Shaping Education Reform in China: Overviews, Policies and Implications [1st ed.] 9789811577444, 9789811577451

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi
Shaping the Educational Development in China: The Context and Efforts (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 1-27
Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 29-37
Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 39-72
Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational Tasks in China: Issues and Challenges (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 73-103
Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 105-125
Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 127-153
Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 155-176
Shaping the Management of off-Campus Training Institutions in China (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 177-204
Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only” (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages 205-228
Correction to: Shaping Education Reform in China (Jian Li, Eryong Xue)....Pages C1-C1

Citation preview

Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices

Jian Li Eryong Xue

Shaping Education Reform in China Overviews, Policies and Implications

Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices Series Editors Eryong Xue, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Beijing, China Simon Marginson, University of Oxford, OXFORD, UK Jian Li, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Beijing, China

This book series explores education policy on Pre-K, K-12, post-secondary education, and vocational education, informing multiple experts from academia to practitioner, and specifically pays focuses on new frontiers and cutting-edge knowledge that transforms future education policy development. It has been initiated by a global group of education policy research centers and institutions,, whose faculty and staff includes internationally recognized researchers in comparative education policy studies. The series’ mission is to advance the modernization of the education and social construction. This series provides policymakers and researchers with an in-depth understanding of international education policy from diverse perspectives. Topics include cutting-edge and multidisciplinary studies on identifying, analyzing and uncovering education policy reform and practice among the fields in education policy and pedagogy. It addresses how education policy shapes the development of education systems in different regions and seeks to explain how specific education policies concentrate on accelerating the development of quality education and social progress. More importantly, this book series offers policymakers and educational stakeholders, government, and private sectors a comprehensive lens to investigate the trends, rationales of education policy development internationally.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16621

Jian Li Eryong Xue •

Shaping Education Reform in China Overviews, Policies and Implications

123

Jian Li Faculty of Education Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Eryong Xue Faculty of Education Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Eryong Xue and Jian Li share the co-first authorship and contribute equally in this book

Funded by 2020 Comprehensive Discipline Construction Fund of Faculty of Education, Beijing ISSN 2730-6356 ISSN 2730-6364 (electronic) Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices ISBN 978-981-15-7744-4 ISBN 978-981-15-7745-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

This book originally examines how to shape the education reform in China since 1949. It involves investigating the historical education political development, contextually. It also brings specific lens to epitomize China’s education reform through the dimensions of overviews, policies and implications. In addition, shaping education reform in China involves investigating how to examine the educational development; summarize the educational value; explore the educational efforts; investigate the educational tasks; examine the physical education, the aesthetic education, the labor education, the management of off-campus training institutions and the policies on abolishing the “Five Only” in contemporary China. The model of the education reform in China since 1949 is initially conceptualized to mapping Chinese education policy development, relatively. Chapter 1 explores how to shape the educational development in China from various perspectives. The basic situation of Chinese education, the purpose of Chinese education, the quality of education in China and China’s basic education system all contributes to examine the comprehensive landscape of Chinese education development since 1949. Chapter 2 focuses on examining the educational value in China from the dimensions of ideas and practices. Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on peoplecentered education, the new situations, challenges and problems, and policy trends and paths are illustrated to investigate how to identify and shape the educational value in current Chinese context, historically. Chapter 3 concentrates on shaping the educational efforts in China. The various sections, including reasons and manifestations of giving priority to the development of educational undertakings, the history and present educational fund situation, the distribution of educational funds in China, relevant policies and regulations on the growth of educational funds in China, relevant policies and regulations on the composition of educational funds in China, and giving priority to developing the future trend of the education fund related policies, all contribute to epitomize the overall landscape of China’s educational practices, contextually.

v

vi

Preface

Chapter 4 involves shaping the teacher construction-based educational tasks in current China from the dimensions of issues and challenges. China currently has 16.2689 million teachers working in 513,800 schools, supporting the world’s largest education system of 270 million students. Xi Jinping pointed out that teachers are the foundation and source of promoting education. “A person is lucky to meet a good teacher in life, a school with a good teacher is the glory of the school, a national continuous emergence of a group of good teachers is the hope of the nation,” “a centenary plan, education”. Teachers are the foundation of education. It is an urgent task to train a large number of first-class teachers and improve their overall quality. In recent years, under the great attention of the party and the state, the task of the construction of teachers in our country has made great progress. There is still a long way to go for the construction of teachers in the future. Chapter 5 concentrates on shaping the physical education in current China from the dimension of context and efforts. Physical education is an education that grants students with healthy knowledge and skills, develops their physical strength, strengthens their physique and cultivates their willpower. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the educational function of physical education has gradually risen from only focusing on students to the level of the whole people. Sport is an important symbol of social development and human progress, and an important embodiment of comprehensive national strength and social civilization. Sports play an irreplaceable role in improving people’s physical quality and health, promoting all-round development of people, enriching people’s spiritual and cultural life, promoting economic and social development, and encouraging people of all ethnic groups in China to carry forward the spirit of pursuing excellence and selfbreakthrough. It is the fundamental policy and task of our country’s sports work to develop sports and improve people’s physique. Chapter 6 concentrates on shaping the aesthetic education in contemporary China from the perspectives of policies and concerns. The sections, including the concept and function of aesthetic education, the review of aesthetic education policy, the effect of aesthetic education, the concerns on aesthetic education, the aesthetic education evaluation system, and the development trend of aesthetic education, all contribute to exploring how to understand the development of China’s aesthetic education, historically. Chapter 7 involves shaping the labor education in China from the both dimensions of backgrounds and progress. All parts including labor education policy, the effect of labor education, the problem of labor education and the labor education policy development trend concentrate on investigating the background and progress of the cultivation of the labor education, contextually. Chapter 8 concentrates on shaping the management of off-campus training instructions in China. The discourse on social education, status quo of off-campus training institutions since the 18th national congress of the CPC, progress in the rectification of special control actions, and policy features of social education since the 18th national congress all contribute to provide the overall landscape to construct the sustainable management of off-campus training institutions in current China.

Preface

vii

Chapter 9 concentrates on constructing the policies on abolishing the “Five Only,” contextually. “Five Only” performance, the serious negative impact of “Five Only,” the origin of “Five Only,” the “Five Only” policy, the reform proposal to eliminate the “Five Alternatives” all involve exploring the policies on the current policy of Five Only. Beijing, China

Jian Li Eryong Xue

Acknowledgements In the realization of this book, our contributors have been supportive and willing to share their opinions and perspective on how to explore the overall Chinese education policy landscape from a concept-added policy chain perspective. We are really grateful for the generosity and positive spirit of collegiality. While most of the chapters in this book are original, several are adopted from our previously published material and editors are grateful for the kind permissions granted to facilitate this.

Contents

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China: The Context and Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 General Overview of China’s Educational Provinces 1.1.2 The Purpose of Chinese Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 The Moral Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.4 Intellectual Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.5 Sports Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.6 Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.7 Labor Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 The Quality of Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Xi Jinping’s Remarks on the Quality of Education . 1.2.2 The Quality of China’s Higher Education . . . . . . . . 1.3 China’s Basic Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Development of China’s Educational Legal System .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 9 14 17 17

2 Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices 2.1 The Important Thoughts on the People-Centered Education 2.2 Quality Balance of China’s Contemporary Education . . . . . 2.2.1 The Connotation of Quality Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 New Situations, Challenges and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Policy Trends and Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

29 29 32 32 35 36

..

39

..

39

..

42

..

43

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions . 3.1 Reasons and Manifestations of Giving Priority to the Development of Educational Undertakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 The Necessity and Importance of Giving Priority to the Development of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 The Goal of Giving Priority to the Development of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ix

x

Contents

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation . . . . . . . . . 3.3 The Distribution of Educational Funds in China—Take 2017 as an Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Growth of Educational Funds in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Policies, Regulations and Implementation of the Growth of Educational Expenditure in China in the 1990s . . . . . 3.4.2 Policies, Regulations and Implementation of the Growth of Educational Expenditure in China Since 2000 . . . . . . 3.5 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Composition of Educational Funds in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.1 China Supports the Tax Reduction and Exemption Policy for Social Forces to Invest in Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Giving Priority to Developing the Future Trend of the Education Fund Related Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.1 We Need to Ensure that Government Spending on Education Accounts for no Less Than 4% of GDP . . . . 3.6.2 From Adhering to the “Three Growth Plans” to Emphasizing that “Two Growth Plans Do not Decrease” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.3 We Need to Increase Investment in Education Funding in Xinjiang and Other Provinces and Ensure that Education Funding Is Reasonably Distributed Among Provinces . . 3.6.4 Increasing the Proportion of Social Input in the Composition of Educational Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational Tasks in China: Issues and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Review of Policy Documents on the Teacher Construction Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period from the 18th National Congress to the 19th National Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Macro Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Construction of Teachers’ Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Business Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 Management Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Documents on the Construction of the Teaching Staff Since the 19th National Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Macro Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Business Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Construction of Teachers’ Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

..

45

..

53

..

55

..

55

..

59

..

62

..

65

..

68

..

69

..

70

..

71

..

71

..

73

..

73

. . . . .

. . . . .

77 77 78 79 82

. . . .

. . . .

87 87 88 89

Contents

xi

4.4 Changes in Teachers’ Remuneration Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Changes in the Overall Salary of Teachers Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Prospects for Future Teachers’ Salary Development . . . . . . . 4.6 Professional Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Title Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 The Proportion of Each Professional Title . . . . . . . . . 4.6.3 Title (Position) and Responsibility Setting . . . . . . . . . 4.6.4 The Number of Each Professional Title . . . . . . . . . . .

.... . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 1978–1991: Restoration and Development Stage in the Early Years of Reform and Opening up . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 1992–2012: National Fitness Was First Proposed and Continuously Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 2013–Present: Healthy China Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Sports Achievements Since the Reform and Opening up . . . . . . 5.2.1 Nationwide Fitness Popularization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 School Sports Work Has Been Effective . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Problems Existing in the Development of Sports at Present . . . . 5.3.1 Uneven Development of Mass Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Physical Education Awareness in Schools Has Been Strengthened, but not Enough Attention Has Been Paid to It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Future Trend of Sports Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.1 Implementing the National Fitness Strategy and Deepening the Healthy China Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.2 Adhere to Promoting Morality and Bringing into Play the Role of Physical Education in Schools . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.3 Promoting Governance in Accordance with the Law and Strengthening Organizational Leadership . . . . . . . . 5.4.4 Developing Physical Education Through Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.5 Strengthen the Construction of Sports Culture, Cultivate Moral, Intellectual, Physical, Aesthetic and Labor Successors to Socialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 The Concept and Function of Aesthetic Education 6.1.1 Definition of Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . 6.1.2 The Significance of Aesthetic Education . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . . . . .

90

. 90 . 94 . 96 . 97 . 98 . 99 . 101

. . 105 . . 107 . . 107 . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

108 111 115 115 117 118 118

. . 120 . . 121 . . 122 . . 123 . . 123 . . 124

. . 125 . . . .

. . . .

127 127 127 129

xii

Contents

6.2 Review of Aesthetic Education Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Preliminary Development Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Explicitly Included in the Education Policy Stage . . . . . 6.2.3 The Stage of Comprehensive Strengthening and Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 The Effect of Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 The Concerns on Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 The Understanding of Aesthetic Education Is not Deep and Comprehensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 To Integrate Aesthetic Education into Moral Education, the Understanding of the Relationship Between the Two Is not Perfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.3 Utilitarian Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.4 Shortage of Aesthetic Education Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 The Aesthetic Education Evaluation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 The Development Trend of Aesthetic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.1 We Will Fully Implement the Fundamental Task of Fostering Virtue and Fostering People . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.2 Fully Explore the “Aesthetic Education” Function of Each Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.3 To Build a Teaching Staff with Strong Moral and Artistic Merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.4 Improve the Evaluation Mechanism and Build Support and Guarantee Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.5 Promoting Linkage Between Schools and Society . . . . . 6.6.6 To Reshape the Value of Aesthetic Education and Build a Foundation for Cultural Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Labor Education Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Education Period of Labor Production (1949–1976) . . . . 7.1.2 Ideological Education and Labor Technology Education (1977–1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.3 Social Practice Education Period (1999–2014) . . . . . . . . 7.1.4 Labor Education Pays More Attention to Comprehensive and Comprehensive Education (2015 till Now) . . . . . . . 7.2 The Effect of Labor Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 The Problem of Labor Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Lack of Understanding of Labor Education in Family, School and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Insufficient Guarantee of Labor and Education Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 The Labor Education Policy Development Trend . . . . . . . . . . .

. . 131 . . 133 . . 133 . . 135 . . 135 . . 140 . . 140

. . . . .

. . . . .

141 142 143 144 145

. . 145 . . 146 . . 147 . . 148 . . 149 . . 150 . . 152 . . 155 . . 156 . . 156 . . 158 . . 159 . . 160 . . 165 . . 167 . . 168 . . 169 . . 172

Contents

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus Training Institutions in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 The Discourse on Social Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Status Quo of off-Campus Training Institutions Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions . . . . . 8.3.1 Standardize the Relevant Policy Documents of “off-Campus Training Institutions” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 Relevant Policy Documents on Educating People Through Social Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Policy Features of Social Education Since the 18th National Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.1 Policy Positioning: Social Affairs to the National Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.2 Policy Contents: Guide Self-Discipline to Strengthen Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.3 Policy System: From Regulations to Updated Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 New Situation, New Challenges and New Problems in Social Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.1 The New Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.2 New Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xiii

. . . 177 . . . 177 . . . 180 . . . 183 . . . 188 . . . 193 . . . 194 . . . 194 . . . 195 . . . 196 . . . 197 . . . 197 . . . 198

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only” . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 “Five Only” Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.1 “Score Only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.2 “Only for Higher Education Degree” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.3 “Diploma Only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.4 “Thesis Only”/“Paper Only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.5 “Only Academic Title” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 The Serious Negative Impact of “Five Only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 “Five Only” Has Seriously Affected the Growth of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Overall Construction of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Development of Scientific Research and Academic Research . . . . . . . 9.2.4 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Cultivation of the Country’s Future Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 The Origin of “Five Only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 The “Five Only” Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 The Reform Proposal to Eliminate the “Five Alternatives” . . . . 9.5.1 Improve the Teacher Evaluation System, Break the “Only Thesis” “Only Hat” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

205 206 206 207 208 208 209 210

. . 210 . . 212 . . 212 . . . .

. . . .

213 214 216 222

. . 226

About the Authors

Jian Li is the assistant professor in China Institute of Education and Social Development, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS), School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests focus on education policy studies, Globalization and Internationalization of Higher Education. Dr. Li currently also serves as think tanker at China Institute of Education and Social Development, Beijing Normal University. China Institute of Education and Social Development (CIESD) was co-founded by China Association for Promoting Democracy and Beijing Normal University. It was founded on the base of China Institute of Education Policy and China Academy of Social Management of Beijing Normal University. Beijing Normal University integrated the internal resources and giving solid supports to the foundation of CIESD. Its mission is to advance the modernization of the education and social construction with Chinese characteristics. And, it is committed to building a new type of high-end-oriented think tank with the characteristics of the education reform and development and the social governance innovation. CIESD has held different classes and high-level series of the forums, which has played the positive roles in influencing public opinion. CIESD has created a new mechanism within the international exchange and cooperation filed for the institution’s foundation of public diplomacy. CIESD will continue to adhere to high standard and build a professional high-end-oriented think tank with the international visionary and significant influence in educational and social fields. Eryong Xue is the professor in China Institute of Education and Social Development, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. Changjiang scholars (young scholars) awarded by the Ministry of Education in China. He is also a research fellow of the center for science and technology and education development strategy in Tsinghua university. He is also a postdoctoral fellow in the public administration of Tsinghua university. He has published more than 100 Chinese and English papers in the field of educational research. He has produced more than 100 CSSCI articles. He has won the seventh award for outstanding xv

xvi

About the Authors

achievements in scientific research in institutions of higher learning, the fifth national award for outstanding achievements in educational scientific research, and the award for outstanding achievements in political participation and discussion by the central committee for the advancement of the people for more than 40 times. More than 40 independent or co-authored consulting reports were adopted by decision-making departments or approved by leaders. He has presided over more than ten national or provincial projects such as national social science fund, natural science fund, ministry of education humanities and social science fund, Beijing philosophy and social science project, participated in nine national or provincial key projects such as ministry of education philosophy and social science project, and one international cooperation project. The project of national natural science foundation of China was awarded excellent. He has been honored as the advanced worker of summer social practice for students of capital college and technical secondary school, the outstanding talent of Beijing division, the young talent of Beijing social science federation, the outstanding talent of Beijing universities and colleges, and the outstanding talent of Beijing. Main social part-time jobs: member of the 14th committee of the communist youth league of Beijing, deputy director of the working committee of college students and young teachers, special expert of China education association, China education development strategy society, national academic level office, director of Beijing postdoctoral fellowship (the 20th session).

Chapter 1

Shaping the Educational Development in China: The Context and Efforts

This chapter explores how to shape the educational development in China from various perspectives. The basic situation of Chinese education, the purpose of Chinese education, the quality of education in China, and China’s basic education system all contributes to examining the comprehensive landscape of Chinese education development since 1949.

1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education General situation of China’s education On September 10, 2018, at the National Education Conference, Xi Jinping stressed that we should fully implement the Party’s education policy, adhering to the guiding status of Marxism, adhering to the education of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhering to the socialist direction of running a school, based on the basic national conditions. we should follow the rules of education, reform and innovation in solidarity, perfect personality, develop human, cultivating talents, the well-being of the people as the work target, cultivation of art comprehensive development of socialist builders and successors, and accelerate the modernization of education, construction of education powers, do a good job in the people’s satisfactory education. In order to promote the modernization of education in China, building a strong country for education, and running the good education to the satisfaction of the people, we found that it is necessary to know the current stage of China’s education development, with a clear understanding of the current stage of China’s education.1 1 The

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_1

1

2

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

Specifically, by the end of 2017, there were 513,800 schools of all kinds and at all levels, an increase of 2105 or 0.41% over the previous year, according to the 2017 national statistical bulletin on the development of education released by the Ministry of Education. There were 270 million students enrolled in academic educational programs of all kinds and at all levels, with an increase of 5.4554 million or 2.06% over the previous year. There were 16.2689 million full-time teachers, an increase of 487,200 or 3.09% over the previous year.2 In the field of preschool education, there are 255,000 kindergartens national wide, with 19.3795 million children enrolled in preschool education, 46.014 million children in preschool education, and 2.432 million full-time teachers in kindergartens (MOE 2018). At the stage of compulsory education: there are 167,000 primary schools in China, and 103,000 primary schools, with 100,937,000 students and 5,944,900 full-time primary school teachers. There are 51,900 junior high schools (including 15 vocational junior high schools), including 35,700 junior high schools and 16,200 secondary schools with a total enrollment of 44,420,600 students and 3,548,700 full-time teachers in junior high schools. In the field of special education, there are 2107 special education schools nationwide, with 578,800 students and 56,000 full-time teachers. In addition, 304,000 students were enrolled in regular primary and junior middle schools and in special education classes attached to them. In the stage of higher education, the higher education is consisting of general high schools, adult high schools and secondary vocational education. China has 24,600 schools with 39,709,900 students. There are 13,600 ordinary high schools in China, which are divided into full middle schools, senior middle schools and 12year schools, with a total of 23.7455 million students and 1.774 million full-time teachers. There are 392 adult high schools nationwide, with 39,400 students and 2421 full-time teachers. There are 10,700 secondary vocational schools nationwide, with 15.925 million students and 839,200 full-time teachers. Among them, there are 3346 general secondary professional schools, 3617 vocational high schools, 2490 technical schools and 1218 secondary professional schools for adults. In the field of higher education, there are 2631 general institutions of higher education (including 265 independent colleges) in China, including 1243 undergraduate colleges, 1388 vocational colleges, and 27,535,900 undergraduate students. 1.6332 million full-time teachers in regular institutions of higher learning; There are 282 adult institutions of higher learning, with 5.44 million students and 24,000 full-time teachers. For graduate students, there are 815 graduate training institutions in China, including 578 universities and 237 research institutions. There are 2,639,600 graduate students, including 362,000 doctoral students and 2,277,600 graduate students. In the field of adult education and literacy education, there are 89,200 vocational and technical training institutions nationwide, with 289,200 full-time teachers. There are 9700 2 The

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education

3

adult primary schools with 754,200 students and 10,800 full-time teachers. There are 506 adult junior middle schools with 127,000 students and 1367 full-time teachers. Across the country, 304,000 people are taking part in literacy studies, and 7546 are full-time teachers (MOE 2018).3

1.1.1 General Overview of China’s Educational Provinces The development of education in China since the 18th national congress of the CPC Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee has made a series of major decisions and plans on China’s education with a view to promoting the five overall plans and the four comprehensive strategies. President Xi Jinping offered series of important speech to share the core spirits on governing new strategy, new ideas, new ideas, which always around innovation, coordination, green, open, sharing new development concept, adhering to the development of fair and reform grasp system, safety responsibility, overall grasp quality, ensure party construction, accelerate the modernization of education. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China’s education has shown a steady and diversified development. Although preschool education is not compulsory education, it can be seen that with the improvement of people’s living standards, there is a higher demand for children’s education, which stimulates the development of preschool education institutions. Second, compulsory education has been popularized and scaled down. Streamline, intensive compulsory education school, be helpful for the government to better manage and configure resources, despite the increasing number of students, but by contrast you can see, student-faculty ratios from 1:15 in 2012. The Ministry of Education aims to coordinating the student-faculty ratios, being conducive to the teachers more fully on the learning and growth of the students, improving the quality of compulsory education. The educational structure of senior high schools is diversified, and ordinary senior high schools, adult senior high schools and secondary vocational schools are streamlined, and their quality is improved. The popularization of higher education, the rapid growth of students and full-time teachers also contribute to creating China’s socialist modernization and drive to train more high-quality personnel, providing scientific and technological support.4

3 The

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html. 4 The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Trying to make one billion three hundred million people enjoy a better more equitable education at the 18th party congress, China’s education reform and development of major achievements were made [EB/OL]. (2017-10-17) [2019-07-23]. HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/201710/t20171017_316486.html.

4

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

In addition to the changes in the number of schools, students and full-time teachers in the four main educational stages mentioned above, China has made considerable achievements in education since the 18th national congress of the CPC. For example, the investment in education continues to increase and guarantee conditions for educational development continue to improve. Since 2012, the share of government spending on education in GDP has remained above 4% for five consecutive years, demonstrating the central government’s firm determination to give priority to the education development. Difficulties and hot issues in education have been gradually solved. The quality of compulsory education has been improved as a whole, and efforts have been made to fundamentally solve the problem of “hot school choice”. The barriers to children going to school in places where they live with their parents have been gradually eliminated, and a care and service system for leftbehind children has been initially established. A special education system with a rational layout, well-connected school and vocational education, and a combination of medical education and education has taken shape. Breakthroughs have been made in the reform of modern education governance, the reform of the examination and enrollment system has been deepened, and a new mechanism of “promoting fairness and scientific selection of talents” has been gradually established. The development of China’s education presents an unprecedented new pattern and vitality.5

1.1.2 The Purpose of Chinese Education To ensure the success of education to the satisfaction of the people, we must systematically answer and resolve the fundamental question of whom, how and for whom to train people. The primary problem of education is to train the right kind of people. On December 27, 2015, the 18th Session of the Twelfth Session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued the revised education law of the People’s Republic of China, one of the first chapter stipulated in article 5: “education must serve for socialist modernization construction, to serve the people, must be combined with productive labor and social practice, cultivate moral, intellectual, physical, beauty and so on comprehensive development of socialist builders and successors.” On September 10, 2018, the national education conference was held in Beijing. General secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important speech entitled “keeping to the path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor”. So far, the educational purpose of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been further supplemented

5 The

ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education

5

and clarified, that is, “to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor”. General secretary Xi Jinping included labor education in the requirements of socialist builders and successors, put forward the general requirements of “morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor”, and from six aspects of how to train socialist builders and successors, this is a major innovation in the party’s education theory. Since the implementation of quality-oriented education for more than 20 years, it has gradually become the core concept of China’s education and the broad consensus of all sectors of society. We should follow the law of education and the law of talent growth, and strive to build an education system of all-round cultivation of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor, and make moral cultivation of people run through all fields and links of educational work, so as to make quality education specific and cultivate new people of the era of all-round development. “Moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor” is the basic quality of education to cultivate what kind of people; “Socialist builders and successors” is the basic direction of education to train what kind of people.6

1.1.3 The Moral Education Moral education should adhere to “no man without virtue, the root of education lies in ethics”. In 2012, the report is put forward for the first time and the education law of the People’s Republic of China also mentioned the core themes: “the education should stick to moral values for educatees to strengthen the socialist core values education, enhance the educatees of social responsibility, innovation spirit and practice ability”. In the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Education and Teaching and Comprehensively Improving the Quality of Compulsory Education, it is also emphasized that we should cultivate people with moral integrity, focus on cultivating new people who are responsible for national rejuvenation, and implement the fundamental task of cultivating people with moral integrity. The “virtue” that we want to “establish” is a “great virtue” that connects the past and the present, integrates the east and the west, and highlights the new mission. The “people” that we want to “cultivate” are the Chinese people who are deeply rooted in the historical development of the Chinese civilization and the overall pattern of the development of human civilization. The “cultivating people by virtue” should cultivate people who can fully embody the core socialist values.7 6 The

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Trying to make one billion three hundred million people enjoy a better more equitable education at the 18th party congress, China’s education reform and development of major achievements were made [EB/OL]. (2017-10-17) [2019-07-23]. HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/201710/t20171017_316486.html. 7 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

6

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

The value orientation of young people determines the value orientation of the whole society in the future. We should unswervingly regard moral cultivation as the fundamental task of education, take cultivating and practicing the core socialist values as the basic project of the reform and development of education, and educate and guide young students to buckle the first button of life. The ancients said, “cultivate morality”, pay attention to moral cultivation and moral practice, both high-minded, based on the plain, not only to repair the public morality, and repair the private morality, can truly take up the responsibility entrusted by history. In other words, today’s socialist society with Chinese characteristics should cultivate people who love the motherland, love the collective, love socialism, listen to the party, follow the party, have good moral character and behavior habits, integrity and friendly, have a strong sense of legal system and a positive sense of social responsibility. An educated person should be one who has firm ideals and beliefs, is psychologically healthy, understands and loves the fine traditional Chinese culture, lives in harmony with the ecological environment, and practices the core socialist values in his life.8

1.1.4 Intellectual Education Intellectual education should focus on cultivating cognitive ability, promoting thinking development and stimulating innovative consciousness. Today’s economic development, social progress, competition and games between countries are all based on talents. With the rapid development of the society under the information technology revolution, the demand for talents in the current and future era has long been different from the past. The era needs new talents with high comprehensive quality who have knowledge, ability, innovative spirit and creativity. China’s traditional education philosophy emphasizes intellectual education but is more inclined to exam-oriented education. However, the current intellectual education emphasizes strict implementation of teaching in accordance with the national curriculum plan and curriculum standards, to ensure that students meet the national standards of academic quality. Give full play to the leading role of teachers, guide teachers to deeply understand the characteristics of subjects, knowledge structure, thinking methods, scientific grasp of students’ cognitive laws, better every class. We should give prominence to students’ dominant position, protect their curiosity, imagination and thirst for knowledge, stimulate their interest in learning and improve their learning ability. We will strengthen science education and experimental teaching and carry out extensive reading activities in various forms. Local governments should strengthen monitoring and supervision, and resolutely prevent students from overloading their studies. Only

8 The state council. The national vocational education reform plan [EB/OL]. (2019-01-24) [2019-07-

18] HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/moe_1777/moe_1778/201904/t20190404_376701. html.

