The first episode of BBC documentary series Are Our Kids Tough Enough ? Chinese School made its debut on Tuesday.(A screenshot from BBC website)
A typical English schoolroom is on the front line in a unique experiment to determine what happens when East meets West.
Fly over a team of teachers from China, gather 50 typical British teenage students and introduce them to traditional Chinese teaching methods. It was bound to end in tears, but so far the tears have come from the teachers, shocked at the reaction of 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls to their style of teaching.
The month-long experiment has been captured by cameras zooming in on the daily 12-hour school days and recording reactions of teachers and students.
Televising the results across the nation has fuelled a debate among students, parents, and teachers about which teaching method is best.
The three-part series, 'Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School', is looking at whether British schools can be taught a lesson from China's high-ranking education system. In the latest episode, students were shown rebelling against the harsh regime of long days and strict discipline. The Chinese teachers struggle to deliver their lessons, with at least one teacher in tears.
Neil Strowger, headmaster at Bohunt School in Hampshire where the experiment has taken place, said: "As a school we are always looking at how we can innovate and improve the ways we teach students. We've been teaching Mandarin for the last 20 years and have an exchange program with schools in China, so we are very interested in the country's education practice, as well as its history and culture.
"Some students did find the Chinese way of teaching a challenge and much of that was because the Chinese school day is longer than ours and the teaching approach very different.
"Students did enjoy the experience and took a lot from it. The Chinese teachers did too. I've recently been contacted by one of them, who wrote to say how much she liked the school and enjoyed her time with the children. She also thought the experience had improved her as a teacher."
