The following discussions are according to The Basic Education Curriculum Reform Outline (Ministry of Education, 2001) [1], and the 2016 OECD report mentioned previously.
- Primary education
The primary school curriculum should consist of courses that encourage all-around development of individual learners. This document suggests that schools offer courses like morality and life, Chinese, mathematics, physical education and art to primary students in lower grades. Morality and society, Chinese, mathematics, science, foreign language, comprehensive practical activity, physical education and art should be offered to primary students in higher grades.
- Junior secondary education
The curriculum for junior secondary students mainly includes morality, Chinese, mathematics, foreign language, science (or physics, chemistry and biology), history and society (or history and geography), physical education and health, art and comprehensive practical activity. Schools are encouraged to choose comprehensive courses, and to offer optional courses as well. The government emphasizes that Chinese, art and painting courses in compulsory education should attach more importance to Chinese character (script) writing.
- Senior secondary education
When it comes to senior secondary school, the government suggests that schools offer various elective subjects in addition to the compulsory subjects. The requirements in elective subjects should be different from the requirements in compulsory subjects. Throughout primary and secondary education, the comprehensive practical subject is emphasized as a compulsory subject. The subject covers information technology, research study, community service, social survey, and labor and technology for primary and junior secondary school students. It covers research study, community service and social practice for senior secondary students. The comprehensive practical subject aims at improving students’ creativity and research capability, as well as helping students develop a sense of social responsibility through practical experiences.
[1] http://old.moe.gov.cn//publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_309/200412/4672.html