Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    A DOCUMENTARY produced by the BBC about Chinese teaching methods has sparked a heated debate across the United Kingdom and China.

    The documentary, “Are Our Kids Tough Enough?: Chinese School,” is a new, three-part series, in which five Chinese teachers are sent to teach British students from Bohunt School in Hampshire for one month.

    The experiment was designed to test how the 50 Grade-9 students would cope with the intensity of Chinese teaching methods, while the rest of their year group continued with their normal school routine. Once the experiment was over, both groups were subjected to exams in maths, science and also Mandarin, to see which nationality employs the most effective teaching method.

    Under the tutelage of the Chinese teachers, British students need to follow an array of typical Chinese school rules such as sitting in rows rather than in small groups, being attentive during class time, studying for an additional two hours at school in the evening and so forth.

    (Continued on P3)

    The five Chinese teachers, all proficient in English, are adopting traditional Chinese pedagogies to teach math, science, Chinese and PE to the British kids, aged between 13 and 14 years old.

    Unlike western classes that usually hold group discussions or hands-on activities, the Chinese teachers prefer to use a more teacher-centered pedagogy with a lot of teachers’talking and notes-taking during classes.

    “We don’t tend to show them the practical methods, usually, because for a scientist, it’s all about trying to find out the method yourself,” said a British science teacher in the documentary.

    While the Chinese teachers emphasize classroom discipline, British students seem to care less about rules and note-taking bored the students quickly.

    “She (the Chinese science teacher) loses the students’ attention very easily when its just copying down each line, it’s really boring,” said Luca in the footage.

    In the roughly one-hour documentary, conflicts occur now and then between the Chinese teachers and their British students, specifically with a girl named Sophie. Sophie doesn’t think being separated from others when not obeying the rules during the class is embarrassing, she considers it funny.

    “I like the feeling of your adrenaline when you push past boundaries and get into trouble…its’ quite exciting” said Sophie at an interview during the documentary.

    Aside from the totally different teaching methods, the headmaster of Bohunt School, Neil Strowger, thinks the collective spirit taught at Chinese schools is interesting and worth learning.

    “I’m not sure it (morning exercise) is really good exercise, but I think the coming together, having a bit of fun, being part of something, is really quite special,” said Strowger in the footage.

    “In China, every student needs to participate in collective assemblies for the weekly flag-raising, or for annual sports meetings, while in many western cultures, individuality overrides collective events,” said Zheng Huiyi, the vice principal of Shenzhen College of International Education.

    Since the British education secretary Michael Gove announced that the country needs a “reformed education system” to enhance British students’ academic performance in 2010, the country has often sent teachers to China to learn from its teaching methods in math.

    In 2012, Shanghai students ranked first place for math, literacy and natural science with the UK students only placing below 20, which inspired the British education bureau to change the situation.

    The documentary had an audience of 1.8 million and an 8.6-percent audience rating when the first episode aired last Tuesday. The next two episodes will be released in the following weeks.