Do you have the impression that a class should be about 40 minutes?
For a long time, it seems to have been a common practice
Each lesson lasts 40 minutes in primary school and 45 minutes in secondary school.
In the future, this convention may be broken.
Flexible offering of long and short courses, large and small classes
A few days ago, the competent departments of education in many places issued guidance on the construction of compulsory education school curriculum, making it clear that schools should give full play to the autonomy of curriculum setting and management, handle the relationship between standardized implementation and personality development, and make full use of the national plan and provincial implementation measures to leave school scheduling space under the condition of ensuring that the total duration of the weekly course remains unchanged, independently determine the number of weekly class hours for each subject, independently determine the specific duration of each class, and flexibly open long and short courses, large and small classes.
Chongqing
At Chongqing Xiejiawan School, the bell is not audible – there is no bell for class, there is no unified time for class and dismissal, and there is no unified recess exercise for the whole school.
According to the characteristics of different disciplines and course types, and the physical and mental development characteristics of students at different ages, the school adopts the form of "long and short courses, interdiscursiveness, and class system" to continuously optimize the implementation of the curriculum.
In this "one class, one lesson schedule" school,Short lessons of 15 or 30 minutes, regular lessons of 40 minutes, and long lessons of 60 or 90 minutes are available to suit different subjects.
Zhejiang
Hangzhou Chongwen Education Group initially began to explore the way of long and short classes in physical education classesIn addition to the 35-minute regular physical education class, there are also 70-minute long classes, which are mainly used for swimming lessons and project-based walking classes such as basketball and football. Since then, the method of long and short courses has been applied to other courses.
In Ningbo's Yinzhou district, schools are encouraged to cut and stitch class time, so that form serves content. Such as Oak Society Elementary SchoolThe 15-minute "Growth Micro Classroom" aims to cultivate children's Xi habits, XiXi learning habits and collective cooperation through game educationThe half-day Oak Discovery Course encourages students to conduct research and exploration around a theme. What children learn from this is no longer a single subject knowledge, but a comprehensive ability to collect information, process information, and communicate in the face of real situations.
The result?
After the emergence of a class schedule that breaks the regular class schedule, one link pushes another, and a series of chain reactions occur one after another.
One of the most direct effects is that after a period of running-in, schools without bells have become more orderly.
Some primary and secondary schools have problems such as noisy recess, safety accidents caused by student collisions, and congestion caused by centralized toilets, as well as empty playgrounds in the first and second classes in the morning, too many classes in the playground of three or four classes, and insufficient activity venues, which are almost non-existent in our school. ”
Respondents said that after the implementation of long and short class hours, the "bell" is in the hands of teachers and students, and students are free to go to the bathroom, drink water or rest according to their needs, and can also agree with teachers on the time and method of recess. Some of the problems of campus management have been solved, not only the safety accidents of the 10-minute recess have been reduced by more than 90%, the utilization rate of playgrounds, special classrooms and other places has also been greatly improved, and the outdoor activity time of students has also been fully guaranteed.
In addition, the implementation of long and short courses has "forced" the changes in teachers' teaching behavior and the improvement of teaching and research awareness, and has also continuously updated the learning Xi, student and curriculum views that have lasted for many years on campus, giving birth to the school's curriculum innovation awareness.
Can it be rolled out nationwide?
At present, if we want to implement the reform of long and short courses in more ordinary primary and secondary schools, it is indeed as many respondents said: there are many difficulties, obstacles and long roads.
It is difficult to change the inherent thinking of some school administratorsI think that the "40-minute unified class" in the past is more convenient to manage, and I don't want to reform.
The traditional curriculum education concept is to pursue efficiency, control to the orientation, and the time rhythm is relatively regular, which simplifies the curriculum arrangement and facilitates the teaching management. Zhao Shihui, director of the Curriculum Teaching Research Center of Tianjin Institute of Educational Sciences, said, "Once the long and short courses are implemented, it means that many other aspects of the reform will be carried out in the whole body." ”
Some schools have been forced to give up the reform due to problems such as multi-school operation and shortage of professional classrooms, which have led to difficulties in the implementation of long and short courses.
Defeated by reality. The principal of a primary school in Beijing reluctantly told reporters that due to the increase in the enrollment population in the area, the school had to change some professional classrooms to teaching classes, coupled with multiple schools, some teachers need to teach in different campuses, and the scheduling is too difficult and complicated, resulting in "three professional scheduling companies have given up", and finally, the school has adhered to the reform of long and short courses for more than two years ended last year, and the whole school returned to the 40-minute class system.
The requirements for teachers' ability to understand textbooks and teaching design have been greatly improved, which some schools cannot meet the requirements.
What content is suitable for short lessons, which content is suitable for long lessons, how to take it, and what effect should be achieved?It all needs to be redesigned by the teacher. This poses a great challenge to some teachers who are familiar with the old routines and methods.
In addition, the adjustment of curriculum type also poses a challenge to the professional knowledge of teachers, and a single knowledge background can no longer meet the needs of classroom effect, so compound teachers can adapt to the new classroom.
Most of the current school evaluation systems, such as teacher lesson demonstrations and awards, are still based on a unified 40-minute class. If the evaluation "baton" is not turned, it is difficult to support the enthusiasm of teachers for reform and innovation for a long time.
On the one hand, it encourages the exploration of long and short courses, large and small courses, and on the other hand, there are rigid regulations on the number and duration of courses during various inspections and evaluations. Some school leaders suggested that not only should we issue opinions to encourage reform, but also make corresponding adjustments in the assessment of curriculum settings, and encourage a group of schools to take the lead in experimenting, so that schools can have greater freedom and enthusiasm in time setting, so as to improve the quality of classrooms and cultivate students' core literacy in a more targeted manner.
The most difficult stage of the change process is often the time when there is the most room for exploration. ”Liu Jian, Dean of the China Institute of Education Innovation, Beijing Normal UniversityHe believes that reform means more self-challenge, and while calling for corresponding support, the school management team should also ask themselves a few more "whys":
Do you want to follow the existing model behind others?Is it because of the impulse of reform?Or do you look forward to exploring 'what is better education', co-constructing school curricula with teachers and students, and then changing the way learning is Xi, teaching and research, and the way teachers work?Only by forming a consensus within the school and creating a good micro-environment for campus reform can we take an important first step. ”
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