This article examines the process of China's borrowing of the Japanese vocational education model from 1895 to 1922 from the perspective of educational policy transfer. This study serves as a unique example in educational policy transfer research where historical sources offer the possibility of testing the applicability of the Contextual Map of…

Guided by the onion model theory of language policy, this study aims to investigate the multi-level implementation of the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 Edition) in China. Data were collected from both macro and micro-level policy texts, along with interviews with English teachers in five middle schools. One school was…

This paper analyses the current situation of English as a foreign language (EFL) writing in basic education in mainland China with a focus on the English curriculum standards, instruction and assessment. The National English Curriculum Standards launched by China's Ministry of Education ratified a general framework for EFL writing instruction and…

This study explores new pedagogical trends in China's teacher education from a holistic policy analysis perspective. The emerging idea of 'new normal/teacher education' is explored in this study. Applying the comprehensive policy text analysis, we examined the quality of teacher education as the core; explored the comprehensive quality and pursuit…

Teachers receive increasing attention as change agents within education reform policy discourses positioning their professionalism, identity, and agency as critical to implementation of reforms. However, identities either claimed by teachers or assigned by reform policies involve serious (re)negotiations on the part of teachers as they make…

It is widely known that there is a discrepancy between educational policy on the one side, and teaching and learning practices on the other. Most studies have been focusing on the sociocultural and micropolitical frames that shape teachers' understandings and enactments of teaching, and that cause the vast diversity of classroom practices around…

This article reviews Education for Sustainability (EfS) in the secondary sector across a range of countries. Drawing on journal articles, book chapters and official reports, it identifies some of the more successful approaches to implementing EfS within the secondary sector. The authors first discuss the importance of educating for sustainability…

In a fast-changing, globalising world, the teaching and implementation of a curriculum for Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been a challenge for many teachers. "Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability" highlights the issues and challenges educators and academics face in implementing EfS and gives examples of…

This paper is unique in that it demonstrates how a national education department used action research to stimulate the use of the case method of teaching in business schools and other departments in universities in China. It illustrates how four different players; a teacher, her students, a government department in charge of setting education…

This article offers a critical review of the impact of policy-induced changes on school teachers in the Chinese Mainland where educational reform has been an ongoing project for four decades. It addresses three aspects of the current state of teaching and the teaching profession: the contextual factors that have influenced their development; the…

This paper examines the educational implications of two curriculum initiatives in China that have produced curricular materials promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) in minority-populated ethnic autonomous areas in China. The two curriculum projects present distinctive discourses, conceptions, models, frameworks and scopes of ESD…

Since the mid-1980s, a global resurgence of large-scale reform in the field of education has been witnessed. Implementing these reforms has created many dilemmas for change leaders. Following a three-year qualitative research project, the present study explores the dilemmas leaders faced during the implementation of the national curriculum reform…

This article documents an ongoing study of educational policy enactment in a Chinese university. Drawing upon data collected through document analysis, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, this paper argues that the enactment of China's systemic College English curriculum reform is not a matter of simple implementation but the…

This commentary looks at the contributions and future research implications of the four articles in this Special Issue of "Thinking Skills and Creativity" to the fields of creativity and creativity education, both in culture-specific and culture-general terms. The articles included in this Special Issue draw attention to issues of…

This paper provides an overview of Chinese government attempts to promote a revised school curriculum reflecting a more holistic approach to education under the banner of "suzhi jiaoyu" ("quality education"), and positions the policies in the Chinese historical, educational, social and economic context. While the push has…