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A BBC documentary series Are OurKids Tough Enoughl Chinese School wasviewed in the UK earlier this year. In thedocumentary， five Chinese teachers tookover a British classroom with 50 teenagersaged 13 and 14 in a state school in thecounty of Hampshire for one month. TheChinese teachers taught the British studentsin a typical traditional Chinese way from 7am t0 7 pm.
Background
The British students took maths，science and Mandarin subjects. After 4weeks they took an exam and independentresearchers compared the results withanother group of 13 t0 14 year old studentsat the same school.
The results surprised both the Chineseteachers and the British headmaster！Despite the Chinese teachers havingserious classroom management problems，the average results of the students in theChinese teachers' classes was higher.
I taught English to Chinese learnersfor 15 years and I too had classroommanagement problems. Seeing the Britishstudents reacting in the same way as myChinese learners reacted in my classroomsmade me think about what it was thatcreated the student behavior. The othersimilarity was that the Chinese learners inmy classes also averaged better results thanin their Chinese teachers' classes.
I am going to discuss the following， toattempt to see why this might happen：
i） British and Chinese learners，similarities and differences
ii） British and Chinese teachers，similarities and differences
iii） Implicit and explicit message of thedocumentary
iv） Discussion on the comparison ofBritish vs Chinese teaching style
Learners
Chinese learners are hard working，well behaved and very competitive. Theyhave no time to enjoy themselves becausethey are always at school or studying.
British learners are lazy， badlybehaved and are not competitive. They don'thave to work hard because they are giveneverything.
（quotes from the Chinese teachersduring the documentary）
The attitude to the struggle in the act of learning for the Chinese students is basedon effort. And '...self-determination' orwill power is the driving force of efforts ...human perfectibility， leanung， rationality，effort and will power are all Confuciantraditions which are closely interrelated thatthey can be inseparable ..' （Lee Wing On1999）. The Chinese students struggle withthemselves and are only interested in theirown ability improving through their owneffort.
Conversely British students are putinto small ability groups where they areencouraged to work out answers in a group.The effort or struggle to understand isshared. Co-operative learning is valued.Two heads are better than one. Chinese students respect their teacherswithout question， they understand the roleof the teacher is to impart knowledge andtheir own role is to understand it.
British students only respect theirteachers if they eam their respect. They seethe role of the teacher as teaching them inthe way that they learn and their own roleis to understand the knowledge in their ownparticular way.
Teachers
Stereotyping learners is not helpful andneither does it matter whether you believethem or not. What matters is what theteacher believes about themselves and howthey behave when they teach their students.And this is something that is not oftenresearched. The 'self-fulfilling prophesy'of believing in what you are told aboutyourself cannot be underestimated.
Chinese teachers enjoy high status inthe conununity and a strong comnutmenton their part to teaching. They believe thatALL their students can do wellif they put inthe effort. The teachers in this documentarybelieved that all their students could get A orA* IF they put the effort in. They see theirrole as passing on their knowledge and theydo so in one way only， whilst the studentsbusily take notes. But they expect 100%commitment and good behaviour.
In contrast British teachers probablydo not have the same high status in society，although their commitment to teaching is the same. A major difference is that they believethat students learn in different ways and soneed to be taught in different ways， this ismore time consuming. They do not oftenexpect 100% comnutment and probably feelit is their role to encourage the students tolearn. They too expect good behaviour.
Implicit and explicit messagefrom the documentary
The British Headmaster of the schoolagreed for his students to take part in theresearch project because he believed thatChinese students are the future competitionin the global market for his students.He acknowledged that something washapperung in the Chinese education systemand he wanted to identify what it was andsee if it could be transferred back into theclassroom in the UK. He also admitted thathe would hate to find out that the Chineseway was the best way to learn， as hebelieved in child-centred learning.
