Analysis of the Pathways for Curriculum Construction in Rural Schools from the Perspective of Place-Based Education Theory

Abstract

Against the backdrop of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and the modernization of education, the development of rural education has become a key link in realizing Chinese-style educational modernization. As the core vehicle of the educational system, the quality of curriculum construction directly determines the quality of education. Confronted with practical challenges such as the imbalance of educational resources between urban and rural areas, the loss of student population in rural schools, and the “urban-oriented” mobility of teachers, rural education urgently needs to break away from the singular path dependency of “catching up with cities” and reconstruct a curriculum system with local characteristics. Based on the “Place-Based Education Theory,” this paper explores the value implications and practical challenges of curriculum construction in rural schools, proposing curriculum reform pathways that are grounded in local resources, student-development-oriented, and driven by multistakeholder collaboration. The research argues that high-quality curriculum construction in rural schools should be based on local sentiment and anchor the dual nature of educational goals—cultivating both a sense of national identity and cultural belonging, and ensuring academic achievement and social mobility. By tapping into natural and humanistic resources to construct a curriculum content pedigree, and by innovating implementation methods and evaluation mechanisms, it promotes the creative transformation of the national curriculum and its school-based implementation. Only in this way can the transformation of rural education from “marginal survival” to “characteristic development” be truly achieved, providing sustainable talent support and cultural impetus for rural revitalization.