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Description of project

Implementing agencies
UNESCO coordination and guidance through UNESCO Bangkok
National level: National New JIP Joint Co-ordination Group
Provincial level: JIP Project Office County/city level: County/City JIP Leadership Group

Region/country covered
Urban and rural ares of Western China in three provinces/autonomous regions: Gansu, Qianghai, and Ningxia/Guizhou

Duration
2003-2006

Context

As an E-9 country, China has made remarkable progress in achieving EFA goals. By 2001, enrolment rate for primary and lower secondary education had increased to 99% and 88% respectively; nine-year compulsory education had been basically universalized in the regions covering 85% of the population. Upper secondary education is being popularized in eastern developed regions and large-medium cities.

  • Expanded access to basic education (including secondary education)
  • Over-all renewal of curriculum and textbooks for improved education quality
  • Reducing within-country disparity between regions through education development in the under-developed west
  • Continued teacher professional development
  • Popularization of ICT education at over 90% of secondary and primary schools within 5-10 years

China has also experienced highest rate growth in the application of ICTs to national development: the number of Internet users has increased from 3.8 million in 1999 to more than 45 million in July 2002, with increased PC penetration rate and declined access cost. By the end of 2001, over 5,700 school Intranets had been set up and more than 50 million school students receive ICT education annually. The Ministry of Education has been implementing national programmes in IT education, aiming at connecting over 90% of secondary and primary schools to Internet, satellite television network within 5-10 years.

However, major challenges to use of ICT in remain unmet in China. The within-country ‘digital divide’ has been most apparent between the developed east region and the disadvantaged west, which accounts for over 50% of country’s land area but only 3% of its population. Both economically and educationally the western region has remained much under-developed. Out of the 45 million Internet users, small percentage are in the western region, for example: only 0.5% of Internet users are in Gansu province.

Over 90% of teachers lack knowledge and competencies in integrating technology with pedagogy, and yet ICT-related teacher training lacks supportive policy environment and relevant quality training materials. Most of the school-offered courses for IT education are obsolete in content and based on teacher-centered approach.

The use of ICT at schools in poor communities has been a major problem of concern. With limited capacity of most community leaders and much constraint in financial resources, most communities have not been able to be involved in ICT applications to education and community development purposes.

Gansu and two other western provinces successfully implemented a UNESCO-APEID Joint Innovative Project (JIP) over ten years (1985-95) in improving content and method of basic education, involving around 10,000 schools. After 1995, Gansu Provincial Education Bureau and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO have been implementing a new-phase Joint Innovative Project in 200-odd schools in the western region, aiming at bridging digital divide and improving quality of secondary and primary education.

Problems and needs to be addressed
The effective use of ICT for educational development in the disadvantaged western region of China requires favorable supportive policy environment, up-graded skills of teachers and other facilitators, locally relevant approaches to ICT application to education, and school nets for resources sharing.

However, provinces in the western region of China have had major problems in meeting the multi-faceted challenges to educational development by means of modern information-communication technologies:

  • With limited understanding of education potentials of ICTs for educational development, local government officers and community leaders are unable to develop coherent policies for social, financial and technological support to ICT use in education.
  • Most teachers lack necessary competencies in integrating technology into classroom subject teaching, but they have not received training relevant to their roles in changing learning environment, where ICT could be most useful tools while teacher-learner interaction remains central to the teaching-learning processes.
  • There is lack of ICT infrastructure at most rural schools in poor communities. For schools fortunately provided with computers, no financial resources will be provided for the maintenance of computers and the purchasing of necessary softwares.
  • Many IT courses at schools are obsolete in content, with an over-emphasis on basic programming language. Computer skills are acquired as a goal of IT education, rather than tools for active, creative learning.
  • ICT-assisted teaching should aim to facilitate learner-centered approaches and create ‘autonomous learners’, who are enabled to learn to learn with technologies. However, most teachers at schools in disadvantaged west of China have remained content with ‘chalk-talk’ lecturing while most learners are used to rote learning in an examination-driven education system.

Target beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of the project will be the teachers, headmasters and students in the over 300 pilot schools of the project. The project will also indirectly benefit the officers of the local education departments and community leaders by improving their capacities in managing and implementing innovative education projects. Ultimately it is expected that the project will benefit all the schools in China, by disseminating the experiences gained through the project.

Objectives

This project aims at bridging within-country ‘digital divide’ in education between western and eastern regions of China and improving quality of education in disadvantaged communities through capacity building, policy change and model development for effective use of ICTs as powerful tools and education resources.

