*What, in your opinion, are the major questions facing the Chinese education system?*

I retain two elements, which came up most often in my interactions with those in charge of the system: firstly a demographic question – the drop in the birth rate today affects primary schools: for example more than forty of them will have to close at the start of the next school year in Shanghai. Then, a question of students’ mental health.

*Mental health, and for what reasons?*

We must be careful in our responses: the reasons for the mental health of young people are to be found in the general state of a society. In addition, it should be noted that we do not have the results of national evaluations, which are considered sensitive data of the system and, in general, inaccessible to foreign researchers. A reasonable hypothesis is to consider the “teach to test” teaching approach, and the general culture of competition that results from it, as conditions generating general stress likely to affect the mental health of students.

*What assessment can we make of this approach of “concentrating teaching to prepare for evaluations”?*

It is of course very effective for everything that involves learning techniques. The organization of the courses is perfectly regulated, from the presentation of a problem to be treated (for example the resolution of an equation) to the appropriate technique, its application in a variety of contexts and its memorization. But any exploratory approach, any speculation is often dismissed as a waste of time. This is certainly a weakness in the current mathematical training of Chinese students, and this is the reason why the current reform recommends “the method of learning through the investigation approach which, based on the programs, consists of understanding situations, building models, finding solutions, making applications and stimulating reflection and generalization” (article by Binyan Xu published in 2023 < https://journals.openedition.org/ri... > ) .

*What is the impact of this teaching on teacher-student relationships?*

The respect of students, in China, for teachers, would undoubtedly make many French teachers dream. I don’t think it’s just about the culture of evaluation, nor about the widespread social control in China. More deeply, it can be linked to the Confucian culture which permeates Chinese culture, and is characterized by the respect of the student for the master. I attended the presentation of a university project to study interactions in the mathematics class. The researcher, to analyze the class videos, distinguished 3 types of interaction: teacher-student, teacher-student-teacher – who concludes the interaction, and teacher-student-teacher – who restarts the interaction. I ask him about the absence of interaction in the sense of student-teacher, or student-student. According to my interlocutor, such interactions in Chinese classes exist very rarely. The teacher always has the initiative, and all interaction is mediated by him. This concept is perfectly consistent with teaching focused on learning techniques. It does not encourage reflection or critical thinking – and therefore should evolve within the framework of the new curriculum.

Confucian philosophy, however, has an advantage if we extend it to relationships with others. My first Chinese student often repeated this Confucian precept to me: “When you walk with two people, always think that you are perhaps walking with two masters”, in other words, we always have to learn from others. I have often seen an illustration of this in problem-solving sessions where, when an approach was proposed by a student, the attention of the whole class, before proposing an alternative approach, was focused on understanding the first approach. proposed.

*It is said that technology is everywhere in Chinese society and nowhere in the classroom, it is true, and, if so, with what consequences?*

Yes, it’s true ! That technology is present everywhere in society – and in schools outside of the classroom, is a fact that appears immediately, in at least two forms: video surveillance – facial recognition at the entrance to educational establishments and public buildings. teaching, video cameras in classes, corridors, and meeting rooms, and the WeChat platform, present on all smartphones, a sort of mix of Whatsapp and Amazon. Students use WeChat extensively to interact with their peers, order and pay online… but not in the classroom. That technology is only present in the classroom in very crude forms is also apparent to any observer. There are certainly screens in the classrooms, but they are mainly used to project the teacher’s slideshows. In mathematics courses, the use of software exists – my last doctoral student made it the subject of her thesis, but remains marginal. The article already cited recognizes this: “In China, this integration of intelligent technologies in mathematics classes is in its infancy. It raises significant challenges for the teaching of mathematics at school and calls for an evolution of practices and research.”

It is also necessary to underline the very controlled use of the Internet, which restricts research procedures. Google is banned – Bing, from Microsoft, is accessible, for the benefit of an engine developed by China, Baidu. Baidu, according to all the users I met, is very inefficient, invaded by advertising. A joke goes around: “If you consult Baidu for a health problem, he will diagnose you with cancer at a final stage of development, and will refer you to a private clinic for immediate surgery which will cost you a lot of money.” I tested it with my students, asking Bing and Baidu the question: “How can we prove the Pythagorean theorem?” ". Bing offered a variety of demonstrations, and Baidu gave a single demonstration, and a variety of historical notices around Pythagoras.

A final typical example of the non-use of technology is school textbooks, the online version of which is limited to downloadable PDF files.

*Precisely, school textbooks. At a time when we are talking about labeling, what about in China?*

We will only know in September the reality of the school textbooks produced within the framework of the new curriculum. The manuals are in fact offered by teams – located in a given region – made up of mathematicians, trainers and researchers in the field of mathematics teaching. A ministerial commission follows the different stages of their design, in a certain opacity – what one team does is ignored by the other. There may be nuances between different versions of a given manual. We can fear a certain closure: for three sensitive disciplines – Chinese, history and civics – there will only be one manual at the national level. And, in 2022, the Ministry of Education had conducted “a comprehensive evaluation of all textbooks used in primary and secondary schools in the country, particularly with regard to their content and illustrations. The evaluation [aimed] to ensure that they adhere to the right policy direction and values, promote traditional Chinese culture, and conform to the public’s aesthetic tastes, and any problems found will be corrected immediately,” according to the press release. Labeling and the obligation of political conformity go hand in hand here.

One might wonder how teachers can “do their lessons” within the framework of such strict instructions. We must keep in mind two characteristics of the Chinese mathematics education system.

The first, teaching through variation – statements, solutions. The teacher must know how to adapt the exercises to his or her educational objectives – there are, in general, fewer exercises in Chinese textbooks than in French textbooks for this reason, the subject of my second doctoral student’s thesis.

And above all, secondly, the collective work of teachers is very developed – subject of my first doctoral student’s thesis: they are given time for this, and premises too. They have a large room, with an office for each of them. “Lesson preparation groups” meet weekly. Each educational establishment thus has a capital of resources produced by common experience. The teaching subject is thus a combination of local resources and national resources – in particular the school textbook. This is what gives this system a strong capacity to deal with unforeseen events (see the example of the pandemic, Trouche 2020 < https://www.cafepedagogique.net/202... > ).

All these questions that we have addressed are widely discussed in the education research teams that I was able to meet in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (Canton).

Luc Trouche

Comments collected by Lilia Ben Hamouda

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