Week 6-• In what ways are school-age children assessed in other parts of the world? (Choose a country or region of the world for which you have a personal affinity.)

·         In what ways are school-age children assessed in other parts of the world? (Choose a country or region of the world for which you have a personal affinity.)

My Country is China

Title: Academic stress in Chinese schools and a proposed preventive intervention program

          The authors suggested that while American educators fret about the mediocre educational performance of American students in international contests (e.g. the Program for International Student Assessment) and wonder why the Chinese education system produces such high-achieving students, educators, journalists, and public officials in China want to know what causes and how to prevent the high levels of academic stress that Chinese students, their families, and their school systems experience. They point the finger that the stress level has been directed to the Gaokao, the Chinese national college entrance exam that takes place in June each year. According to the article, they prepared a case for strengthening bottom-up efforts at the school level in China and propose an evidence-based approach for addressing the challenge of academic stress experienced by Chinese students.

I have always wondered why the Chinese students would reach higher educational goals then others around the world.

As stated, in 2010 and 2013, Shanghai students twice topped the rankings for reading, math, and science in the OECD’s international Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Zhao, Selman & Haste (2014). In recent response, American journalists, educators, and academics debated the meaning of these PISA differences and searched frantically for factors that may explain the huge success of Chinese (really Shanghai) primary and secondary education as researched by the authors.

Although concerns about academic stress in Chinese schools can be traced to the 1930s and 1950s, when China reopened its doors to the outside world in the mid-1970s, Chinese education was lauded internationally for its achievements in promoting universal schooling and minimizing discrimination against the poor as further supported by the authors.

Finally, according to the authors they briefly summarize the three most commonly held perspectives about the factors that resist the pressures to change the educational culture: parental anxiety over academic and job competition, teachers’ resistance to curriculum reform, and the difficulty of reforming the gaokao system (2014).

Reference:

Zhao, X., Selman R., & Haste, H., (2014). Academic stress in chinese schools and a proposed

            preventive intervention program. Journal Cogent Education. Volume 2.