context: Reform of China's highly competitive college admissions test known as the gaokao is a controversial topic. Supporters of the exam highlight its irreplaceable role in giving everyone an equal chance, while critics say myopic focus on exam preparation makes the Chinese education system overly rigid.
The gaokao reform pilots in Shanghai and Zhejiang have been successful, said Chen Baosheng 陈宝生 Minister of Education at a 16 March CPC press conference. The pilots include high school pedagogy reform, said Chen, highlighting the shift from assigning groups of students to an individual classrom to allowing flexible classes based on elective modules.
Chen acknowledges the reform introduces new challenges, such as determining how much autonomy should be given to students, and balancing students’ preference for easier modules. The pilots have generated improvements nonetheless, and MoE has been working to expand pilots into Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and Hainan since 2017. Chen also announced plans to start gaokao reform in another 18 provinces in 2018.
In a recent Caixin editorial, prominent critic Lu Yi 陆一 Fudan University Higher Education Research Institution argued the reforms ‘run counter to the spirit of college entrance examinations’. He says the reforms break the principle of equality by allowing sophisticated parents and for-profit education advisory companies to game the system and choose students’ curriculums for them.
Zhejiang MoE released an urgent notice on 1 March forbidding schools from requiring students choose gaokao subjects earlier than the end of grade ten. Some schools encouraged students to pick subjects earlier, in order to allow more time for gaokao preparation. The notice says this practice runs counter to reform efforts.