British primary school mathematics education draws lessons from China and introduces Shanghai teachers and textbooks.
The picture shows British primary school students in class. Bright pictures/vision china
The picture shows a set of textbooks "Real Shanghai Mathematics". Information picture
The picture shows a primary school math teacher from Shanghai teaching in Britain. Information picture
The picture shows two British primary school math teachers who went to China to learn Buddhist scriptures taking photos with China students. Information picture
[Window of World Education]
Many children from China who come to school in Britain will inevitably be at a certain disadvantage in language at the beginning, but it is not difficult for them to find that they also have a great advantage that British children envy, that is, their math level. Anyone who is familiar with British education knows that children from China are often among the best in mathematics in primary school classes in Britain.
In recent years, in order to improve the mathematics level of primary school students, the British government has begun to look to China, hoping that Chinese’s "magic" mathematics education method can solve the "persistent problem" that English children’s mathematics scores are not ideal. Following the promotion of "Shanghai Mathematics Teaching Method" in primary schools in England from the second half of 2016, the UK is actively introducing mathematics textbooks for primary school students in Shanghai. A set of textbooks named "Real Shanghai Mathematics" will be published in the UK at the end of this year and early next year, and will enter the primary school classroom in the UK at the beginning of next year.
1. Thirty-six volumes of China textbooks help British primary school mathematics education.
As early as the first half of this year, some British media have reported that the textbook "Real Shanghai Mathematics" is about to enter the UK, but there are different opinions about when this textbook will be put into use. Recently, the reporter saw from official website, the British Collins Learning Publishing House, which is responsible for introducing this set of teaching materials, that this set of teaching materials is divided into teachers’ books, students’ books and students’ workbooks, with a total of 36 volumes, which will be published one after another from the end of November this year to the end of January next year. The reporter also saw on some websites in the UK that these textbooks can now be booked online. It is reported that at the beginning of next year, these textbooks will officially enter the classrooms of some primary schools in Britain.
"Real Shanghai Mathematics" has been translated into English almost word for word from Shanghai primary school mathematics textbooks, with one rare minor change: the RMB symbol in the mathematics topic has been replaced by the pound symbol. According to Fayona McGlade from Harper Collins Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Collins Learning Publishing House, Shanghai’s mathematics textbooks are "excellent" and "need no improvement".
At present, there has been a special introduction about "Real Shanghai Mathematics" in official website, Collins Learning Publishing House. According to the publishing house, "Real Shanghai Mathematics" is a set of mathematics courses for primary school students from grade one to grade six, with high-quality textbooks as the core. These immersive educational resources, translated from the best-selling mathematics course in Shanghai, will enable every student to master mathematics knowledge and develop their infinite potential. "
At the 2017 London Book Fair held in March this year, Harper Collins Publishing Group signed an agreement with Shanghai Century Publishing Group to translate and publish the mathematics textbooks for basic education in Shanghai. Colin Hughes of Collins Learning Press called the signing of the agreement "a historic moment". Hughes said, "As far as I know, textbooks written for China students will be translated and used by British schools. This has never happened." He said that the move "aims to improve the quality of mathematics education in Britain by adopting the method of making Shanghai a world leader in mathematics education." He said that compared with the current textbooks in Britain, the original Chinese textbooks are "much more demanding".
The entry of Shanghai mathematics textbooks into Britain has attracted the attention of many western media, including American and British media. For example, in August, the website of The New York Times reported on this matter with the title "Britain turned to China for help in improving its math scores". The British newspaper The Guardian described this textbook cooperation between Chinese and British publishers as a "historic agreement". According to The Guardian, China’s developed cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have trained the world’s top pupils in mathematics, while British students are far behind their Asian peers.
It is reported that this is not the first time that Harper Collins Publishing Group has introduced China mathematics textbooks. In 2015, the publishing house translated and published the mathematics textbook "One Lesson and One Practice" for primary schools in China. Ms. Fayona McGlade told the media that this textbook has received very good feedback from British teachers and students.
2. 8,000 primary schools learn the "Shanghai be adept at Teaching Model".
The introduction of Shanghai mathematics textbooks is the latest step for Britain to learn China’s mathematics teaching experience in an all-round way. In July 2016, Nick Gibb, Secretary of State of the British Ministry of Education, announced that Britain would invest 41 million pounds to implement the "Shanghai Mathematics Teaching Method" in 8,000 primary schools. He said: "We will witness the revival of mathematics education in our country. In the past, we heard too many British people say ‘ Can’t count ’ This will become history. "
Britain decided to introduce "Shanghai Mathematics Teaching Method" because of the results of two Pisa (Program for International Student Assessment) tests. PISA is an evaluation test of the learning level of 15-year-old students all over the world, which is planned by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2009 and 2012, 15-year-old students from more than 70 countries and cities, including Britain and China, took the test twice. The first test takes reading as the main test, mathematics as the auxiliary test, and the second test takes mathematics as the main test. In the results of the two tests, Shanghai students ranked first, while British students performed poorly. The test results show that English students of the same age are three years behind Shanghai students in mathematics.
In addition, some international tests in recent years also show that compared with some Southeast Asian countries, the proportion of 15-year-old students in Britain who don’t understand basic operations is more than 10%.
Chinese, who lives in Britain, will find that the British people’s mental arithmetic ability is weak. Take a simple example: a bill of 8.5 pounds. If you pay 10.5 pounds, the waiter sometimes can’t respond. Speaking of the mental arithmetic ability of the British people, it is often mentioned that former Prime Minister David Cameron was asked by reporters how much 9 times 8 equals, but he could not answer the result. In English schools, many formulas don’t need to be remembered, and sometimes you can bring a calculator to the exam.
