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Conference
2008 Safe
Internet Use
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Highlights
of previous SSBA conferences :-
2007 Developing a
Parent Council and Encouraging Parental Involvement
2006 The Way Forward
for Parental Involvement
2005 Parents in
Partnership
2003 Partnerships and
responsibilities
2002 SSBA is fit for
the future
2001 Roadshow
2000 International
and published book
available here online
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Conference 2000China
Parents as Partners : a case study from
China, Chuzho City
1.1
General situation of Chuzho
Chuzhou
City is located in the east part of Anhui Province,
between the Yangzi and Huai Rivers. It is 115
kilometres from Chuzhou to Hefei, the capital of
Anhui Province. Under its jurisdiction are Tianchang
and Mingguang Cities, Laian, Quanjiao, Digyuan,
Fegyang counties, and Langya, Nanqiao Districts. It
has a total area of 13,300 square kilometres and a
population of 4,120,000 by the end of 1996.
The
geographical position of Chuzhou is advantageous to
both water and land transportation. Beijing-Shanghai
and Huainan Railways pass through its area, express
ways and advanced highways extend in all directions
and inland waterways link up with the Yangzi and Huai
Rivers.
Chuzhou
abounds in natural resources: the reserves of
limestone, halite, gypsum and petroleum occupy the
first place in the province, further more, it is one
of the important commodity grain producing bases of
the country.
Chuzou
is well-known, both at home and abroad, as a place
for sightseeing not only for its picturesque scenery,
long history, favourable position and smart people,
but also for the scenic spots and historical sites
such as the Langya Mountain, the Zuiweng Pavilion and
the Ming Dynasty Tombs and so many precious cultural
relics left over by historical personages like Wei
Yingwu, Ou Uangxiu, Zhu Yuanzhang, Wu Jinzi and so on
in a history of more than 1,400 years.
The
economy of Chuzhou has been increased by leaps and
bounds continuously and all kinds of social affairs
developed rapidly. There are more than 40,000
industrial enterprises in the city today. An
industrial system has been formed on the basis of
machinery, electronics, food, textile, building
materials and so on. The strength and scale of
industrial economy rank first or second in the
province.
The
foreign-oriented economy is developing swiftly. It
has established economic trade ties with more than 50
foreign countries or regions. Foreign investment
projects are coming in a continuous stream. The
programmed area of Chuzhou, Economic and
Technological Developing Zone occupies 15 square
kilometres, and 3 square kilometres has been already
developed during the first period.
The
basic public institutions of the city are being
perfected. The program-controlled and wireless
telephones have been put into operation everywhere
within the city’s boundaries. The capacity of
power, water and gas supplies has been extended day
by day. The finance institutions in the city can
manage foreign exchange business directly.
In the
city, there are institutions of higher education and
polytechnic schools, all kinds of scientific research
institutions of industry, agriculture, medicine,
chemistry, electronics and atomic energy. It also has
star-class hotels, large shopping centres and modern
facilities for working, amusement and service.
Chuzhou,
a developing modern industrial, commercial, and
tourist city is rising abruptly on the north of the
Yangzi River.
2.1
General situation of the educational development in
Chuzhou
At
present there are 2,755 schools for general
education. These include 2 colleges, 5 secondary
technical schools, 283 general middle schools (49
senior high schools, 234 junior high schools), 38
vocational schools, 2,088 primary schools, 336
kindergartens, 3 special education schools. The
number of students on roll is over 740,000, including
over 210,000 students in middle schools and
vocational schools, nearly 410,000 pupils in primary
schools and over 110,000 pupils in kindergartens. In
the recent years, in order to carry out the law of
education and other laws and regulations, Chuzhou
Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government
have issued a number of standard documents in
accordance with the Education Law of The
Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) and other laws
and regulations. Among them are: Decision about
devoting more resources to education; Methods of
carrying out of Chuzhou People’s Education Fund;
Ideas about the work on the 2-basic goals in Chuzhou:
Temporary stipulations for school faculties and staff
in Chuzhou. These documents provide a solid basis for
the development of education.
3.1 Goals
and measures of the educational development of our
country
The
Education Law of the PRC stipulates that education is
the foundation of socialist modernisation. The
country gives great priority to the development of
the education. According to the strategic plan, it
takes three periods to realise socialist
modernisation in our country. Science and technology
are crucial to the realisation of modernisation. It
sets the general goals of the educational development
of our country by the end of this century. These
goals state that the level of the national education
will be raised; the pre-service and post-service
education for the workers both in cities and in
countryside will have a quick development. Special
personnel at all levels will basically meet the needs
of socialist modernisation and a basic frame of the
socialist education system will be formed. This
system, with Chinese characteristics, will face the
21st century. Thereafter, with many years of effort,
a comparatively perfect socialist educational system
will be founded to realise the modernisation of the
education.
The
concrete goals of educational development at all
levels include:
Nine-year
compulsory education (including vocational
education in the junior high school) will
basically be popularised. Senior high school
education will be extended in big cities and
coastal economic development areas. The need
for infants to receive education will be
basically satisfied and one-year education
before compulsory schooling is being actively
developed in the vast rural areas.