1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education

7

by training students to develop the habit of loving learning and lifelong learning can they adapt to the rapidly developing society in the future.9

1.1.5 Sports Education We should put health first in sports and train Chinese with strong bodies. Sports can not only bring people a healthy body, but also improve people’s will, perseverance, cooperation and responsibility. Traditional Chinese education, which emphasizes only “intellectual education”, does not give enough time and space for “sports” to develop. For a long time, the national survey report on students’ physical health shows that Chinese students lack the awareness and habit of physical exercise, and the time for physical exercise is seriously insufficient, and the willingness to do physical exercise is not strong. In the fast-paced development of society, bad working and living habits and other factors, make a variety of malignant diseases younger, spread. A healthy body is a prerequisite for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In this regard, the state requires the strict implementation of students’ physical health eligibility standards, improve the national testing system, except for sports students exempt from physical health eligibility standards, students who do not meet the standards, shall not be issued graduation certificates. And school sports curriculum reform and measures: to open his full physical education, and scientific arrangement of physical education, sports load, the implementation of school sports thrift, characteristic of school sports projects, to develop the campus football, extensive popularity on campus sports, we regularly organize students’ games or sports, etc. The purpose is to promote the healthy development of students’ physique, let students master 1–2 sports skills, cultivate and maintain the awareness and habit of physical exercise, and lay a solid physical foundation for the future happy life.

1.1.6 Aesthetic Education Aesthetic education should enable students to understand art culture and enhance their own artistic cultivation and taste. A complete school aesthetic education has two dimensions: one is aesthetic education, which takes students as aesthetic subjects and makes them become aesthetic people; One is beauty education, which is to cultivate students as aesthetic objects and make them become beautiful people. Aesthetic education is not limited to improving quality, shaping aesthetics, cultivating the ability to appreciate and create beauty, but also can be extended to the pursuit of poetic and interesting aesthetics of life. Learning and experiencing art and culture 9 The

ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Education development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. [2019-07-23]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/.

8

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

can not only cultivate one’s sentiment and relax one’s body and mind, but also promote students’ multi-dimensional thinking and healthy development of intelligence and physical strength. But unfortunately, like “sports”, “aesthetic education” in our country also has a serious lack. To this end, the state requires the strict implementation of music, fine arts, calligraphy and other courses, combined with local culture to set up art characteristic courses, extensive campus art activities, to help each student learn 1-2 art skills, can sing the theme song. Guide students to understand the world’s outstanding art, enhance cultural understanding. Through the development and infiltration of relevant activities, students will have a better understanding of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and art, and improve students’ artistic cultivation and taste, which will help build cultural confidence and promote the inheritance and development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture.10

1.1.7 Labor Education Labor education requires students to strengthen life practice, labor technology and vocational experience education. From the individual, labor education is quite significant, one is conducive to the healthy development of individual moral character of educates, two is conducive to the formation of earning ability of educates, three is conducive to the improvement of educates’ physical quality. From the perspective of morality, labor education is conducive to carrying forward the virtues of diligence of the Chinese nation and building good interpersonal relationships among social members. First, it is necessary to safeguard the constitution of the People’s Republic of China. Second, the need to prevent the emergence of parasitic class; Third, the need to coordinate the relations among different working classes; Fourth, we need to maintain national stability. Xi Jinping’s important exposition of the most glorious, the most noble, the greatest and the most beautiful of labor education fully and systematically explains the core connotation of labor education from the four levels of value evaluation, goal pursuit, historical creation and aesthetic activities. Carry forward the spirit of labor among students, education and guidance of students to advocate labor, respect labor, know that labor is the most glorious, the most noble, the greatest, the most beautiful labor, grow up to be able to work hard, honest labor, creative labor. Asked by parents, schools, social cooperation, three parties from the perspective of different areas and provide students with the labor education: parents should give their children arrangement can do housework, schools should adhere to

10 Sun Chunlan. In-depth study and implementation of general secretary xi jinping’s important statement on education and strive to create a new situation of education work in the new era [N]. Seeking truth, 2018-09-30.

1.1 The Basic Situation of Chinese Education

9

the students on duty system, actively develop external labor and community volunteer service, etc., the three parties together, help students form the correct view of labor and labor attitude, love of labor and the working people. Train socialist builders and successors “Socialist builders and successors” are the fundamental direction of education to train people. China is a socialist country led by the communist party of China. The leadership of the communist party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This determines that our education must take the training of socialist builders and successors as the fundamental task, and train generation after generation of useful personnel who uphold the leadership of the communist party of China and China’s socialist system and are determined to strive for socialism with Chinese characteristics for life. This is the fundamental task of education and the goal of education modernization. The education should to develop can actively into the need of social development, our education also should walk the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, persistence, inheritance and development of hard-won the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, for the construction and development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, in order to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation the Chinese dream, and with qualified talents cultivation can act as real age. Cultivate a new era of talents with firm ideals and beliefs, strong patriotism and high moral accomplishment, increasing knowledge and knowledge, fighting spirit and strong comprehensive quality.11 At the national education conference, Xi Jinping stressed the necessity of developing education, accelerating the modernization of education, building a strong country in education, and running education to the satisfaction of the people. We will continue to ensure that education meets the needs of the party and the state, meets the expectations of the people, and matches China’s overall national strength and international standing. Only by giving priority to education, tapping the wisdom of the population and turning it into a huge source of human resources can we provide strong support for the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

1.2 The Quality of Education in China 1.2.1 Xi Jinping’s Remarks on the Quality of Education Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping has made many important speeches, instructions on the education, and put forward a series of new ideas and viewpoints. On November 15, 2012, Xi Jinping in the 18th Session of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, meet Chinese and foreign journalists said, “our people love life, looking forward to 11 Xi Jinping. Speech at the symposium of teachers and students of Peking University [N]. China education news, 2018-05-03(002).

10

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

have a better education, more stable job, more satisfactory income, a more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, more beautiful environment, hope the children can grow up better, work better, live better. The people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal.” People’s yearning for a better life puts forward higher requirements and goals for the development of education in China. Our party is committed to the long-term task of ensuring and improving people’s well-being, and to addressing the most pressing issues of concern to the people, accelerating the modernization of education, and building a strong country in education. Xi Jinping stressed that education should be centered on the people, with the goal of uniting people’s hearts, improving their personality, developing human resources, cultivating talents and benefiting the people. We should implement quality education, ensure that the people are satisfied with education, and ensure that every child has a fair and high-quality education, so that everyone has a chance to make a difference in life. We will do a good job in educating the people to their satisfaction and make greater contribution to securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of China.12 Promoting educational equity is mainly targeted at the compulsory stage. Our party has always stressed that education is for the people. General secretary Xi Jinping is very concerned about the people’s sense of gaining education. He has repeatedly grasped that educational equity is an important foundation of social equity. We must continue to promote the development of education to benefit all the people in a more equitable way and strive to ensure that every child enjoys fair and quality education. These important discourses not only deeply elucidated the socialist nature of China’s education, but also clearly expressed the people’s position of China’s education. At present, preschool education, rural compulsory education is still a weak link in China’s education, we must focus on the weak link, we call for expanding the number of universal kindergartens, to achieve full coverage of kindergarten supervision, to solve the problem of “access to kindergarten, expensive, weak supervision”; We will implement the rural revitalization strategy, draw up plans for the distribution of compulsory education schools in line with urbanization, optimize the allocation of rural education resources, and promote the integrated development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas. We will strengthen development of small schools in rural areas and boarding schools in townships and towns and encourage the sinking of high-quality educational resources through the Internet plus initiative. In order to solve the problem of weak education in rural areas and poor areas, we need to train and introduce more outstanding teachers, improve their income, treatment and working and living conditions, and attract more outstanding people to work in rural areas for a long time. In addition, the state council issued by the national education career “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in planning”, to do a good job in national education, do a good job in special education, protect the rights of disadvantaged groups by education, realizing a complete coverage of family economic difficulties 12 Xi Jinping. Speech at the symposium of teachers and students of Peking University [N]. China education news, 2018-05-03(002).

1.2 The Quality of Education in China

11

students funding, family economic difficulties, disabled children, migrant children and left-behind children groups such as equal education rights.13 In terms of improving the quality of education, the 13th five-year plan for the development of the national education cause proposes that we should fully implement the fundamental task of promoting moral integrity, comprehensively implement quality education, focus on improving students’ ideological and moral level, social responsibility and awareness of the rule of law, cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship spirit and ability, and strengthen practical ability. We will develop new ways of educating students and deepen reform of curriculum teaching and the examination and enrollment system. Efforts should be made to strengthen the construction of teachers, optimize the allocation of teachers’ resources, and improve the management system for teachers. We will improve the mechanism for funding education and improve the conditions for schools of all kinds and at all levels. We will improve educational quality standards, evaluation systems and quality monitoring systems, and build a quality assurance system. “Higher education is an important symbol of a country’s development level and potential,” Xi said in his speech to a meeting of Peking University’s teachers and students. Today, the development of the cause of the party and the state needs higher education, scientific knowledge and talents more urgently than ever before. The scale expansion of higher education does not mean the growth of quality and efficiency. We should adhere to the correct political direction of running schools, build a team of high-quality teachers, and form a high-level personnel training system. The quality of basic education in China The International monitoring and Assessment of basic education is mostly authoritative by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an International Assessment Program for students’ abilities coordinated by the Organization for Economic cooperation and Development. The main test is divided into reading, maths and science sections (see table), which measure students’ mastery of core subjects. International with 15 years of age as of the end of the basic education stage time node, 15-year-old students can decide whether they want to continue their education, therefore the PISA selected the 15-year-old students as test object, in assessing whether they can master the knowledge and skills required to participate in social at the same time, can also help the government formulate education policies. In 2009 and 2012, Shanghai participated in the PISA test on behalf of mainland China, and all the three scores were the first in the world, far surpassing the second-place countries or regions. However, in 2015, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangzhou, the four regions representing China in the PISA test, showed unsatisfactory results (as shown in the table), ranking 10th overall, with reading scores ranking 27th, lagging behind students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who also participated in the test. In fact, the decline in PISA ranking does not represent the 13 The state council. The central committee of the communist party of China to further the reform of education teaching comprehensive advice to improve the quality of compulsory education [EB/OL]. (2019-06-23) [2019-07-23]. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2019-07/08/content_5407361.htm.

12

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

decline in the quality of basic education in China in recent years. From the perspective of objective factors, the sample composition is more complex. The population of Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangzhou is 230 million, about 10 times that of Shanghai. Secondly, from the specific data, the gap between the second and tenth place is not big; Third, truly represent the competitiveness of a country (region) in the future is the proportion of high level students, in the test, three areas of at least one field to achieve a high level, the proportion of students in mainland China on the 4th, the top three, respectively, Singapore, China Taiwan and Hong Kong, China, thus proves that the strength and the overall competitiveness of China’s high level students is positive.14 PISA test results are of great significance for countries to understand and grasp the development of basic education quality and formulate relevant education policies. PISA not only fully reflects the concept of multi-dimensional evaluation in the design of test questions, but also fully reflects the concept of multi-dimensional research in the questionnaire tool used at the same time with the test. PISA and questionnaire aims to provide decision-making information and reference for governments, therefore, PISA is not content to test how well students score on a individual accomplishment, and even did not stay in the study of individual factors affecting quality grades, but continue to delve into education affects the students’ literacy and academic performance and social reasons, including school equilibrium, effectiveness of running a school, family background, government spending on the influence of the students, namely people usually pay attention to the education of balance and education fairness and other social problems and government responsibility. The vast areas of China basic education quality is not the same, so not only to the PISA test results as the only index, cannot blindly believe that our country’s basic education quality is quite good, want to focus on the objective reality, see many areas in China, many national basic education development situation, to monitor the quality of basic education in our country. As early as in 2006, the examination center of the ministry of education of China signed the “PISA independent study of China” with the OECD for the purpose of learning international test evaluation technology, and the student sample was determined to be within the scope of general basic education.15 Scholars compared the results of PISA2009 independent research in China with those of PISA2009 international test, and came to the following conclusions: first, the overall education quality of the independent research areas in China is good, and the students’ mathematical literacy and scientific literacy are among the best in the world, while their reading literacy is lower than the OECD average. Scores in reading, math and science varied widely among the provinces and cities that took 14 The state council. The central committee of the communist party of China to further the reform of education teaching comprehensive advice to improve the quality of compulsory education [EB/OL]. (2019-06-23) [2019-07-23]. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2019-07/08/content_5407361.htm. 15 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Pay special attention to the promotion of local experience to strengthen top-level design labor education [EB/OL]. (2019-07-05) [2019-0718]. HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/moe_1485/201907/t20190704_388973. html.

1.2 The Quality of Education in China

13

the test. Second, the proportion of students with high proficiency in mathematics and science in China’s independent research areas is relatively large, and the reading literacy level is slightly lower than the OECD average. Third, students in independent research areas in China are relatively weak in reading information acquisition and retrieval, integration and interpretation, which is lower than the OECD average, but the information reflection and evaluation dimension is slightly higher than the OECD average. In terms of continuous text reading, the average level of independent research areas in China is basically the same as that of OECD, while the performance of non-continuous text reading is relatively weak, which is lower than the average level of OECD. Fourth, the reading literacy of female students is higher than that of male students in the independent research areas of China, and their math and science literacy is basically the same as the international results. Fifth, the influence of social, economic and cultural indicators on reading attainment of students in independent research areas in China is the average level of OECD, and the level of educational equity is relatively high. Sixth, in the independent research areas of China, students spend about 2 h more per week in reading, math and science classes than the OECD average, and nearly 10 h more per week in and out of class. The reading interest of students is higher than the OECD average, but the reading diversity and electronic reading index are lower than the OECD average. In the independent research areas of China, students often use marker and generalization strategies in reading, and students’ self-regulation ability in reading is the “weak spot”. Seventh, in China’s independent research areas, government grants are the main source of school funds, followed by tuition fees, miscellaneous fees or other expenses paid by parents. Students and teachers have a great influence on the learning atmosphere, and the principal gives more negative evaluation on many options. Teacher shortages and other indicators of teaching resource shortages are higher than the OECD average and have a greater impact on school development.16 After PISA2006, PISA2009, PISA2012 three rounds of independent research, our country has accumulated rich mass examination evaluation project research and field experience, to establish a adapt to the situation of our country’s education quality evaluation and monitoring system provides a reference, we should adhere to the people as the center, to advocate healthy, green education evaluation idea, construct the education quality evaluation system of Chinese features, boost the realization of the modernization of education management system and management ability; Pay attention to the cultivation and improvement of students’ interests, and lay a good foundation for students’ future development and lifelong learning in the basic education stage; The focus is not limited to students’ performance, but also to see the factors that affect students’ performance, so that children of all social strata can 16 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Pay special attention to the promotion of local experience to strengthen top-level design labor education [EB/OL]. (2019-07-05) [2019-0718]. HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/moe_1485/201907/t20190704_388973. html.

14

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

receive good education and have development space, coordinate the development of education quality and education equity, fair and high-quality education is excellent education.

1.2.2 The Quality of China’s Higher Education Overall plan for promoting the construction of world-class universities and first-class disciplines It is proposed that by 2020, a number of Chinese universities and disciplines will rank among the first-class in the world, and a number of disciplines will rank among the top in the world. By 2030, more universities and disciplines will rank among the first in the world, and a number of universities will rank among the first in the world, and a number of disciplines will rank among the first in the world. By the middle of this century, the number and strength of first-class universities and disciplines will rank among the top in the world, and China will basically become a great power in higher education. China is a rapidly rising developing country with the largest higher education system in the world. Xi Jinping once said at the national conference on ideological and political work of colleges and universities: the development level of higher education is an important symbol of a country’s development level and potential. To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the status and role of education cannot be ignored. Our need for higher education is more urgent than ever, and our need for scientific knowledge and talent is stronger than ever. The CPC central committee has made a strategic decision to accelerate the construction of world-class universities and disciplines, which is to improve the development level of China’s higher education and enhance the country’s core competitiveness. Although China’s university education has moved from elitism to popularization, there is still a big gap between China and developed countries in this respect.17 World university rankings by using some subjective and objective indicators, as well as data from a university or relevant departments of the university of relative levels of the university of the world’s “quality evaluation”, and to provide valuable information for us reference frame and development, to promote healthy competition between colleges and universities, also provide quality evaluation system for the government, to optimize the allocation of resources. Under the existing world university ranking system, the authorities with high recognition are times higher education world university ranking, QS world university ranking and US News world university ranking. Times higher education world university rankings Times Higher Education World University Ranking is a Ranking published by Times Higher Education (THE). The quality of education of universities around the world 17 Xi

Jinping. Speech at national education conference [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

1.2 The Quality of Education in China

15

is assessed and ranked by independent audit institutions with 13 indicators in 5 categories, including teaching, research, paper citation, degree of internationalization and industrial income. The university of Oxford topped the list of more than 1250 institutions of higher education in 81 countries and regions, followed by Cambridge university in second place and Stanford university in third place. Overall, American universities dominate the list with the largest number. Tsinghua university has overtaken Peking University for the first time as the top university on the Chinese mainland and topped the Asian rankings by one place over the national university of Singapore. QS world university rankings The QS World University Rankings are an annual list of World universities released by Quacquarelli Symonds, a UK-based international education market consultancy. The QS world university rankings are based on a questionnaire survey that measures the impact and quality of education of universities by a range of academic indicators: peer review in the academic field, reputation of global employers, teacher-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and international student ratio. In the QS world university rankings, released in 2019, the top three universities in the world are still dominated by us universities: MIT, Stanford university and Harvard University. The national university of Singapore and Nanyang technological university tied for the top spot in Asia, ranking 11th globally. Mainland China: Tsinghua university moved up from 17th to 16th; Peking University moved up from 30th to 22nd place. Fudan university moved up from 44th to 40th. Hong Kong, China: the university of Hong Kong maintained its 2018 ranking, ranking 25th in the world. The Hong Kong university of science and technology and the Chinese university of Hong Kong ranked 32nd and 46th respectively, above the top 50 Chinese universities.18 World university rankings US. News & World Report is the authoritative U.S. news and World Report, which comprehensively measures the academic level and educational quality of a university according to more than ten indexes, such as its global research reputation, regional research reputation, publications, total citations and international cooperation. In the world university rankings, the United States dominates, with Harvard, Massachusetts institute of technology and Stanford taking the top three spots. Tsinghua university ranks 50th in the world, 14 places better than 2017, ranking first among mainland universities. Peking University ranks 68th in the world, ranking second among mainland universities. Tsinghua and Peking are also the only Chinese universities to make the top 100 on the U.S. News world university rankings.19 To sum up, most of the ranking lists in the world are dominated by famous universities in developed countries in Europe and America. Although there are few 18 Under the state council. The national education career development “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in planning [EB/OL].” (2017-01-19) [2019-07-17]. http://www.gov.cn/zhe ngce/content/2017-01/19/content_5161341.htm. 19 Under the state council. The national education career development “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in planning [EB/OL].” (2017-01-19) [2019-07-17]. http://www.gov.cn/zhe ngce/content/2017-01/19/content_5161341.htm.

16

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

universities in China, the overall development trend is still upward, and the future is expected. The exclusion itself is the regional bias that European and American countries initiated and set up evaluation projects. There is no denying that the historical accumulation, academic tradition, research achievements and management mechanism of these foreign famous schools are worth learning and referring to. This kind of learning and reference is not blind imitation and plagiarism. Although the ranking of world universities plays a positive role in many aspects, blindly advocating this ranking system will lead to imitations among universities and uneven development among disciplines. We should recognize the deficiencies in the world university rankings. For example, there is a discipline bias in the world university rankings, because the development of humanities and social sciences has a strong local characteristic. There is the problem of emphasizing quantity while neglecting quality. Chinese colleges and universities should open their international vision, see the excellence of other countries’ colleges and universities, admit their current shortcomings, absorb the essence of their running schools, improve their own strength, and strive to lead the development trend of the world’s universities one day. China’s higher education is now in the stage of popularization. Since the 18th national congress of the CPC, China’s higher education has achieved a leap-forward growth. By the end of 2018, China had 2631 universities, with a total enrollment of 37.79 million students and a gross enrollment rate of 45.7%. It effectively meets the people’s strong demand for higher education. The phenomenon of returning the function of talent cultivation to the central position, strengthening the fundamental task of promoting virtue and cultivating people, and more balanced regional layout of higher education all prove that China’s higher education is developing healthily. However, as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, new changes have taken place in the principal contradiction in our society, and the people have created new demands for higher education.20 In a discussion with Peking University’s teachers and students on May 4th Youth Day in 2014, Xi Jinping once said, there will not be another Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, MIT or Cambridge in the world, but there will be the first Peking University, Tsinghua university, Zhejiang university, Fudan university, Nanjing university and other famous Chinese universities. This is the most vivid and direct interpretation of “world-class universities with Chinese characteristics”. Our country’s colleges and universities must take root in China, according to the characteristics of earth to development of China’s colleges and universities in the process of building a world-class university cannot excessive pursuit of scale and form, to create a model of development with Chinese characteristics, must adhere to the basic task, adhere to the moral education first, strengthen education, emphasize ethics strengthen construction; Optimize the structural layout, promote the fairness of higher education, optimize the regional layout of colleges and universities, promote fair competition, and ensure fair access to school. In response to people’s expectations, we will develop 20 Under the state council. The national education career development “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in planning [EB/OL].” (2017-01-19) [2019-07-17]. http://www.gov.cn/zhe ngce/content/2017-01/19/content_5161341.htm.

1.2 The Quality of Education in China

17

high-quality higher education, focus on student experience, expand quality resources, and improve the quality assurance system. we should sure that the socialist direction of running a school, implement will improve the teaching quality and research level, inheritance and development of its own unique cultural and historical background, form a “high level talent training system”, to strengthen the overall leadership of the party, focusing on improving the quality of party construction, insist on foreign roots in China and accommodation, training builders and successors to the cause of socialism.

1.3 China’s Basic Education System 1.3.1 Development of China’s Educational Legal System China’s education law did not form a complete system in the early days after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and its development and formation were mainly after the third plenary session of the eleventh central committee of the People’s Republic of China. With the rapid development of economic society, society is increasingly urgent demand for the development of education, education field cannot live without the specification, in 1995, the parent law in the field of education, the education law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “education law”) was officially promulgated, implement the basic strategy of governing the country according to law and administering education according to law for the development of the education legal, by law applied to the barriers, the protection of the law and standard is the essential condition of the development of education.21 The education law is the mother law in the field of education. It consists of ten chapters: general provisions, basic system of education, schools and other educational institutions, teachers and other educators, educatees, education and society, educational input and conditions guarantee, foreign exchange and cooperation of education, legal responsibilities and supplementary provisions. It defines the socialist nature of China’s education, establishes the strategic position of giving priority to the development of education, emphasizes the responsibility of governments at all levels to give priority to the development of education, stipulates the equal right of citizens to receive education, embodies the basic characteristics of China’s socialist education, and sets the basic direction for the development of education. The education law makes provisions from the inside and outside of education to ensure the development of education. Education covers vocational education, adult education and other aspects except compulsory education, and includes off-campus content and social and cultural life related to education in the scope of legal adjustment. The external guarantee measures for the development of education are stipulated to 21 OECD.PISA 2012 key findings [EB/OL]. (2013) [2017-07-12]. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutp

isa/pisa-2012-results.htm.

