[Journal Article Annotation]

by

Dongpoing. Y. (2008). “China's Education System: From Growth to Reform”: Chinese Education & Society: 38(4): p11-45

The article focuses on the growth and reform in the education system of China in the year 2003. The universalization of compulsory learning and the elimination of adult illiteracy made new advancements. Secondary learning and higher learning proceeded to evolve rapidly. In particular, secondary vocational education recovered from its continuous decline of the past few years and increased in enrollments. The placement rate of graduates of secondary specialized schools and secondary vocational schools was satisfactory, which demonstrates the strong demand for trained personnel with applicable skills in society. In the year 2003, the government in China launched some important educational initiatives. For the first time since the founding of New China, the State Council held a meeting for rural education, in which the state made a serious commitment and adopted concrete measures to intensify its efforts to universalize compulsory education in rural areas. After focusing on quantitative growth and size expansion for years, China's education system will step onto a new stage and emphasize more on qualitative development and system reforms. At that stage, reform will be a more important objective than development, and quality improvement, instead of numeric expansion, will be the top priority. Education reforms beginning in the early 1980s stressed two themes: Providing a good education is imperative, and it should occur in conjunction with efforts to fully develop children's various talents.

Lu, S. (2009). “Community Education in Eastern Chinese Coastal Cities: Issues and Development”: Convergence: 42(1): p9-22

This paper first reviews the development of community education in Shanghai, one of China's eastern coastal cities. Then the development of community education in the Xuhui District of Shanghai, especially its management system and operational mechanisms, school operating systems and networks, curriculum systems, and team building are presented. Finally the basic issues of community education in this district are summarised. Xuhui District, located in south east Shanghai, is one of the central districts of the city and includes 13 streets (towns). It has a total area of 54.76 square kilometres and a resident population of 1.06 million. In 1850, the Xuhui Public School (currently named Xuhui Middle School) was initiated, and the Qiming Ladies' School (currently named No. 4Middle School) was the first Chinese Western-style school founded, and was the first Chinese school for women. For a hundred years, education has been greatly developed. It can be said that the activities of community education especially prevailed in the 1980s when it inherited the tradition of attaching great importance to education. Based on the brief review of the longitudinal development process of Shanghai's community education, this article will mainly emphasise and give a cross-sectional view of the present situation of community education of the Xuhui District, and conclude with a summary of its basic developmental issues.

Sun, Q. (2008). “The Development of Chinese Adult Education within its Social Contexts: A Review Since 1949”: Convergence: 41(4): p13-50

The article focuses the modern Chinese state ...