Significant
increases in the number of the students on
roll in the vocational schools.
Colleges
and universities to train special personnel
to meet the needs of the economy, science and
technology and social development.
Illiteracy
among young and middle-aged people will
basically be eliminated in the whole country
to make the illiteracy rate below 5%.
In order
to put these goals into practice our country takes a
series of measures such as: deepen the educational
reform, to persist in developing harmoniously, to
increase educational expenses, to improve
teachers’ quality and educational quality, to
lay emphasis on the efficiency of running schools, to
have district plans and to strengthen particpation of
the society. In the development of the educational
cause the scale of education will not only be
enlarged but the educational quality and efficiency
of running schools will be improved and raised.
4.1 The
Reform of the Educational System in our Country
The goal
of the reform in the economic system of our country
is to establish a socialist market economy, to which
the educational system must be appropriste. Great
changes have taken place in the educational system of
our country with the effort of constant reform. This
can be seen from the following aspects.
The
process whereby the govenerment undertakes
everything in the running of schools is
changed. The government is the main body but
urges and supports social organisations and
individuals to open schools in accordance
with laws. The compatriots in Hang Kong
Macao, Tairvan, those residing overseas, and
friends in foreign countries are welcome to
donate to the opening of schools.
International co-operation in opening schools
is welcomed within the scope of related laws
and regulations of the country.
Deepen
the reform of educational system below the
intermediate level. The system to open and
manage schools according to different levels
will be improved. The management system is
that a school is opened and run by the
authority of villages, small towns and the
government of the county.
The
process of reform in higher education will be
accelerated. Schools will have more autonomy
in recruiting, in the appointment of leaders,
the handling of expenses, conferring of
academic titles, the allocation of wages,
international communications and
co-operation.
5.1 The
role of parents in education
Social
and economic development make it clear that people
should know about the important relationship between
school education, community education and family
education. Because of the one-child policy, parents
expect much of their only child. They hope that their
child will have great expectations in the future and
parents take on more and more obligations and
responsibilities. Family education is the basic
education that goes along a man’s life. Parents
are the first teachers to their children. Whether
this first education is adequate will influence the
child’s whole life. This kind of education is
unchangeable and quite different from other forms of
education.
From
generation to generation the Chinese nation
traditionally attaches importance to family
education. Four hundred years ago Yan Zhitui wrote a
book called Admonition to Yan’s Family. This
book presented a profound and systematical exposition
on the special functions, principles, methods and
contents of family education. He regards managing a
household as the basic conditions to govern a
country. He also advocates that parents should be
strict but kind. Children cannot be pampered or
spoiled. Instead, they should work hard and learn to
be independent. They should be thrifty but not
stingy. Mr Chen Heqin, a modern educationalist as
well as an expert on children’s education,
devotes all his life to the study of educational
theory and educational practice. Family education is
an important field where he carries out a scientific
research of children education. In his book, Family
Education, he puts forward a number of principles
such as positive education, setting good examples,
early education, strict demands. All this is involved
in the aspects of children’s family education.
At
present there is an organisation called Focus on
Young Generations. A committee (FYGC) has been set up
in schools in the educational administration and
government at all levels of our city. This
organisation is usually made up of senior educators
and retired cadres/officials. They have not only rich
experience in education but also considerable
influence in various fields of the society. A lot of
work can be done with the efforts of these retired
officials. The aim of this organisation is to care
for and help children and teenagers and enable them
to grow up healthily. Giving instructions to the
parent school and co-ordinate its work are the main
tasks to be done by the FYGC.
Family
education is an important part in the education to
the teenage students. It is also a supplement to
school education. At present, with the development of
the market economy, quite a number of parents show
more concern about the improvement of their
children’s intelligence as well as the ethical
education of their children. We are carrying out
research on how we can bring family education into a
close relationship with school education. What we
have mainly done so far is to establish ‘parent
schools’. Almost every kindergarten has set up a
parent school or parent committee. Over 70% of the
primary school and secondary schools have established
parent schools. Usually we have headmasters or
principals as heads of the parent schools.
The
school boards are made up of some officials of the
school and elected parents. Activities are carried
out regularly or irregularly. The main things are (a)
to ask specialists to give lectures on the theory and
ways of family education; (b) to organise parents to
exchange experience in educating their children; (c)
to give reports to parents about their
children’s studies and behaviour at school.
Parents are asked to co-ordinate with schools in
educating their children; (d) to encourage parents to
visit the school and set forth their opinions and
advice and make proposals.
With the
improvement of their cultural quality, parents of new
generations will pay special attention to building up
a new type of relationship with their children. They
will set good examples to their children as well as
provide verbal instruction, which exerts a subtle
influence on their children. So the good family
relationship and the good family style of life as
well as the general mode of teaching make the
children and teenagers grow up in a lively and
healthy way.
Wu
Qian Li
Zhu Hong Bing
Chen Feng
Liu Gui Lin
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