Comparative Research on Secondary Education Between United Kingdom and China—Enlightenment for Chinese Educational Reforms

Comparative Research on Secondary Education between United Kingdom and China—Enlightenment for Chinese Educational Reforms Nowadays, science and technology are the first productive forces in society, and talents as carriers of science and technology seem particularly important. Therefore, every country in the world pays great attention on developing the education. In China, the 9-year compulsory education has been implemented by Chinese governments since the promulgation of the “Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China” in 1986. It includes 6-year primary schooling and 3-year secondary education (Yang 57). Since the World War II, the United Kingdom has done extensive reformation on the education system. In the United Kingdom, the compulsory education includes 6-year primary schooling and 5-year secondary education. Students enter the stage of secondary education after graduating from primary school. Secondary education plays an extremely important role on people’s development. The secondary education in United Kingdom is quite different from that in China in many aspects. Students go to middle school and high school to acquire some certain knowledge in China. However, the publicly maintained system of education aims to give all students an education suited to their particular abilities. Through comparing the differences between United Kingdom and China on secondary education, Chinese can understand its education system better and get some enlightenment for cultivating talents. Furthermore, it can help deepen the educational reforms in China. Education system in China and United Kingdom are different, especially in secondary education and higher education. In China, secondary education is generally divided into academic secondary education and vocational/technical secondary education. It covers schooling from the age of 12 to the age of 18. In general, secondary education lasts five to seven years in China. Academic secondary education includes academic lower /junior middle schools and upper middle schools /senior middle schools. Junior middle school education consists of the last three years of compulsory education in China. After graduating from junior middle school, students can take a locally administered entrance exam to choose to continue their education in a senior middle school or a vocational secondary school. Students go to vocational schools to be trained as medium-level skilled workers, farmers, and technical personnel for two or four years. Technical schools usually offer four-year programs to cultivate intermediate technical personnel (“Education”). In the United Kingdom, secondary education covers schooling from the age of 11 to the minimum school leaving age of 18. Through modern educational reforms, the present United Kingdom secondary schools usually cover Grammar Schools，Comprehensive Schools, Vocational Schools and Secondary Modern Schools. The teaching in the grammar schools is much concerned with the business of getting ready for the examinations. In the comprehensive school, pupils study a wide variety of subjects at first and after two or three years they may drop some of them, and study only those they like best. Vocational schools offer many programs to cultivate skilled workers and technical personnel. Secondary modern schools offer general education, including some particular instruction (Zhang 186-190). The teaching model in the United Kingdom is more open and more active than that in China. Many British teachers tend to be guides who put forward the questions, let students think about on their own and lead them to find out the answers independently. On the contrary, some Chinese teachers give the knowledge to their students directly. The former makes the students to think about the problems independently. It can arouse the enthusiasm and develop creative thinking of the students and create a fun, exciting, and healthy atmosphere in the class. If students have any questions, they can ask the teacher in class, thus students could understand it well. Besides, it makes the lessons more impressive. However, it is hard for a teacher to control the learning progress, and it might lead to a situation that the teacher cannot finish certain teaching contents. Sometimes it would waste a lot of time on meaningless questions. The latter one makes good use of the limited time, so that students can learn more knowledge. If students have some questions, they usually wait after class to ask the teacher. It won’t disturb the teacher’s teaching plan. However, students’ puzzle could not be solved in time. Students have to concentrate all the time to avoid missing some key points (A). As a result, the quality of instruction would be lowered. Chinese secondary schools concentrate more on truth and knowledge, while British secondary schools concentrate more on independent critical thinking and analysis. The class sizes and teaching styles in China vary from that in Britain to a large degree. There are about 40 to 60 students in a class in Chinese secondary schools. The classroom teaching is common in China. Besides, Chinese students have lots of homework to do, and they have great pressure on examination. However, a class is only about 3 to 15 students in Britain secondary schools. Students in British not only study in a classroom, but also have a great proportion of extra-curricular practices in factories, laboratories and museums. British students also have some after-school assignments, but they don’t face heavy pressure on examination (Wang 98-101). Therefore, the British focus on the realization of the value of the individual, and respect for human character development. In this respect, China should learn from it. As secondary education is an essential part of people’s lives, both the government and the society should pay a high degree of attention to improving the quality of secondary education. Through all that comparative researches, the educational reform in China is still not enough. Chinese should fully respect the students’ personality and character, and develop individualized education. In teaching model and method, Britain has its strength, so China need to make some changes by learning the open teaching style of British schools. Teachers should develop a sense of what kind of students they should cultivate. The class size should be small so that every student can be treated fairly. Chinese schools pay too much attention on students’ grade. Therefore, schools can let their students participate in more practical activities.

Works Cited
A Zi 阿子. “Thoughts on the Current Education Situation in China.” Journal of Zhangjiakou Teachers College. June, 1999. 19 May 2011 < http://epub.cnki.net/grid2008/detail.aspx?QueryID=77&CurRec=1>.
“Education System in China.” China Education and Research Network. 11 May, 2011. 21 May, 2011 .
Wang Jiuping 王九萍 and Zhang Jinping 张锦萍, ed. “Education.” The U.K & the U.S.A-A Survey. Xi’an: Xi’an Jiaotong University Press, 2009: 98-101.
Yang Ming 杨明. 60 Years Exam-oriented and Quality-China Secondary Education 60 Years. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2009.
Zhang Kuiwu 张奎武, ed. “Education.” Survey of British & America. Changchun: Jilin Science &Technology Press, 2008: 186-191.

Cited: A Zi 阿子. “Thoughts on the Current Education Situation in China.” Journal of Zhangjiakou Teachers College. June, 1999. 19 May 2011 < http://epub.cnki.net/grid2008/detail.aspx?QueryID=77&CurRec=1>. “Education System in China.” China Education and Research Network. 11 May, 2011. 21 May, 2011 . Wang Jiuping 王九萍 and Zhang Jinping 张锦萍, ed. “Education.” The U.K & the U.S.A-A Survey. Xi’an: Xi’an Jiaotong University Press, 2009: 98-101. Yang Ming 杨明. 60 Years Exam-oriented and Quality-China Secondary Education 60 Years. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2009. Zhang Kuiwu 张奎武, ed. “Education.” Survey of British & America. Changchun: Jilin Science &Technology Press, 2008: 186-191.