18

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

ensure and increase the investment in education and implement the priority development of education. The promulgation and implementation of the “education law” is an important symbol of China’s overall implementation of education administration by law, which provides a legal basis and guarantee for the training of talents in the socialist modernization construction, promotes the reform and development of education, and has a significant and far-reaching impact (see Table 1.1). The education law is the mother law in the field of education. It consists of ten chapters: general provisions, basic system of education, schools and other educational institutions, teachers and other educators, educatees, education and society, educational input and conditions guarantee, foreign exchange and cooperation of education, legal responsibilities and supplementary provisions. It defines the socialist nature of China’s education, establishes the strategic position of giving priority to the development of education, emphasizes the responsibility of governments at all levels to give priority to the development of education, stipulates the equal right of citizens to receive education, embodies the basic characteristics of China’s socialist education, and sets the basic direction for the development of education. The education law makes provisions from the inside and outside of education to ensure the development of education. Education covers vocational education, adult education and other aspects except compulsory education, and includes off-campus content and social and cultural life related to education in the scope of legal adjustment. The external guarantee measures for the development of education are stipulated to ensure and increase the investment in education and implement the priority development of education. The promulgation and implementation of the “education law” is an important symbol of China’s overall implementation of education administration by law, which provides a legal basis and guarantee for the training of talents in the socialist modernization construction, promotes the reform and development of education, and has a significant and far-reaching impact (see Table 1.2). The construction of China’s educational legal system The first level is the education law, which is a basic law of China. It is based on the constitution and formulated by the National People’s Congress. It is the mother law of all education laws and regulations and the basis for formulating separate laws, administrative rules and regulations of different departments in the field of education. The second level is the special law, shall be formulated by the standing committee of National People’s Congress (NPC), have the compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China, the vocational education law of the People’s Republic of China, the higher education law of the People’s Republic of China, the law of the People’s Republic of China private education promotion law, “pedagogic law of the People’s Republic of China” and degree regulations of the People’s Republic of China, a total of six law (such as Table 4.3). The third level is educational administrative regulations, which are formulated and issued by the state council. Educational administrative regulations are the main body of our country’s educational law, which

1.3 China’s Basic Education System

19

Table 1.1 The evolution of education law in China Periods

Documents

Functions and evaluations

At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China

In 1961, the central government promulgated the interim regulations on the work of institutions of higher learning directly under the ministry of education, the interim regulations on the work of full-time middle schools, and the interim regulations on the work of full-time primary schools, drafted by the ministry of education

Clear working rules have been formulated for schools at all levels. However, due to the influence of feudal autocratic tradition, it did not develop effectively and play its due role in mediating social life

After the reform and opening up

Re-issue of work regulations for Gradually restore order in the universities, secondary schools school. Since then, the education and primary schools field, which has long been separated from the legal system, has been moving towards the great goal of administering education by law In 1980, the 13th session of the standing committee of the fifth National People’s Congress adopted the regulations of the People’s Republic of China on academic degrees

It is the first law on education enacted by the highest organ of power since the founding of new China. It is conducive to meet the needs of the socialist modernization drive, promoting the growth of China’s scientific professionals, promoting the improvement of the academic level of various disciplines and the development of education and science

In 1982, the fifth session of the fifth National People’s Congress enacted the new constitution of the People’s Republic of China

The provisions of the constitution on education and the provisions of the education law provide the highest legal basis for administering education according to law

Compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China was adopted at the fourth session of the sixth National People’s Congress in 1986

The state implements nine-year compulsory education in the form of law. It has important influence on improving national quality, promoting socialist modernization and strengthening educational legal system (continued)

20

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

Table 1.1 (continued) Periods

Documents

Functions and evaluations

In 1993, teachers’ law of the People’s Republic of China was passed at the fourth session of the standing committee of the eighth National People’s Congress

It clarifies the important position of teachers in China’s socialist modernization construction, and makes comprehensive provisions on the rights, obligations, appointments, examinations, training and benefits of teachers, which is the fundamental guarantee for the construction of China’s teachers to be standardized and legalized

The 1980s and mid-1990s

The state council has formulated 16 relevant administrative regulations, including regulations on the elimination of illiteracy, regulations on the administration of kindergartens, regulations on the education of the disabled, and provisional regulations on the establishment of ordinary institutions of higher learning

The situation that the education work cannot be depended on has been initially ended but compared with the macroscopic social transformation requirements and the educational reform and development needs, the educational legislation is still in a relatively backward state

In 1993

The CPC central committee and the state council issued the outline of China’s education reform and development

It clearly proposes to “accelerate the legal construction of education, establish and improve the supervision system of law enforcement, step by step on the track of administering education according to law”, and “strive to initially establish the framework of educational laws and regulations by the end of this century”

18 March 1995

The education law of the People’s Republic of China was deliberated and adopted at the third session of the eighth National People’s Congress

Effective as of September 1, 1995. It is the mother law of Chinese education and has established the basic basis for Chinese education legislation

are added or adjusted according to the development needs of the educational cause and the problems not regulated by the laws at the first and second levels in the educational field.22

22 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

1.3 China’s Basic Education System

21

Table 1.2 Basic laws on education Periods

Content

Since 1984

Deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and members of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference (CPPCC) have repeatedly proposed that education legislation should be strengthened and basic laws on education should be enacted as soon as possible

In 1985

The state education commission commissioned scholars from Beijing normal university to carry out preliminary research and drafting of the legislation of the education law

In 1988

The state education commission put the work of automobile grass on its agenda and held a series of seminars, inviting relevant experts from the education and legal fields to participate in the discussion and revision of the draft text

At the beginning of 1994 The education law (draft), the state education commission to various ministries and commissions under the state council, the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government and the education administrative departments, various democratic parties, some institutions of higher learning, education and legal experts and education part of the old comrades, consultation, and according to the opinion of the various aspects of the education law (draft) submitted to the state council after modified In June 1994

According to the instructions of the state council, the education law (draft) was submitted to the national education work conference for discussion as one of the three important documents

At the end of 1994

At its 11th session, the standing committee of the eighth National People’s Congress deliberated on the education law (draft). It considered it comprehensive, mature and basically in line with China’s reality, and decided to submit it to the National People’s Congress in March 1995 for deliberation

18 March 1995

The education law of the People’s Republic of China was deliberated and adopted at the third session of the eighth National People’s Congress and came into force on September 1, 1995

The fourth level is local decrees, autonomous decrees and separate decrees. A local decree shall be enacted by the people’s congress of the province or municipality directly under the central government and the people’s congress with local legislative power and its standing committee in accordance with the actual needs of the administrative region in order to implement the laws and administrative regulations concerning education of the state; Regulations on autonomy and separate regulations are normative documents formulated by the people’s congresses of national autonomous areas in accordance with the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the local nationalities. The legal norms about educational activities in local laws, autonomous regulations and separate regulations are important parts of the educational law system.23 23 OECD.PISA

2009 key findings[EB/OL]. (2010) [2017-07-11]. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutp isa/pisa2009keyfindings.htm.

22

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

The fifth level is government rules, which are formulated and issued by various ministries and commissions under the state council. Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and the places where the people’s governments of provinces and autonomous regions are located, and the people’s governments of larger cities approved by the state council may also formulate rules according to administrative needs. From the history of the development of the educational law, we can see that the educational legal system is an important feature of the development of modern national education. Education is related to social stability and the future development of the country. Law can provide a powerful guarantee for ensuring, consolidating, promoting and developing education. The purpose of legislation is all to implement, use law to regulate the behavior of people in the field of education, adjust social relations. The formation of the educational legal system is not the end, but the beginning. What is important is to make the legal provisions be implemented in the actual life of the society. The transformation from the educational legal system to the educational legal system needs us: first, the legislation should pay attention to the system, logic and constitutionality of laws and regulations, and pay more attention to the procedural power protection. We should adhere to the right thinking, rather than the management thinking and the obligation thinking, and focus on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the subjects of education law such as educatees, teachers and schools. We should change the previous legislative concept that starts from the convenience management. Second, law enforcement should adhere to administration in accordance with the law, improve procedures and functions, establish a list of powers and a negative list system, and ensure the administration of education and schools in accordance with the law. Thirdly, judicial relief should be strengthened to ensure the independent exercise of judicial power. More attention should be paid to protecting the substantive and procedural rights of right holders and better coordinating the interests of all parties. Fourth, in terms of law abiding, we should implement the concept of law governing education in accordance with the law and guide the subjects of education to consciously abide by the law, find the law when problems arise, and rely on the law to solve problems. Only in this way can the administration of education by law be truly realized.24 The educational system for preschool, primary, secondary and higher education Article 17 of the education law stipulates: “the state implements the school education system of preschool education, primary education, secondary education and higher education. The state establishes a scientific academic system. The state council or the administrative department of education authorized by the state council shall stipulate the establishment, forms of education, length of schooling, objects of enrollment and objectives of training of schools and other institutions of education within the school 24 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. In 2017, the national education career development statistical bulletin [EB/OL]. (2018-07-19) [2019-07-19] HTTP:// http://www. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201807/t20180719_343508.html.

1.3 China’s Basic Education System

23

system.” Preschool education enrolls children aged 3–6 and 7; Primary education starts at the age of 7, and the primary school lasts for 6 years; Secondary education is divided into junior and senior high schools, each with three years; In higher education, 2–3 years of junior college, 4–5 years of bachelor’s degree, 2–3 years of master’s degree and 3 years of doctor’s degree. The nine-year compulsory education system Article 18 of the education law stipulates that the state implements a nine-year compulsory education system. That is, primary school (6 years) and junior middle school (3 years) belong to the category of compulsory education, which is the education that all school-age children and teenagers must receive uniformly implemented by the state. Compulsory education is compulsory, free, universal and secular. People’s governments at all levels are required to take various measures to ensure that school-age children and teenagers go to school. Parents or other guardians of schoolage children or juveniles as well as social organizations and individuals concerned shall have the obligation to ensure that school-age children or juveniles receive and complete compulsory education for the prescribed number of years. System of vocational education and continuing education Article 20 of the education law stipulates: “people’s governments at all levels, relevant administrative departments, trade organizations, enterprises and institutions shall take measures to develop and ensure that citizens receive vocational school education or vocational training of various forms.” Vocational education in China mainly takes secondary vocational education schools as the carrier. By the end of 2017, there were 10,700 secondary vocational education schools nationwide, with 15.925 million students and 839,200 full-time teachers. Among them, there are 3346 general secondary professional schools, 3617 vocational high schools, 2490 technical schools and 1218 secondary professional schools for adults. On January 24, 2019, the implementation plan of national vocational education reform released by the state council affirmed the important status and social contribution of vocational education, analyzed the existing problems of vocational education in China at the current stage, and made guidance and requirements for the future reform and development of vocational education. With the rapid upgrading of industrial structure and the adjustment of economic structure, the demand for technical and technical talents from all walks of life is becoming more and more urgent, and the importance and role of vocational education are becoming more and more prominent. However, there are still many problems in vocational education in China, such as the imperfect system construction, the need to strengthen vocational skill training base, the imperfect system standard, and the insufficient motivation for enterprises to participate in running schools. Therefore, improving the vocational education and training system requirements, the construction of vocational education of national standard, to promote the integration between production and

24

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

education “dual” education, the construction of multi-running pattern, strengthen vocational education teaching quality supervision evaluation, a sharp rise in the level of modernization in the new era of vocational education, to promote and enhance the competitiveness of national economic and social development to provide quality human resources support.25 In addition, Article 20 of the education law also stipulates: “the state encourages the development of various forms of continuing education, enabling citizens to receive appropriate forms of political, economic, cultural, scientific, technical and professional education, promoting the mutual recognition and connection of learning achievements of different types, and promoting lifelong learning for all.” With the rapid development of society, it is impossible to cope with new posts, new industries and new problems without learning. Under the influence of the thought of lifelong education, China also advocates the development of various forms of continuing education and encourages lifelong learning. The forms of continuing education in our country mainly include adult college entrance examination, network distance education, self-study examination and television university. Adult college entrance examination points starting point to rise undergraduate course, high school starting point to rise undergraduate course and high school starting point junior college. Network distance education is the foundation that the university develops network teaching work in the school, pass modern communication network, develop record of formal schooling education and education of non-record of formal schooling, issue certificate of record of formal schooling to the student that achieves requirement of this, specialized subject graduation, record of formal schooling certificate electron is registered. Self-study examination is the higher education form that individual self-study, society helps to study and national examination union, do not get gender, age, race, race and already got the restriction of educational level. With active forms of continuing education form a complete set of management method “of higher education to continue education professional management method”, “network higher degree education enrollment and the nationwide examination data management interim measures”, “higher education self-study exam organization work regulations”, modern distance education learning center (or points) of the interim measures for the administration of such rules and regulations, perfecting the laws and regulations can be various forms of continuing education under the information age norms and protection, promote modern personnel training.26 National education examination system “Education law” 21 stipulations: the state education examination by the state council education administrative department to determine the type, and by the state approved implementation of education examination institutions. There are four categories of examinations under the unified jurisdiction of the national education examination 25 Lao kaisheng. Construction of educational legal system after 30 years of reform and opening up [J]. Education research, 2008(11):3–10. 26 Lao kaisheng. Construction of educational legal system after 30 years of reform and opening up [J]. Education research, 2008(11):3–10.

1.3 China’s Basic Education System

25

Table 1.3 Classification and specific items of national examination system Categories

Details

National education examination General college entrance examination; Adult college entrance examination; Postgraduate examination; Self-taught examination; Primary and secondary school teacher qualification examination Social certificate examination

Cet-4 and cet-6; National computer rank examination (NCRE); National computer application level examination (NIT); National English test system (PETS); National foreign language proficiency test (WSK); Calligraphy and painting level examination (CCPT); English test for medical care (METS); Chinese language proficiency test for ethnic minorities (MHK)

Overseas examination

TOEFL; IELTS; TestDaF; Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT); Korean language proficiency test (TOPIK); GRE; Graduate management admission test (GMAT); Cambridge business English certificate examination (BEC); French (delf-dalf); Certificate of proficiency in Spanish (DELE); LSAT; Gelpe-bras, Brazil’s Portuguese language; Cambridge young learners English (CYLE); Cambridge English test band 5 (MSE)

Other

National foreign language proficiency assessment system

center of the ministry of education: national education examination, social certificate examination, overseas examination and others (see Table 1.3). Academic certificate system Article 22 of the education law stipulates: “schools and other educational institutions established or recognized by the state shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state, issue academic certificates or other academic certificates.” System of school work certificate is to point to the knowledge that educates to be in complete some stage, some limits and degree and technical ability to learn, after reaching the education standard that the country sets, by place school or other education organization basis “teach a law” regulation, issue school work certificate to educatees, prove its complete regulation school work. At present, there are academic certificates and other academic certificates in China. Academic certificates are the main body of academic certificates. They are the diplomas issued to those who have completed the learning tasks at this stage, such as primary school graduation certificates, middle school graduation certificates, high school graduation certificates and so on. Other school work certificate is to point to the school that implements education of blame record of formal schooling or other organization to be able to organize educational teaching activity according to national education standard, the corresponding certificate that issues to the qualified student that completes teaching plan and academic work task that formulates, it is the school work certificate that learns level and reality of time to accept pedagogue. Both types of academic certificates can reflect a person’s education level and provide an important basis for employers to select talents. The

26

1 Shaping the Educational Development in China …

academic certificate system is an important means to ensure the normal and orderly conduct of educational activities and the quality of education, as well as one of the important pillars of the national educational management system and even the personnel management system.27 Degree system Article 22 of the education law stipulates: “degree-conferring units shall confer corresponding academic degrees and issue academic certificates to persons who have reached a certain academic level or professional technical level.” There are currently three types of degrees in China: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctor’s degree. Citizens of a certain academic level who support the leadership of the communist party of China and the socialist system may apply for corresponding academic degrees in accordance with the regulations of the People’s Republic of China on academic degrees. Literacy education Article 24 of the education law stipulates that: “people’s governments at all levels, grass-roots mass autonomous organizations and enterprises and institutions shall adopt various measures to carry out education to eliminate illiteracy. Citizens capable of receiving literacy education according to state regulations shall receive literacy education.” By the end of 2017, China had 9700 adult primary schools with 754,200 students and 19,300 staff, including 10,800 full-time teachers. There are 506 adult junior middle schools with 127,000 students and 1772 teaching staff, including 1367 full-time teachers. A total of 282,700 people are illiterate, and another 304,000 are taking literacy courses. Literacy education has 14,400 teaching staff, among which 7546 are full-time teachers.28 Educational supervision system and educational evaluation system for schools and other educational institutions The Ministry of Education of China sets up a special bureau of education supervision, namely the Office of the Education Supervision Committee of the State Council, to draw up rules, regulations and standards for education supervision and guide the work of national education supervision. To organize and implement, according to law, the supervision, evaluation, inspection and acceptance, and quality monitoring of education at all levels and of all kinds; Drafting national education supervision report; To undertake the specific work of the education steering committee of the state council. Education supervision work aimed at the thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in new era as a guide, fully implement the party’s 19 big spirit and national conference on education requirements, to ensure the education 27 The state council. The national vocational education reform plan [EB/OL]. (2019-01-24) [201907-18] HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/moe_1777/moe_1778/201904/t20190404_376 701.html. 28 The state council. The national vocational education reform plan [EB/OL]. (2019-01-24) [201907-18] HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/moe_1777/moe_1778/201904/t20190404_376 701.html.

1.3 China’s Basic Education System

27

priority to the development, implementation of basic task and promote education fair, improve the quality of education center, in order to ensure the party’s education policy carry out important policy decisions, supervise and urge the central education work smoothly implement, promote the education of the people generally concerned about hot spots as the main line, difficult problem to solve effectively to optimize the supervision of the education management system, perfecting the running mechanism, strengthening the results using as the breakthrough point, We will earnestly implement the requirements of the party leadership group of the ministry of education that “never forget politics, never forget learning, never forget methods, and never forget to seek truth in matters”, constantly improve the quality and level of education supervision, and urge relevant functional departments, local people’s governments at all levels, schools of all kinds and other educational institutions to earnestly fulfill their educational responsibilities.29

29 The state council. The national vocational education reform plan [EB/OL]. (2019-01-24) [201907-18] HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/moe_1777/moe_1778/201904/t20190404_376 701.html.

Chapter 2

Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices

This chapter focuses on examining the educational value in China from the dimensions of ideas and practices. The important thoughts on people-centered education, the new situations, challenges and problems, and policy trends and paths are illustrated to investigate how to identify and shape the educational value in current Chinese context, historically.

2.1 The Important Thoughts on the People-Centered Education Education is the foundation of the centenary plan. The principal contradiction in Chinese society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people’s increasing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The people pursuing the better education, and their aspiration for a better life is the goal of the party and the government. The fundamental goal of development is to meet the aspirations of the people, meet the aspirations of government, and improve people’s wellbeing. We need to respond to the people’s aspirations at all times, ensure their equal right to participation and development, safeguard social equity and justice, and constantly realize, safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, so that the fruits of development will benefit all the people in a more equitable way.1 1 The

People’s Daily online. Xi Jinping in the 18th session of first plenary session of the standing committee of the political bureau of the central committee and the Chinese and foreign journalists remarks during a meeting with [EB/OL]. (2012-11-15) [2019-07-20]. http://cpc.people.com.cn/18/ n/2012/1115/c350821-19591246.html.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_2

29

30

2 Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices

The Party always emphasizes that education is for the people. Xi Jinping is very concerned about the people’s sense of getting education. He has repeatedly stressed that educational equity is an important foundation of social equity and must continue to promote the development of education to benefit all the people in a more equitable way and strive to ensure that each child enjoys the fair and quality education. On September 9, 2014, Xi Jinping pointed out that the education serves the people, socialism with Chinese characteristics, the educational reform, and the opening up and socialist modernization. On October 18, 2017, Xi Jinping in 19 times the National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizes that the people as the center of the development of ideas, seeks the livelihood of the people. We should promote social equity and justice to ensure that all the people in the co-construction and sharing of the developing more feeling, constantly promote the all-round development of people, all the people common prosperity. In his speech at the national education conference on September 10, 2018, Xi Jinping stressed the need to develop education with the people at the center, accelerating the modernization of education, building a strong country in education, and running the education to the satisfaction of the people. These important discussions clearly express the people’s position on education in China, emphasize the necessity and importance of developing education with people as the center, and answer the question of “why developing education with people as the center”. Xi also stressed that educational equity is an important basis for social equity, and we must continue to promote more and more equitable benefits of education to all the people and strive to ensure that every child enjoys fair and quality education.2 On September 25, 2013, Xi Jinping at the United Nations global initiative “education first “anniversary commemoration in the emphasis on efforts to develop education, life-long education, the construction of learning society, efforts to let every child enjoy the chance to receive education, trying to make 1.3 billion people enjoy better and fair education, develop their own, contributing to society, the benefit of the ability of the people. On September 10, 2018, Xi Jinping, delivered a speech on the national conference on education, points out that the education must adhere to the people-centered development, reform and innovation in solidarity, perfect personality, develop human, cultivating talents, the well-being of the people as the work target, cultivation of the comprehensive development of socialist builders and successors.3 All these statements emphasize the goal of developing education with people as the center and answer the question of “what education is developing with people as the center”. On the one hand, education should allow every child to enjoy the opportunity to receive education and make a difference in life. Through quality-oriented 2 The

People’s Daily online. Xi Jinping in the 18th session of first plenary session of the standing committee of the political bureau of the central committee and the Chinese and foreign journalists remarks during a meeting with [EB/OL]. (2012-11-15) [2019-07-20]. http://cpc.people.com.cn/18/ n/2012/1115/c350821-19591246.html. 3 Xi Jinping in the twelfth session of the first meeting of the National People’s Congress the closing speech at the meeting [EB/OL]. (2013-03-18) [2019-07-20]. http://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0318/ c87228-20818234.html.

2.1 The Important Thoughts on the People-Centered Education

31

education, we can improve our personality and achieve all-round development. On the other hand, education should meet people’s expectations, so that more and more fruits of development can be Shared by all the people in a more equitable manner. To uphold the people-centered development philosophy in education is to solve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate educational development, expand the supply of high-quality resources, and provide education to the satisfaction of the people. President Xi stressed that education should be developed with the people as the center, with a view to promoting equity in education and improving the quality of education, and focusing on major problems that the people feel strongly about, we should focus on tackling key problems, carrying out comprehensive reform, and making breakthroughs in key areas, so as to expand the benefits of reform and enhance the people’s sense of achievement. On September 9, 2016, when visiting teachers and students of Beijing Bayi school, Xi Jinping pointed out that educational equity is an important basis for social equity, and we should continue to promote education to benefit all the people in a more equitable way. We need to strengthen support for basic education, provide pre-school education, develop nine-year compulsory education in a balanced way, and basically make high school education universal. We will optimize the allocation of educational resources, and gradually narrow the gap between regions, urban and rural areas, and between schools. We need to take targeted measures to lift poverty out of poverty through education, with the focus on helping the children of poor people receive education and preventing the transmission of poverty from generation to generation, so that every child has confidence in himself or herself and hopes for the future. To deepen the school system, management system, investment system, examination of enrollment and employment system reform, deepen the school internal management system, personnel salary system, the reform of the teaching management system, deepen the personnel training mode, teaching content and methods of reform, the education of all types and at all levels more in line with the laws of education, more in line with the talent growth.4 In his speech at the national education conference on September 10, 2018, Xi Jinping stressed the need to seize opportunities and advance the overall plan and strategic design for accelerating the modernization of education and building a strong country in education with a higher historical position, a broader international vision and a more profound strategic vision. These discussions emphasize the requirement of developing education with people as the center, and answer the question of “how to develop education with people as the center”, that is, to promote the quality and balance of compulsory education, optimize the allocation of educational resources, and promote targeted poverty alleviation in education.

4 Xi Jinping in the twelfth session of the first meeting of the National People’s Congress the closing

speech at the meeting [EB/OL]. (2013-03-18) [2019-07-20]. http://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0318/ c87228-20818234.html.

32

2 Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices

2.2 Quality Balance of China’s Contemporary Education 2.2.1 The Connotation of Quality Balance Quality and balance are two important indicators of the development of high-quality education. The quality balanced development not only pays attention to the educational starting point and the process fairness, but also emphasizes the educational result fairness. Improving the quality of education is the life of quality balanced development. The essence of education balance should be quality balance, and the balance without quality assurance is inefficient balance. Quality balance is the high standard of education resources, high equity of education quality, high balance of inter-school differences and high coverage of various groups. According to the theory of internal development, the three goals of high quality and balanced development of compulsory education are the full utilization of resources, the realization of comprehensive benefits such as social benefits and the improvement of educational quality. The balanced development of compulsory education under the theoretical framework of internal development. After the conditions of running schools are basically equal, people’s most urgent educational demand is to comprehensively improve the quality of education, and the deeper level of desire is the opportunity for students to achieve all-round development. Improving the way of resource utilization and raising the efficiency of resource utilization will provide more sufficient conditions for the improvement of education quality and the all-round development of human beings. We should pay attention to the development of the local education resources and the protection of traditional culture, promote the development of the entirety, relevance, coordination, realizes the education efficiency and fair unification, the unification of the economic, environmental and social benefits, for the improvement of education quality and provide stable social environment for people’s all-round development and abundant resources. The ultimate goal of making full use of resources, achieving comprehensive benefits and improving the quality of education is to promote the all-round development of human beings. The comprehensive development of human is the driving factor of the whole circulation system, which will form the driving force for the improvement of education quality and promote the scientific utilization of resources and the realization of comprehensive benefits. The scientific utilization of resources provides conditions and guarantees for the realization of comprehensive benefits. Three forms the virtuous circle, promotes the high-quality balanced development. The quality of compulsory education is balanced. It centers on quality improvement, relies on self-development driven by education, and focuses on diversified development and appropriate scale development. In the theoretical framework of internal development, the quality and balanced development of compulsory education is to mobilize the enthusiasm of the stakeholders of compulsory education, form the centripetal force and drive of balanced development organization, and enhance

2.2 Quality Balance of China’s Contemporary Education

33

their ability of balanced development of education. We are required to make full and scientific use of local educational resources, and actively absorb foreign resources and promote local transformation.5 In the process of balanced development, the unity of efficiency and equity, human development and social development should be realized. First, the quality and balanced development of compulsory education cannot be achieved without the participation and support of governments at all levels, educational administrative departments, schools, educational administrators, teachers, parents, students and local residents. Secondly, scientific utilization of human, material, financial, natural, cultural and other resources is the basis for quality and balanced development. Finally, the quality and balanced development of compulsory education is not for the sake of balance, but to promote the all-round development of people in the process of development and promote the development and progress of the whole society with the development of people. Quality balance is a dynamic state. Even under the same conditions of running schools, there are gaps in quality levels between schools, which need to be promoted and improved together, so as to improve the overall education level in the process of narrowing the gap. While giving full play to the radiation effect of high-quality educational resources, we must focus on the self-construction of each single school. In the process of promoting compulsory education to quality and balance, by effectively stimulating individual’s subjective initiative in process development, individuals can fully explore their own advantages and characteristics, promote individual’s all-round development, and promote the balanced development of compulsory education from extension to connotation.6 In order to consolidate the achievements in the basic and balanced development of compulsory education, further narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and between schools in compulsory education, and improve the standard construction of compulsory education and the quality of education, the ministry of education issued the supervision and evaluation measures on the balanced development of compulsory education in counties (hereinafter referred to as the measures) in April 2017. The assessment contents and standards proposed in the measures cover four aspects, including resource allocation, government guarantee degree, education quality and social recognition, and 31 specific indicators and major dimensions of social recognition survey have been established. The promulgation of the measures marks the fair development of compulsory education in China from the basic balance of educational resources to the highlevel balance with equal emphasis on educational resources and quality, that is, the 5 Xi.

China will strive to develop education, life-long education [EB/OL]. (2013-09-26) [2019-0720]. http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0926/c1024-23047714.html. 6 Xi Jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-10(001).

34

2 Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices

fair education with quality. Quality balance through high standards of educational resources, high equity of educational quality, high balance of inter-school differences and high coverage of various groups, improve the level of educational equity and social satisfaction.7 First, we will improve the quality of resources and ensure all-round development. The measures not only set national standards for the value of instruments and equipment and sports venues per student, but also far exceeded the national average. It also puts forward clear requirements for the allocation of audio, physical and beauty classrooms and multimedia classrooms, indicating that the investment in compulsory education is moving towards quality care, and educational resources should not only meet the basic teaching needs, but also meet the needs of students’ comprehensive development. Second, we will improve the quality of education and strengthen teacher development. The measures put forward feasible evaluation indexes for the allocation of backbone teachers, the allocation of teachers in scarce subjects, the opportunities for teacher training, and the proportion of teacher exchanges, etc., thus guaranteeing the human resource basis for the realization of fair education quality. However, the strict control of school size and class size shows that the talent training mode in China more respects the rules of education and children’s physical and mental development, which is conducive to the implementation of individualized teaching and the organization of educational activities, and ultimately guarantees more development opportunities for every student. Three is to focus on every school to promote social harmonious, “method” difference coefficient value is lower, and six of seven indexes every school must achieve, will also be more than 50 people to teach in quantitative evaluation, to enhance the level of rural schools and weak schools and guarantee citizens’ fair development opportunities, promote social integration. Four is to focus on each group to realize opportunities to share, not only focus on high quality equilibrium intercollegiate differences also pay close attention to the difference of population, the methods for rural students, to teach students, special education students, such as children, left-behind children, migrant workers vulnerable groups, funds for education, admission, some Suggestions on the healthy development of binding forces, realized the high coverage of all kinds of people.8

7 Xinhua

news agency. Xi Jinping hosted central comprehensively deepen reform leading group 35 meetings [EB/OL]. (2017-05-23) [2019-07-20]. http://www.xinhuanet.com/2017-05/23/c_1121 023088.htm. 8 Zhang Maocong, Liu Xinyang. Quality and balanced development of compulsory education in counties: conception based on internal development theory [J]. Education research, 2015, 36(12):67–72.

