On Deviation And Regulation For Prospective Aim Of The Curriculum Reform In Elementary Education

Elementary education reform is always on the top of the agenda in the education reform of every country with the curriculum reform as its core. A survey of the successful elementary and secondary educational reforms at home and abroad has indicated that the curriculum reform is placed in the central position. Therefore, whether the reform will be successful and effective has been the top concern of the people. The history of curriculum reform shows that nearly every reform is given much expectation and hopes. The aim of the reform is to live up to the expectation and hopes. However, it will not always turn out to be what people have expected. And the reform doesn't always produce the effects as we have expected. Curriculum reforms are always accompanied with the deviation from its prospective aims. The deviation will affect the realization of the reform aims themselves as well as the success of the curriculum reform. Some deviations will lead to the total failure of the reform. The study in my dissertation will follow the basic reasoning of problem solution. It will first conduct a survey of the previous curriculum reforms since the founding of New China. And then it analyzes every deviation from the prospective aims. The dissertation tries to interpret theoretically the deviations, their types, and their manifestation in the reality and then comb them systemically. And then it will analyze in detail the reasons for the deviation in terms of aim quality, curriculum reform policies, and the environment for the implementation of the policies, curricula, and the reforms. At last it will put forward some regulation strategies directed at these issues. The dissertation tries to build a complete theoretical framework for the deviation from the prospective aims in the curriculum reforms and the corresponding regulations in the hope that it will, to a certain degree, enrich and perfect the theoretical system of education reforms or curriculum reforms. There is no doubt that the studies are also feasible and practicable. It can be used as a guide for regulating the curriculum reforms in the local districts. It can serve as a valuable reference in the decision -making about education reforms in the education departments.The dissertation falls into seven chapters.Chapter One:it first interprets the curriculum reform and the deviation from the prospective aims. Curriculum reform is a purposeful and planned undertaking. It is a systematic reform on the problems that arise in the contemporary curriculum set-up, and human development in accordance with educational theories and philosophy. To be exact, it is to systematically and continuously improve, perfect and innovate the curriculum arrangement, objectives, contents, implementation, management and evaluation. The deviation from prospective aims in the curriculum reform means that in the implementation of the reform, the real effects don't accord with the prospective aims, even deviate from or go contrary to the prospective aims. Since the founding of New China, eight large-scale curriculum reforms have been carried out in the field of elementary education. The first curriculum reform (1949～1952),the second curriculum reform (1953～1957),the third curriculum reform (1958～1962), the fourth curriculum reform (1963～1965), the fifth curriculum reform (1977～1980), the sixth curriculum reform (1981～1984), the seventh curriculum reform (1985～1998), and the eighth curriculum reform (1999～now). The results of the curriculum reforms show that there often occurs some deviation from the prospective aims of every reform.Chapter Two:it expounds the deviation, its types and manifestations. According to different criteria, the deviation can falls into six types. Overall, the prospective aim deviation can be classified into positive deviation and negative deviation. Curriculum reform encourages and advocates positive deviation, and tries to prevent and avoid negative deviation. The deviation is manifested in the real world as follows:the prospective aims are suspended, replaced, distorted and expanded.Chapter Three:it attempts to analyze the reasons for the deviation in terms of the quality of the aims. At first, the value and quality of prospective aims will affect its deviation. And feasibility of the prospective aims, foreigner of aim-setting theories, the flexibility and tolerance of aim design and the clarity of aim presentation all may affect the deviation.Chapter Four:it probes into the effects of reform policies and their implementation on the deviation from the prospective aims. The benefits, consistence, flexibility of the curriculum reform policies, the authority, values, capabilities of the policy makers, and the implementation of the reform policies may lead to the deviation.Chapter Five:it analyzes the deviation from the perspective of the attitude toward the curriculum implementation. Studies show that the fidelity orientation and casual attitude will easily lead to the negative deviation. The mutual adaptation and enactment orientation may lead to positive deviation. Secondly, the intention and capability of implementers, the heterogeneity of the executing body, the fluidity of the implementation, and multi-level of the process may lead to the deviation.Chapter Six:it tries to analyze the environment for the curriculum reform. The top-down implementation of the reform will easily lead to deviation. The campaign-mode or abrupt change-mode reforms may cause deviation most easily. The passive attitude of the general public, the misleading public opinions and the shift of work of the leading groups may also lead to the deviation.Chapter Seven:it attempts to analyze the reasons for the deviation, and put forward some effective regulating measures to prevent the deviation. The regulations can be carried out in the following ways: determine the clear value orientation in the curriculum reforms, improve the feasibility of the aims, perfect the pre-setting process of the aims, better the quality of aims, strengthen the research on curriculum reform policies, effectively control the deviation of policies, promote the training programs in the reform, improve the efficiency of the implementation, and build a curriculum reform community, and create a favorable environment for the reform.