Documentary Analysis of Evaluation Standards of Compulsory Education Quality in China
Author(s):
Hong Zheng (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 01, Curriculum and Education

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-22
11:00-12:30
Room:
K4.04
Chair:
Xavier Rambla

Contribution

Research Purpose and Question

This first stage of a Ph.D. research is aiming to explore current inspection policies and practices of one province in China and to identify what strengths and weaknesses are existing in inspection system of China to improve current inspection standards of N province in China. It is anticipated that the original evidence presented will also propose new recommendations with regard to improving the school inspection practice and educational quality in China.

Theoretical Framework of Education Quality

Outcome: The primary definition of “effectiveness” concerns ‘the production of a desired result or outcome’(Levine & Lezotte, 1990). Due to the diversity of interaction within the schooling processes, some outcomes could also be assessed and yield non-statistic data which is separated from score results. The components of students’ outcomes tend to be various apart from test scores. Thus, more effective instruments should be developed in order to meet the demands of students’ overall development in a broader range of academic and social areas (Gray et al., 1996).

Process: Educational quality is regarded as a complex system in the context of policy, culture, and economy by UNICEF (2000) who claimed that education quality is a process where "trained teachers use child-centred teaching approaches in well-managed classrooms and schools and skillful assessment facilitates learning and reduce disparities". Scheerens (1990) proposed in the integrated model (IM) that both factors at the school level and at classroom level contribute to schooling process. In the perspective of Creemers and Kyriakides (2006), effective schooling itself should be regarded as a dynamic and ongoing process, where factors in school level and classroom level might interact with each other and bare influences on students’ outcome.

Equity: OECD (2012) stated that a successful and healthy education system pays attention to both equity and quality in order to offer each child a fair opportunity to receive a high-quality education. Although long-run educational reforms have gradually improved education quality in China, the imbalanced distribution of education quality between developed and less developed provinces, the urban and rural areas, and the coastal and remote regions still and will be existing for a long time (State Council 2010).

The criteria (e.g. processes of teaching and learning), and quality standards (e.g. excellent, inadequate) are employed to make a judgment on the quality of education that are seen as critical components in school inspection with emphasis on the concept of education quality (Scheerens et al., 2003). School inspection system, on the one hand, requires school education quality to meet the minimum level; on the other hand, plays an active role in encouraging schools to comply with the legal requirements the minimum level (De Wolf & Janssens, 2007). Whereas, “monitoring for compliance may take place alongside evaluation for accountability and improvement” (Slater, 2013, p. 8). 

Many of the frameworks were informed by school effectiveness theory according to Ehren et al. (2013) who conduct comparative studies of inspection frameworks in six European countries with strong focuses on educational processes. As Van Bruggen (2010) introduced how eighteen European inspectorates have standards on "school organization and administration " and "the teaching and learning" in their frameworks to inspect schools against a common set of criteria which represents national perspectives on quality education. “School organization and administration" that is comprised of effective factors in school level and "teaching and learning" that is comprised of effective factors in classroom level jointly contribute to processes in the complex school system as a whole.

Therefore, four main dimensions of education quality could be recognised as, compliance with legal regulations, school organisation and administration, teaching and learning, and outcome.

Method

In 2011, the national educational inspection office of the MOE (2011) issued A Framework of Inspection Evaluation Indicators System of Quality Education of Primary and Secondary Schools (SEISQEPSS) of China to realize students’ overall development and to further improve education quality of the primary and secondary school in China. This can be seen as an outline and basic criteria in terms of the school system for each province to issue more detailed criteria fitting for particular provincial context. Totally, SEISQEPSS documents of five provinces were selected among 31 provinces in China to reflect the range and overall circumstances of school inspection standards of compulsory education in China. These 5 provinces were sampled for comparative content analysis using regional location and educational finance data, given this provides an estimate of provincial socio-economic level, a key factor influencing education quality. Due to the limited scope of Ph.D. research, it is only possible to conduct an in-depth documentary analysis in one province N, which was selected as it ranks the 15th among 31 provinces and direct-controlled municipalities in the middle level of education quality all over the country. In this study, a qualitative content analysis will be mainly used to analyse documentary data, in that “content analysis is a research technique for making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying specified characteristics within a text” (Stone et al., 1966, p. 5). Moreover, one task of any types of content analysis is to draw inferences from data to their contexts and to make justifications on these inferences according to knowledge pertinent to stable factors in the system of interest (Kripprendorff, 1980). In this research, both deductive methods based on the structured matrix of analysis from previous theories and concepts and inductive method will be employed, where both data which are suitable and are not suitable for categorization frame will be chosen in a deductive content analysis. Those aspects which are not suitable for categorization frame can be used to “create their own concepts, based on the principles of inductive content analysis” (Elo & Kyngas, 2007, p. 112). On account that the research question is finding out strengths and weaknesses of the inspection system of N province, the comparative design is appropriate to figure out differences between N province and other provinces in China. In order to address this research question, charts and matrices could be useful in data analysis and presentation (Drisko & Maschi, 2015).