2.3 New Situations, Challenges and Problems

35

2.3 New Situations, Challenges and Problems In the new period, China pays attention to the development of fair and the development of the people’s satisfactory education. In the development of education, the need to constantly pay attention to the realization of people’s right to education, promote the balanced development of the compulsory education, promote the rational allocation of education resources, actively play a role of the government at the same time, effectively promote the realization of education fairness. At present, the most prominent new challenges and problems facing our country are the changes in the principal contradiction of society. In the field of education, the education of different regions, groups and schools faces many problems. Governments at all levels need to pool the strength of all sectors of society to promote fair and quality development of education, effectively guarantee the people’s equal right to education, and meet the people’s yearning for a better life.9 First, the gap between urban and rural education needs to be narrowed. Some areas still have the prominent contradiction between urban and rural dual structure, and there is still a big gap in the development of urban and rural education. In rural areas, some school students’ academic performance fails to meet the national standards, and they even lack interest in learning. There are problems such as insufficient teachers’ ability, insufficient home-school cooperation, and separation between school education and students’ real life. In urban areas, the distribution of high-quality education resources is uneven, unable to meet the education demand brought by the new-type urbanization, and problems such as large class size are prominent. Second, there is a gap in the level of inter-school education development. At present, China’s compulsory education has been basically balanced, but there is still a big gap in the level of inter-school education. On the one hand, there is a gap in the quality of education between schools. There are still some counties (cities and districts) in China that have not passed the compulsory education development and are basically balanced, and their schools’ education and teaching quality lag behind the development level of schools in other areas. On the other hand, the quality of school infrastructure construction needs to be further improved. In some areas, the school running conditions are poor and the degree of standardization construction is low.10

9 Xinhua

news agency. Xi Jinping hosted central comprehensively deepen reform leading group 35 meetings [EB/OL]. (2017-05-23) [2019-07-20]. http://www.xinhuanet.com/2017-05/23/c_1121 023088.htm. 10 Zhang Maocong, Liu Xinyang. Quality and balanced development of compulsory education in counties: conception based on internal development theory [J]. Education research, 2015, 36(12):67–72.

36

2 Shaping the Educational Value in China: Ideas and Practices

2.4 Policy Trends and Paths In the new era, improving the quality and balanced development of education is one of the main contents of China’s educational development. Under the social background of building a strong scientific and technological country, a strong digital country, a strong network country and an intelligent society, education should take advantage of this good opportunity to actively participate in the construction of digital China, take the people as the foothold for development, promote “Internet + education”, and gradually move towards the era of education informatization 2.0. We will expand the coverage of high-quality education resources by means of information technology, gradually narrow the gap between regions and between urban and rural areas through education informatization, promote equity in education, let hundreds of millions of children share high-quality education under the blue sky, and change their destiny through knowledge. To this end, we mainly start from the development and application of high-quality education resources and infrastructure construction and improve the level of balanced development of quality education by informatization. First, we vigorously develop and apply high-quality educational resources. First of all, the school adopts diversified forms such as collectivization, strong school with weak school, entrusted management, school district system management, school alliance, nine-year school system, etc., giving full play to the driving role of highquality schools, and strengthening the sharing of high-quality education resources such as teachers and curriculum among cooperative schools. Secondly, on the need of teachers to students and the characteristics of the different disciplines, high-quality development of different types of network education resources, such as the high quality network courses and its resources, tools and application platform, virtual simulation training system as well as the national language standard repertoire and the library, for the all-round development of students to provide rich and high quality education resources. Finally, we should ensure that students in weak schools have access to basic digital education resources, enhance the equality, universal benefit and convenience of digital education resources, and promote educational equity.11 Second, we further strengthen infrastructure construction, carry out multi-form education information construction, to provide good information network resources for the realization of quality and balanced development of education. First, carry out the project of “school connection with broadband”. With the opportunity of “broadband China” and “wireless campus” construction, it basically realizes the broadband network coverage of various schools and teaching sites at different levels, promotes the development of education informatization, enables students to share high-quality teaching resources, and guarantees the realization of education equity. Secondly, promote the project of “quality resources class access”, build a public service system of digital education resources, and provide technical support for learners to use high-quality education resources for their own development. Finally, implement the 11 Zhang Maocong, Liu Xinyang. Quality and balanced development of compulsory education in counties: conception based on internal development theory [J]. Education research, 2015, 36(12):67–72.

2.4 Policy Trends and Paths

37

“network learning space for all” project, promote the use of network learning space, provide equal opportunities for students in all kinds of schools to receive quality education, and promote the comprehensive and free development of people.12

12 Xinhua news agency. Xi Jinping hosted central comprehensively deepen reform leading group 35 meetings [EB/OL]. (2017-05-23) [2019-07-20]. http://www.xinhuanet.com/2017-05/23/c_1121 023088.htm.

Chapter 3

Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

This chapter concentrates on shaping the educational efforts in China. The various sections, including reasons and manifestations of giving priority to the development of educational undertakings, the history and present educational fund situation, the distribution of educational funds in China, relevant policies and regulations on the growth of educational funds in China, relevant policies and regulations on the composition of educational funds in China, and giving priority to developing the future trend of the education fund related policies, all contribute to epitomize the overall landscape of China’s educational practices, contextually.

3.1 Reasons and Manifestations of Giving Priority to the Development of Educational Undertakings Giving priority to the development of educational undertakings From a traditional point of view, the education of a country is limited by the economic development level of the country, and then comes after the economic development, so the education development needs to take the economic development as the premise. Historically, the advancement of science and technology, the improvement of productivity level and the change of industrial structure put forward higher requirements on brainwork, making governments of various countries attach importance to and promote the development of education. Following this path, some countries have increased the scale and quality of their education. But in modern times, there has been another trend: “education tends to precede economic development in the world”.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_3

39

40

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

As stated in UNESCO’s report “learning to survive”, many developing countries have also chosen this path, despite the heavy sacrifice and all the difficulties it has brought.1 The fundamental reason why some countries attach so much importance to the development of education under the economic difficulties lies in the huge function value of education. In terms of economy, contemporary economic development has become a mode that relies on the growth of human and knowledge capital, and education enables the potential labor ability of workers to be transformed into real labor ability, so as to complete the development of human capital. On the other hand, education can promote economic development by directly producing scientific and technological knowledge. Beyond the economic field, from a broader perspective, education can play a positive role in a country’s politics, economy, culture and society. For example, the rapid economic rise of Japan and Germany after world war ii, despite the devastation of the war, is believed to have depended on the fruits of education priorities. Since the reform and opening up, China has always taken the development of education as a key task to achieve national prosperity and rejuvenation. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, Deng xiaoping pointed out clearly that “we should do everything possible to solve the problem of education by tolerating in other aspects and even sacrificing a little speed.” In 1999, at the third national conference on education work, Jiang zemin proposed for the first time that “education should be included in the overall layout of strategic development and modernization, and education should be given priority to as a leading, overall and fundamental work.” In 2003, Hu jintao put forward at the national talent work conference: “in today’s world, with the continuous development of the trend of world multi-polarization and economic globalization and the rapid progress of science and technology, the links between countries have become increasingly close, and the competition of comprehensive national strength based on economy and led by science and technology has become increasingly fierce. In the era of accelerating knowledge innovation, scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, human resources have become the most important strategic resources, and the competition of comprehensive national strength in the final analysis is the competition of human resources. Who has the talent advantage, who has a competitive advantage? Whoever can turn the talent advantage into knowledge advantage, scientific and technological advantage and industrial advantage will win the initiative of competition.” It can be seen that since the reform and opening up, China’s successive leaders have insisted on the strategic position of giving priority to the development of education, and have seen the important value of education in the country’s modernization construction,

1 Yuan zhenguo. Double priority: Chinese model of education modernization — for the 40th anniver-

sary of reform and opening up [J]. Journal of east China normal university (education science edition), 2018, 36(04):2–3.

3.1 Reasons and Manifestations of Giving Priority …

41

and seen the important role of education in promoting the development of human resources and knowledge innovation.2 Giving priority to the forms of education As a strategic direction and concept of “priority development of education” how to connect with reality is an important issue. It is necessary to explain the reality of the priority development of education and how to judge whether education has been given priority. And this kind of performance also laid down the specific path of education priority development and showed the country what needs to be done in the development of education. Therefore, the form of giving priority to the development of education is not only a summary of the actual performance and path selection of the development of education, but also the basis and basis for the selection of operational evaluation indicators. China’s “priority development of education” has its clear direction, namely “three priorities”: “economic and social development plan gives priority to education development”, “financial funds give priority to education investment”, “public resources give priority to meet the needs of education and human resources development”. “Giving priority to education development in economic and social development planning” is reflected in the definition of the priority status of education, the requirements of tasks and the formulation of guarantee measures in China’s economic and social development planning and relevant policies and regulations. “Giving priority to education investment with financial funds” is reflected in a series of growth requirements and compliance requirements of education funds. “Public resources give priority to meeting the needs of education and human resources development” is reflected in the construction of teachers and the guarantee of public resources meeting the needs of education. Among these forms of priority development of education, the education funding is of significant importance. First of all, the emphasis of development planning, laws and regulations on the development of education needs to be reflected in the input of funds, and the requirements on the development of education need to be based on and guaranteed by funds. Secondly, both the construction of teaching staff and the input of public resources need to be supported by education funds. Finally, in the above forms, the investment in education funds is the clearest and objective, the easiest to carry out statistical calculations. The current situation of education priority development is reflected in many indicators of the input amount and growth of education funds. However, how to support education priority development plays a role in China’s economy and society and its benefits also need to be measured by the data of education funds input. Although we cannot simply equate the input of funds with the whole connotation of priority development, as its most important guarantee and embodiment, education funds can focus on the reality of our country in implementing the strategy of priority development of education career. Therefore, 2 Yuan zhenguo. Double priority: Chinese model of education modernization — for the 40th anniver-

sary of reform and opening up [J]. Journal of east China normal university (education science edition), 2018, 36(04):2–3.

42

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

this report takes education funding as a starting point to outline the implementation of education priority development strategy. Second, president Xi jinping’s thoughts on giving priority to the development of education. China’s modernization drive has entered a new era, and the environment for economic and social development has undergone major changes. Do we need to continue our strategy of prioritizing education? What are the priority goals and requirements for the development of education and what are the specific tasks in terms of funding input? President Xi jinping’s remarks have answered these questions for us, not only pointing out the direction and path of China’s priority development of education in the new era, but also bringing motivation and confidence to the workers in the field of education.

3.1.1 The Necessity and Importance of Giving Priority to the Development of Education If education prospers, the country prospers; if education is strong, the country is strong. Education has always been a strategic priority in Xi’s mind. On September 9, 2014, Xi jinping, on behalf of the discussion with Beijing Normal University’s speech, although China’s economy is already the world’s second, but our country is the world’s largest developing country, is still in the primary stage of socialism, the historical accumulation of various education resources shortage, education unbalanced development between different regions, education overall condition is not very ideal, teachers’ overall level is not high, especially the grassroots teachers income conditions for offering education standard is not high, education management level need to be improved. This requires us to adhere to the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education and the strategy of strengthening the country through human resources, give priority to education, and continue to vigorously promote education reform and development, so as to make China’s education better and stronger. On September 11, 2018, Xi jinping, general secretary in the national education conference speech stressed that education is the cornerstone of national revitalization and social progress, is the virtue-building cabinet, to improve people’s comprehensive quality, promote the all-round development of people, enhance the vitality of innovation to create the Chinese nation, the decisive significance to realize the great rejuvenation of China. Education is of great importance to the state and the party. These discussions emphasize the necessity and importance of giving priority to the development of education, which answers the question “why should we give priority to the development of education”. The general secretary elaborated it from two perspectives.3

3 Yuan zhenguo. Double priority: Chinese model of education modernization — for the 40th anniver-

sary of reform and opening up [J]. Journal of east China normal university (education science edition), 2018, 36(04):2–3.

3.1 Reasons and Manifestations of Giving Priority …

43

First, China’s education itself has deficiencies. President Xi pointed out that China’s education in the accumulation of resources, grassroots teachers’ income, school conditions, management level and other aspects of the reality of the shortage, put forward to adhere to the education priority strategy, make China’s education development better and stronger. This argument points to the essence of education, the priority development of education is to promote the perfection of education itself, which is of great significance. Second, the education plays an important role in promoting national prosperity, national rejuvenation and social progress. Xi pointed out, from a strategic perspective, the education plays an important role in the overall strategic layout of the country’s development. Therefore, to give priority to education is to serve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, national rejuvenation and social progress, which is of social and historical significance. This argument points to the social function of education, which is manifested through the role of education in national economic and social development. The world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. Scientific and technological innovation has never had such a profound impact on the balance of economic and political forces in the world and has become the key to international competitiveness. In the past, we used to believe that “poor countries should develop large education programs”. We need to strengthen education in a big country. We need to both strengthen our weak spots and raise the quality of education.4

3.1.2 The Goal of Giving Priority to the Development of Education On September 25, 2013, Xi jinping, at the United Nations global initiative “education first” anniversary commemoration contained in a video statement, strive to develop education, life-long education, the construction of learning society, efforts to let every child enjoy the chance to receive education, trying to make 1.3 billion people enjoy better and fair education, develop their own, contributing to society, the benefit of the ability of the people. In his speech at the second central symposium on work in Xinjiang in June 2014, Xi pointed out that the education should be given priority, excellent talents should be cultivated, the enrollment rate should be increased comprehensively, and school-age children should learn, live and grow in school. In July 2014, member of the 17th congress, Chinese academy of sciences, Chinese academy of engineering academician of the 12th conference speech, the general secretary offered to put talent resource development in science and technology innovation is the most preferred position, reform of talent cultivation, introduction, use, such as mechanism, efforts to create a number of world-class scientists, science 4 The

good of the party and the people satisfied with the teacher, with Beijing normal university teachers and students on behalf of the discussion of speech [EB/OL]. http://politics.people.com.cn/ n/2014/0910/c70731-25629122.html, (2014-09-09) [2019-07-23].

44

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

and technology leading personnel, engineers and high level innovation teams, pay attention to cultivate innovative talents and a line of youth science and technology talents. On September 10, 2018, Xi in a major speech on national conference on education, points out that to insist the priority to the development of education undertakings as important to promote the development of the party and the state of various business solution, continuously make education to fit companions and national business development requirements, with the masses of the people are looking forward to corresponds to the match, with China’s comprehensive national strength and international status. Xi’s statement on the goal of giving priority to the development of educational undertakings answers “what kind of educational undertakings should be given priority to”, which is a description of the ideal educational form and its achievements. The development of education itself is a very broad field of issues, but the above words are closely followed by the key words of education priority development, which can reflect some key educational expectations in the general secretary’s education priority development thought. The general secretary’s discourse involves the elaboration from both individual and social perspectives. From the perspective of individuals, education should allow every child to get the opportunity to receive education in school and get the opportunity to develop. From a social perspective, education should meet people’s expectations, ensure fairness, and train a group of outstanding talents to serve scientific and technological progress as well as important undertakings of the party and the country.5 Discussion on Xi jinping’s requirements on giving priority to the development of education In a video congratulatory message on the first anniversary of the UN global education first initiative, xi stressed that China will firmly implement the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, always give priority to education and increase input. In his speech at the second central symposium on work in Xinjiang, general secretary xi stressed the need to attract more talented people to devote themselves to education and that more state education funds should be allocated to Xinjiang. In his speech with the teachers and students of Beijing normal university, the general secretary pointed out that the party and the government attach great importance to education. On September 9, 2016, when visiting teachers and students of Beijing bayi school, general secretary xi pointed out that party committees and governments at all levels should stick to the strategic position of giving priority to education, strengthen the sense of responsibility, and timely study and solve major problems of education reform and development and hot issues of public concern. To deepen the school system, management system, investment system, examination of enrollment 5 The

good of the party and the people satisfied with the teacher, with Beijing normal university teachers and students on behalf of the discussion of speech [EB/OL]. http://politics.people.com.cn/ n/2014/0910/c70731-25629122.html, (2014-09-09) [2019-07-23].

3.1 Reasons and Manifestations of Giving Priority …

45

and employment system reform, deepen the school internal management system, personnel salary system, the reform of the teaching management system, deepen the personnel training mode, teaching content and methods of reform, the education of all types and at all levels more in line with the laws of education, more in line with the talent growth. At the national education conference in 2018, the general secretary stressed the need to seize opportunities and advance the overall plan and strategic design for accelerating the modernization of education and building a strong country in education with a higher historical position, a broader international vision and a more profound strategic vision. How to give priority to the development of education, focusing on the process and means. Resource support and system guarantee play a particularly important role in this process. General secretary xi stressed the importance of expenditure input several times in his words, and took expanding input as an important means and embodiment of giving priority to the development of education. From the words of the general secretary, we can clearly see the key of education funding in the priority development of education. In order to thoroughly study and implement the general secretary’s important statement on education priority development, Yuan guiren, then minister of education, pointed out that priority development should be taken as the guarantee of education modernization and education input should be continuously expanded. Prime minister Li keqiang, speaking in 2018 national conference on education, points out that should understand and learn to implement the Xi important speech spirit, the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the thoughts as the instruction, accurately grasp the new situation new task faced by the education development, the full implementation of education priority development strategy, priority arrangement of education on economic and social development planning, financial capital investment on priority on education, public resource configuration can meet the needs of education and human resources development. It can be said that the investment of educational funds is a “hard indicator” for a country to attach importance to education. Therefore, to pay attention to the issue of “giving priority to the development of education” in China, and to study and implement the general secretary’s important statement on the priority development of education, it is necessary to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the historical and current situation of China’s educational funds.

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation The composition of educational funds in China According to the indicators used in the statistical yearbook of China’s educational expenditure over the years and the statistical announcement of the implementation of national educational expenditure, the largest caliber of educational expenditure in China is national educational expenditure, including national fiscal educational expenditure, the investment of the organizers in private schools, donation income, enterprise income and other educational expenditure. The second largest category is

46

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

the state’s fiscal education funds, including those allocated from the general public budget, from the budgets of government-managed funds, from enterprises running schools, from school-run industries and from social services, and from other fiscal education funds. What is often referred to as “education as a percentage of GDP” actually USES this measure. The third major category is education funds in the general public budget, which mainly refers to the education funds arranged by the central and local financial departments at various levels or the higher competent departments within the current year and included in the national budget. It includes education fund, capital construction fund and additional education fund. Among them education expends additional to point to according to the unit that formulates scale to pay value added tax, business tax, consumption tax and individual collect education expends additional. It is important to note that the statistical statement of calendar year had used “budget education funds include educational expenses to add”, “education funding public budgets include educational expenses to add”, “national public finance expenditure on education” to describe this indicator, indicator covers the content of the project has also changed, such as included in the original “research” and “other” item has been classified as “other general education funds of public budget”, while the original “budget education funds”, “education funding public budgets” itself does not contain educational expenses to add.6 The overall changes in educational expenditures in China from 1993 to 2017 This part intercepts the statistical yearbook of China’s educational expenditure from 1993 to 2017 and relevant statistical data of the website of the national bureau of statistics and presents the historical changes of China’s educational expenditure from the historical vertical dimension (see Fig. 3.1). The national education expenditure is the largest standard of education expenditure statistics, which explains the total education expenditure in China, including both fiscal education expenditure and various social forces. From 1993 to 2017, China’s overall educational expenditure continued to grow. In 1993, the national expenditure on education was about 106 billion yuan, 620.8 billion yuan in 2003 and 3036.5 billion yuan in 2013. In 2017, total funding for education reached 4.2562 trillion yuan. It can be seen that the overall amount of education funds in China is huge and the growth is rapid. The amount and growth of national education funds reflect the alarming scale of China’s education and the vertical trend of rapid development (see Fig. 3.1). The second largest amount of government expenditure on the education also showed the sustained and rapid growth. In 1993, the government spent about 86.8 billion yuan on education, 385.1 billion yuan in 2003 and 2448.8 billion yuan in 2013. In 2017, China’s government funding for education reached 3420.8 billion yuan. It needs to be clarified that state fiscal education funds are not the same as budgetary education funds, but also include extrabudgetary funds. The term “extrabudgetary funds” refers to all kinds of financial funds which are not included in the 6 The

good of the party and the people satisfied with the teacher, with Beijing normal university teachers and students on behalf of the discussion of speech [EB/OL]. http://politics.people.com.cn/ n/2014/0910/c70731-25629122.html, (2014-09-09) [2019-07-23].

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation

47

450000000 400000000 350000000 300000000 250000000 200000000 150000000 100000000 50000000

19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13 20 14 20 15 20 16 20 17

0

Fig. 3.1 1993–2017 changes in national education funding. Unit Ten thousand yuan. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

state budget management and which are collected, withdrawn and arranged for use by state organs, institutions and social organizations in order to perform government functions or perform government functions on behalf of the government in accordance with state laws, regulations and rules with legal effect. Therefore, this index also includes enterprise allocation in running schools, funds from school-run industries and social services for education. In use, this measure is usually compared with the gross domestic product (Figs. 3.2 and 3.3).7 From the perspective of structure, the national fiscal education funds account for a large proportion of China’s education funds, ranging from 60 to 80%, indicating that fiscal funds are the main source of China’s education input, while other social inputs, such as the donation income, private education organizers’ input and business income including tuition and miscellaneous fees, account for about 20–40%. Among them, the proportion of fiscal expenditure showed a downward trend from 1993 to 2005, continued to rise from 2005 to 2012, and remained stable from 2012 to 2017. After 2012, the proportion of government education funds in the national total has basically remained stable at about 80% (see Fig. 3.4).8 The ratio of the state government’s educational expenditure to the gross domestic product (GDP) is the 4% ratio of educational expenditure, which has been mentioned 7 The

good of the party and the people satisfied with the teacher, with Beijing normal university teachers and students on behalf of the discussion of speech [EB/OL]. http://politics.people.com.cn/ n/2014/0910/c70731-25629122.html, (2014-09-09) [2019-07-23]. 8 It is selected from the data of 1993–2017 in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 "China statistical yearbook of educational expenditure”.

48

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

400000000 350000000 300000000 250000000 200000000 150000000 100000000 50000000

19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13 20 14 20 15 20 16 20 17

0

Fig. 3.2 1993–2017 changes of national financial education funds. Unit Ten thousand yuan. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fig. 3.3 The proportion of national fiscal education funds in the national education funds from 1993 to 2017. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

in the president Xi’s speech and is often emphasized in the field of education. Statistics show that from 1993 to 2012, the proportion of national fiscal education expenditure in the gross domestic product (GDP) showed an overall upward trend and reached the highest value (4.3%) in 2012. The proportion fluctuated from 12 to 17 but remained above 4%. This result is in line with the statement of the general secretary, “since

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation

49

5.0% 4.5% 4.0% 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fig. 3.4 The proportion of government education expenditure in the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. Data sources China education expenditure statistics yearbook, national bureau of statistics website

2012, China’s fiscal education expenditure accounted for 4% of the GDP in that year”, which highlights the importance the party and government attach to the development of education.9 From the statistical results, it can be clearly seen that the national fiscal education funds mainly come from the local fiscal education funds, and the growth mainly depends on the local fiscal education funds. In 2017, for example, local government spending on education accounted for more than 90% of national spending on education, while central government spending on education accounted for less than 10%. On the other hand, due to the large proportion of national financial education funds in China’s education funds, it can be known that local financial funds are an important source of China’s education funds (Fig. 3.5).10 From the statistical results, it can be clearly seen that the national fiscal education funds mainly come from the local fiscal education funds, and the growth mainly depends on the local fiscal education funds. In 2017, for example, local government spending on education accounted for more than 90% of national spending on education, while central government spending on education accounted for less than 10%. On the other hand, due to the large proportion of national financial education funds in China’s education funds, it can be known that local financial funds are an important source of China’s education funds.11

9 Xu-hai

pan, Zhao Gang. Xi: China will strive to develop education, life-long education [EB/OL]. http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0926/c1024-23047714.html, (2013-09-26) [2019-07-23]. 10 It is selected from the data of 1993–2017 in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)" in 2018 “China statistical yearbook of educational expenditure”. 11 It is selected from the data of 1993–2017 in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “China statistical yearbook of educational expenditure”.

50

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

350000000

300000000

250000000 200000000

150000000

100000000

50000000

19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13 20 14 20 15 20 16 20 17

0

Fig. 3.5 1993–2017 general public budget changes in the education funding. Unit Ten thousand yuan. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

The third major category of general public budget education funding also showed sustained growth. In 1993, China’s general public budget spent about 67.7 billion yuan on education, 361.9 billion yuan in 2003, and 2.1406 billion yuan in 2013. In 2017, China’s general public budget for education reached 2992 billion yuan. This standard only includes the education funds in the fiscal budget, which reflects the performance of education input from the government budget.12 From the structural point of view, the general public budget education funds obviously constitute the most important part of the state financial education funds, and other extrabudgetary funds are secondary. From 1993 to 2011, the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget of China in the national fiscal education expenditure increased and approached 100%. In 11–12, there was a significant decline in this proportion. At present, this proportion is basically stable at about 90% (see Fig. 3.6).13 According to the statistics, the proportion of education expenditure in China’s general public budget fluctuated from 1993 to 2017, but basically remained within the range of 14–16.5%. This proportion continued to decline from 2011 to 2015 and leveled off after 15 years. To sum up, it can be concluded that the amount of 12 It is selected from the data of education expenditure in general public budget from 1993 to 2017 in the “statistics of total education expenditure over the years in China (1991–2017)”, the statistical yearbook of China’s education expenditure in 2018. Data of “general public budget education funds” from 1991 to 2011 include education fund, capital construction fund, additional education fund, research fund and other funds, while from 2012, only education fund, capital construction fund and additional education fund are included. 13 It is selected from the data of 1993–2017 in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “China statistical yearbook of educational expenditure”.

