More than two million Chinese viewers watched as Danish and Chinese teachers, well-being experts, parents, and students discussed well-being and the right to be imperfect.

Culture, education system and traditions are different, and yet many children and young people in China and Denmark have a lot in common. An increasing pressure to perform, social media, own expectations and an an immeasurably fast pace, affects the well-being of young people and causes stress and loneliness.

In a six-hour online dialogue forum held on November 18., 2022, Danish and Chinese well-being experts, teachers, parents and students exchanged experiences and opinions, which show the challenges, similarities and differences between China and Denmark. This is the third time the online event China Denmark Education Forum is held, and as for the previous times it is organized by the Chinese education think tank China Education 30 Forum and the Danish association Learn For Life.

Six participants from each country

The forum was opened by Professor Yang Dongping, member of The National Education Committee and well-being expert Hans Henrik Knoop, Aarhus University. Yang Dongping is a renowned professor and sharp critic of the Chinese school system's focus on grades and performance pressure. He stands for a critical attitude towards the highly competitive Chinese education system, which he believes damages children's and young people's well-being and desire to learn. He concludes that significant structural measures are needed in China to bring about changes. Hans Henrik Knoop emphasizes that biologically we are all the same and have a fundamental need for quality of life in the form of e.g. security and optimism. It's not entirely wrong to compete. Competition can be fun, educational and inspiring as long as we are simply competing against who we were yesterday against who we are today, instead of competing against your sidekick.

Consensus among the teachers

Author and former headmaster Li Zhenxi wants education to be a two-sided positive experience, where young people both acquire knowledge and creative thinking and at the same time grow personally through friendships with peers in a safe educational environment. Li emphasizes the great influence and importance teachers have, and how important well-being is - for the teachers, too. Principal Mads Poulsen from Eisbjerghus Efterskole emphasizes that academic knowledge is far from everything. Social and personal competences are at least as important, and therefore young people should be assessed according to other criteria than just grades. We need to support students to become able to think outside the box and to have the ability to think independently and critically. The two teachers Xu Li and Tony S. Andersen, Odense Cathedral School, agree that cooperation among students is more important than competition. Tony S. Andersen sees group work as a cornerstone of Danish educational tradition. He believes that through group work, students achieve better results in the long term. They learn how to cooperate, and if group work is implemented in the right way, it will help to prevent unhealthy competition

 

Parents and students

Chinese parents have high expectations for their children, which causes a lot of pressure on children and young people. The perception that people must go through much hardship in order to become a good citizen runs very deep in Chinese culture, according to the Chinese parent Pan Haixia. She tells how she tries to raise her child with greater openness, freedom and in a way that is different from many other Chinese parents. Peter Skov focuses on supporting his children to be independent. He believes that the most important thing is to show children trust and let them learn from their mistakes. At the same time, they must know that they always have a safe base where they can seek advice and help. All children are perfect in the sense that they are unique and have their own personality. Yet, at the same time, nobody is perfect. Children should have the opportunity to fail and thus the right to be imperfect - this is the only and best way to learn, Peter believes. Chinese school student Huang Yanyi, 13 years old, is happy to go to school. She finds that she has become wiser about herself in recent years and thinks it is more important to compete against herself rather than competing with her peers. She agrees that no one is perfect, and you have to accept that. Alfred Pfeiffer, age 14 is glad that his parents are not pushing him. He knows that his parents have expectations for him, but it is very much up to him to decide how he wants to fulfill those. They trust him to do his best.

 

Education and lifelong learning

There is a close connection between students' academic and social well-being. According to manager of Man Xuexiao (Slow School), Andrew Yu, education must be based on well-being to a much greater extent. He tells how he himself has been on a long journey from traditional Chinese education to a realization that education is formation and far more than academic knowledge. His approach largely matches former high school principal Mogens Godballe's ideas that education must be joyful and meaningful in order to benefit young people in the long term.

Holistic and lustful

In his closing remarks Mogens Godballe emphasized how important it is to remember the human dimension in all educational contexts. There has to be room for personal development, and education should not merely be based on books and academic achievements, but rather take a more holistic approach and include poetry, literature, music and art, and the body as well, because children and young people learn in different ways. The world is becoming more and more unpredictable and this requires independent, curious and optimistic people who dare to fail and are prepared to learn and develop throughout their lives.

 

China Denmark Education Forum for the third time

This year the interest from the Chinese side is significantly greater than last year. More than 2 million viewers participated via seven online platforms, including SOHO, NetEase and Julang Education. Last year the forum had 1, 3 million viewers. The dialogues were conducted through a simultaneous interpreter, while moderator and facilitator this time were performed by two highly reputed education and media figures Gu Xuewen, editor of "Liberation daily" and Yang Yongmei, founder of "China Education Daily; and Family Education Weekly”.

Dialogues in English can be viewed on Learn for Life's YouTube channel:

 

Introduction and welcome by author and headmaster Li Zhenxi, chairman CDEF

1. Professor Yang Dongping, member of The National Education Committee and Lecturer and well-being expert Hans Henrik Knoop, Aau

2. Head of education and author Xu Li and high school teacher and head of HCA education tracks, Tony Søndergaard Andersen

3. Leader of Man Xuexiao, (Slow School), Andrew Yu and former folk high school principal Mogens Godballe

4. Lawyer Pan Haixia, parent and Peter Skov, parent

5. Huang Yanyi, student, Harrow International School and Alfred Pfeiffer, student, Hørlucks Skole

6. Author and former headmaster Li Xhenzi and principal Mads Poulsen, Eisbjerghus Efterskole. Closing remarks by Mogens Godballe, chairman DK of CDEF

 

FACTS

1. - Streaming in China: November 18, 2022, at 13.30-19.30 (Danish time: 6.30-12.30)
2. - Viewing in Denmark: An English version is available on YouTube under Learn for Life. Here we post the lecturers' presentations, and we also publish the forum from 2021 and 2020.
3. - Online viewers China: Total 2.02 viewers. The forum in 2021 had 1.3 million viewers, in 2020 a total of 1.03 million viewers.
4. - Behind the seminar are the Chinese think tank China Education 30 Forum and the Danish association Learn for Life. In recent years, the latter has held courses on kindergarten pedagogy for Chinese kindergarten managers/teachers as well as courses in Life Education for Chinese parents.
5. The China Education 30 Forum is an education think tank established in Beijing in 2014 with the aim of promoting education reforms. In November 2019, the forum was named one of the three most influential education reform forums in China. At the head of the forum is Mr. Ma Guochuan. He was in Denmark in 2019 to visit schools and colleges. Participants in the forum are pro-reform Chinese educationists who work to ensure well-being and an easier life for the Chinese school students by, among other things, reducing performance requirements and agitating for other values ??in life and education than academic performance.