Before deciding to promote the "Shanghai Mathematics Teaching Method", Britain made a long-term and scientific evaluation. In 2014, Britain started the "Sino-British Mathematics Teacher Exchange Project" and entrusted sheffield hallam university to conduct a third-party follow-up evaluation of the project. In 2016, sheffield hallam university published the Research Report on the Sino-British Mathematics Teacher Exchange Program, which spoke highly of Shanghai’s mathematics education and named Shanghai’s mathematics teaching model "Shanghai be adept at Approach".
Nick Gibb said that English people often say "can’t count" and think that mathematics is too difficult to learn, which has even become an ethos in British society. Under the influence of this ethos, many British people think that math is not good, which is not a shameful thing. In Nick Gibb’s view, promoting the "Shanghai be adept at Teaching Model" will help "ensure that young people can prepare for their study and work in the 21st century".
3. Pay attention to the consistency and depth of Shanghai’s teaching model.
When talking about the difference between Shanghai’s mathematics teaching mode and Britain’s, Andres Schleicher, head of PISA, said, "Our data show that few British students think British mathematics education is interesting and creative, and the number of young people choosing mathematics as a career has been declining, especially women. PISA shows that English mathematics education uses a lot of applied problems, that is, simple mathematical operations are implanted in applied problems, and students do repeated simple operations. In contrast, Shanghai’s mathematical methods are more rigorous, dedicated and consistent. Strict, that is, the in-depth understanding of concepts and cognitive needs in Shanghai mathematical law; Focus, that is, Shanghai will go deep into every small problem, while the British method is ‘ A mile wide and a foot deep ’ ; Consistency means that the learning process of Shanghai students is coherent. What surprises us most is that PISA shows that the British teaching method is more rote than Shanghai. "
When introducing the "Shanghai be adept at Teaching Model", the British newspaper The Guardian said that this model emphasizes "whole class teaching", and each class focuses on teaching a mathematical concept, instead of focusing on the depth of teaching, and the teacher will continue to teach new things until all the students in the class have mastered it. In primary schools in Shanghai, for students who don’t fully understand the course content, teachers often make up lessons on the same day to ensure that these students can be at the same level as the rest of the students before starting to learn new content the next day. British primary school classes are different. Teachers often advance their lectures quickly, regardless of whether the whole class has mastered what they are teaching. In the English classroom, students in a class often have great differences in level, and teachers will give different difficult assignments to students of different levels, ignoring the importance of keeping pace with the learning process of the whole class.
According to the Guardian, math teachers in Shanghai primary schools are often teaching experts. They specialize in primary school math teaching during their college years, and they only teach math at work. Many people only teach for two hours a day, and the rest of the time is used for summing up, perfecting and improving. In contrast, primary school teachers in Britain are often "general teachers" who are responsible for teaching a variety of different courses.
Debbi Morgan, director of the primary school mathematics department of the National Center for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching under the British Ministry of Education, was interviewed by our reporter earlier this year on the teaching characteristics of the "Shanghai be adept at Teaching Model". She said that there are several main differences between the Shanghai teaching method and the British teaching method: first, the "small step" teaching method of Shanghai teachers can improve the depth of teaching and students’ fluency in computing, and can take into account students of different levels to ensure their overall progress. Second, the Shanghai teaching method emphasizes the recitation of multiplication formulas, while British students are not good at multiplication and lack fluent computing ability. Third, the difference between "whole class teaching" and "differential teaching". Shanghai teaching method pays attention to the overall teaching and the overall improvement of students’ level, and the teaching scheme is easy to implement, while British teachers are used to dividing students of different levels into different groups, and different groups use different teaching schemes and contents. This is very difficult to manage and easy to cause confusion in teaching.
4. Shanghai teachers teach experience at the front line.
Since 2014, Britain has started the "Sino-British math teacher exchange program" with China. The UK sent primary school teachers to Shanghai to study teaching methods, and at the same time, China math teachers also went to British primary schools for exchanges. The "Sino-British math teacher exchange program" is one of the results of the second round of Sino-British high-level exchange mechanism meeting in 2014, and it is also the highlight of the cooperation and exchange between China and Britain in recent years. In November 2014, China sent the first batch of math teachers to the UK, and since then, about 60 teachers have been sent to the UK for exchanges every year.
The arrival of Shanghai math teachers has benefited both teachers and students in Britain. Many British teachers who have observed the lectures given by teachers in Shanghai think that the "Shanghai Mathematics Teaching Method" is very magical, and they all say that they want to change their original teaching methods and give lectures like teachers in Shanghai. Debbi Morgan, director of the Mathematics Department of the National Center for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching under the British Ministry of Education, said that teachers in China have made extraordinary efforts to teach in English, both in language and in preparing lessons.
Zhu Guangqin, a teacher from Aiju Primary School in Xuhui District, Shanghai, once visited Parkfield Community Primary School in Birmingham, England. She said that during the exchange, she was in an open class almost every day. She said, "British teachers appreciate our step-by-step approach of focusing on one or two key points in each class." Zhu Guangqin brought multiplication formula to British primary school students. She was a little worried that British children might not adapt, but later found that British students were very interested. Zhu Guangqin was deeply impressed by the teaching exchange experience in Britain. Recently, she proudly told this reporter that before the end of this year, another group of Shanghai math teachers will come to Britain, including colleagues from her own primary school.
(Reporter Lin Weiguang in the UK)