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation

51

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fig. 3.6 1993–2017 ratio of education funds in general public budget to government education funds. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

educational expenditure in China is huge and the growth of educational expenditure is significant only from the data of the three standards of educational expenditure. However, whether “priority” development needs to be combined with GDP, fiscal expenditure and other data indicators. Despite a marked increase in the share of government spending on education in gross domestic product, it did not reach 4% until 2012. However, the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget has declined in many years. On the one hand, these situations show that there are real difficulties in making education a priority. On the other hand, there is still room for further consolidation and improvement of the growth of educational funds in China (see Fig. 3.7).14 Comparison of educational expenditure in China by region China is a multi-ethnic country with a vast territory and a large population. There is an imbalance in the level of economic and social development among provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as an obvious gap in the development of education. The overall increase of funds is not enough to reflect the real situation of different regions in implementing the strategy of giving priority to the development of education. Therefore, this part intercepts the data of different regions in the statistical yearbook of China’s educational expenditure and presents the distribution of educational expenditure in China’s provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities. The statistics in this part do not include the relevant data of Taiwan province, Hong Kong special administrative region and Macao special administrative region. 14 It

is selected from the data of 1993–2017 in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “China statistical yearbook of educational expenditure”.

52

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

17.0% 16.5% 16.0% 15.5% 15.0% 14.5% 14.0% 13.5% 13.0%

19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13 20 14 20 15 20 16 20 17

12.5%

Fig. 3.7 1993–2017 ratio of education expenditure in general public budget to fiscal expenditure. Data sources China education expenditure statistics yearbook, national bureau of statistics website

In terms of total educational expenditure, the top five provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) in 2017 were Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Beijing and Zhejiang, while the bottom five provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) were Qinghai, Ningxia, Tibet, Hainan and Tianjin. In terms of national fiscal education funds, the top five provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) in 2017 are Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Beijing and Henan, and the bottom five provinces (Ningxia, Qinghai, Tibet, Hainan and Tianjin). From the perspective of growth rate, the five provinces (autonomous regions) with the largest growth rate of education expenditure and state fiscal education expenditure from 1997 to 2017 are all Tibet, Guizhou, Qinghai, Ningxia and Jiangxi, and the five provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) with the lowest growth rate are Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Jilin and Fujian. Combining educational expenditure with the growth rate of educational expenditure, it can be found that, although the educational expenditure and the state financial educational expenditure of the economically underdeveloped western provinces such as Ningxia, Qinghai and Tibet lag behind in the total amount, they rank at the top of the country in terms of growth rate. This shows that education funds are inclined to poor and vulnerable provinces, but efforts should be continued to further promote the rational distribution of education funds among regions and promote education equity. In addition, Jilin, Jiaoning and northeast Heilongjiang ranked low in total educational expenditure, and the growth rate of educational expenditure was at the bottom of the country. This phenomenon deserves consideration and attention. According to Xi jinping’s speech at the second central symposium on work in Xinjiang, “more state education funds should be allocated to Xinjiang”. From the overall situation of the

3.2 The History and Present Educational Fund Situation

53

past 20 years, the growth rate of education funds in Xinjiang is relatively in the top position in the country, which can reflect China’s attention and support for education in Xinjiang to some extent.15 The proportion of local financial education funds in GDP is concerned about the relationship between the financial education input and the level of economic development. It can be found that many provinces (autonomous regions) in the western region rank high, with a large proportion of fiscal education funds in the local GDP, which clearly reflects the trend that education takes precedence over regional economic development. However, Jiangsu, Zhandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other economically developed provinces have a relatively low proportion. These provinces have good educational conditions and there is no urgent need to invest funds to improve the educational situation in areas with backward education. On the other hand, these regions have different educational fund structures, which leave more opportunities and development space for social forces to invest in education.16

3.3 The Distribution of Educational Funds in China—Take 2017 as an Example This part collects the relevant data of the statistical yearbook of China’s educational expenditure 2018 and present the distribution of educational expenditure in China. Specifically, this part will present the investment of educational funds in various levels of education, as well as the educational fund and infrastructure fund in general public budget. Some scholars have studied the educational investment structure of a group of developing countries from the 1950s to the 1990s and found that different countries have different priorities for various levels of education development. Countries such as South Korea give priority to primary education, while countries such as India and Brazil give priority to higher education. As a result, countries prioritizing higher education tend to promote economic development in the first place, but lack of sustainability, leading to unfair and excessive education. In 2017, the top three types of education in terms of the proportion of educational funds in various educational institutions were ordinary primary schools (27.93%), colleges and universities (20.96%), and junior middle schools (17.20%). Among them, the proportion of funds for compulsory education reached 45.13%. In 2017, the top three types of government education funds in all types of educational institutions were ordinary primary schools (32.87%), colleges and universities of higher learning (16.04%), and junior middle schools (19.69%). Among them, 15 Xu-hai pan, Zhao Gang. Xi: China will strive to develop education, life-long education [EB/OL].

http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0926/c1024-23047714.html, (2013-09-26) [2019-07-23]. 16 Cao shujiang. Economic development strategies and education development priorities of developing countries [J]. Education research, 2016, 37(09):135–142.

54

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

the proportion of compulsory education funds reached 52.56%. The proportion of national financial education funds in primary schools and junior middle schools is higher than that in education funds, which indicates that national financial input plays a very important role in the composition of education funds. According to the statistical results, there is a large amount of investment in compulsory education in all levels of education in China, especially in primary schools, which indicates that the state gives priority to supporting the popularization and development of compulsory education. This practice follows the objective law of China’s economic, social and educational development, avoids the unsustainable problem caused by blind expansion, and makes China’s strategy of giving priority to the development of education achieve better results in the long run. According to the “statistical indicators” in the statistical yearbook, education expenditure is divided into two parts: institutional expenditure and infrastructure expenditure. The expenditure of institutional fund divides into individual part and common part again. Among them, the individual part includes wage and welfare expenditure and subsidies to individuals and families. What salary welfare expends points to is the on-the-job worker of school or unit expenditure and all sorts of labor remuneration that employ personnel temporarily, and each society insurance premium that is afore-mentioned personnel pay. Subsidies to individuals and families are government subsidies to individuals and families. Public part includes goods and service expenditure, other capital expenditure two parts. Expenditure on goods and services is the expenditure on goods and services purchased by schools or institutions (excluding expenditure on fixed assets). Other capital expenditures refer to expenditures that are not centrally arranged by development and reform departments at all levels for the purchase of fixed assets, land and intangible assets by schools or units, as well as the construction of infrastructure and large-scale repair.17 Capital construction expenditure is the non-public budget capital expenditure arranged by development and reform departments at all levels for the purchase of fixed assets, land and intangible assets by schools or units, the construction of infrastructure and large-scale repair, and the completion of the above-mentioned projects, excluding the public budget supporting funds.18 In 2017, China spent a total of 2.830.3 trillion yuan on education and infrastructure construction, accounting for 94.6% of the general public budget on education, 82.7% of the state’s fiscal education and 66.5% of the national education. Of this amount, about 2.7693 trillion yuan was spent on education and 61 billion yuan on infrastructure construction. Specific disbursement constitutes a circumstance to show according to graph, can see, pay of teaching and administrative staff welfare is the most main disbursement item, occupy proportion amounts to 51%. This was followed by subsidies to individuals and families at 16%. Next comes expenditure on goods and services and other capital expenditure, accounting for 16 and 15% respectively. 17 Cao shujiang. Economic development strategies and education development priorities of developing countries [J]. Education research, 2016, 37(09):135–142. 18 Cao shujiang. Economic development strategies and education development priorities of developing countries [J]. Education research, 2016, 37(09):135–142.

3.3 The Distribution of Educational Funds in China—Take 2017 as an Example

55

Finally, infrastructure spending is 2%. In fact, schools are buying goods and services and building infrastructure to create good conditions for education. The attention and improvement of teachers’ salary can attract high-quality talents into the field of education and serve the development of students. Therefore, the above—mentioned outlays constitute the ultimate effect on students.

3.4 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Growth of Educational Funds in China The actual growth and source of education funds are formed under the framework of policies and regulations to a large extent. The provision of educational funds in policies and regulations is a concentrated reflection of the national priority in developing educational undertakings. On the other hand, giving priority to the development of education is not only to confirm and emphasize the important status of China’s education, but also to provide specific guarantee mechanism and operational evaluation index for the development of China’s education. From the perspective of educational funds, its guarantee and evaluation system is composed of a series of specific provisions on educational funds in the documents of policies and regulations. In the reality of education funding, which data should be paid attention to accurately reflect and measure the effect of promoting education priority development? Policies and regulations provide standards for it. The fund system formed by the main policies and regulations of education fund in China can be divided into two aspects: fund growth and fund composition. The third part focuses on the policy and regulatory documents related to the growth of funds, and the fourth part focuses on the source and composition of funds (see Table 3.1).

3.4.1 Policies, Regulations and Implementation of the Growth of Educational Expenditure in China in the 1990s In May 1985, the CPC Central Committee issued the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on the Reform of the Education System, stating that it is impossible to develop education without increasing investment. In a certain period of time in the future, the increase of central and local governments’ education appropriations will be higher than the increase of regular fiscal revenue, and the average education expenses will increase gradually according to the number of students in school, thus determining the requirements of “two increases” of education funds. However, this requirement has not yet determined the specific numerical target of education expenditure growth, nor has it specified the time, remaining at a more preliminary text.

56

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

Table 3.1 Major policy documents related to the growth of educational expenditure No. Period Policy documents

Issuer and issue number

1

1985

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System

CPC Central Committee

2

1993

China Education Reform and Development Outline

Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, State Council (Zhongfa [1993] No. 3)

3

1995

Education Law of the People’s Republic National People’s Congress of China (Presidential Decree No. 45)

4

1996

National Education Industry “Ninth State Education Commission (Teaching Five-Year Plan” and 2010 Development [1996] No. 45) Plan

5

1998

Education Promotion Plan for the 21st Century

State Council (Guo Fa [1999] No. 4)

6

2001

National Tenth Five-Year Plan for Education

Ministry of Education (Teaching [2001] No. 33)

7

2004

2003–2007 Education Revitalization Action Plan

State Council (Guo Fa [2004] No. 5)

8

2005

Notice on Deepening the Reform of the Funds Guarantee Mechanism for Rural Compulsory Education

State Council (Guo Fa [2005] No. 43)

9

2007

Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan for State Council the Development of National Education (Guo Fa [2007] No. 14)

10

2010

National Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020)

State Council (Zhongfa [2010] No. 12)

11

2011

Opinions on further increasing investment in financial education

State Council (Guo Fa [2011] No. 22)

12

2012

The 12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Education

Ministry of Education (Teaching [2012] No. 9)

13

2015

Notice on Further Improving the Guarantee Mechanism for Urban and Rural Compulsory Education Funds

State Council (Guo Fa [2015] No. 67)

14

2015

2015 Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (Revised)

NPC Standing Committee (Chairman’s Order No. 39)

15

2017

National Education Development 13th Five-Year Plan

State Council (Guo Fa [2017] No. 4)

16

2018

Opinions of the General Office of the Office of the State Council State Council on Further Adjusting and (State Office issued [2018] No. 82) Optimizing the Structure to Improve the Use Efficiency of Education Funds

3.4 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Growth …

57

In October 1992, Jiang zemin delivered a report entitled “Accelerating the Pace of Reform, opening up and Modernization to Win greater Victory for the Cause of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” at the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. “Scientific and technological progress, economic prosperity and social development fundamentally depend on improving the quality of workers and training large Numbers of talented people,” the report said. We must give priority to the education and work hard to raise the ideological, moral, scientific and cultural standards of the whole nation. Thus, it clearly puts forward the strategic task of giving priority to the development of education. Adhering to the spirit and requirements of the 14th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development in February 1993. The Outline calls for the establishment of a multi-channel system of raising education funds, increasing education funds, and ensuring the steady source and growth of education funds through legislation. From the specific indicators, the Outline puts forward the following requirements for the growth of education funds: 1. Increase the proportion of government expenditure on education in GDP to 4% by the end of the twentieth century; 2. Implement the principle of “the increase of central and local government education allocation is higher than the increase of regular fiscal revenue, and the average education cost will increase gradually according to the number of students in school” stipulated in the decision of the CPC central committee on education system reform; 3. To ensure that teachers’ salaries and the average public expenditure per student increased year by year. We will increase the proportion of education funds in government expenditures at all levels to an average of no less than 15% nationwide during the eighth five-year plan period. Among them, “raising the proportion of education funds in the financial expenditure at all levels” for education at all levels of government funding growth update requirements of regular higher than revenue growth, “the teachers’ salaries and embrace public funds has increased year by year” is the average of the cost of education college student shall increase steadily update requirement, so add “ascension state financial education spending accounts for the proportion of gross national product (GNP)”, in fact the education funds are proposed in the outline the requirements of “the three growth”. At the same time, the outline specific proposed the target value and the time, including the state financial education spending accounts for the gross national product (now more likely to “gross domestic product” rather than “GDP”) proportion reached 4%, governments at various levels in the end of the nineteenth century in the proportion of education funds during the “eighth fiveyear (1991–1995),” gradually increase to the national average of no less than fifteen percent. In March 1995, the National People’s Congress adopted the education law of the People’s Republic of China, which stipulates that “education is the foundation of the

58

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

socialist modernization drive, and the state guarantees the priority development of education”. The education law also formalizes the growth requirements of education funds: 1. The proportion of the state’s fiscal expenditure on education in the gross national product shall gradually increase with the development of the national economy and the increase of fiscal revenue (Article 54); 2. The proportion of educational funds in the total fiscal expenditure at all levels shall gradually increase with the development of the national economy (Article 54); 3. The increase in the financial appropriations for education of the people’s governments at various levels shall be higher than the increase in their regular fiscal revenues, and the average educational expenses based on the number of students in school shall be increased gradually (Article 55); To ensure a gradual increase in the salaries of teachers and the public funds for students per capita (Article 55). The above provisions will be the “Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development” on the growth of education funding requirements into a legal form fixed. Directly speaking, “education law” requires “four increases” in education funds. The “three increases” in the education law as commonly used refers to the contents stipulated in Article 55, namely: The first is growth: the growth of education financial allocation by governments at all levels is higher than the growth of recurrent fiscal revenue at the same level; The second growth: the per capita educational expenditure on students increased gradually; The third increase: a gradual increase in teachers’ salaries and public funds per student. But the general rule is to ignore the provisions of article 54. Therefore, the criterion for judging the growth of educational funds should be integrated with the provisions of the education law on the growth of educational funds to form indicators. Reviewing the actual situation of educational expenditure growth in 1990s, it can be found that some indicators of educational expenditure fail to meet the requirements of policies and regulations. To be specific, the proportion of government expenditure on education in GDP decreased slightly from 1993 to 1995, and increased slightly from 1995 to 1999, but the overall change was small. In 1999, for the first time, the proportion exceeded 2.5%, but not far short of the 4% required in China’s education reform and development program. The reasons are, on the one hand, the backward growth rate of this indicator; on the other hand, it is also related to the policy setting targets too fast and too high, and the failure to fully consider China’s actual development situation. The test of “the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget” shows that this proportion increased rapidly in 1993–1994, fluctuated steadily in 1994–1996, and then continued to decline in 1996–1999. As a result, this growth was

3.4 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Growth …

59

not well achieved in the 1990s. In addition, according to the numerical requirement of “no less than 15%”, the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget was above 15% from 1994 to 1998, but it fell back to about 14.5% in 1999 (see Fig. 3.12). From the Ministry of Education website statistics announced the implementation of the calendar year national education funds collecting relevant data, you can see 1996–1999 national China education budget, to increase the operating expense of various levels and embrace budget public funds in a national ordinary institutions of higher learning continues to grow, but the ordinary junior high school and vocational middle school of a small setback. This shows that the growth of per capita funding in the 1990s has not been completely achieved. Although the education law of 1995 formalizes the requirements for the increase of education funds in the form of law, there are still substandard conditions, which can also explain the difficulties in the promotion of education funds.

3.4.2 Policies, Regulations and Implementation of the Growth of Educational Expenditure in China Since 2000 After 2000, the “three growth” standards set in the education law have been maintained. Most policy documents in this period reiterated and emphasized the “three growth” or elaborated more specific requirements on its basis. In 1996, released by the national education career and development plan in 2010, the “ninth five-year plan” period to determine “the next 15 years is the basic guiding ideology of education development: according to the national economy and social development planning and strategy relying on science and education earnestly implement the strategic position of priority to the development of education, and further promote the reform of education system, optimize the structure of education, improve education quality and managerial benefit, make the development of education and the future need to adapt to social and economic development in our country”, continue to emphasize the strategic position of the prior development of education. In terms of funding growth, the document reiterates the relevant requirements in the outline of China’s education reform and development and the education law. In 1998, the Ministry of Education issued the Action Plan for Promoting Education in the twenty-first century. The plan emphasizes the need to “take education investment as a basic investment and do everything possible to increase investment in education. Governments at all levels should earnestly implement the various legal provisions and policies on raising educational funds, and in particular ensure the ‘three increases’ of educational funds as stipulated in the education law. In terms of specific numerical requirements, the first part of the plan reaffirmed the goal of 4% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) being spent on education but removed the time requirement of “the end of this century”. Two is “since 1998, the central

60

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

finance at the corresponding level (education) of spending accounted according to the same diameter increased by 1% a year, in 2000, the proportion increase 3%”, “at the same time, the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government spending in the proportion of education funds, around also should according to the actual increased by 1 to 2% a year”. Although the ninth fiveyear plan for national education and the 2010 development plan and the action plan for education revitalization for the twenty-first century were released in the 1990s, they mainly focused on the development of education at the beginning of the new millennium, and further extended and developed the spirit of giving priority to the development of education and the relevant provisions on the increase of education funding. In 2001, the Tenth Five-year Plan for National Education continued to emphasize the “three growth plans” and called for the proportion of government expenditure on education in the gross domestic product (GDP) to reach 4% by 2005. The word “gross domestic product” has been changed to “gross domestic product” and the 4% requirement has been renewed. In addition, the document suggests a law on the protection of education funds and points out that more investment should be made in rural compulsory education and more education funds should be allocated to the western region. The Notice on Deepening the Reform of the Funding Guarantee Mechanism for Rural Compulsory Education calls for exemption of tuition and miscellaneous fees for rural students in the stage of compulsory education, and for raising the level of public funding guarantee for primary and secondary schools in the stage of rural compulsory education. The action plan for the revitalization of education 2003–2007 and the Outline of the Eleventh Five-year Plan for the Development of the Country’s Education Programs continue the requirements of the “three growth plans” without further elaboration. The Outline of the National Program for Medium—and Longterm Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), released in 2010, emphasizes “three growth plans” and calls for “raising the proportion of government spending on education to 4% of GDP by 2012.” In 2011, the state council issued the opinions on further increasing financial investment in education, which once again stressed that governments at all levels should strictly implement the requirements for the increase of expenditure stipulated in the education law, and continue to work hard to raise the proportion of educational expenditure in the fiscal expenditure to 4%. The 12th Five-year Plan for the Development of National Education, released in 2012, included Hu jintao’s “three priorities” in the education development plan. The “three priorities” refer to the priority given to education development in the economic and social development plan, the priority given to financial funds to ensure investment in education, and the priority given to public resources to meet the needs of education and human resources development. In terms of expenditure, the document stipulates that the proportion of government expenditure on education should reach 4% of GDP in 2012 and maintain a steady growth. In 2015, the circular on further improving the funding guarantee mechanism for compulsory education in urban and rural areas designed an integrated funding guarantee mechanism for compulsory education in urban and rural areas. Specific

3.4 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Growth …

61

measures include the implementation of the unified policy of “two exemptions and one subsidy” in urban and rural areas, and the uniform benchmark quota of funding per student in urban and rural compulsory education schools. The education law of the People’s Republic of China revised in the same year did not change the relevant provisions on the increase of educational funds but changed the original 54 to 55 and the original 55 to 56. In 2017, the 13th Five-year Plan for the Development of China’s Educational Undertakings emphasizes the maintenance of this target against the background that the historical target of “4% of educational expenditure” has been achieved. “Stick to the education as the people’s governments at various levels of fiscal expenditures in key areas to give priority to guarantee, guarantee the state financial education spending accounts for the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) is generally not less than 4%”, “a sound guarantee for the stable and healthy increase of fiscal expenditure on education long-acting mechanism, ensure that the general public education expenditure budget only increased year by year, make sure that under the general public of the average number of students in school education budget spending only growing year by year” (hereinafter referred to as “two grow only”). Meanwhile, the document proposes to improve the education expenditure statistics system and related systems, and further standardize the monitoring of education expenditure. The 2018 Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Adjusting and Optimizing the Structure and Improving the Efficiency of the Use of Educational Funds take Xi jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era as the guiding ideology and continue to give priority to education. According to the guideline, the basic principle of education funds is “give priority to guarantee and increase input”, and it also proposes to guarantee financial input continuously, insisting on “increasing but not decreasing”. From the point of real growth, the State Financial Education Funds accounted for the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000–2002, appeared in 2002– 2005 back slightly, and the proportion of value has not been able to reach 3%, not to mention reiterated the proportion of 4% of the target, the national education career the tenth five-year plan in 2005 reached 4% of the tasks required by the apparently was not completed. The proportion of government expenditure on education in GDP continued to rise from 2005 to 2012, and exceeded 4% for the first time in 2012, reaching a historical high. Since 2012 it has fluctuated above the 4% level. The target of 4% was finally reached in 2012, which is consistent with the requirements of the action plan for education revitalization from 2003 to 2007 and the 12th five-year plan for the development of national education undertakings, while the subsequent maintenance of the proportion above 4% is consistent with the requirements of the 13th five-year plan for the development of national education undertakings. From the perspective of the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget as a proportion of fiscal expenditure, it failed to maintain the growth after 2000, and

62

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

especially showed a continuous decline from 2011 to 2017. This change trend and “education law” in the provisions are obviously inconsistent.19 From 2000 to 2017, the budgetary operating expenses and budgetary public funds for all types of education at all levels and in general showed an upward trend. Although the per capita expenditure for some types of schools fluctuated or decreased in some years, it was in line with the provisions of the education law on the increase of per capita expenditure. It can be seen that it is not an easy thing to maintain the requirement of continuous growth of education funds required by the education law and major policy documents. To ensure the priority development of education with the increase of education funds, governments at all levels need to have the heart to guarantee it with strong measures and institutional norms.

3.5 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Composition of Educational Funds in China This part focuses on the regulations on the composition and sources of China’s education funds in the policy and legal documents and focuses on the state’s attitude towards social investment in education funds and corresponding measures. Relevant policies and regulations on the composition of educational funds in China In the Outline of China’s Educational Reform and Development Program in 1993, it was proposed that “a system of collecting educational funds through various channels, including state financial allocation, taxes for education, tuition and miscellaneous fees for students in non-compulsory education, income from school-run industries, social donation and fund raising, and the establishment of educational funds, should be gradually established”. In terms of social input, the outline encourages all sectors of society to invest in education, “encouraging and advocating factories and mining enterprises, public institutions, social organizations and individuals to donate money for education, raise funds to run schools, without any taxation, on a voluntary basis. We welcome Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots, overseas Chinese, foreign groups and friendly people to provide funding and donations to education.” In addition, the guidelines provide for the collection of educational surcharges, the development of school-run industries and social services.20 19 It is selected from the data from 1993 to 2006 of “investment by private education organizers” in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “statistical yearbook of education expenditure of China”. Data of “sponsor investment in private schools” from 1993 to 2006: total funds for running schools of social organizations and individual citizens. 20 It is selected from the data from 1993 to 2006 of “investment by private education organizers” in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “statistical yearbook of education expenditure of China”. Data of “sponsor investment in private schools” from 1993 to 2006: total funds for running schools of social organizations and individual citizens.

3.5 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Composition …

63

Article 53 of the law of the People’s Republic of China education law determines the education funding system in our country as “funding supplemented, a variety of other channels to raise education funding system”, in addition, the enterprises, institutions, social organizations and other social organizations and individuals in accordance with law, run schools and other institutions of education, school funds by the sponsors are responsible for raising, the people’s governments at various levels may give appropriate support. Article 57 stipulates that “tax authorities shall collect additional educational fees in full amount according to law, which shall be under the overall management of educational administrative departments and mainly used for the implementation of compulsory education”. Article 58 stipulates that “the state shall adopt preferential measures to encourage and support schools to carry out work-study programs and social services and establish school-run industries without affecting normal education and teaching”. Article 60 stipulates that “the state encourages social organizations and individuals at home and abroad to donate money for education”. In this way, “education law” determines the state’s support for social forces to invest in education in legal form. From the perspective of indicators, the sources of social investment mainly refer to the non-state financial education funds in education funds, such as the investment of private school organizers and donation income. The education law stipulates that the state encourages enterprises, institutions, social organizations, other social organizations and individual citizens to set up schools and other educational institutions in accordance with the law, but also emphasizes that “no organization or individual may set up schools or other educational institutions for profit”. In the newly revised education law of 2015, this provision is changed to “schools and other educational institutions that are held or participated in with financial funds or donated assets shall not be established as profit-making organizations”. In fact, it allows the establishment of profit-making schools and institutions in addition to financial funds and donated assets. In 1996, the Ninth Five-year Plan for National Education and the 2010 Development Plan mentioned that “the pattern of multi-channel education fund raising is taking shape with government appropriation as the main part” and proposed to continue to develop the system with government appropriation as the main part and multi-channel education fund raising. In 1998, the Action Plan for the Revitalization of Education for the twenty-first Century proposed to “actively support the development of work-study program and school-run industry, and continue to implement preferential tax policies”, and “establish the China education development foundation on the basis of the China foundation for rewarding primary and secondary school preschool teachers, and raise education funds through multiple channels”. The 2003–2007 Action Plan for the Revitalization of Education calls for the expansion of financing channels and the establishment of an effective incentive mechanism for social investment, investment and donation in running schools. We should improve preferential tax policies for enterprises and individuals to donate to education and explore ways for enterprises to reasonably share vocational education funds. We will support the development of various forms of public welfare education

64

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

funds and trust funds and expand the share of lottery proceeds used to support education. Encourage and support schools to develop work-study programs and school-run industries. We will actively encourage and guide society, enterprises and individual citizens to donate money for education, investment and education.” Article 46 of the law of the People’s Republic of China on the promotion of privately-run education promulgated in 2002 stipulates that “privately-run schools shall enjoy preferential tax policies stipulated by the state” and article 47 stipulates that “privately-run schools may accept donations from citizens, legal persons or other organizations in accordance with relevant laws and regulations of the state. The state shall give preferential tax treatment to citizens, legal persons or other organizations that donate property to privately-run schools and commend them in accordance with relevant provisions. “Private education promotion law of the People’s Republic of China, regulations on the implementation of the second clause” social organizations or individuals other than state institutions can take advantage of the non-state fiscal funds held private schools of various levels”, the third rule “for outstanding donated to hold private schools or of other outstanding contribution for the development of non-governmental education undertaking social organizations or individuals, the people’s government at or above the county level shall give awards and recognition”, Article 5 of the provisions of “private schools can set up a fund to accept donated assets”, after approval of the school can use the name of its donors to give a name to school facilities.21 The Outline of the National Program for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) clearly points out that social input is an important part of education input. Preferential policies on finance, taxation, finance and land should be improved, and social forces should be encouraged and guided to donate money to schools. The Opinions on Further Increasing Financial Investment in Education call for broadening the sources of educational funds, but it is mainly aimed at the additional educational fees collected by governments at all levels and does not involve social input. The national education career “much starker choicesand graver consequences-in planning regulations compulsory education fully into the protection scope of public finance, the compulsory education implementation of the government investment is given priority to, reasonable share the educatees, other input mechanism of raising funds with various channels, to” to carry out the education for individuals and businesses to donation tax preferential policies to encourage social capital to enhance investment in education. The Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Adjusting and Optimizing the Structure to Improve the Use Efficiency of Education Funds clearly encourages the expansion of social input, which is reflected in the proportion of social input in the total investment of education funds. The Reform Plan for the Division of Financial Authority and Expenditure Responsibility between the Central and 21 It

is selected from the data from 1993 to 2006 of “investment by private education organizers” in “statistics of total educational expenditure of China over the years (1991–2017)” in 2018 “statistical yearbook of education expenditure of China”. Data of “sponsor investment in private schools” from 1993 to 2006: total funds for running schools of social organizations and individual citizens.

