Research on the Development of Primary School Students' Key Literacy in Western China

Abstract

With the continuous advancement of global education reform, "key literacy" has become an important indicator to measure the development status and potential of students. To develop students' key literacy in western China, researchers went deep into the actual education situation in western China and collected status data, then summed up outstanding experiences and found challenges and put forward feasible strategies. The research subjects were students from six urban primary schools and four rural primary schools in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. This research adopted questionnaire survey, focus group interviews and individualized interviews. 3025 students were quantitatively investigated by using network-based questionnaire in the early stage. Later, focus group interviews and individualized interviews were conducted to investigate the development of students in all aspects. The quantitative and interview data shows that the development level of primary school students' cultural understanding and inheritance competence, communication competence and cooperation competence in the western region are good, while the critical thinking and innovation competence need to be strengthened. The development level of key literacy of urban school students is generally higher than that of rural school students. The development of rural schools is relatively backward, which is not only reflected in hardware equipment and resources, but also in the literacy level of teachers and students. Finally, some feasible strategies are put forward, such as increasing investment in rural schools and resources; developing urban and rural teaching community; exploring the development path of in-depth integration of information technology and curriculum.