Expected Outcomes

In China context, in comparison with the international theoretical framework, the disadvantages of school inspection standards are lying in: first, the national inspection criteria does not refer to the importance of academic climate and non-violence within the school environment for students. Second, the quality of learner related to children’s early development in childhood which might influence students’ learning performance in school and should be considered throughout schooling process was not mentioned by national standards, such as students’ previous characteristics, and childhood psychological development. Third, students’ outcomes of overall well-being and critical thinking abilities were not considered. The advantages of national inspection criteria of China is advantageous in the aspect of morality. First, students’ moral education is focusing on addressing practical issues that students have in life; second, teachers’ morality requires teachers to concern, respect and love students. This point was not referred by the international theoretical framework. In the context of N province, the disadvantages of inspection standards in comparison with other four provinces in China indicate that N province did not involve the following aspects in the provincial inspection criteria. First, an inclusive and healthy environment is created where all students are treated equally and students’ physical and mental health are guaranteed. Second, head-teachers’ professional leadership in observing and evaluating classroom teaching is helpful to improve teachers’ classroom teaching quality. Third, teachers’ structured teaching is applied with focuses on effective classroom teaching by clarifying teaching goal and difficulties of content, and teachers’ ongoing reflection on if the effects and teaching goals have been realized in the teaching process. The advantages of inspection standards of N province involve: first, students are able to conduct autonomous, cooperative and explorative learning activities by using information technology; second, school builds up comprehensive and dynamic individual records on each student to record their progress.

References

Creemers, B., Kyriakides, L. (2006). Critical Analysis of the Current Approaches to Modelling Educational Effectiveness: The importance of establishing a dynamic model. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(3), 347-366. De Wolf, I. F., Janssens, F. G. (2007). Effects and Side Effects of Inspections and Accountability in Education: An Overview of Empirical Studies. Oxford Review of Education, 33(3), 379-396. Drisko, J., Maschi, T. (2015). Content Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. Ehren, M. C. M., et al. (2013). The impact of school inspections on an improvement of schools-- describing assumptions on causal mechanisms in six European countries. Springer Science + Business Media, 25, 3-43. Elo, S., Kyngas, H. (2007). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107-115. Gray, J., et al. (Eds.). (1996). Merging Traditions: The Future of Research on School Effectiveness and School Improvement. New York: Cassell. Kripprendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (Vol. 5). London: SAGE Publications Levine, D. U., Lezotte, L. W. (1990). Unusually Effective Schools: A Review and Analysis of Research and Practice. Madison, WI: National Centre for Effective Schools Research and Development. MOE, T. M. o. E. C. (2011). Methods of inspection and evaluation of quality education in primary and secondary schools. Retrieved from http://www.whedu21.com/zhenwugongkai/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=37449 OECD. (2012). Equity and quality in education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools. Paris: OECD. Scheerens, J. (1990). School Effectiveness Research and the Development of Process Indicators of School Functioning. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 1(1), 61-80. Scheerens, J., et al. (2003). Educational Evaluation, Assessment, And Mornitoring: A Systematic Approach. The Netherlands: Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Slater, L. (2013). Quality assurance and accountability. Retrieved from UK: State Council , P. R. C. (2010). State guidelines for medium and long-term education reform and development plan (2010-2020). Beijing: State Council. Stone, P. J., et al. (1966). The General Inquirer: A Computer Approach to Content Analysis. Cambridge: MIT Prsess. UNICEF. (2000). Defining Quality in Education. Paper presented at the The International Working Group in Education, Florence, Italy. Van Bruggen, J. C. (2010). Inspectorates of Education in Europe: Some comparative remarks about their tasks and work. Paper presented at the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates of Education in Europe (SICI).

Author Information

Hong Zheng (presenting / submitting)
University of Bristol
Graduate School of Education
Bristol

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