Press Releases

MOE releases compulsory education curriculum program and standards

Source: www.moe.gov.cn
2022-04-22

On April 21, a press conference was held by the MOE to present the revised curriculum and standards for 16 subjects such as Chinese language in compulsory education. Based on previous editions published in 2001 and 2011 respectively, the revised program and standards underwent systematic design and introduced major changes in the structure and quality requirements of the curriculum. The meeting was moderated by the MOE spokeswoman Xu Mei, and attended by Tian Huisheng, director of the MOE’s Textbook Bureau, Shen Jiliang, first-level inspector of the MOE’s Textbook Bureau, and Zhang Guohua, Director of the MOE’s Curriculum and Textbook Research Institute, etc.

According to Tian, the revised program has improved its training objectives, optimized curriculum structure and added detailed instructions on its implementation, providing a strong support to quality and balanced development of compulsory education. More specifically, all moral education-related courses from Grade one to nine were integrated into one course titled “Ethics and the Rule of Law”. Art courses were reformed, with those for Grade one to seven focusing on music and drawing, supplemented by dance, drama and other elements, and those for Grade eight and nine focusing on a selection of arts lessons. Based on the new program, science and comprehensive practice are to be taught as early as Grade one, while labor and information technology will be separated from the comprehensive practice to become stand-alone courses.

In addition, standards for individual subjects have also been modified in several aspects. First, interdisciplinary elements were added to establish strong connection between different subjects, whilst overall coordination was made to ensure each subject serve its unique function. Second, quality requirements were introduced to delineate the depth and span of the knowledge of each subject. Third, more instructions were designed to guide teaching and evaluation activities.

Finally, the meeting also presented the follow-up actions to be taken by the MOE, including the organization of training sessions on the implementation of the new program and standards across the country, and the initiation of textbook revision and curriculum reform projects.