Competence for Students’Future - Curriculum Change and Policy Redesign in China

Oct 15, 2026

Purpose focuses on reviewing China’s new national high school curriculum program and standards issued in January 2018 and identifying the key features of curriculum change. Design uses textual analysis grounded in literature and research on curriculum to interpret how the national program and standards changed. Findings show alignment with international core-competency trends, coherent planning across curriculum, textbooks, teaching, and assessment, while highlighting remaining challenges in high-stakes examinations, varied contexts, and implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose

Design/Approach/Methods

Findings

Originality/Value

Keywords

Curriculum change and policy redesign

Core competencies framework

High school curriculum structure and credit requirements

Competence for Students’Future: Curriculum Change and Policy Redesign in China ECNU Review of Education 2019, Vol. 2(2) 234–245 ª The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531119850905](DOI: 10.1177/2096531119850905)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531119850905)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Tao Wang Institute of Curriculum and Instruction & Institute of Belt and Road and Global Development, East China Normal University Abstract Purpose: This article aims to provide a policy review of the new national curriculum program and standards for high school education announced in January 2018 and analyze the key features of curriculum change in China. Design/Approach/Methods: Applying textual analysis, this article interprets the significant changes in the national curriculum program and standards and further discusses these changes based on literature and research on curriculum. Findings: Corresponding to the international trends on core competencies, China takes a further step and designs subject core competencies to narrow the gap between theories, policy, and practice. The new national curriculum highlights the coherent design in curriculum, textbooks, teaching, and assessment. Yet there are still puzzles and challenges in high stakes examination, diverse contexts, and curriculum implementation. Originality/Value: This article might facilitate the understanding of the current high school curriculum in China, especially on its features, changes, contexts, and history. Keywords China, core competencies, curriculum reform, education, policy Date received: 13 October 2018; accepted: 26 April 2019 Corresponding author: Tao Wang, Institute of Curriculum and Instruction and Institute of Belt and Road and Global Development, East China Normal University, 3663 N. Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China. Email: [twang2017@163.com](twang2017@163.com) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Wang 235 | Table 1. Credits and subjects of general high school education in China. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Subjects | Required credits | Required elective credits | Elective credits | | Chinese | 8 | 0–6 | 0–6 | | Mathematics | 8 | 0–6 | 0–6 | | Foreign language | 6 | 0–8 | 0–6 | | Ideology and politics | 6 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | History | 4 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | Geography | 4 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | Physics | 6 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | Chemistry | 4 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | Biology | 4 | 0–6 | 0–4 | | (Information and general) technology | 6 | 0–18 | 0–4 | | Arts (music/fine arts) | 6 | 0–18 | 0–4 | | Physical education and health | 12 | 0–18 | 0–4 | | Comprehensive practical activities | 14 | | | | School-based curriculum | | | 􀀁8 | | Total | 88 | 􀀁42 | 􀀁 14 | Changing the curriculum has been viewed and used as an effective way to change classroom practice and to influence student learning to meet the needs of the ever-changing world (Cai & Ni, 2011) . Curriculum programs and standards in China serve as both professional and administrative guidelines for the design of textbooks and learning materials and for teaching, learning, and assessment. On a rolling basis, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (MOE) revised the national curriculum to meet contemporary and future needs. This article aims to provide a policy review of the new curriculum program and standard

FAQs

What is the article’s main purpose?

The article provides a policy review of China’s new national high school curriculum program and standards announced in January 2018 and analyzes the key features of curriculum change.

What method does the article use?

It applies textual analysis to interpret significant changes in the national curriculum program and standards, discussing them through literature and research on curriculum.

What are the main findings about China’s curriculum reform?

China designs subject core competencies to narrow the gap between theory, policy, and practice, and emphasizes coherent design across curriculum, textbooks, teaching, and assessment while noting puzzles and challenges in examination, context diversity, and implementation.

Oct 15, 2026

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