Journal of East China Normal University(Educationa ›› 2025, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 21-37.doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2025.06.002

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The Construction of the Theoretical System for Chinese Pedagogy

Dong Li1,2   

  1. 1. Institute of Schooling Reform and Development, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
    2. Department of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
  • Online:2025-06-01 Published:2025-05-19

Abstract:

The construction of the theoretical system for Chinese pedagogy represents a creative transformation of the practical experiences of educational reform in China, an innovative development of the excellent traditional educational culture of China, and a pioneering exploration of the future trends of education in China. As an empirical-rational cognitive schema, the theoretical system of Chinese pedagogy is perpetually caught in the tension between transplantation and local innovation, seeking common ground while preserving differences, between external norms and internal laws, pursuing truth and knowledge, and between universal aspirations and cultural conventions, striving for practicality and utility. Based on principles that activate spiritual motivation through national and temporal characteristics, highlight disciplinary traits through academic and ideological qualities, and hone practical character through realism and transcendence, it is essential to continuously address the questions of “what”, “why”, and “how” regarding the theoretical system of Chinese pedagogy. The construction elements of the Chinese pedagogical theoretical system include the disciplinary context rooted in problem areas, the disciplinary cornerstone based on a family of concepts, the disciplinary coordinates defined by core categories, the disciplinary assertions formed by propositional structures, the disciplinary perspective shaped by logical reasoning, the disciplinary expression articulated through discourse systems, and the disciplinary traits guided by methodological consciousness. Exploring the construction path of the Chinese pedagogical theoretical system requires releasing the theoretical imagination of Chinese pedagogy through field narratives in a return to experience, providing substantive answers to major global educational issues through interactive structuring, and advancing towards a flourishing world pedagogy through the synthesis of Chinese and Western thought and a hundred schools of thought contending.

Key words: Chinese pedagogy, theoretical system, disciplinary development, knowledge production, methodological consciousness