ERIC Number: EJ1072890
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-7925
EISSN: N/A
Education Policy Borrowing in China: Has the West Wind Overpowered the East Wind?
Tan, Charlene; Chua, Catherine S. K.
Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, v45 n5 p686-704 2015
Recent education reform in China reflects the global trend of education policy borrowing from Anglophone countries such as the USA. The reform in China essentially advocates shifting from knowledge reproduction and didacticism to knowledge construction by students through a learner-centredness approach. Aware of the trend of borrowing policy from "Western" countries, some educators in China use the proverb "the West wind has overpowered the East wind" to describe this phenomenon. This paper examines the cultural factors that influence education policy borrowing in China by drawing upon Johnson's metaphors of the "politics of selling" and the "politics of gelling". This paper argues that there exist fundamental cultural differences between Western and Chinese perspectives on the nature and transmission of knowledge that make education policy transfer in China challenging. This paper further proposes that China borrow education policy judiciously by integrating foreign and indigenous sources of knowledge, teaching and learning.
Descriptors: Educational Policy, Proverbs, Indigenous Knowledge, Foreign Countries, Educational Trends, Technology Transfer, Cultural Influences, Figurative Language, Politics, Cultural Differences, Asian Culture, Teaching Methods, Role, Educational Change, Curriculum, Educational Quality, Case Studies, Confucianism
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A