Reconstructing a School Chemistry Curriculum in the Era of Core Competencies: A Case from China

In China, the latest version of the Senior High School Chemistry Curriculum (SHSCC) has been developed in response to social changes. This paper provides an account of the process and the product of the official document of this curriculum, The Chemistry Curriculum Standards of Senior High School, with the purpose of exploring the way that this new chemistry curriculum has been reconstructed in the era of core competencies. A rationale has been derived from the literature, suggesting five aspects of curriculum analysis: (1) social context, (2) sources, (3) curriculum goals, (4) structure and content, and (5) teaching objectives. Guided by this rationale, the accounting of the 2018 SHSCC proceeds with the analysis of various types of curriculum documents, which fall into four categories: (1) the 2017 curriculum standards, (2) related national education visions and curriculum policies, (3) illustrations of the new SHSCC provided by the curriculum designers, and (4) discussions concerning science and chemistry curricula within or beyond the chemistry-education community in China. On the basis of the analysis, three issues relevant to science- and chemistry-curriculum development are discussed: (1) the curriculum idea and discourses in the view of core competence, (2) the construction of the subject matter of chemistry, and (3) the globalization and localization of chemistry curricula.