Shifting the Education Paradigm: Why International Borrowing is No Longer Sufficient for Improving Education in China

Abstract

Purpose —The purpose of this article is to examine the consequences of mutual borrowing of educational policies and practices between the East and the West and implications for Chinese education. Design/Approach/Methods —This paper draws upon a wide variety of historical, cultural, and international assessment data. Findings —The analyses found that the mutual borrowing is unlikely to improve education to the extent that the future world demands. Originality/Value —Thus, the article concludes that instead of wasting resources and time on learning from each other's past, education systems around the world should work on inventing a new paradigm of education. China is in a unique position to work on the new paradigm.

The impact of OECD research on the education system of Kazakhstan

“…It cannot even be guaranteed that so-called “policy borrowing” (Phillips & Ochs, 2004 ) practices will be as effective in a different social and political environment as in the domestic contexts in which they were developed. In certain cases, what works in one situation is ineffective in another or, even worse, may even be pernicious (Harris & Jones, 2015 ; Zhao, 2018 , 2020 ). What is required of 15-year-olds in one nation can vary significantly in another (Sjøberg, 2015 ).…”

Knowledge capital theory: a critical analysis using Lakatos’ idea of research programmes

“…The policy recommended that schools recruit teachers from high school graduates' top echelons because that is what high performing systems do (Barber and Mourshed 2007). These recommendations, however, resulted from erroneous observations (Zhao 2018). Research has shown that the top graduates tend to benefit the top-performing students in a system but at the expense of low performing students (Grönqvist and Vlachos 2016).…”

Side Effects of Large-Scale Assessments in Education

“…LSAs stifle innovation in at least two ways. First, LSAs give policy makers and educators a rearview mirror, directing people to look backward (Zhao, 2016c(Zhao, , 2018c. LSAs are frequently used to identify effective educational policies and practices and encourage others to emulate these policies and practices.…”

“…Hence encouraging others to emulate their policies and practices is encouraging others to look backward instead of forward. It is a race to the past (Zhao, 2015b(Zhao, , 2016c(Zhao, , 2018c. Unless other countries or areas would like to be like Shanghai or Finland in 2009 or 2001 when they were the top PISA performers in 2030 or 2040, copying their past does not make much sense.…”