3.5 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Composition …

65

Local Governments in the Field of Education clarifies the responsibility of education funding of governments at all levels and divides the proportion of financial sharing. To sum up, the Chinese government has supported and encouraged the social input in the investment of education funds since the 1990s, which is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, through the “education law”, “private education promotion law” and other policies and regulations, China has determined the financial allocation system, other channels to raise education funds as a supplement, social investment into the education funds constitute a system. On the other hand, through tax relief and other measures, encourage and guide social forces to donate money for education and education. Concerning the method of tax remission, see the specific tax policy of ministry of finance, internal revenue service.

3.5.1 China Supports the Tax Reduction and Exemption Policy for Social Forces to Invest in Education In 2001, the Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation on Social Forces Notice the Deed Tax Policy problems clear to the people’s governments at or above the county level administrative department of education issued or approval of the competent department of Labor administration and the social forces of running a school license, by enterprises, institutions, social organizations and other social organizations and individual citizens using non-state financial education funds for social education institutions, its inherit land and housing ownership used in teaching, according to the law of the People’s Republic of China on deed tax is temporary byelaw article 6. The provisions of subparagraph (a), shall be exempted from business tax.22 In 2004, the Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation on Education Tax Policy Notice to Make a Provision for Education Tax Reduction Policy, involving the support of social forces to donate, funded education, specific include: (1) the taxpayer non-profit social organizations, state organs through the territory of China to the cause of education donation, granting the sum deducted before the enterprise income tax and personal income tax; (2) Stamp duty is exempted for the books that the property owner presents to the school; (3) to the competent administrative department for education of the people’s governments at or above the county level or the Labor administrative department in charge of examination and approval and issue it a license for the school, by enterprises, institutions, social organizations and other social and individual citizens using the state financial education funds geared to the needs of society at the school and education institutions, subjected to the land, housing ownership for teaching, shall be exempted from business tax. (4) Teaching instruments, books, materials and general learning supplies directly used for the education 22 The

government work report, on March 5, 2019 in the second session of the thirteenth session of the National People’s Congress on [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/premier/2019-03/16/content_5 374314.htm, (2019-03-16) [2019-07-25].

66

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

6000000

5000000

4000000

3000000

2000000

1000000

0

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Fig. 3.8 1993–2006 investment from social organizations and individual citizens in running schools. Unit Ten thousand yuan. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

of various vocational schools, high schools, middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens donated by overseas donors are exempted from import duties and value-added tax. The three regulations provide support and encouragement for the investment of social forces in education from the perspectives of domestic donation, overseas donation and the investment of private school organizers. In addition, the circular also includes policies on tax breaks and exemptions for school-run industries and social services, to facilitate the source of non-budgetary education funds (see Fig. 3.8). In 2007 our country education funds changes occurred in the statistical indicators, the original “social organizations and individual citizens in running schools” a change to “inputs” by the sponsor (s) from private schools, the original “school-run industries in the private schools and social services revenue funding for education”, “private school tuition and fees in the”, “other income” in the private school moved to other metrics. Therefore, it can be clearly found that there is a fault in the value of this index before and after 2007, so the two stages need to be counted separately. On the whole, both the investment of social organizations and individual citizens in running schools from 1993 to 2006 and the investment of organizers in private schools from 2007 to 2017 showed an upward trend (see Fig. 3.9). From the perspective of the proportion, from 1993 to 2006, the proportion of educational funds invested by social groups and individual citizens in running schools in China has shown an obvious trend of continuous growth, while from 2007 to 2017, the proportion of educational funds invested by organizers in private schools in China

3.5 Relevant Policies and Regulations on the Composition …

67

2500000

2000000

1500000

1000000

500000

0

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Fig. 3.9 The investment of sponsors in private schools in China in 2017. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook 6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Fig. 3.10 The proportion of educational funds invested by social organizations and individual citizens in running schools in China from 1993 to 2006. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

is relatively stable. Due to different indicators, it is impossible to compare the two periods (see Figs. 3.10, 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13).23 23 The government work report, on March 5, 2019 in the second session of the thirteenth session of the National People’s Congress on [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/premier/2019-03/16/content_5 374314.htm, (2019-03-16) [2019-07-25].

68

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

0.7%

0.6%

0.5%

0.4%

0.3%

0.2%

0.1%

0.0%

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Fig. 3.11 The proportion of educational funds invested by sponsors in private schools in China in 2017 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fig. 3.12 1993-income from education fund donation in China in 2017. Unit Ten thousand yuan. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

3.6 Giving Priority to Developing the Future Trend of the Education Fund Related Policies Based on the history and reality of the growth of educational funds, the speech of the general secretary, and the development of relevant policies and regulations of educational funds, we can make a general judgment of the future development trend

3.6 Giving Priority to Developing the Future Trend of the Education …

69

10% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fig. 3.13 1993–2017 proportion of educational funds donated in China. Data source China education expenditure statistics yearbook

of educational funds in China. The policy of future education funds reflects the strategic direction of giving priority to the development of education in the future.24

3.6.1 We Need to Ensure that Government Spending on Education Accounts for no Less Than 4% of GDP From 2012 to 2017, the proportion of national government education funds in the GDP has been above 4% for six consecutive years. In his report on the work of the government delivered at the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress in March 2019, premier Li keqiang mentioned that although financial resources are very tight this year, the proportion of government funding for education in the GDP will remain above 4%, and the central government has allocated more than 1 trillion yuan for education. We must make good use of our precious funds, work hard to provide education to the satisfaction of the people and raise the hope of tomorrow. “4%” has always been a key figure in the field of education funding. Xi jinping, of the Communist Party of China (CPC), once cited this figure in his speech as a sign that the party and government attach great importance to education. From the perspective of policy, since the 1990s, most important policies in the field of education in China will mention this figure requirement in the part of education funding. The 2017 National 13th Five-year Plan for the Development of Education 24 The government work report, on March 5, 2019 in the second session of the thirteenth session of the National People’s Congress on [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/premier/2019-03/16/content_5 374314.htm, (2019-03-16) [2019-07-25].

70

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

and the 2018 Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on further adjusting and optimizing the structure to improve the efficiency of the use of Education Funds continue to emphasize the task of 4%. The above situation indicates that in the next period of time, China’s education expenditure will be maintained and consolidated as an important target of the government’s education expenditure accounting for 4% of GDP. In terms of international comparison, the proportion of government expenditure on education in GDP in major countries is more than 4%, and the world average is close to 5%. Therefore, in the long run, there is still room for further improvement of the proportion of national fiscal education funds in the GDP, but this needs to be established on the premise that the 4% line can be consolidated. For now, consolidating this achievement is the most important task.

3.6.2 From Adhering to the “Three Growth Plans” to Emphasizing that “Two Growth Plans Do not Decrease” The requirement of “three growth” is an important task defined in China’s education law. However, from the historical growth of education expenditure, some indicators, such as the proportion of education expenditure in the general public budget, failed to maintain the growth. In recent years, policy documents such as “the 13th five-year plan for the development of national education” and “opinions of the general office of the state council on further adjusting and optimizing the structure to improve the efficiency of the use of educational funds” begin to replace “three increases” with “two increases but no decrease”. “Two only increase but not decrease” refers to the general public budget education expenditure of the fiscal year only increase but not decrease, according to the average number of students in the general public budget education expenditure only increase but not decrease year by year. From the perspective of historical changes, the general public budget education expenditure, the education fund and public expenditure within the per capita budget maintained a good growth. It can be seen that the new formulation is more in line with the actual situation of education funding in China. In the future, some policy documents related to education funding may maintain the task requirements of “only increasing but not decreasing”.

3.6 Giving Priority to Developing the Future Trend of the Education …

71

3.6.3 We Need to Increase Investment in Education Funding in Xinjiang and Other Provinces and Ensure that Education Funding Is Reasonably Distributed Among Provinces In his speech at the second central symposium on work in Xinjiang, Xi jinping stressed that more State Education Funds should be allocated to Xinjiang. Combined with financial education funds of provinces and cities, and of regional GDP growth condition, underdeveloped economy in our country in the Midwest, the education is relatively backward area, education through fiscal funds support and appear more obvious priority development trend, this trend reflected in provincial and provincial education priority is compared between the two dimensions of economic development. However, from the perspective of actual funding, unbalanced and insufficient educational investment still exists in some provinces. This requires the policy of education funding to pay more attention to the reasonable allocation of funds in various parts of the country. On the one hand, to narrow the gap between the education of backward areas in the central and western regions and the developed areas in the east; on the other hand, to support these areas to give priority to education, and to drive local economic and social progress with education.

3.6.4 Increasing the Proportion of Social Input in the Composition of Educational Funds The investment of social forces in education has been actively supported by China’s policies for a long time. In recent years, in order to achieve the historical target of 4% of the GDP, the growth force of China’s education expenditure mainly depends on the fiscal education expenditure, and the proportion of donated income and private school sponsors in the education expenditure fails to increase significantly. However, with the gradual stabilization of the 4% target, the proportion of national fiscal education funds will not increase significantly in a period of time, and the growth force of education funds may be inclined to social input, and attach importance to the link of “raising education funds through multiple channels”. In recent years, some policy documents continue to implement the policy of supporting social forces to invest in education through tax reduction and exemption, including the revised education

72

3 Shaping the Educational Efforts in China: Concepts and Actions

law’s provisions on the liberalization of private education, which are all favorable conditions for social forces to play their role. But from the data, such as donation income is still in a downward trend. Whatever the reason, the government may need special incentives that go beyond this stage to motivate this part of the spending power.25

25 The government work report, on March 5, 2019 in the second session of the thirteenth session of the National People’s Congress on [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/premier/2019-03/16/content_5 374314.htm, (2019-03-16) [2019-07-25].

Chapter 4

Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational Tasks in China: Issues and Challenges

This chapter involves shaping the teacher construction-based educational tasks in current China from the dimensions of issues and challenges. China currently has 16.2689 million teachers working in 513,800 schools, supporting the world’s largest education system of 270 million students. Xi Jinping pointed out that teachers are the foundation and source of promoting education. “A person is lucky to meet a good teacher in life, a school with a good teacher is the glory of the school, a national continuous emergence of a group of good teachers is the hope of the nation”, “a centenary plan, education”. Teachers are the foundation of education. It is an urgent task to train a large number of first-class teachers and improve their overall quality. In recent years, under the great attention of the party and the state, the task of the construction of teachers in our country has made great progress. There is still a long way to go for the construction of teachers in the future.1

4.1 Review of Policy Documents on the Teacher Construction Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC In September 2012, the State Council held the National Work of Teachers and the “Two Basic” work summary and commendation conference, before the Issuance of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers. This is the first full-caliber national teachers’ work conference held since 1949, and the first programmatic document of the comprehensive deployment of teachers’ construction, 1 Xi

Jinping stressed the full implementation of the party’s education policy and efforts to make China’s basic education better.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_4

73

74

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

which is of milestone significance in the history of Chinese education. Then, the Ministry of Education jointly issued Six Supporting Documents on Rural Compulsory Education, Preschool Education, Vocational Education, Higher Education, Special Education Teacher Team Construction and Teacher Education Reform, focusing on solving the bottleneck problems and prominent contradictions existing in all kinds of teachers at all levels.2 In the Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers released on August 20, 2012, specific guiding opinions are put forward on the problems, such as the overall quality of teachers in China needs to be improved, the structure of teachers is not reasonable, the management system and mechanism of teachers needs to be improved, and the occupational attraction of rural teachers needs to be improved. Opinions around the “strengthening the teachers team construction of guiding ideology, overall objectives and key task”, “to strengthen the construction of teachers’ ideological and political education and ethics”, “improve the teachers’ specialization level”, “establish and improve the teachers’ management system”, “practical safeguard legitimate rights and interests of teachers and treatment”, “to ensure teachers team construction policies and measures to implement” the six aspects, put forward to 2020, forming a noble ethics, business skilled, reasonable structure, dynamic professional teachers team with high quality. The opinions of the state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ ranks put forward guiding opinions on comprehensively strengthening teachers’ ranks.3 The Opinions on Vigorously Promoting the Construction of Rural Compulsory Education Teachers issued on September 20, 2012 by the Ministry of Education Central Compilation and Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance of Human Resources and Social Security pointed out that the key to developing rural compulsory education and running rural schools well lies in teachers. In order to speed up the construction of rural compulsory education teachers, establish the development mechanism of urban-rural integration compulsory education, fundamentally solve the outstanding problems in rural education development, promote educational equity, improve the quality of education, and promote the construction of a new socialist countryside, The opinions on promoting the construction of rural compulsory education teachers “solid”, “explore the establishment of rural compulsory education teachers supplement mechanism”, “establishment equipped with real guarantee rural school teachers demand”, “multichannel expansion of rural source of high quality teachers”, “vigorously promote rural teacher professional development”, “to establish and perfect the system of urban and rural teachers’ principal rotational exchanges”, “to protect rural teachers’ treatment”, “strong recognition of outstanding teachers from teaching in rural longterm”, “establishing a clear division of responsibilities of the coordination work mechanism” puts forward several aspects such as guidance. The views put forward 2 The

state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [2012-8-20] [2019-7-24]. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-09/07/content_2218778.htm. 3 Xi Jinping stressed the full implementation of the party’s education policy and efforts to make China’s basic education better.

4.1 Review of Policy Documents on the Teacher Construction …

75

rural teachers team construction goal, that in 2020, established a relatively perfect access, management norms, strict security and strong rural teachers team construction of long-term mechanism, create a noble ethics, abundant, configuration is balanced, urban and rural integration, reasonable structure, teach good, stable and dynamic quality of rural teachers. This opinion to carry out the “state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ opinions”, for “structure and the distribution of urban and rural education development in harmony”, “primary and secondary school teachers team construction in the rural areas to teachers as the key point, take the tilt policy, strengthen the rural teachers’ professional appeal, and encourage more talented people to teach in the countryside” the content such as combining closely, particularly in tilt policy which mentioned in many rural teacher’s system, policy and plan, It includes the special post plan for teachers in rural compulsory education schools, the implementation of special teacher allocation policy, the training plan for teachers with master’s degree in rural school education, the plan for teachers with special posts to study for master’s degree without examination after the period of service, and the exchange system for principals of urban and rural teachers.4 Released on September 20, 2012 the Ministry of Education of the Central Organization Department of the Central Propaganda Department of the National Development and Reform Committee, Ministry of Finance of Human Resources and Social Security on Strengthening the Construction of Colleges and Universities Young Teacher Opinion pointed out that the young teachers in colleges and universities is the important strength of university teachers, the relationship between the development of colleges and universities in the future, the relationship between the talent training in the future, relationships with the future of the education career. To further strengthen the construction of colleges and universities young teacher team, in the “ideological and political education and improve the young teachers ethics level”, “improve the young teachers and selecting and appointing personnel reserve mechanism”, “improving the capacity of young teachers’ professional development”, “excellent teacher mentoring team cooperation mechanism”, “make a youth academic talents and the leader”, “optimize the institutional environment for the development of young teachers grow” “security young teachers’ pay and working conditions”, “organizational leadership to strengthen the construction of youth teachers” guidance was introduced. The Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Kindergarten Teachers issued on September 20, 2012 by the central compilation and office of the ministry of education and the ministry of human resources and social security of the ministry of finance pointed out that kindergarten teachers have the dual functions of care and education, which are related to the healthy growth of hundreds of millions of children and the healthy development of preschool education. To vigorously strengthen the construction of kindergarten teachers, in the “clear the goal of kindergarten teachers team construction”, “complete complement kindergarten teachers”, “perfect kindergarten teacher qualification system”, “establishing the kindergarten qualifications 4 The

state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [2012-8-20] [2019-7-24]. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-09/07/content_2218778.htm.

76

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

system”, “perfect kindergarten teachers’ position (title) evaluation system”, “improve the quality of kindergarten teacher training”, “the establishment of a kindergarten teachers treatment security mechanism” and “ensure that the various policies and measures put in place”, etc., the guidance is given. By 2020, a team of kindergarten teachers who love children, have noble teachers’ ethics, good business skills and reasonable structure should be formed, the guideline said.5 The Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Special Education Teachers issued on September 20, 2012 by the Ministry of Education Central Compilation and Office of the National Development and Reform Commission of the Ministry of Finance of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, it is pointed out that special education teachers shoulder the important responsibility of promoting the comprehensive development of the disabled and promoting social equity and justice. To adhere to the “special”, vigorously strengthen the construction of special education teachers, in the “overall planning special education teachers team construction”, “increase the intensity of special education teacher training”, “employee training to carry out the special education teachers”, “a sound system of special education teachers management”, “the implementation of special education teachers’ treatment”, “foster care and support for special education teachers team construction the thick atmosphere of” guidance is given. A contingent of well-qualified and caring special education teachers should be formed by 2020, the guideline said.6 The Opinions of the Ministry of Finance on Deepening the Reform of Teacher Education released on September 20, 2012, in order to deepen the reform of teacher education, promote the inclusive development of teacher education, comprehensively improve the quality of teacher education, and cultivate high-quality and professional teachers, In “build open and flexible teacher education system”, “perfect the system of teacher education standards”, “improve the system of teacher training”, “innovative teacher education model”, “deepening the reform of teacher education curriculum”, “to strengthen the construction of teachers’ education teachers”, “in teachers’ education quality assessment”, “strengthen teacher education funds safeguard” the guidance. On September 20, 2012 by the Ministry of Education and other four departments issued by the “measures for the management of part-time teachers’ vocational school”, is to implement the relevant development outline and opinions, to further strengthen the vocational education teachers team construction, improve the vocational school part-time teachers employment policy, strengthen vocational education practical teaching link, promote teachers structure optimization. The measures stipulate the conditions, procedures, organization, management and sources of funds for the recruitment of personnel, encourage and standardize vocational schools to

5 Xi

Jinping stressed the full implementation of the party’s education policy and efforts to make China’s basic education better. 6 The state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [2012-8-20] [2019-7-24]. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-09/07/content_2218778.htm.

4.1 Review of Policy Documents on the Teacher Construction …

77

employ professional and technical personnel and highly skilled personnel with practical experience as part-time teachers, and promote the construction of a contingent of vocational education teachers.

4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period from the 18th National Congress to the 19th National Congress In November 2012, the 18th CPC National Congress was held. The Report on the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that priority should be given to developing education and providing education to the satisfaction of the people. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of teachers’ ethics, cultivate high-quality teachers, and advocate the whole society to respect teachers and value education. It puts forward the key point and one of the key points of education development is to strengthen the construction of teachers, the importance of which is emphasized again. Since the 18th national congress of the CPC, in order to implement the spirit of the 18th national congress of the CPC, the outline of the national program for medium—and long-term education reform and development (2010–2020), and the opinions of the state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ ranks, there have been many relevant documents concerning the construction of teachers’ ranks at all levels. Policy documents can be divided into macro design, teacher ethics construction, business level, management system and other aspects.7

4.2.1 Macro Design The National Program for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), the State Council’s Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers and other Document mentioned above are the main objects of relevant policy documents during this period and play an important role in macro guidance. In addition, in terms of rural teachers team construction, in June 2015, the State Council General Office issued “the Rural Teacher Support Plan (2015–2020)”, put forward the work target, by 2017, strive to make the village school multi-channel expansion source of high quality teachers, allocation of resources to improve rural teachers, education teaching ability level rising steadily, reasonable treatment in accordance with the law to get better security, professional attraction obviously increased, gradually formed under the “have to go to, to retain and a better teacher”, by 7 The ministry of education of the central organization department of the central propaganda depart-

ment of the national development and reform commission of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of colleges and universities young teacher team opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7034/201211/t20121108_145681.html.

78

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

2020, efforts to create a good quality, dedicated, rooted in rural teachers, To provide a strong guarantee for the basic realization of the modernization of education; Main measures include improving rural teachers’ level, develop rural teachers supply channels, improve the rural life treatment, unified urban and rural teachers establishment standard caries (position), title tilt to rural schools, promoting urban outstanding teachers to rural schools flow, improve rural teachers ability quality, build system of rural teacher honor, etc. Earnestly implement the Plan of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers Deployment and Requirements, in many aspects to take concrete measures to strengthen the outlying and poverty-stricken areas such as bolstering island village teacher team construction, narrow the gap between urban and rural teachers level obviously, let every village children can accept fairness, quality education, construction of rural teachers play a further macro guidance function.

4.2.2 Construction of Teachers’ Ethics In September 2013, the Ministry of Education issued a “Opinion on Establishing and Perfect a Long-term Mechanism in Primary and Secondary School Teachers”, established a sound education, propaganda, measure, monitor, and combination of rewards and punishments in primary and secondary school teachers a long-term mechanism to present an opinion, promote socialist core value system as the guide, fully respect the principal position of the teacher, vigorously carry forward the noble ethics, and earnestly solve the ethics problems of the current, guide teachers, a teacher by worthy example, improving the personality accomplishment and knowledge accomplishment, efforts to build a noble ethics, business skilled, reasonable structure, full of vitality of primary and secondary school teachers. In January 2014, the Ministry of Education issued the measures for dealing with the unethical behaviors of primary and secondary school teachers, regulating their professional behaviors, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of teachers and students, and promoting the construction of teacher ethics. In July 2014, the Ministry of Education issued the regulations on prohibiting teachers from receiving gifts from students and parents in violation of rules and regulations to improve the unhealthy atmosphere and further strengthen the construction of teacher ethics. In September 2014, the Ministry of Education issued “the guidance of teachers to participate in volunteer service activities”, the emphasis on being a party and the people satisfied with the good teacher, must be moral, has the heart of love, take the lead in practice the socialist core values, the ministry of education issued proposed relevant guidance, encourage and support the better teachers to actively participate in volunteer service activities, improve teachers’ moral sentiment, leading the fashion.8 8 The ministry of education of the central organization department of the central propaganda depart-

ment of the national development and reform commission of human resources and social security

4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period …

79

In September 2014, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Opinions on Establishing and Perfecting the College Teacher’s Ethics Construction of Long-term Mechanism, to carry out, on September 9, at Beijing Normal University teachers and students on behalf of the symposium’s important speech spirit, and actively guide college teachers do have ideal faith, moral sentiment, solid knowledge, the party and people’s satisfaction of goodness of heart good teacher, to strengthen and improve the teacher’s ethics construction, efforts to foster a noble ethics, business skilled, reasonable structure, dynamic, high-quality professional teachers in colleges and universities will establish and improve the long-term effective mechanism of university teacher’s ethics construction put forward relevant guidance, It has improved the long-term mechanism of establishing and perfecting teachers’ ethics in primary and secondary schools.9 In June 2015, the Ministry of Education issued the primary and secondary schools and are strictly prohibited in primary and secondary school teachers for the regulations, in order to further strengthen the ethics of primary and secondary schools strengthen construction, regulate the behavior of primary and middle schools education, vigorously promote quality education, lightens the burden of students’ academic, resolutely correct education for the masses of people to reflect the strong enhancement of problem, the leadership of the organization, responsibility, the special inspector, propaganda guidance, stipulates the social supervision, etc.

4.2.3 Business Level 4.2.3.1

Comprehensive Application

In August 2014, the Ministry of Education issued “the Opinion about the Implementation of Outstanding Teacher Training Plan”, adaptability and pertinence is not strong for teachers training, teaching content and teaching method is relatively old, the poor quality of education practice, teacher education faculty such outstanding problems as weak, promote outstanding teacher training scheme, classification advance outstanding teachers training mode reform, to promote the teacher education reform, comprehensively improving the quality of teacher training. In March 2016, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Opinions on Strengthening Educational Practice, according to the normal education goal is not clear in practice, not enough rich content, form relatively single, guiding force is not strong, management, evaluation and organization guarantee relatively weak, and the normal on strengthening the construction of colleges and universities young teacher team opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7034/201211/t20121108_145681.html. 9 The ministry of education of the central organization department of the central propaganda department of the national development and reform commission of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of colleges and universities young teacher team opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7034/201211/t20121108_145681.html.

80

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

graduates meet the needs of the school education teaching ability is not fully, education practice for strengthening teachers and puts forward the opinion, including fully implementing education practice “double tutorial system” long-term stability, the collaborative construction of education practice base and so on.

4.2.3.2

Applicable to Basic Education

In May 2013, the Ministry of Education issued “Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Primary and Secondary School Teachers Training Model and Improved the Quality of Training Instruction”, to take the initiative to adapt to deepening the reform of basic education course and the realistic requirement of full implementation of quality education, strive to resolve the existing way of pertinence is not strong, content generalization, such outstanding problems as a single, quality control is weak, the training target, training content, training methods, training, autonomy, trainers team guidance, training, management, and other aspects, to strengthen teachers’ training, improve teacher’s professional level. In September 2013, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Opinions about the Training Work of Schoolmasters to further strengthen, the training level, training coverage, training object, training content, training methods, training system and other aspects put forward the guidance, promote and implement the spirit, the party’s 18 to implement the state council on strengthening the construction of teachers’ opinions, and create a high quality professional school principal team. In October 2013, the Ministry of Education issued “Opinions on the Implementation of the National Primary and Secondary School Teachers’ Information Technology Application Ability to Increase the Views of the Project”, emphasis on teachers team construction is basic guarantee for the sustainable development of education informatization, information technology application ability is a must for teachers professional ability of the information society, in view of the current related training programs, standards, not the whole, such outstanding problems as learning to disconnect with single mode, decided to implement a national primary and secondary school teachers’ information technology application ability of engineering, and the project goals, mission, object, mode, management guidance is put forward, in order to implement the national education informatization general requirements, Give full play to the benefits of “three links and two platforms”, and comprehensively improve teachers’ ability to apply information technology.10 In June 2014, the Ministry of Education issued “Notice on the National Training Plan of Schoolmasters”, decided to carry out “the plan, and for the purpose, main 10 Education department of the central public finance of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of kindergarten teachers opinions [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http:// www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s3735/201211/t20121108_145541.html.

