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The MOE has recently published the new standards for five basic general courses in secondary vocational education in math, information technology, physical education and health, physics, and chemistry. The new standards specify, among other things, the objectives, structure and content of the courses, and serve as guidance to improve teaching quality and skills acquired by students.
The MOE initiated the development of the new standards in 2017 and published the Plan of Basic General Courses for Secondary Vocational Schools in October 2019. The Plan places basic general courses into three categories: compulsory, designated selective and optional courses. Compulsory courses include ideological and political education, Chinese, history, math, foreign languages, information technology, physical education and health, art, physics, and chemistry. The new standards for five other base general courses will be released very soon.
In accordance with the overall requirements laid out in the Plan, the new standards should encompass six parts: category and major tasks, aim, structure, content, academic levels, and implementation. More specifically, they specify certain qualities and key competences that students need to have achieved when they complete the courses, which generally consist of foundation and extended (professional-oriented) modules. They also outline requirements on the teaching methods, evaluation, and the development of textbooks, teaching materials and other resources.
Compared with the former syllabi, the new standards offer five advantages: they place emphasis on student moral development aimed at cultivating well-rounded talent; specify the unique value of each course; stress problem-solving skills and provide the groundwork for interim assessment and tests; reflect the general requirements of secondary education, i.e. to equip students with a broad range of academic knowledge; and focus on the integration of basic general and specialized courses to ensure complementarity between the two.
The Plan also requires local secondary vocational schools to provide basic general courses with minimum mandatory academic periods, namely one third of total academic periods, or no less than 1,000 academic periods. In addition, one academic period equals 45 minutes and 18 academic periods represent one credit. All students are required to obtain a total of 48 credits for such courses.
To better implement the new standards, local educational authorities should organize teacher capacity-building activities, and mobilize resources to facilitate the reform of teaching methods. They should further enhance school facilities in line with the requirements, and enrich evaluation methods to promote the development of key competences, such as knowledge sharing and problem-solving.