The underlying explicit messagethroughout the documentary was that thisexperiment would fail because the Chinesemethodology was not child-centred，it wastransmitting knowledge and the currentBritish approach to teaching and leanungfocuses on learning styles and ability， ratherthan solely onindividual effort. The senior management （SMT） in theBritish school was absolutely convincedthat the Chinese methodology would fail.All they could see were much stressedChinese teachers having serious classroommanagement problems with behavior inthe classrooms and outside. The SMT hadto visit the classrooms and speak to thestudents about behavior more than once.The Chinese teachers were asking theirBritish counterparts for advice on classroommanagement.
The implicit message was that ifstudents are not engaged， and this was theteacher's role， that they would not learn.There did not seem to be any stress on the student's role in the process.
Discussion on the comparison ofBritish vs Chinese teaching style
'Strong will succeed， struggling isa sign of strength rather than weakness'（Confucius）
At the beginning of the experiment theMandarin teacher used Confucius quotes totry to help the British students understandtheir role in the learning process. That itwould be through their efforts that theywould succeed but it would not easy.
All the Chinese teachers clearly sawtheir role as deliverers of knowledge.Their classes were teacher-fronted， theystood at the front and lectured. Their stresscame from having to deal with disengagedstudents who expected to take an active partin the learning process not a passive， note-taking one.
The Chinese Science and Math teachersin particular were 'deliverers'， to the extentthat the Science teacher did not even domany practical experiments， she describedthem and the students took notes. She saidshe 'delivers the knowledge and writes onthe board ... everything is done in books andpapers and notetaking'. She can deliver herlessons very quickly in a structured mannerBUT in order for this to work the studentsmust pay complete attention. By contrastthe British Science teacher did not explain，she allowed the students to make errors anddiscover for themselves how to find outanswers. This not only takes longer to dobut also leads the students up blind alleys.
A Chinese teacher reflects on thedifferences between the two systems. InChina teenagers spend most of their timeand effort on study，if they are not at schoolthey go to extra classes， they seldom havetime for their hobbies， their life is mostlyschool life， and in China a teacher just hasto give a 'look' to a student to make thembehave. In the UK students are used toquestioning the teacher and they challengetheir teachers in many ways. They do notaccept what the teacher says. Chineseteachers take problems with classroommanagement as a personal disappointmentthat they cannot manage the students. Theyare disappointed in themselves that theycannot handle the students. They don't wantto fail as it would be a failure for China. An added twist to the experimentwas the fact that PE is part of the Chineseexamination system and this too wasincluded. The British PE teachers say that inthe UK PE is considered as an opportunityto let off steam and have some fun. Thereare only 2 hours of compulsory PE/week.The students have a fitness test and put intoan ability set. Students do not like to failso they compete against others of a similarability.
Chinese schools have had PE as acompulsory subject since the 1990's asthere was a realization that too much focuson study made health problems for thestudents. Students have to pass PE in orderto get to a good high school and then onto agood university. It is part of the 'zhongkao'（high school） and then 'gaokao' （university）entrance exams where the students aretimed， tested and ranked against each other.
The British PE teacher talks to aboy who does badly in PE but excels inacademic subjects and helps him understandthat others will feel the same way in mathsand science. That what's important is thathe finished and he should 'hold his head upa high and be proud of himself' for doinghis best. The British attitude is encouragingstudents to compete against themselves anddo their best， but when they are competingagainst others of higher ability the pressurebuilds and it becomes stressful andupsetting.
Conclusion
When the exam results are shared andboth the Chinese and British teachers aresurprised， the morning student speech rings true .
'... revise or not revise - revise andif you find it hard then ask a teacher forhelp， if you fail it is your fault and not theteachers. If you don't revise， you are lazyand you will fail...'
The Chinese teachers acknowledgethat in China the focus on the individual isnot encouraged， everyone does everythingfor their country. The British Headmasteracknowledges that despite the large class size， transmission methodology and the verylong day of school the results have beenimpressive and so the British education system can leam from it.
