I was invited to present to the undergraduate students at Shanghai Normal University on life as a primary teacher in the UK, current Maths teaching and learning and new approaches to Maths. I presented for about 35 minutes and then took questions for another half an hour. The questions were very intuitive. The students were keen to understand how we could adapt our approach to maths teaching whilst retaining creativity.
They also talked about the BBC documentary which was aired last year – ‘Are our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School’. Apparently this series went viral in China and sparked a lot of debate. The students were very keen for me to take the message back to the UK that a lot of the methods shown were stereotypical and not reflective of usual practise. Given my experiences, I have to agree with this but inevitably it made great TV both in China and in the UK. However, from talking to Shanghainese on the subway etc, the school I visited is extremely highly regarded in Shanghai as a centre of excellence therefore perhaps I was observing exemplary practise which isn’t prevalent elsewhere.
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/08/05/2702s890428.htm
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