions that emerged in each of the chapters are grounded in the social, cultural and political context of Hong Kong—a former colony of the British for over 155 years, which returned to the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Many of the issues and questions addressed are ones that are commonly shared by other educators, while others are framed by the particularities of Hong Kong: What constitutes effective teaching and learning practices? How are teaching philosophies developed to inform our practice? What do learners need and how are their voices engaged in the curriculum? Is there a “Chinese way” of teaching and learning? What is the relationship of social, political and economic factors of international Hong Kong to educational reforms? Many of these issues and questions are echoed and shared among educators throughout the world. Our shared commonalities also inform and connect us as educators. Others are rooted in the cultural context of Hong Kong and provide a Chinese perspectives to inform teaching and learning. These issues, among others, are explored in the chapters that follow in various forms of inquiry using social-cultural-historical analysis, empirical studies and evidence-based methodologies, anecdotes and personal narratives.

Significance and Contribution

A Chinese Perspective on Teaching and Learning contributes to the scholarship in education in a number of significant ways. First, in a global and international community, this book provides the opportunity to engage in an exchange of knowledge and dialogue to understand complex and diverse issues in education that crosses cultures and continents. An international, rather than an isolated, understanding of our knowledge of teaching and learning is developed. Second, with a fluid and shifting world order where the recent focus of attention is drawn toward China and Asia economically, politically and socially to respond to crisis, catastrophic events and conflicts, such as the global financial crisis, threats from the meltdown of nuclear reactors and the H1N1 pandemic, this book is timely and highly relevant. Third, there is a dearth of scholarship, particularly in Asia and from a Chinese perspective, that explores teaching and learning by making meaning of their experiential realities. Many of the authors speak from personal narratives of experience rooted in their culture that become embedded in their professional lives in the classroom. Fourth, unlike other scholarly writings that are grounded in the natural sciences, many of the contributing authors develop their thinking by integrating multiple disciplines such as social work, psychology, sociology, criminology, counseling and education to their teaching and learning with acknowledgement of the interconnectivity of subjective knowledge and objective knowledge. And finally, this book is significant because it is an invitation to the reader to join us on a journey of personal and professional growth and transformation that affirms our place as citizens of the world.

Framing Ideologies and Milieus

The book is broadly organized by the framework of Schwab (1973), who viewed the shared and equal participation of the bodies of experiences represented by what he referred to as the “commonplaces.” Schwab identified the commonplaces as the subject matter, learner, the milieu and teacher that participate in curriculum and classroom deliberations. The chapters are organized under the themes of Culture of the Classroom, Contextualizing the Curriculum and Learners and Learning, with all authors providing the contextual milieu to address their topic. Major emerging ideological or contextual frames that run throughout the book are A Confucian Heritage Culture, British Colonial Legacy, “One Country, Two Systems” and Education in Transition and Educational Reforms. To provide basic background to contextualize the discussion in the chapters, a selected and brief description of each of these frames would be helpful.

A Confucian Heritage Culture

A brief introduction to understanding traditional Confucian beliefs provides a helpful backdrop to understanding a Chinese perspective of teaching and learning. A Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) can be defined as one that is heavily influenced by the teachings of Confucius. CHC includes a society’s values, beliefs, rituals and ceremonies and is embedded throughout the book. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and in various degrees, Singapore, Korea and Japan have been influenced by a CHC (Phillipson, 2007). In the chapter “Teaching about Filial Piety and Learning From Its Antecedents” by Chau-kiu Cheung and Alex Yui-huen Kwan, the importance of filial piety in the curriculum and the care of the elderly is a not only a given assumption but a cultural imperative rooted in CHC. The status of the teacher and authority and respect accorded to teachers influences the hierarchical relationship among team teaching members and with learners; these ideas reflect the pervasive influence of CHC in the chapters “The Applicability of Peer Learning and Peer Assessment in Hong Kong: A Cultural Perspective” by Raymond W. M. Chan and Alice M. L. Chong and “Turning Conflict Into Collaboration” by Kathy Kam Ping Leung.

The Great Learning, one of the four books of Confucianism, states the fundamental principles of education and learning: (1) educability and perfectionism; (2) learning, effort, will power and the attainment of perfectionism; (3) learning for self-realization; and (4) the role of personal reflections and enquiry in developing deep approaches to learning. Imperial China established Confucianism, or the religion of the learned, as the official ideology of China that emerged in 551–479 B.C. and continues to influence Chinese societies around the world today. The elders who were respected and revered were generally those within an extended family or village in traditional Chinese society. “The Old Man” is how Lang (1946) in her classical study of Chinese family and society characterizes the importance of age. Lang wrote:

The very fact of age evoked reverence. Confucius and his disciples made a special point of this reverence. Respect and devotion were due to parents all their lives, but the feelings of children toward aged parents were especially stressed. Indeed, a respective attitude was demanded toward all old people, even those who did not belong to one’s own family. Teachers, for instance, were venerated not only for their learning but for their age. By preserving and developing the institution of ancestor worship, Confucius still further strengthened the position of the old man. This rule of the old made a young man of Confucian China a rather weak and insignificant figure. (pp. 10–11)

And though women were viewed by Confucian culture as inferior and subordinated to men by nature, they acquired a measure of authority with age. For instance, Confucian teachings held the belief that while old mothers are valued, they are not as highly valued as old fathers since what a son owes his mother is love and not respect. But the general prevailing belief in Chinese society is that its elders are consulted for such important decisions as the selection of partners for a marriage, how members would be educated and the determination of future roles and careers. Elders, as such, can be viewed as the original and indigenous counselors of the traditional Chinese society who provided personal and social guidance and counseling.