4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period …

81

tasks, work requirements, and organizational management made a guidance and regulation, in order to implement the ministry of education on the opinions of the training work of schoolmasters to further strengthen” [2013] 11 (teachers), create a high quality professional school principal.

4.2.3.3

Applicable to Higher Education

In June 2016, the Ministry of Education issued “Opinions about Launching New Teachers of Institutions of Higher Education” establish the new system of training teachers in colleges and universities, to strengthen the construction of university teachers in the Midwest, improve the quality of higher education in the Midwest.

4.2.3.4

Applicable to Vocational Education

In November 2016, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance issued on the Implementation of the Plan to Improve the Quality of Teachers in Vocational Colleges (2017–2020) of the Opinions, scheduled for 2017–2020, organize training for vocational colleges teachers principal hierarchical classification, support to carry out the secondary, vocational, applied and academic and cooperative innovation of university teachers’ team, promote teachers and enterprise staff two-way exchanges and cooperation, to promote vocational colleges teachers overall quality and level of construction, We will speed up efforts to build a team of “double-qualified” teachers with noble teachers’ ethics, excellent quality, superb skills, reasonable structure, and a combination of high quality and professionalism.

4.2.3.5

Applicable to Rural Teachers

In September 2015, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance issued “Opinion on the reform implementation of kindergarten Teachers of Primary and Secondary Schools” proposed the national training plan notice, clear the reform goal task, promote reform and innovation of “the culture plan”, including improving the training content, the innovation training mode, strengthening the trainer troop construction, to establish rural teachers’ professional development support service system etc., promoting the development of rural teachers team construction.

82

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

4.2.4 Management Regulations 4.2.4.1

Comprehensive Application

National teacher training program, in March 2013, the General Office of the General Office of the Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Finance proposed the demonstration concentrated training project management method, the national culture project demonstration remote training project management method, the national culture plan the Midwest backbone teacher training project of rural middle and primary school and kindergarten teachers training project management method. Plans for “national culture” in the demonstration concentrated training, demonstration remote training, goals and tasks of the Midwest rural primary and middle school backbone teacher training, training objects, training content, training institutions, students select, training management, the division of duties, performance appraisal, technical support, funds management, and other aspects to make the rules, further standardize management, national teacher training program to promote national teacher team construction. In April 2017, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Advancing Teachers’ Management Informationization and issued “interim measures for the national teachers’ management information system management”, promote the informationization of the change of teachers, transfer, communication job rotation, training credits, teachers, business management, strengthen the teachers’ information analysis work, evaluation of the status quo, pinpoint the problems and research trends, determine the key to improve teachers’ work of decision-making level, thus to implement the informatization promoting the modernization of national management system and management ability the important instructions of spirit, The national teacher management information system (hereinafter referred to as the teacher system) will be thoroughly applied to comprehensively promote the informatization of teacher management, optimize the system of teacher work governance, enhance the ability of teacher work governance, and better carry out the construction of teachers. In October 2017, the Ministry of Education issued the Measures for the Implementation of Professional Certification of Teachers of Common Colleges and Universities (provisional), began to carry out the professional certification of teachers of common colleges and universities, has been clear about the concept of certification, certification, certification standards, certification programs, promoting the construction of teachers’ education quality guarantee system, improve the quality of talent cultivation of teachers and train high quality teachers.

4.2.4.2

Applicable to Basic Education

Preschool education, in January 2013, the Ministry of Education issued the kindergarten teachers equipped with standard (provisional), further standardize various

4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period …

83

kindergarten of choose and employ persons, as a basic standard combined with local economic and social development level and the actual situation of the development of preschool education, suitable for the concrete implementation plan of the local, and demanded that the country attaches great importance to the kindergarten teachers team construction, as one of the basic standards of kindergarten, complement or kindergarten teachers, strengthen the of all kinds of nursery school teachers equipped with dynamic regulation.11 Compulsory education, in February 2013, the Ministry of Education issued the compulsory education school principals professional standards, has been clear about the state of compulsory education schools qualified principal basic requirements of professional quality, and use it as a important basis of compulsory education school principal management, an important part of the compulsory education school principals training, promote the construction of teacher team construction standard system, construction of high quality compulsory education school principals.12 In August 2013, the Ministry of Education issued the interim measures for the qualification examination of primary and secondary school teachers and the interim measures for the regular registration of primary and secondary school teachers, promoting the smooth implementation of the pilot reform and expansion of the regular registration of primary and secondary school teachers. In May 2014, the Ministry of Education issued by a study on the general office of the “primary and secondary school teachers’ information technology application ability training curriculum standard (trial)”, “primary and secondary school teachers’ information technology application ability standard (trial)”, provide guidance to organize the implementation of national primary and secondary school teachers’ information technology application ability of engineering, specifications lead teachers’ information technology application ability training course construction and implementation, and the ability of clear standards, promoting teachers’ information technology application ability of ascension. In August 2014, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued “about promoting the county (district) within the domain of communicating with teachers in compulsory education school principal rotational opinion”, stressed and thorough going efforts to promote balanced development of the compulsory education, teacher resource allocation is the key, according to take the lead to achieve the county (district) domain, the requirement of balanced development of compulsory education, in communicating with teachers in the principal rotational work objectives, scope, methods, motivation safeguard mechanism, “county officer school hires” management reform, responsibility main body guidance is proposed.

11 Education

department of the central public finance of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of kindergarten teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http:// www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s3735/201211/t20121108_145541.html. 12 Issued by the state council general office on rural teachers support plan (2015-2020) notice [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2015-06/08/content_9833.htm.

84

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

In January 2015, the Ministry of Education issued “the ordinary high school principal professional standard”, the secondary vocational school principals professional standards, “the kindergarten professional standard”, as the principal, director of qualification standard, training curriculum standard, evaluation standard and so on to provide professional, standard system construction of teacher team construction, the construction of high quality of average high school principal and secondary vocational school principals, the kindergarten. In December 2016, the Ministry of Education issued a “about promoting primary and secondary school teachers training credits management guidance”, promote teachers’ training of credit management system, and put forward the hierarchical provide teacher training courses, to set up the teacher training credit authentication standard, realize hours credit reasonable transformation, explore establishing teacher training credit Banks, promote non-academic training and academic education cohesion, promote perfect five years a cycle of teachers’ employee training system, further stimulate the teachers’ participation motivation, promote the teachers’ lifelong learning, improving teachers’ ability quality. Office in November 2017, the Ministry of Education issued “the guidelines for primary and secondary school kindergarten teacher training curriculum (compulsory education) Chinese subject teaching”, “guidelines for kindergarten teacher training curriculum of primary and secondary schools (compulsory education mathematics discipline teaching)”, “guidelines for kindergarten teacher training curriculum of primary and secondary schools” (compulsory education chemistry discipline teaching), specification and guidance teachers employee training work five years a cycle, layered, classification, branch to organize the implementation of teacher training, improve the pertinence and effectiveness of teacher training, in-depth study and implement the party’s 19 big spirit, cultivate high quality teachers troop.

4.2.4.3

Applicable to Higher Education

In August 2016, the Ministry of Education issued “Deepening the Reform of College Teachers’ Evaluation System Guidance”, in the teacher’s assessment of strength, outstanding performance, improve the scientific research evaluation guidance, education teaching attaches great importance to the social services assessment made guidance, promote comprehensive reform, deepen the higher education field to break tie the institutional obstacle of the development of university teachers, arouse teachers in colleges and universities teaching, scientific research, innovation, entrepreneurial energy. In October 2017, the Ministry of Education, Human Resources and Social Security Ministry issued “interim measures for university teachers’ title appraisal regulation”, the review work, the content of supervision, supervision way, the punishment measures made of better implementation of the general office of the central committee of the communist party of China about the general office of the state council’s opinions on deepening the reform of the system of professional titles and the ministry

4.2 Political Documents on the Construction of Teachers During the Period …

85

of education of the central Treasury of human resources and social security public national development and reform commission on deepening the higher education sector and to delegate the pipes combined with the several opinions of the reform of service optimization, further implement the higher school running autonomy, stimulating teachers’ teaching enthusiasm and creativity, Promoting outstanding people.

4.2.4.4

Applicable to Vocational Education

Office in May 2013, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance issued by the general office of the plan to secondary vocational schools to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges professional backbone teachers training project management measures for the plan to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges of young teachers in secondary vocational school practice project management measures for the plan to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges of higher vocational school backbone teacher training project management method, promote the smooth implementation plans to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges. In June 2013, the Ministry of Education issued “vocational education teacher standard of undergraduate education, education plan, core curriculum and characteristic teaching material development project management method”, all of these projects to strengthen the “double division type” as the goal, to cultivate teachers follow the rule and characteristics of vocational education teacher training and highlight the ability requirements of the vocational school of professional teachers, develop covering process a series of achievements, to cultivate teachers for promoting the scientific and standardization of work to cultivate teachers, improve the overall level of vocational education teacher training. Issued in September 2013, “the Ministry of Education of the secondary vocational school teachers’ professional standard (trial)”, promote implement the party’s big about 18 major deployment, speed up the development of modern vocational education to carry out the education plan and opinion spirit, standard system construction of teacher team construction, the construction of high-quality “double division type” secondary vocational school teachers; It is the basic requirement of the state for qualified secondary vocational school teachers’ professional quality, the basic standard for secondary vocational school teachers to carry out education and teaching activities, the basic standard to guide the professional development of secondary vocational school teachers, and the basic basis for the training, admission, training and assessment of secondary vocational school teachers.13

13 Education department of the central public finance of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of kindergarten teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http:// www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s3735/201211/t20121108_145541.html.

86

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

In May 2016, the ministry of education and other seven departments issued “regulations on vocational school teachers’ enterprise practice, further strengthen the vocational school” double type teachers team construction, to promote vocational school teachers’ professional development, improve teachers’ teaching level, to form the content of the vocational school teachers’ enterprise practice, organization and management, safeguard measures, assessment of rewards and punishments, etc. to make the rules. In April 2017, the general office of the ministry of education issued the project management measures for improving the quality of teachers in vocational colleges and universities, promoting the implementation of the plan for improving the quality of teachers in vocational colleges and universities (2017–2020), and promoting the construction of vocational teachers.

4.2.4.5

Rural Education Is Applicable

In January 2016, support for the Implementation of the Rural Teachers Plan (2015– 2020), the Ministry of Education issued by a study on the general office of the “send to teach the countryside training guide the network training and school-based research integrating rural teachers training guide the rural teacher training workshop guide the rural teacher training team replacement off-job training guide, such as rural teacher training guide, to provide” the cultivation plan and the rural teachers organize and implement employee training in the reference implementation. Study and establish in July 2017, the Ministry of Education issued the country long campus “three-step” training guide the rural school long “send school culture” diagnostic training guide the rural campus long workshop training guide the rural campus long training team training guide rural campus such as long training guide, in “the culture plan” and rural campus long organize and implement employee training in the reference implementation, the implementation of the rural teacher support plan (2015–2020), to promote rural innovation around the campus long training mode, improve rural campus long training pertinence and effectiveness.

4.2.4.6

Applicable to Special Education

In August 2015, the ministry of education issued the professional standards for special education teachers (trial) to further improve the standard system for the construction of teachers, lead the professional growth of special education teachers, and promote the connotation development of special education.

4.3 Documents on the Construction of the Teaching Staff …

87

4.3 Documents on the Construction of the Teaching Staff Since the 19th National Congress 4.3.1 Macro Design The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward the report on training high-quality teachers. Xi Jinping pointed out: “to strengthen the construction of teacher education system, increase support for normal colleges and universities, find out the main problems in teacher education, seek to deepen the breakthrough and focus of teacher education reform, and constantly improve the quality of teacher training”. In January 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of the Construction of Teachers in the New Era. The purpose of comprehensively deepening the reform of the construction of teachers in the new era is to cultivate high-quality, professional and innovative teachers satisfied by the party and the people. The specific reform measures include comprehensively strengthening the construction of teachers’ ethics, improving the professional quality and ability of teachers, straightening out the system and mechanism, and improving the status and treatment of teachers. The guideline is the first landmark policy document issued by the CPC central committee since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which specifically focuses on the construction of teachers. It elevates education and teacher work to an unprecedented political height.14 Accordingly, in March 2018, the Ministry of Education and other five departments issued Teacher Education Revitalization Action Plan (2018–2022), puts forward Five target tasks, Ten action, for the short problems that exist in the teacher education in our country, not only design the path of concrete, but also design the supporting measures is operational, plans to raise the quality of teacher education as the core, supported by strengthening the construction of teacher education system, powered by teacher education supply side structural reform, to strengthen teachers team construction, from the source in 5 years’ time to build a high-quality professional innovative teachers.15 In September 2018, the Ministry of Education issued a Opinions on the Excellent Teacher Training Scheme, on the basis of the excellent teacher training program, around the time of comprehensively promoting the modernization of education new demands, in ethics cultivation, model reform, information technology booster, international cooperation, etc., give guidance, through the implementation of excellent teachers training, in the normal universities play a vanguard role of school running 14 Education department of the central public finance of human resources and social security on strengthening the construction of kindergarten teachers’ opinions [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http:// www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s3735/201211/t20121108_145541.html. 15 The ministry of education about establishing and perfecting the long-term effective mechanism of university teacher’s ethics construction opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov. cn/srcsite/A10/s7002/201409/t20140930_175746.html.

88

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

characteristics, play a leader role in promoting teachers professional training capacity, play a role of an indicator on the normal training, Cultivate a number of high-quality professional innovative primary and secondary schools (including kindergartens, secondary vocational schools, special education schools) teachers. In June 2019, the party central committee and the state council issued Deepening the Reform of Teaching Comprehensive Opinions to Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education, and puts forward measures to improve the quality of compulsory education in teachers, and points out that in accordance with the four good teacher standard, high quality specialized teachers troop construction, improve the teachers’ education teaching ability, the optimize allocation of teacher resources, safeguard the rights and interests of teachers and treatment in accordance with the law, improving the capacity of the principal to implement quality-oriented education, give full play to teachers and education management team in deepening the reform of education teaching, initiative and creativity. At the same time, we should formulate preferential treatment methods for teachers, ensure that teachers enjoy preferential policies such as physical examination, tourism, housing and household registration, formulate detailed rules for implementation, and clarify teachers’ power of education and punishment. From rural teachers team construction aspect, in July 2018, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance issued by the Teaching Plan and Implementation Plan “the silver age”, openly recruited a group of retired president of the good to the society, research staff, special teachers, senior teachers wait for rural compulsory education schools to give lectures, make full use of the advantages of retired teachers resources, arouse the enthusiasm of excellent retired teachers to continue in education, further strengthening the construction of rural teachers, provide intellectual support for the rural schools, to help enhance the level of rural schools teaching and educational management ability, alleviate rural schools excellent teachers insufficient total amount and unreasonable structure contradiction, promote the compulsory education balanced development between urban and rural areas.

4.3.2 Business Level In April 2018, the Ministry of Education concerning the Action Plan for Education Informatization, the implementation of the central committee of the communist party of China under the State Council on deepening the reform of the new age teachers team construction comprehensive opinions, promote teachers take the initiative to

4.3 Documents on the Construction of the Teaching Staff …

89

adapt to the information technology, artificial intelligence, etc. New technology revolution, positive and effective to carry out the education teaching, and start the “artificial intelligence + teachers team construction operation”, continue to vigorously promote the teachers’ information literacy.16 In March 2019, the Ministry of Education issued “Opinions on the Implementation of National Primary and Secondary School Teachers’ Information Technology Application Ability Engineering” also exist in the project implementation of the overall application, individual teacher learning, school learning and closely integrated with failed to, and support service system is not perfect, and big data give attention to two or more things, artificial intelligence and other new technology revolution to put forward the new requirements of teachers’ information literacy, through nine main measures, the implementation of the four big task, outstanding in the teaching reform and development of information-based education of the university teachers’ information technology application ability training, Promote the “three improvements” of principal’s information-based leadership, teachers’ information-based teaching ability and training team’s information-based guidance ability.

4.3.3 Construction of Teachers’ Ethics In November 2018, the Ministry of Education issued the new era of university teachers’ professional conduct ten principles”, “new era of primary and secondary school teachers occupational behavior ten principles”, “a new era in kindergarten teachers’ professional conduct ten guidelines, principles combined with colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools, and the different characteristics of the kindergarten teachers respectively puts forward ten specific requirements, including a firm political direction, consciously abide by, spread of excellent culture, love and dedication, love students, honesty, honesty and self-discipline, etc., each proposed both positive advocates, and delimit the bottom line ethics, develop teachers’ professional code of conduct, has been clear about the new age teachers professional norms, It is an important measure to build a team of high quality teachers with excellent political quality, professional ability and education level, and it also provides basic guidelines for teachers to strictly self-restrain, regulate professional behaviors and strengthen self-cultivation. At the same time, the ministry of education issued the treatment method of the kindergarten teachers’ behaviors in violation of professional

16 The

ministry of education about establishing and perfecting the long-term effective mechanism of university teacher’s ethics construction opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov. cn/srcsite/A10/s7002/201409/t20140930_175746.html.

90

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

ethics, and the treatment method of primary and secondary school teachers in violation of ethical behavior (2018 revision)”, “on university teachers’ ethics anomie behavior management guidance”, cooperate with rules, form a system, establish an illegal punishment and responsibility mechanism, promote the construction of the new age of teachers.17

4.4 Changes in Teachers’ Remuneration Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC 4.4.1 Changes in the Overall Salary of Teachers Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC The State Council’s Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers released in 2012. It was mentioned that the salary guarantee mechanism for teachers should be strengthened. Ensure that the average salary of teachers is not lower than or higher than the average salary of civil servants, and gradually increase it to ensure that teachers’ salaries are paid on time and in full. We will improve the incentive and restraint mechanism of salary distribution that conforms to the characteristics of teachers’ profession and reflects their post-performance. We will further improve the implementation of performance-based pay for teachers in compulsory education schools, and ensure that funds needed for performance-based pay are in place in accordance with the principle of “giving priority to county management, pooling funds at the provincial level, and receiving appropriate support from the central government”. We will give preferential pay to teachers who have worked in rural communities and in difficult and remote areas for a long time. We will promote performance-based pay for non-compulsory education teachers. Subsequently issued a number of policy documents, all emphasize the improvement of teachers’ pay. In 2013 the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance issued The Implementation of 2013 Central Files required to work in the continuous destitute areas in rural subsistence allowances, teacher give notice (Teach letter [2013] no. 106), emphasize especially in outlying and poverty-stricken areas shall destitute areas weak rural teachers, teachers’ workloads, conditions, the implementation of the rural teachers’ living subsidies is to improve the treatment of rural teachers, the important measures to strengthen the construction of rural teachers. After this calendar year, ministry of education all ask each district to recommend relevant material to rural teacher living allowance circumstance especially, carry out salary of farmer village teacher to rise effectively.

17 The ministry of education about establishing and perfecting the long-term effective mechanism of university teacher’s ethics construction opinion [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov. cn/srcsite/A10/s7002/201409/t20140930_175746.html.

4.4 Changes in Teachers’ Remuneration Since the 18th National …

91

Table 4.1 Average wages of urban employees in the education industry from 2012 to 2017 Average salary of urban employees in the education industry from 2012 to 2017 Years Salary

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

47,734

51,950

56,580

66,592

74,498

83,412

Unit Yuan

2012-2017 the avarage wages of teacher (Unit:Yuan)

90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Fig. 4.1 Average wages of urban employees in the education industry from 2012 to 2017

In 2015, the education law of the People’s Republic of China (amendment) made more in-depth provisions on teachers’ legitimate rights and interests, improving teachers’ working and living conditions, improving teachers’ social status, teachers’ salary and remuneration, welfare and other benefits. Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), many policy documents have stipulated and emphasized the improvement of teachers’ remuneration. According to the relevant data in labor statistics yearbook, the statistics on the change of the average salary of urban employees in the education industry since the 18th CPC national congress are shown in Table 4.1 and Fig. 4.1. As can be seen from the chart, since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China, the average salary of urban employees in China’s education industry has been on a steady rise. Since 2014, the growth rate has been slightly increased. From the perspective of salary, the salary of teachers in China has been continuously improved. Meanwhile, during this period, the average salary of urban employees in the education industry was higher than that of civil servants (See Table 4.1). Changes in the remuneration of teachers in various regions since the 18th national congress of the CPC Since the eighteenth big regions are actively implement the relevant central policy file instructions and spirit, to carry out the relevant measures, improve teachers’ treatment from 2013 to 2018 years in labor statistical yearbook data shows, in general, from 2012 to 2017, regional education industry unit employment staff average wages in cities and towns are on the rise. Specific data are shown in Table 4.2.

92

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

Table 4.2 Average salary of urban employees in the education industry in 31 provincial administrative regions from 2012 to 2017 Years

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Increase rate (%)

China

47,734

51,950

56,580

66,592

74,498

83,412

74.74

Beijing

83,566

87,820

99,337

111,417

120,573

143,215

71.38

Tianjin

75,395

80,673

90,983

97,847

115,539

127,961

69.72

Hebei

38,701

41,021

44,646

57,273

63,967

70,456

82.05

Shanxi

38,425

41,695

45,722

58,974

62,548

67,798

76.44

Neimenggu

56,242

61,981

63,758

71,528

77,184

81,643

45.16

Liaoning

47,968

50,032

51,281

61,114

66,890

73,080

52.35

Jinlin

40,918

44,989

47,658

58,835

65,436

71,526

74.80

Heilongjiang

39,994

43,527

49,503

62,673

68,288

72,656

81.67

Shanghai

85,662

89,333

96,165

100,865

106,941

111,090

29.68

Jiangsu

59,912

66,056

70,130

78,115

88,282

101,430

69.30

Zhejiang

70,174

74,700

80,038

90,882

102,888

114,415

63.04

Anhui

42,258

46,183

48,487

59,088

64,322

72,792

72.26

Fujian

52,282

56,378

59,844

69,226

75,773

84,471

61.57

Jiangxi

41,596

45,499

48,543

55,995

63,924

70,448

69.36

Shandong

46,176

51,658

58,138

73,073

81,165

87,647

89.81

Henan

39,582

42,099

46,419

50,152

55,087

62,807

58.68

Hubei

39,270

41,068

50,621

56,114

65,298

75,350

91.88

Hunan

38,596

41,389

46,424

53,411

64,965

73,527

90.50

Guangdong

53,743

58,947

64,789

72,368

83,234

95,136

77.02

Guangxi

34,339

38,350

41,021

54,505

60,395

67,993

98.01

Hainan

50,258

54,503

60,421

72,559

75,219

79,753

58.69

Chongqing

48,581

51,560

61,875

71,512

76,236

89,251

83.72

Sichuang

44,443

49,234

52,357

63,311

68,737

75,988

70.98

Guizhou

42,432

47,235

52,713

64,268

72,580

79,815

88.10

Yunnan

39,983

45,448

49,291

62,263

76,918

93,600

134.10

Xizhang

55,537

62,163

66,028

115,090

116,605

125,624

126.20

Shanxi

47,596

50,826

51,856

57,225

62,813

69,575

46.18

Gansu

37,631

46,495

51,241

61,396

69,690

76,850

104.22

Qinghai

51,359

57,705

63,981

70,728

79,151

91,790

78.72

Ningxia

45,954

50,283

53,696

64,819

70,801

77,505

68.66

Xinjiang

47,187

50,809

53,792

69,813

75,080

76,438

61.99

Unit Yuan

4.4 Changes in Teachers’ Remuneration Since the 18th National …

93

Known from the analysis of the chart, from the level of wages, 2012, 31 provincial level administrative region in the education industry unit employment in cities and towns in average wage level of the highest order of 85,662 yuan in Shanghai, Beijing, 83,566 yuan, followed by a slight fault, for Tianjin 75,395 yuan, 70,174 yuan in Zhejiang province, followed by 56,242 yuan and 59,912 yuan of Jiangsu province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region of Tibet autonomous region, 55,537 yuan; Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu wages below the national average level, are all below 47,734 yuan, accounting for about 45% of the 31 provincial administrative region, one of the lowest in Yunnan province and Gansu province, 39,983 yuan and 37,631 yuan respectively. In 2017, the highest average salary of urban employees in the education industry in the 31 provincial-level administrative regions was in Beijing, ranking first with an average salary of 143,215 yuan, followed by 127,961 yuan in Tianjin, 125,624 yuan in Tibet autonomous region, 114,415 yuan in Zhejiang province, 111,090 yuan in Shanghai and 101,430 yuan in Jiangsu province. In addition, according to the data, among the 31 provincial-level administrative regions in 2017, the salaries of teachers lagged behind slightly in Henan, Shanxi, Guangxi and other places. Generally speaking, teachers’ salary is closely related to local economic development, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang, and also closely related to national policy support, such as Tibet.18 From the level of wage growth, from 2012 to 2017 in five years’ time, 31 provincial level administrative region, the town unit employment staff average wages growth rate is higher education industry of Yunnan, Tibet, Gansu, the growth rate of more than 100%, to achieve double the average wage of education industry, the reason a starting point for growth is relatively low, large room for growth, secondly, policy support. Growth rates in Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Guangdong, Shanxi and Jilin all exceeded the national average of 74.74 percent. The lowest growth rate in five years was 29.68 per cent in Shanghai, but it started from a high base.19 Changes in the remuneration of teachers in various academic sections since the 18th national congress of the CPC In each period in our country since the eighteenth big teacher treatment is called for and pay attention to, according to the present labor statistical yearbook data, from 2012 to 2017, elementary education, secondary education and higher education section of the education industry unit employment staff average wages in cities and towns are on the rise, the higher education industry unit employment staff average wages in cities and towns is far higher than the average level in the education industry, elementary education and secondary education industry were slightly lower than average education industry; In the past five years, the growth rate was basically 18 The opinions of the ministry of education on strengthening students’ education practice [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201604/t20160407_237042.html. 19 The ministry of education the ministry of finance on implementation plans to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges and universities (2017-2020) the opinions of the [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201611/t20161115_288823.html.

94

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

Table 4.3 Average wages of urban employees in the education industry in the secondary and higher education sectors from 2012 to early 2017 Year

Education

Basic education

Middle education

2012

47,734

43,320

46,943

64,145

2013

51,950

47,066

51,084

70,898

2014

56,580

51,553

55,361

77,873

2015

66,592

61,724

65,843

87,480

2016

74,498

69,031

73,763

98,950

2017

83,412

77,046

83,583

112,169

Increasing rate (%)

74.74

77.85

78.05

Higher education

74.87

Unit Yuan

close, among which the growth rate of secondary education was the highest, followed by primary education, and the growth rate of higher education was relatively low, but all of them were higher than the average growth rate of the education industry (Table 4.3).

