As we all know, China's primary education has a syllabus and fixed textbooks, and the examination also requires "not to exceed the contents of the syllabus and textbooks". In addition, primary school teachers in China are subject-oriented and highly professional. Teaching mathematics is teaching mathematics, and teaching Chinese is teaching Chinese. Especially in urban primary schools with strong teachers, it is rare that "mathematics is taught by physical education teachers".
In other words, primary schools in Britain do not emphasize standardized teaching, nor do they think that specialized courses need strong professionalism; In contrast, they pay more attention to "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude". Unlike China, primary school students in Britain have fixed classrooms but no fixed seats. Many times, classes are held in groups, and teachers will group students according to their level in the course.
Through this comparison, we can find that the advantage of "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" in Britain is exactly what China lacks; But at the same time, there is no syllabus and teaching materials, and the "general teacher" method has high requirements for teachers. As you can imagine, under the system of China, the professional level of primary school teachers is higher, coupled with a more standardized teaching system, China children will have a firmer grasp of basic knowledge, and the difference in teaching quality caused by teachers' level will also be narrowed.
The difference between individual/group teaching and group cooperation
In China's class, all the desks are facing the platform, and the teacher speaks on it alone. The following students can only interact with the teacher at the request of the teacher (for example, raise your hand to answer questions), and there is no interaction between the students. So we adopt individual/group teaching. In the BBC documentary, we can see Chinese teachers teaching in Britain in this typical "indoctrination" way.
This is very different in Britain. In the BBC documentary, we also saw several students sitting around a big table when they asked their former math teacher. This is the main teaching method in British schools-group cooperation. In class, teachers are not always the protagonists, they will leave a lot of time for students to discuss and absorb. Compared with the teaching method in China, this teaching method in Britain is more enlightening.
From the efficiency point of view, China's individual/collective teaching method can "instill" a lot of knowledge into students in a short time, and it is definitely better than Britain in terms of knowledge; However, the advantage of Britain lies in that through this "enlightening" discussion, students can not only master knowledge, but also exercise their thinking and cultivate their ability of autonomous learning. With the improvement of grade, China students may have a better grasp of basic knowledge than British students, but British students' autonomous learning ability and thinking ability will be stronger.
In addition to the teaching results, these two teaching methods also lead to differences in the spirit of cooperation, which I actually think needs more attention. In China's classroom, students are not allowed to interact, let alone cooperate; British teaching methods clearly emphasize group discussion and cooperation. Therefore, judging from the results, it will lead to the lack of cooperation spirit among children in China.
Differences in psychological care for students
British schools pay great attention to students' psychology, which permeates the whole education system. China's traditional education does not emphasize the concern about students' psychology and the relationship between students, while Britain seems to pay too much attention to it. Some British media criticized the over-protection of children's psychology, which would make these children unable to bear the cruel society of going out of campus; The children from China schools are either psychologically strong enough or have suppressed more serious psychological problems, which have not been alleviated. The entry of such children into society is a great potential risk for themselves and society.
Different understandings of "respect" and "rules"
There is a conflict in the BBC documentary: Teacher China, who teaches science, thinks that British students are very disobedient to classroom discipline, which is a great disrespect for teachers! Once in class, the teacher couldn't bear to say to the students, "The reason why your grades are not as good as those of China students is because you don't obey the discipline ..." This sentence angered a girl at that time: "Say to our face that we are not as good as those of China students? You are so rude! Too disrespectful to others! "
This conflict fragment actually reflects the different understanding of "respect" between Chinese and western cultures. In China, "respect" is related to the object, which depends on the "authority" of the object, or it can be called "respect of authority"-I respect you as a teacher and I respect you more as a principal, but I don't need to respect you as a cleaner or a waiter, and I don't need to respect you as a student. The British understanding of "respect" is the basic requirement for the subject, which has nothing to do with the object, and it can also be called "bottom line respect"-everyone should respect others, and everyone should at least be respected, which is the requirement for all members of society, and has nothing to do with the degree of "authority".