From my own experience I can seewhy both the Chinese teachers working inthe UK and myself working with Chineselearners had classroom managementproblems. The students in both cases did nothave their expectations of what the teacher'srole fulfilled！ The British students expectedthe Chinese teachers to use a combination ofactivities to teach them， whilst my Chinesestudents were disruptive because I did usea combination of activities. Strangely， theoutcomes in both cases were the same， theChinese teachers and I succeeded abovethe norm because we both did what thelearners did not expect and perhaps it wasexactly that which made an impact on thelearning ！
Background
The British students took maths，science and Mandarin subjects. After 4weeks they took an exam and independentresearchers compared the results withanother group of 13 t0 14 year old studentsat the same school.
The results surprised both the Chineseteachers and the British headmaster！Despite the Chinese teachers havingserious classroom management problems，the average results of the students in theChinese teachers' classes was higher.
I taught English to Chinese learnersfor 15 years and I too had classroommanagement problems. Seeing the Britishstudents reacting in the same way as myChinese learners reacted in my classroomsmade me think about what it was thatcreated the student behavior. The othersimilarity was that the Chinese learners inmy classes also averaged better results thanin their Chinese teachers' classes.
I am going to discuss the following， toattempt to see why this might happen：
i） British and Chinese learners，similarities and differences
ii） British and Chinese teachers，similarities and differences
iii） Implicit and explicit message of thedocumentary
iv） Discussion on the comparison ofBritish vs Chinese teaching style
Learners
Chinese learners are hard working，well behaved and very competitive. Theyhave no time to enjoy themselves becausethey are always at school or studying.
British learners are lazy， badlybehaved and are not competitive. They don'thave to work hard because they are giveneverything.
（quotes from the Chinese teachersduring the documentary）
The attitude to the struggle in the act of learning for the Chinese students is basedon effort. And '...self-determination' orwill power is the driving force of efforts ...human perfectibility， leanung， rationality，effort and will power are all Confuciantraditions which are closely interrelated thatthey can be inseparable ..' （Lee Wing On1999）. The Chinese students struggle withthemselves and are only interested in theirown ability improving through their owneffort.
Conversely British students are putinto small ability groups where they areencouraged to work out answers in a group.The effort or struggle to understand isshared. Co-operative learning is valued.Two heads are better than one. Chinese students respect their teacherswithout question， they understand the roleof the teacher is to impart knowledge andtheir own role is to understand it.
British students only respect theirteachers if they eam their respect. They seethe role of the teacher as teaching them inthe way that they learn and their own roleis to understand the knowledge in their ownparticular way.
Teachers
Stereotyping learners is not helpful andneither does it matter whether you believethem or not. What matters is what theteacher believes about themselves and howthey behave when they teach their students.And this is something that is not oftenresearched. The 'self-fulfilling prophesy'of believing in what you are told aboutyourself cannot be underestimated.
Chinese teachers enjoy high status inthe conununity and a strong comnutmenton their part to teaching. They believe thatALL their students can do wellif they put inthe effort. The teachers in this documentarybelieved that all their students could get A orA* IF they put the effort in. They see theirrole as passing on their knowledge and theydo so in one way only， whilst the studentsbusily take notes. But they expect 100%commitment and good behaviour.
In contrast British teachers probablydo not have the same high status in society，although their commitment to teaching is the same. A major difference is that they believethat students learn in different ways and soneed to be taught in different ways， this ismore time consuming. They do not oftenexpect 100% comnutment and probably feelit is their role to encourage the students tolearn. They too expect good behaviour.
Implicit and explicit messagefrom the documentary
The British Headmaster of the schoolagreed for his students to take part in theresearch project because he believed thatChinese students are the future competitionin the global market for his students.He acknowledged that something washapperung in the Chinese education systemand he wanted to identify what it was andsee if it could be transferred back into theclassroom in the UK. He also admitted thathe would hate to find out that the Chineseway was the best way to learn， as hebelieved in child-centred learning.
The underlying explicit messagethroughout the documentary was that thisexperiment would fail because the Chinesemethodology was not child-centred，it wastransmitting knowledge and the currentBritish approach to teaching and leanungfocuses on learning styles and ability， ratherthan solely onindividual effort. The senior management （SMT） in theBritish school was absolutely convincedthat the Chinese methodology would fail.All they could see were much stressedChinese teachers having serious classroommanagement problems with behavior inthe classrooms and outside. The SMT hadto visit the classrooms and speak to thestudents about behavior more than once.The Chinese teachers were asking theirBritish counterparts for advice on classroommanagement.
