DELEGATES from China have turned to Durham for help in reforming their schools.

The group visited the University of Durham's Curriculum Evaluation Management (CEM) Centre for help in setting up a blueprint for education overhaul. It also visited a number of schools in the area.

The CEM Centre provides schools with monitoring information for all ages in the school system, analysing data from more than a million pupils every year.

Professor Peter Tymms, CEM director, said: "Since the centre started its first project in 1983, we have become one of the largest providers of performance indicators in the world.

"We are very keen to extend our relationship with China and know that we can be of huge benefit to the work planned for its educational system."

The University of Durham has long-established links with China through research, exchange schemes, and partnerships in a number of academic departments.

A number of Chinese language variants of the centre's projects are already run in Hong Kong. It hoped this visit will lead to the monitoring schemes being used across China. Projects include ones that measure value-added improvements, pupils' attitudes, safety in schools, relationships, and learning and teaching processes.