By the end of the first phase, this project is expected to have improved teaching and learning through the use of ICT in disadvantaged learning environments by :

1. The creation of a conducive policy environment for the introduction of educational changes supported by ICTs;
2. The capacity building of all partners to implement a participatory, learner-centered approach to teaching and learning;
3. The creation of different ICT models for different learning environments;
4. The assessment of changes in teaching and learning and the sharing of results and lessons learnt.


Strategies
The project will be implemented in three distinct phases of three years each. The current proposal covers the first phase (three years) only, which will target 100 secondary/primary schools and a selected few teacher education institutions to lay the foundation for the subsequent phases and expansion. Due considerations will be made in the selection of pilot schools and teacher education institutions to reflect varied local conditions in each of the county/cities taking part in the project.

The main strategies for action are in five activity areas: (i) in-service training for teachers and headmasters; (ii) curriculum renewal; (iii) development of innovative and modern textbooks; (iv) research and evaluation; and (v) networking among JIP schools; and (vi) dissemination of experiences within and outside China. The newly proposed project will pay much attention to “Bridging the Digital Divide”, and search for innovative, practical and feasible (affordable) policies and models that could eventually build the ‘bridge’ needed.

Regular monitoring of day-to-day activities will be carried out at each administrative level by the responsible body, while an overall monitoring and evaluation will be under the responsibility of the National Co-ordination Group.

Expected results

  • ICT in education plans for the two participating provinces approved
  • Locally relevant policy guidelines developed by policy-makers of provincial/national education authorities, on better use of ICTs in education
  • Project schools in three participating provinces identified and equipped
  • ICT awareness of 30 decision makers and administrators of the 2 participating provinces raised, key-players mobilised and trained
    250 Headmasters and principals mobilised, sensitised and trained on ICT applications in education; basic school management software and an ICT in education management guidebook acquired (or adapted/ developed).
  • Teacher training needs assessment
  • Learner-centred approaches facilitated through the use of ICTs by a total of 2000 trained teachers, working in 8 different subject areas in 250 ICT equipped schools.
  • At least 18 exciting and relevant interactive learning materials acquired (or adapted/ developed) for project sites, plus a course on basic ICT skills - the materials are fully integrated in the (new) curriculum
  • Exchange and support networks for teachers work effectively
  • Models for different ICT uses developed, according to different needs and available ICT
  • Parents and community involved in ICT in education project; parts of the facilities used for community development activities
  • Monitoring and evaluation of results system established
  • Documentation and targeted dissemination of the knowledge gained in this project

Activities

Improved teaching and learning through the use of ICT in disadvantaged learning environments by:

  • Mobilize and sustain strong political backup, sensitise and train administrators using advocacy seminars with decision makers
  • Develop and implement an ICT in education plan for each project province
  • Implement a new teacher training and assessment policies reflecting the new requirements
  • Develop an ICT teacher training licence/ certificate
  • Renew curriculum and assessment policies to reflect changes in teaching and learning and the mainstreaming of ICT in basic education
  • Develop and implement an information sharing policy and cooperation framework
  • Form a national team of ICT in education specialists, teacher trainers, subject specialists etc. to advise the national project managers/ decision-makers
  • Develop and use a list of criteria for participating schools, including gender balance
  • Equip participants, ensure free internet access for at least 100 schools.
  • Hold seminar-workshops about the possibilities, limits and important role of ICT for quality education, but also for economic and social reasons
  • Train headmasters on the use of ICT for school management, on how to motivate teachers to participate in this project, to use ICT in teaching when appropriate
  • Ensure that senior managers in schools take an active interest in teachers’ progress
  • Choose teacher trainers carefully (develop criteria), offer them high quality training and support and place high priority on their continuing professional development
  • Train teachers in hands-on workshops in which they teach and experience the use of ICT in subject teaching, and team-project work with colleagues from the same school
  • Give teachers personal and free access to computers for lessons preparations and self-training, including one portable computer per school freely accessible to all teachers for home use.
  • Use or develop materials that are flexible, accessible and have a clear overview of different pathways
  • Develop high quality guidebooks and train participants, including teachers, to analyse existing materials and software regarding their appropriateness and possible use/further development
  • Develop the central schoolnet website and database, assist teachers after their training in the development of their website etc.
  • Set up models of ICT uses for learning and teaching in minority areas, using resources from the local culture to link learning to community development
  • Open use of ICT lab for community, offer training courses (some to gain revenue)
  • Define for every teacher clear personal targets and objectives and systems to ensure that they can measure their progress against the expected outcomes
  • Establish control groups: with teachers trained on learner centred approaches only (without ICT, e.g. DFID), without any training - experiment with different settings
  • Ensure that all publications are available in electronic format on the project-website and in UNESCO’s Regional Clearinghouse