The implicit message was that ifstudents are not engaged， and this was theteacher's role， that they would not learn.There did not seem to be any stress on the student's role in the process.
Discussion on the comparison ofBritish vs Chinese teaching style
'Strong will succeed， struggling isa sign of strength rather than weakness'（Confucius）
At the beginning of the experiment theMandarin teacher used Confucius quotes totry to help the British students understandtheir role in the learning process. That itwould be through their efforts that theywould succeed but it would not easy.
All the Chinese teachers clearly sawtheir role as deliverers of knowledge.Their classes were teacher-fronted， theystood at the front and lectured. Their stresscame from having to deal with disengagedstudents who expected to take an active partin the learning process not a passive， note-taking one.
The Chinese Science and Math teachersin particular were 'deliverers'， to the extentthat the Science teacher did not even domany practical experiments， she describedthem and the students took notes. She saidshe 'delivers the knowledge and writes onthe board ... everything is done in books andpapers and notetaking'. She can deliver herlessons very quickly in a structured mannerBUT in order for this to work the studentsmust pay complete attention. By contrastthe British Science teacher did not explain，she allowed the students to make errors anddiscover for themselves how to find outanswers. This not only takes longer to dobut also leads the students up blind alleys.
A Chinese teacher reflects on thedifferences between the two systems. InChina teenagers spend most of their timeand effort on study，if they are not at schoolthey go to extra classes， they seldom havetime for their hobbies， their life is mostlyschool life， and in China a teacher just hasto give a 'look' to a student to make thembehave. In the UK students are used toquestioning the teacher and they challengetheir teachers in many ways. They do notaccept what the teacher says. Chineseteachers take problems with classroommanagement as a personal disappointmentthat they cannot manage the students. Theyare disappointed in themselves that theycannot handle the students. They don't wantto fail as it would be a failure for China. An added twist to the experimentwas the fact that PE is part of the Chineseexamination system and this too wasincluded. The British PE teachers say that inthe UK PE is considered as an opportunityto let off steam and have some fun. Thereare only 2 hours of compulsory PE/week.The students have a fitness test and put intoan ability set. Students do not like to failso they compete against others of a similarability.
Chinese schools have had PE as acompulsory subject since the 1990's asthere was a realization that too much focuson study made health problems for thestudents. Students have to pass PE in orderto get to a good high school and then onto agood university. It is part of the 'zhongkao'（high school） and then 'gaokao' （university）entrance exams where the students aretimed， tested and ranked against each other.
The British PE teacher talks to aboy who does badly in PE but excels inacademic subjects and helps him understandthat others will feel the same way in mathsand science. That what's important is thathe finished and he should 'hold his head upa high and be proud of himself' for doinghis best. The British attitude is encouragingstudents to compete against themselves anddo their best， but when they are competingagainst others of higher ability the pressurebuilds and it becomes stressful andupsetting.
Conclusion
When the exam results are shared andboth the Chinese and British teachers aresurprised， the morning student speech rings true .
'... revise or not revise - revise andif you find it hard then ask a teacher forhelp， if you fail it is your fault and not theteachers. If you don't revise， you are lazyand you will fail...'
The Chinese teachers acknowledgethat in China the focus on the individual isnot encouraged， everyone does everythingfor their country. The British Headmasteracknowledges that despite the large class size， transmission methodology and the verylong day of school the results have beenimpressive and so the British education system can leam from it.
From my own experience I can seewhy both the Chinese teachers working inthe UK and myself working with Chineselearners had classroom managementproblems. The students in both cases did nothave their expectations of what the teacher'srole fulfilled！ The British students expectedthe Chinese teachers to use a combination ofactivities to teach them， whilst my Chinesestudents were disruptive because I did usea combination of activities. Strangely， theoutcomes in both cases were the same， theChinese teachers and I succeeded abovethe norm because we both did what thelearners did not expect and perhaps it wasexactly that which made an impact on thelearning ！