Technology Integration in Compulsory education in China: Insights from the latest Chinese National Curriculum Standards

Several organizations urged to assess the readiness level of each country to the digital transformation, hence better harness its opportunities in education. Motivated by this, this study analyzes the latest Chinese curriculum standards to investigate the readiness level of China to adopt technology in education. Specifically, 16 curriculum standard documents were analyzed. The obtained results revealed that China is taking major steps in education reformation, where the use of traditional and emerging technologies is emphasized in almost all curriculum standards. Particularly, traditional technologies were mentioned more frequently to cater to the needs of students on a national level. Additionally, it is seen that the use of emerging technologies in curriculum standards where mentioned depending on the curriculum feature. For instance, the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) where emphasized in science curricula, where sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) where emphasized in physics curriculum. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how to promote the development of digital education from the perspective of curriculum standards.