Chinese delegation on research mission at top Cheadle Hulme School

14 Jan 2019 04:01

Chinese teachers observed classroom methods in a top South Manchester school to learn the formula for a successful British education.

Greenbank Preparatory School in Cheadle Hulme was the first stop on a two-week tour of the U.K. for 17 Chinese teachers on a cultural exchange from Yangzhou City.

Jiangsu Province Education Department has organised the exchange programme between teachers in the North-West and Jiangsu Province on the Yangtze River to share best practice world-wide.

Kino Ju, who studied International Education at the university of Manchester and now coordinates the trips with Suman Education International, said: “The Chinese teachers were very impressed with how happy the children and teachers were at Greenbank and how they all enjoyed the work rather than seeing it as a task.”

She added: “There is a very inclusive culture in which teachers and children work together and the parents are very much included too and I think the Chinese teachers enjoyed that special atmosphere.”

Greenbank, which over the last five years has won a serious of national awards for eco friendliness and value for money prop rata outstanding academic results, in turn has been adopting methods developed in China where results are among the very best on the planet to improve their own Maths teaching.

Adam Dyson Greenbank’s Deputy Head and Maths specialist, said: “Maths teaching is evolving all the time and we must look worldwide for the secrets to sustained improvement.

“The Chinese Mathematics curriculum is led by their universities and uses the Mastery principle so that at the same moment children right across the city will most likely be studying exactly the same lesson content.

“This illustrates the principle of ‘Coherence’, demanding the subject be taught step by step so that a student’s knowledge accumulates and builds on strong foundations.”

“The teacher is at the centre of the learning but acting as a conduit, not teaching basic procedures and asking the children to learn by rote but demanding a deeper conceptual understanding.”

As well as top primary and secondary schools, the Chinese teachers are also visiting Edinburgh, The Lake District and Manchester United.

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