Foreign Education History (Volume 2) (Revised Edition)

Author: Wang Tianyi, Xia Zilian, Zhu Meiyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1993-12-02
Features: 【Basic Information】(Beijing Normal University) National Key Discipline — History of Education
Historical Development: The history of education has been one of the oldest disciplines in normal universities in China. As early as 1904, when the Qing government issued the modern education system, it was listed as a compulsory course. Until the late 1950s, it remained a foundational course for all majors in the education department. The discipline of the history of education at Beijing Normal University has strong academic strength, with renowned scholars such as Qiu Chun, Qu Junong, Shao Heting, Mao Lirui, and Chen Jingpan teaching there. In the early 1960s, our university's master's program in the history of Chinese education pioneered the recruitment of graduate students, cultivating a generation of experts in the field of education history across the country. The current discipline leader, Professor Wang Bingzhao, a member of the National Academic Degrees Committee's evaluation group for education, also graduated from this graduate program. Professors Wang Tianyi, Xia Zilian, and Wu Shiyin in the history of foreign education are also famous experts nurtured in the early years of the People's Republic of China. In the early 1980s, our university's discipline of the history of Chinese education became one of the first national key disciplines. Both the master's and doctoral programs in the history of Chinese education and the history of foreign education were among the earliest authorized in the country. A single teaching and research office holds two doctoral programs, a rare occurrence nationwide. Professor Yu Qiding, the current director of the Institute of Educational History and Culture, was the first person in China to obtain a Ph.D. in the first-level discipline of education. The master's program in the history of Chinese education began enrolling students in 1979, and the master's program in the history of foreign education in 1980. The doctoral programs in the history of Chinese education and the history of foreign education started enrolling students in 1982 and 1985, respectively. Over the past two decades, our university's discipline of education history has cultivated over 100 doctoral students and hundreds of master's students, including Professor Zhang Binxian, the current president of the School of Education and discipline leader in the history of foreign education.
Research Directions: The discipline of the history of education includes two major research fields: the history of Chinese education and the history of foreign education (before 1996, they were two separate graduate programs). The main research directions for graduate students now include the history of the Chinese education system, the history of Chinese educational thought, the history of the foreign education system, the history of foreign educational thought, and the comparative study of Chinese and foreign education. Additionally, it can be divided into ancient, modern, and contemporary education history research by era; or into early childhood education history, primary school education history, secondary school education history, vocational education history, higher education history, ethnic education history, family education history, adult and social education history, etc., by category; or it can study the history of education in various countries and regions around the world. In short, historical research can be conducted on any field of educational practice or educational science theory. Educational historiography, educational local chronicles, educational source materials and literature, and other fields are unique to the history of education.
Faculty: The Institute of Educational History and Culture at our School of Education, as a specialized academic institution dedicated to teaching and researching the history of education, currently has 8 full-time faculty members, including 1 over 60 years old, 4 aged 46 to 59, and 3 under 45. In addition to these, there are 16 faculty members with backgrounds in the history of education, including 7 doctoral supervisors, 9 professors, 6 associate professors, and 1 lecturer. The age and professional structure of the faculty are well-balanced. The discipline leaders, Professor Wang Bingzhao and Professor Zhang Binxian, serve as members of the national education science planning group for the history of education, and Professors Wang Bingzhao, Zhang Binxian, and Yu Qiding hold leadership positions in the educational history professional committee of the Chinese Educational Society.
Research Projects: Since the launch of the national education research planning project, our discipline has secured research projects at the provincial and ministerial level across four five-year plans. During the "Nineteenth Five-Year Plan" period, 2 national projects and 6 provincial and ministerial projects were approved. The goal of each professor having their own project and others participating in collaborative projects has been largely achieved. Some important projects in the field of education history include:
- "History of Western Universities," led by Zhang Binxian, a national general project.
- "Research on the Construction of Educational Source Materials and the Chinese Educational Thought Database," led by Yu Qiding, a national general project.
- "Historical Study of Western Educational Historiography Theory in the 20th Century," led by Shi Jinghuan, a key project of the Ministry of Education.
- "Historical Study of the Problems of Modernization in Chinese Education," led by Yu Shusheng, a key project of the Ministry of Education.
- "School Education in China and the United States — Education Under Different Cultures," led by Guo Faqi, a humanities and social sciences planning project of the Ministry of Education.
Research Achievements: Our discipline has established a distinctive feature of combining teaching and research while equally developing both Chinese and foreign education history, achieving a series of pioneering and highly influential academic results in the field of education history in China:
- The "History of Ancient Chinese Education" and "History of Modern Chinese Education," written by the older scholars Mao Lirui, Shao Heting, Qu Junong, and Chen Jingpan, were among the earliest systematic textbooks of education history in New China.
- The "History of Foreign Education" by Wang Tianyi, Xia Zilian, and Zhu Meiyu won the first prize of the National Excellent Teaching Material Award.
- The "General History of Chinese Education" (6 volumes), edited by Mao Lirui, is a comprehensive historical work and won the first prize of the inaugural Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award of the Ministry of Education.
- The "General History of Chinese Educational Thought" and "General History of Chinese Educational System" (each 8 volumes), edited by Wang Bingzhao, are the largest-scale works on education history to date, winning the National Book Award and the second prize of the Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award of the Ministry of Education.
- The "Concise History of Chinese Education," written by Wang Bingzhao, is the textbook with the longest usage time and widest scope in China.
- The "Outline of the Comparative History of Chinese and Foreign Education," edited by Wu Shiyin as the volume editor, won the second prize of the National Outstanding Educational Science Achievement Award.
- Professor Yu Qiding's multimedia teaching package for the history of Chinese education was the first to combine traditional teaching content with modern educational technology, winning the first prize of the Beijing Higher Education Achievement Award. Its accompanying textbook, "Concise History of Chinese Education," is currently the most widely printed textbook on education history in China.
- Multimedia online teaching materials for the history of Chinese education, including a database of papers, works, literature, educators, test questions, and an electronic dictionary, have been developed.
Additionally, Wang Bingzhao's "Research on Ancient Private Education and Modern Private Schools in China" won the first prize of the fifth Beijing Philosophy and Social Sciences Achievement Award, while He Xiaoxia and Shi Jinghuan's "Church Schools and Modernization in China," Wu Shiyin's "History of Modern Foreign Education," and Zhang Binxian's "Social Transformation and Social Change — A Study of the Progressive Education Movement in the United States" won the second prize of the fifth and sixth Beijing Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Awards, respectively.
In the new century, our discipline will fully leverage its advantages, keep pace with the times, and actively strive to make greater contributions to the development and reform of the discipline of education history and the cause of education.