International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
INTRODUCTION
As a kind of value tropisms in world ethnic education development multicultural education began in the
1960s in the western countries. The multicultural education shaped during the period from the beginning of 20 th
century to 1980s, in which it developed in the direction of sequence and conventionality, and the importance was
attached to the theories and practices of multicultural education as its value was presented gradually in the
political and economic areas all over the world; and it progressed towards the institutional development 1980s
later and extended deeply towards all fields in society as its researches advanced further as a result of its
implemental and numeral value were embodied to some extent. The multicultural education refers to a process
of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other
forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic,
religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers represent.
Multicultural education permeates the curriculum and instructional strategies used in schools, as well as the
interactions among teachers, students, and parents, and the very way that schools conceptualize the nature of
teaching and learning. Because it uses critical pedagogy as its underlying philosophy and focuses on knowledge,
reflection, and action (praxis) as the basis for social change, multicultural education promotes the democratic
principles of social justice(Nieto,1996). Today, multicultural education is a progressive approach for
transforming education that holistically critiques and responds to discriminatory policies and practices in
education. It is grounded in ideals of social justice, education equity, critical pedagogy, and a dedication to
providing educational experiences in which all students reach their full potentials as learners and as socially
aware and active beings, locally, nationally, and globally..Even it was merely concerned with a certain esteem
towards the culture of minority, and it wanted to actualize the equality of the basic rights of human beings.
Multicultural education has evolved both in theory and in practice, and formed in a broad international
movement influenced world education development. It is one of the focuses with public concern in today’s
international education, which is a strong thought, and also a profound practice innovation. With the
development of globalization, the internationalization and popularization of education brings about cultural
diversity in the world today, which significantly enhances the development of multicultural education in various
countries. China is a multi-ethnic country, with a rich and varied culture. The rise and development of
multicultural education has provided new perspectives in researching on ethnic education of China. Multicultural
education in China has been a special model in worldwide multicultural education. Under the guidance of
Marxism ethnic theory and on the base of history and reality of multi-in-union social structure in the Chinese
nation, historical development, character, policy, curriculum and practical effect of multicultural education are
the main contents of constructing and perfecting multicultural education model with Chinese characteristics.
The purpose of the present review is to summarize the fulfillments of multicultural education, to show
problems in multicultural education in primary and middle schools of China, and to suggest some possible ways
of solving these problems in order to improve multicultural education and the whole education equality and
quality of elementary and middle school education in China.
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION SITUATIONS OF PRIMARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN
CHINA
Multicultural education becomes more and more important in the 21 st century as globalization speeds up. It is
a trend to insist on the diversified development of the ethnic group’s education in multi-ethnic countries. As a
multi-ethnic country, China’s ethnic groups have their distinguishing cultures and traditions. In the long-term
historical development process, the frequent migration of minority nationalities, gradually formed a “big mixed,
small settlement” ethnic residential characteristics, showed a “pattern of diversity in unity of social”: diversity or
multiple refers to the various ethnic minority culture; integration, refers to the Han nationality as the main body
of ethnic culture of the Chinese nationWang et al., 2007. Accordingly, in the aspect of education, China’s
education came into being “education pattern of diversity in unity of the Chinese nation”. Historically, the
harmonious development of culture not only maintains the mainstream culture education, and also keeps the
development of multicultural education, namely all the minority nationalities have their own education form and
education system. This is the foundation for multicultural education in China.
Based on the literature statistic method, the present authors find that since 1990 China started to introduce
some information on western multicultural education and to publish papers on it. More papers have been
published since 2008(Fig.1), suggesting that the multicultural education research has been enhanced in recent
years in China. Chinese scholars have made efforts to study multicultural education, such as the comparison of
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