Traditional Chinese society was also highly structured and prescribed. Social conditions did not allow for choices, and compliance and obedience to instructions or directions given by elders were expected. Questions of identity, choice of careers and decision-making dilemmas, issues that are common in western societies and where democratic beliefs prevail, were highly unlikely to occur in traditional Chinese societies. Roles, careers and futures were clearly defined and prescribed with a lack of ambiguities or freedom to choose. Yang (1959), discussing the dominance of kinship ties as stated by Mencius, a follower and recognized principal interpreter of Confucianism, wrote:

The Five Cardinal Relations, centering upon kinship ties, formed the core of social and moral training for the individual almost from the beginning of his consciousness of social existence until he became so conditioned to it that his standard of satisfaction and deprivation was based upon it, and the complex and extensive web of kinship ties created a feeling of a closed universe from which there seemed to be no escape, except perhaps death. (p. 7)

Confucianism has had a controversial history, with it alternately being revered, deified, vilified and rehabilitated over the millennia. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that Confucianism has had an enduring and profound effect on Chinese culture.

British Colonial Legacy

Hong Kong became a colony of Britain when it was ceded in 1842 with the formal signing of the Treaty of Nanking. For approximately 155 years, Hong Kong was a British colony until its return to the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Prior to colonization, the migration of the Chinese into Hong Kong established schools that reflected Chinese traditions, values and practices based on traditional Chinese models of education. After the arrival of the British, Protestant and Catholic missionaries developed social services and education, but education was still considered a luxury and was limited to the elite or upper social and economic class. Educating the Chinese upper class elite, such as conduits who bridged communications between the British and the Chinese people, was recommended in 1907, but it was not until 1971 that the British introduced a 6-year compulsory and free education followed by an expansion to a 9-year compulsory and free education in 1978.

Colonial education in Hong Kong can be described as a curriculum that originated from a traditional English grammar school model influenced by local Chinese traditions. Curriculum was based on traditional academic subjects that directed students to the workplace or continuance in higher education and was marked by elitism, competitiveness and examination governed by a bureaucratic system. Education has not promoted democratization for Hong Kong and has, in fact, been accused of being a barrier (Postigolione, 1992). It would not be until the signing of The Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 that some progress was made by the British government to liberalize and broaden the curriculum to include topics such as civic education, sex education, personal and social education and history of China. The companion chapters, “Teaching Sexual Diversity in Hong Kong: Challenging Homophobia” by Diana K. Kwok and “Critical Self-Examination of Homophobia: A Sexual Diversity Teacher’s Personal Journey” by Yuen Chun L. Chan both highlight the movement for basic human rights with a little researched topic of homophobia.

“One Country, Two Systems”

A unique feature of Hong Kong is that it functions as “One Country, Two Systems.” The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984 allowed Hong Kong to maintain its way of life economically, politically and socially for 50 more years. The Joint Declaration provides Hong Kong continued stability within a framework of autonomy under the sovereignty of China to function under the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” as originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, the late Communist leader of China. Deng declared that there is only one China but that Hong Kong may retain its capitalist system, independent judiciary and rule of law, free trade and freedom of speech with the return of sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.

Heightened by the events of the historical handover in 1997, the people of Hong Kong were presented with questions that challenged their identity, culture and sense of belonging, that present implications for education. One such challenging question is represented by the query: “Are you a Chinese or a Hong Konger?” Simply put, one had to identify with the Chinese of China or the identity of an international Hong Kong that had its roots in British colonization. Implied in the question was a challenge to choose an identity as well as social and political affiliations (Eng, 2005).

With the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong was compelled to becoming increasingly democratic in it practices during the final years prior to the handover in 1997. During this period, political reforms that called for a representative government, voting rights and guidelines for civic education in schools were introduced. According to Postiglione and Lee (1995), teachers were encouraged to promote a “democratization” of their classroom. This democratization provided opportunities to recognize the voices of the learners and teachers as stakeholders in curriculum-making deliberations. The discussions often raised such puzzles as “What does it mean to be Chinese?”; “What is Chinese culture?”; “Who is it that I wish to become?”; and “Who or what determines who I am to become?” Such questions and issues are highly relevant for curriculum development and teaching and learning.

Education in Transition and Educational Reforms

Education in traditional Chinese society is highly valued and is viewed as a means to become exemplary citizens, enhance harmony among people, contribute to society and prepare for the national open examinations. Doing well on the examinations offered ordinary people the opportunity to advance their economic and social status.

Education is examination driven, and this continues to be evident in today’s education system in Hong Kong, even as educational reforms propose nurturing the whole person to enhance not only the intellectual but also the personal, social and spiritual dimensions of development. Learning relies on the knowledge transmitted primarily by the teacher. Creativity, critical thinking and reflection by students are generally not encouraged. Students tend to be very practical and do not view education as a pathway to knowledge but as a means to achieve high scores on the examinations, which will lead to improving their social and economic status.

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Appendices
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Series Editor’s Note
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: Why a Chinese Perspective to Teaching and Learning?
• Part I: Culture of the Classroom
• Part II: Contextualizing the Curriculum
• Part III: Learner and Learning: Expanding the Classroom
• Contributors
• Index