4.5 Prospects for Future Teachers’ Salary Development In November 2018, the Ministry of Education said, “we will spare no effort to guarantee the salary of compulsory education teachers and continuously improve the attractiveness of the profession.” It points out that the CPC central committee and the state council attach great importance to the protection of teachers’ salaries. At the national education conference held in 2018, Xi Jinping once again stressed that more investment in education should be given to teachers, and the welfare of teachers should be constantly improved. The whole party and society should carry forward the social practice of respecting teachers and valuing education, and work hard to raise teachers’ political, social and professional status, so as to ensure that all teachers feel at ease and are enthusiastic about teaching. “Teacher law” and “compulsory education law” all make a provision on teacher salary level, requirement teacher average salary level ought not under or be higher than average salary level of local civil servant, central committee of the communist party of China, the state council “about the opinion that deepens new era teacher troop construction to reform in an all-round way” wait for a document to also made stress further. The state council has held several meetings to hear relevant reports, and has specifically studied the issue of ensuring the pay and treatment of teachers, especially those in compulsory education. All these fully reflect the party central committee of the teachers of the cordial care, the construction of a great emphasis on education. According to the Ministry of Education, there are still some places that have not put in place the requirement that the average salary of compulsory education teachers should not be lower than that of local civil servants. Next, the ministry of

4.5 Prospects for Future Teachers’ Salary Development

95

education will fully implement the spirit of the national education congress, push local governments to strengthen their responsibilities, strengthen provincial planning, further adjust and optimize the structure of expenditure, and give priority to implementing the policy on the salary and income of teachers in compulsory education. For province not in place, will regularly carry out supervision, strive to use three years time to solve the problem of compulsory education stage teacher pay, who do not meet the requirements of the region should make correction, financially strong province to speed up the process, to ensure that compulsory education teachers’ average salary level not below or above the level of the local average wage of civil servants, let them enjoy social prestige, as it should be on teaching post for the cause of the party and the people to make new greater contributions.20 In February 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council issued China’s Education Modernization 2035, proposing to improve the social status of teachers, improve the guarantee system for teachers, improve the long-term linkage mechanism of teachers’ salaries in primary and secondary schools, and fully implement the living subsidy policy in contiguous poverty-stricken areas. Efforts should be made to enhance the political, social and professional status of teachers. Over the same period, the general office of the central committee of the communist party of China, the state council general office issued “accelerate the modernization of education implementation plan (2018– 2022)”, point out that in the new era comprehensively strengthen the construction of the contingent of teachers, to guarantee teachers’ salary, the fixed linkage mechanism, primary and secondary school teachers’ salaries verification performance of total payroll to plan as a whole to consider local civil servants actual income level, realize the synchronous with the local civil servants wages adjustment, improve the total primary and secondary school teachers’ performance salary allocation system of check and ratify and internal allocation system.21 In June of 2019, China’s central committee and the state council issued “Deepening the Reform of Education Teaching Comprehensive Opinions to Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education for teachers preferential measures, guarantee that the teachers enjoy health check-up, such as tourism, housing, have preferential policy and perfect compulsory education performance salary amount for approval, establish linkage growth mechanism, to ensure that compulsory education teachers’ average income level is not lower than the local average wage to pay civil servants income level. We will improve the method for distributing performancebased pay and use performance-based pay increments mainly to distribute incentive performance-based pay. We will effectively implement the allocation of school autonomy and give preference to teachers who are at the forefront of teaching and

20 The ministry of education the ministry of finance on implementation plans to improve the quality

of teachers in vocational colleges and universities (2017–2020) the opinions of the [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201611/t20161115_288823.html. 21 The opinions of the ministry of education on strengthening students’ education practice [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201604/t20160407_237042.html.

96

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

have outstanding teaching achievements. “We will formulate detailed rules for implementation and clarify the power of teachers to punish teachers in education.” We will properly handle conflicts and disputes involving schools and teachers in accordance with laws and regulations, and resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of teachers. These measures are of great significance in safeguarding teachers’ professional dignity, mobilizing their enthusiasm and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.22

4.6 Professional Titles Professional title is the main symbol of academic and technical level and professional ability of professional technical personnel. The professional title system is the basic system for the evaluation and management of professional and technical personnel. It is of great significance for the party and the government to unite and pool professional and technical personnel, encourage their professional development and strengthen the construction of professional and technical personnel.23 The Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of Teachers issued in 2012 and it was clearly pointed out that the reform of the post (title) system of teachers should be accelerated. We need to carry out the reform of the post (professional title) system for teachers by category and improve the standards for evaluating posts (professional title) that meet the professional characteristics of various types of teachers. We will establish a unified series of posts (titles) for primary and secondary school teachers and explore ways to set up senior posts (titles) for teachers in vocational schools. To study and improve the evaluation standards of posts (titles) that are in line with the actual conditions of village primary schools and teaching centers, and the promotion of posts (titles) is inclined to the full-time teachers of village primary schools and teaching centers. Primary and secondary school teachers in cities and towns should have at least one year of teaching experience in rural schools or weak schools when they are appraising and hiring senior positions (professional titles). We will support qualified vocational schools and part-time teachers of institutions of higher learning to apply for a series of teachers’ professional and technical positions. In November 2016, in General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, issued by the General Office of the State Council on “Deepening the Reform of the System of Professional Titles”, by deepening the reform of the system of professional titles, focus on the system and imperfect system, the evaluation standard is not scientific, imperfect evaluation mechanism, form a complete set of management service is not standard, make the professional and technical personnel structure more 22 The ministry of education the ministry of finance on implementation plans to improve the quality of teachers in vocational colleges and universities (2017-2020) the opinions of the [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201611/t20161115_288823.html. 23 The opinions of the ministry of education on strengthening students’ education practice [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. HTTP:// http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201604/t20160407_ 237042.html.

4.6 Professional Titles

97

reasonable, ability quality enhances unceasingly. In the process of strengthening the construction of teachers, it is very important to improve the professional title of teachers. It can be seen from the relevant policy documents issued in recent years. The current professional title system of teachers in China is as follows. Titles of primary and secondary school teachers Primary and secondary school teachers are an important part of China’s professional and technical personnel, and an important force to comprehensively implement quality education and promote the sound and rapid development of education. The professional title system of primary and secondary school teachers, which was established in 1986 with the appointment system of primary and secondary school teachers as the main content, has played a positive role in mobilizing the enthusiasm of the majority of primary and secondary school teachers, improving the overall quality of primary and secondary school teachers, and promoting the development of basic education. With the deepening reform of the personnel system in primary and secondary schools, the comprehensive implementation of quality education and the continuous optimization of the structure of the teacher team, the former primary and secondary school teacher title system has some problems, such as the unreasonable grading, the scientific evaluation standard, the imperfect evaluation mechanism and the insufficient connection with the public institution post-employment system. In order to deepen the comprehensive reform in the field of education and effectively strengthen the construction of the ranks of primary and secondary school teachers, the state council has decided to push forward the reform of the professional title system for primary and secondary school teachers nationwide in accordance with the requirements of the CPC central committee and the state council on improving the talent evaluation mechanism and deepening the reform of the professional title system in accordance with the relevant provisions of the compulsory education law and with the consent of the state council. The ministry of human resources and social security and the ministry of education issued the guiding opinions on deepening the reform of the professional title system for primary and secondary school teachers in 2015, improving the professional title system for primary and secondary school teachers.

4.6.1 Title Setting According to the guidance on deepening the reform of the professional title system for primary and secondary school teachers, the current professional title system for primary and secondary school teachers is as follows. Primary and secondary school teachers’ professional titles are unified for senior teachers. The posts of primary and secondary school teachers are divided into junior posts, intermediate posts and senior posts. Junior staff level and assistant level; Senior sub-senior and senior. Member class, assistant class, intermediate, deputy senior and is senior title (post) the name is in turn 3 class teacher, 2 class teacher,

98

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

1 class teacher, senior teacher and is senior teacher. The relationship between the professional title of the former teachers and the professional title of the primary and secondary school teachers after the unification is clarified, that is, the former senior middle school teachers (including senior middle school teachers employed in primary schools) correspond to senior teachers; The former primary school teachers and senior primary school teachers correspond to the primary teachers; Former secondary school teachers and primary school teachers corresponding to secondary teachers; There are three levels of teachers in the former middle school, two levels of primary school and three levels of primary school. Unified implementation of “elementary and secondary school teacher level evaluation basic standard conditions” (hereinafter referred to as “standard conditions”), no longer separate “secondary school teacher duties trial regulations” and “primary school teacher duties trial regulations.” “Standard conditions” in the primary and secondary school teachers unified regulation of “moral, intellectual, physical,” three aspects the basic requirements, that is, love education career, teachers’ qualification and teaching ability, physical and mental health, of each grade teachers made specific provision, not only covers the education and teaching experience, teaching ability, also includes the literacy education theory, education teaching research ability and education teaching achievements. The higher the professional title level, the stronger the ability requirements in all aspects.

4.6.2 The Proportion of Each Professional Title In 2015, Chinese central government put forward further implementation of the “guidance” of “between primary and secondary school teachers in senior, intermediate, junior post structure proportion, as well as the senior, intermediate, junior positions within each grade structure proportion, according to the new primary and secondary school teachers’ professional qualification system, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state of primary and middle schools set up management execution. The number of senior teachers is under total control.” In 2007, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Education on the basis of the trial measures on settling institutions set up various management released the institutions of higher education, such as compulsory education schools, secondary vocational school education institutions set up the management of the three guidelines. In light of the needs of the development of compulsory education and the Outline of the Eleventh Five-year Plan for the Development of Human Resources, we reasonably determine the proportion of senior, intermediate and primary posts for teachers in compulsory education schools. This means that the ratio of the professional title structure of primary and secondary school teachers is basically 1:3:6 according to the professional title structure of public institutions, and the internal structure of each structure is consistent with that of public institutions. The difference is that there is no senior professional title for primary and secondary school teachers. By 2020,

4.6 Professional Titles

99

10% of primary and secondary school teachers have senior professional titles, 40% have intermediate ones and 50% have junior ones.

4.6.2.1

Professional Titles of University Teachers

The rational setting of professional titles in colleges and universities is conducive to giving full play to the enthusiasm and creativity of teachers in colleges and universities to serve China’s educational cause, encouraging teachers to improve their educational level, academic level and ability to perform corresponding duties, striving to complete their own jobs and promoting the rational flow of talents, which is an extremely important part of educational policy.

4.6.3 Title (Position) and Responsibility Setting According to the relevant provisions of “Regulations on the Trial Implementation of Teachers’ Posts in Institutions of Higher Education” issued by the leading group of the central department of professional title reform in 1986, teachers’ posts in institutions of higher education are posts established according to the teaching and scientific research tasks undertaken by the schools. Teaching posts include teaching assistants, lecturers, associate professors and professors. Specific duties and responsibilities are set as follows:

4.6.3.1

Duties of Teaching Assistant (Junior)

1. Responsible for tutoring, answering questions, correcting homework, tutoring, experiment, practice, organizing classroom discussion and other teaching work (teachers of public foreign language, physical education, cartography and other courses should also give lectures); after approval, take part or all of the lecturing work of some courses, and assist in guiding graduation thesis and graduation design. 2. Participated in laboratory construction, organized and guided production practice, social investigation and other work. 3. Manage students’ ideological and political work, teaching, scientific research, etc. 4. Participating in teaching methodology research or scientific research, technological development, social services and other scientific and technological work.

100

4.6.3.2

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

Responsibilities of Lecturers (Intermediate Level)

1. Systematically take charge of the teaching of one or more courses, organize classroom discussions, guide internship, social research and research, and guide graduation thesis and graduation design. 2. Responsible for the construction of the laboratory, organizing and guiding the experimental teaching, compiling experimental teaching materials and experimental instructions. 3. Participate in scientific research, technological development, social services and other scientific and technological work, participate in research on teaching methods, and participate in the compilation and review of teaching materials and reference books. 4. Assist professors and associate professors to guide graduate students and further education teachers according to work needs. 5. Manage students’ ideological and political work, teaching, scientific research, etc. 6. According to the work needs, as tutoring, answering questions, correcting homework, tutorial, experimental class, practice class and guide students to carry out science and technology work and other teaching work. 4.6.3.3

The Duties of the Associate Professor (Deputy Senior)

1. Take charge of teaching one main basic course or two or more courses (one of which should be basic course, including professional basic course or technical basic course), organize class discussion, guide internship, social investigation, and guide graduation thesis and graduation design. 2. Master the academic development trends within the scope of this discipline, participate in academic activities and submit academic reports, participate in scientific research, technological development, social service and other scientific and technological work, as the person in charge of scientific research subject as required, and be responsible for or participate in the review of academic papers. 3. Hosted or participated in the preparation and review of new textbooks and teaching reference books, hosted or participated in research on teaching methods. 4. To guide the construction and design of laboratories, innovate experimental means or enrich new experimental contents. 5. Guide master’s research as required. Students assist professors to guide doctoral students, guide teachers for further education. 6. Manage students’ ideological and political work, teaching, scientific research, etc. 7. According to work needs, as tutoring, answering questions, correcting homework, tutorial, experiment, practice and guide students to carry out science and technology work and other teaching work.

4.6 Professional Titles

4.6.3.4

101

The Duties of a Professor (Senior)

In addition to the duties and responsibilities of an associate professor, I would be required to undertake a higher level of work than those of an associate professor. To lead the teaching and scientific research work of this discipline, and to guide doctoral students after passing the evaluation and confirmation according to the needs.

4.6.4 The Number of Each Professional Title Regulations on the trial implementation of teachers’ duties in institutions of higher learning stipulates that the staffing of teachers in institutions of higher learning should be determined according to the teacher-student ratio stipulated by the state. Teachers should have a reasonable structure. The duty quota of teachers in colleges and universities and various majors and disciplines should be adapted to the tasks they undertake. According to the 2017 education statistics yearbook, the basic situation of the number and proportion of teachers at all levels in China’s higher education is as follows. Try to analyze the data, it can be obtained that the total number of full-time teachers in higher education is about 1:3:4:1:10. Teacher honors In the speech at the National Education Congress in September 2018, president Xi Jinping mentioned that teachers are engineers of the human soul and inheritors of human civilization. They bear the responsibility of spreading knowledge, ideas and truth, shaping souls, lives and new people. The whole party and society should promote the social practice of respecting teachers and putting more emphasis on the education, and work hard to raise teachers’ political, social and professional status, so that they enjoy the social prestige they deserve, and make new and greater contributions to the cause of the party and the people in their teaching and educating positions. China has always had a tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education. In the promotion of teachers’ status, the teacher honor system has always played an important role, which can convey recognition and recognition of teachers’ work results, form a good social atmosphere, and play an incentive role in teachers’ professional work. At present, the national honor system, including the teacher honor system in China, has not been established and improved. The teacher honor system in China is mainly in the education system and appears in various forms of commendation, titles and awards, among which there are problems such as inconsistent evaluation standards, lack of system and insufficient authority. The current system of honorary titles for teachers in China is basically as follows.

102

4 Shaping the Teacher Construction—Oriented Educational …

In January 1998 issued by the administrative department of education under the state council of the teachers and education workers reward provisions (Teach [1998] no. 1), in order to encourage the teachers and education workers engaged in education career, reward in education career teachers and education workers of making outstanding contribution and honor to the national level teachers made relevant provision, the main contents are as follows: The Administrative Department of Education under the State Council shall confer honorary titles of “national outstanding teachers” and “national outstanding educators” and issue corresponding certificates to teachers and educators who have been engaged in education, teaching, scientific research, administration and service for a long time and have made outstanding achievements. The educational administrative department of the state council, together with the personnel department of the state council, shall award the honorary titles of “national model teacher” and “advanced worker of the national education system” and issue corresponding MEDALS and certificates to those who have contributed to the work. The basic requirements for “national outstanding teachers” and “national outstanding educators” are as follows: love the socialist motherland, adhere to the party’s basic line, be loyal to the people’s educational cause, set an example in performing their duties, have a good professional ethics and meet one of the following requirements: (1) Fully implement the educational policy, adhere to the thought of quality-oriented education, love students, care about the overall growth of students, teaching and educating people, as a model, in the cultivation of talent achievements; (2) Conscientiously complete educational and teaching tasks, and make outstanding achievements in teaching reform, textbook construction, laboratory construction, and improvement of educational and teaching quality; (3) To make creative achievements in educational and teaching research, scientific research, and technical popularization, which are of great scientific value or bring significant economic and social benefits. 4.6.4.1

Outstanding Achievements in School Management, Service and School Construction

It is mentioned in the regulations on rewarding teachers and educators that provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, the relevant departments of the state council and the general political department, with reference to these regulations, reward outstanding teachers and educators in their respective schools and other educational institutions according to their actual conditions. The specific measures shall be formulated by the provinces, autonomous

4.6 Professional Titles

103

regions and municipalities directly under the central government, the relevant departments under the state council and the general political department. Therefore, there are many kinds of honorary titles for teachers in different regions.24

24 The ministry of education the ministry of finance on implementation plans to improve the quality

of teachers in vocational colleges and universities (2017-2020) the opinions of the [EB/OL]. [] [2019-7-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7011/201611/t20161115_288823.html. Xi Jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

Chapter 5

Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

This chapter concentrates on shaping the physical education in current China from the dimension of contexts and efforts. Physical education is an education that grants students with healthy knowledge and skills, develops their physical strength, strengthens their physique and cultivates their willpower. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the educational function of physical education has gradually risen from only focusing on students to the level of the whole people. Sports is an important symbol of social development and human progress, and an important embodiment of comprehensive national strength and social civilization. Sports play an irreplaceable role in improving people’s physical quality and health, promoting allround development of people, enriching people’s spiritual and cultural life, promoting economic and social development, and encouraging people of all ethnic groups in China to carry forward the spirit of pursuing excellence and self-breakthrough. It is the fundamental policy and task of our country’s sports work to develop sports and improve people’s physique. National fitness is the foundation and guarantee for all the people to improve their health and live a healthy life. People’s health is an important part of the building of a moderately prosperous society for all, and an important foundation for everyone to grow up and achieve a happy life. Since the founding of new China, in the aspects of fostering talents, we always emphasize the cultivation of art of common development successor of socialism, Mao Zedong in “on the correct handling of contradictions among the people” made it clear that in our education policy, should be educated in the moral education, intellectual education, sports development, several aspects

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_5

105

106

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

have been become a worker with socialist consciousness of culture. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping repeated Mao Zedong’s words at the national conference on education work, pointing out that morality, intelligence, physique and beauty are the quality standards for training talents. At the national education conference, Xi Jinping again stressed the need to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor, accelerate the modernization of education, build a strong country in education, and run education to the satisfaction of the people. To enhance the comprehensive quality of work, education and guidance of students to cultivate comprehensive ability, cultivate innovative thinking. To establish the concept of health first education, open full physical education, to help students enjoy fun in physical exercise, enhance physical fitness, sound personality, temper will. Efforts should be made to build an education system for all-round cultivation of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor, and to form a talent cultivation system of a higher level. To construct ideological and moral education, knowledge education, social practice education each link, through the basic education, vocational education, higher education in various fields, course system, teaching system, teaching material system, management system to design around this goal, a teacher must revolve around the goal to teach, students around the goal to learn. We must resolutely change all practices that are not conducive to the realization of this goal. In a congratulating letter to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet university for nationalities, Xi said that various efforts should be made to train socialist builders and successors who are morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and physically well-rounded, so as to make greater contributions to Tibet’s economic and social development, realize the “two centenary goals” and realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the reform and opening up 40 years ago, China’s sports industry has been developing vigorously, school sports system and regulations have been established from scratch, the national fitness system has been gradually improved, and a reasonable development path of sports education in line with China’s national conditions has been established. In 1981, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Communist Party of China points out: the primary stage of socialism in the main contradiction is the growing material and cultural needs and the contradiction between the backward social production, in this period sports construction or stay in a very basic stage of development, main contradiction determines our fundamental task is to focus on development of social productive forces. Xi Jinping pointed out that, the socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era, our country’s principal contradiction has been converted to the growing demand for a better life and not balance the contradiction between the inadequate development, people’s better life needs to be created by productive labor history of great power, and for the people, the source of happiness and security, must recognize the change of the social principal contradictions of our country is a historic change in the global, many new requirements are put forward for the party and state work. We will promote the development of cultural programs and industries. To meet the people’s new expectations for a better life, we

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

107

must provide rich food for thought. We need to deepen reform of the cultural system, improve the cultural management system, and accelerate the establishment of institutions and mechanisms that give top priority to social benefits and combine social and economic benefits. We will improve the system of public cultural services, implement cultural programs to benefit the people, and enrich mass cultural activities. We should strengthen the protection and utilization of cultural relics and the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage. We aim to improving the modern cultural industry system and market system, innovate production and operation mechanisms, improve cultural and economic policies, and foster new types of cultural businesses. We shall carry out extensive national fitness programs, accelerate efforts to build China into a strong sports country, and make good preparations for the Beijing winter Olympics and Paralympics. We should strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and other countries, with China as the leading country and drawing on each other’s strengths. We focus on building the capacity for international communication, tell China’s story well, show a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China, and enhance China’s cultural soft power.1

5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up 5.1.1 1978–1991: Restoration and Development Stage in the Early Years of Reform and Opening up In 1978, China decided to implement the reform and opening up, and put the national focus on the economic construction. The economic development laid a good economic foundation for the construction of sports undertakings. China’s sports undertakings began to prosper, and the national physique continued to improve. Ten years in 1978, the Ministry of Education promulgated the full-time school middle school sports teaching outline (trial draft) “ten years full-time school primary school sports teaching outline (trial draft), the school sports card in the newborn period, pay attention to the mere physical health of students, and did not pay attention to sports spirit, the students mental health problem, outline is put forward to make the students learn and master the basic knowledge of sports, basic skills and basic skills, teach students to use scientific methods to exercise. Then United States Sports Commission and the Ministry of Education the Communist Youth League Central held a national work conference on the sports health conference, further clarify the school sports teaching goal with the basic purpose of school sports and health work is to 1 Xi Jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist

builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

108

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

enhance students’ physical fitness”, put forward the school should pay close attention to the development of the students from the three aspects of morality, intelligence and physique, attach importance to sports, school sports health work, producing the talent for the country for 50 years. This meeting revised the guiding ideology of school physical education, emphasizing for the first time the educational role of school physical education rather than political tools.2 In 1982, the national physical health standard is proposed to establish the status and function of sports in the basic education. For example, the state physical culture and sports commission issued the Implementation Measures of National Physical Exercise Standards, and in order to deeply understand the effect of the implementation of the standards, a nationwide survey on students’ physical health was carried out from 1985 to comprehensively understand the changes of students’ physical health in China. The school sports work regulations promulgated since the founding of new China with the highest level. With the most comprehensive laws and regulations, it makes the school sports health work, there are laws to rules-based, marks the path of our country school sports work to rule by law, to promote the development of our country school sports play an important role.

5.1.2 1992–2012: National Fitness Was First Proposed and Continuously Developed After Deng Xiaoping made his southern tour, it established the goal of the economic system reform is to establish a socialist market economic system, promote the economic system reform, reform and opening up into deep waters, influenced by the thoughts of humanism, the government realized that sports education value, not just the school sports influence on students, should also have a wider range of the whole people to participate in sports influence on people’s life, and the country’s constitution article 21 of this law the state develops physical culture and promotes mass sports activities to improve the people’s physical fitness, the constitution article 46 the provisions of the state to cultivate youth, youth, children’s universal development in moral, intellectual, physical, Both illustrate the importance of national fitness. Opinions of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission on Deepening the Reform of Sports officially proposed to formulate and implement the national fitness plan, put forward the idea of national fitness for the first time, and raised the height of sports education to the level of the whole society. The Outline of the National Fitness Program and the Sports Law of the People’s Republic of China have been promulgated successively. The sports law of the People’s Republic of China is the first sports law since the founding of the People’s Republic 2 Jiang

Pingping. Xi Jinping: create a new situation for the development of China’s sports industry and accelerate the building of China into a strong sports country [N]. People’s Daily, 2017-0828(001).

5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up

109

of China. The work of physical education should be based on carrying out national fitness activities, combining popularization with improvement, and promoting the coordinated development of various sports. Sports law mentioned the importance of school sports, school sports shall be as part of the school education, cultivate moral, intellectual, physical all-round development of talents, the students have time for sports activities every day during the period of school, applies a system of social sports instructors, technology level, social sports instructors, providing scientific guidance of movement for social sports activities. For a period of 15 years “national fitness program outline” point out the national fitness for implementation of the national people’s, teenagers and children as the key point, promote the development of mass sports and school sports, put forward in 2010 to overall development goal is to woman to realize sports and coordinated development of national economy and social undertakings, improve the physique and health level of the Chinese nation, the basic completed the national fitness system with Chinese characteristics.3 The Party Central Committee and the State Council issued Opinions on Deepening Education Reform and Comprehensively Promote Quality Education, points out that “in order to promote the implementation of quality education, we must put moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education unified in the education activities of each link”. The education must set up the health first guiding ideology, strengthen the sports work, make the students master basic sports skills, form the good habit of physical exercise under the background of quality education, physical education function is further emphasized. In 2001, the State Council promulgated the Decision on Reform and Development of Basic Education, stressing the need to carry out the thought of health first, to deepen teaching reform, promoting quality-oriented education, to promote the comprehensive development of students’ physique and cultivates the students strong and have good psychological quality, become a have ideal, morality, culture and discipline of the new generation. After the reform and opening up, people’s living standards improve, at the same time also brought a lot of health problems, nearsightedness, excess nutrition, lack of exercise result in most people’s physique are falling, in order to solve these problems, in 2002 the ministry of education and sports administration issued “students constitutional health standard (trial)” and “student physical health standard (trial scheme) executive way”, it is “the national physical training standards” refinement in school. At the same time in order to better guide people scientific fitness, promote the development of the national fitness activities, improve the quality of the whole nation and state general administration of sports to carry out the research of national physique, formulate the measures for the implementation of the national physique

3 Xi Jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist

builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

110

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

determination standard, and to investigate the country people of all ages, including youth student physical health survey by the ministry of education.4 After China won the right to host the Beijing Olympic Games, it greatly stimulated people’s enthusiasm to participate in sports. In 2002, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving Sports Work in the New Era, requiring the continued implementation of the outline of the national fitness program. All kinds of schools should train students to develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically, improve the quality of physical education, ensure students’ physical education courses and extracurricular activities, and take healthy health as the basic conditions for young people to serve their country and people in the future. Various industries, government organs, enterprises and institutions, towns and townships, and communities should incorporate organizing people to carry out sports activities into their work scope, make full use of the comprehensive service functions of cultural and sports facilities, and actively explore the development mode of grassroots sports that meets the requirements in terms of organization network, activity content and service mode. The Promulgation of Regulations on Public Cultural and Sports Facilities in 2003 greatly accelerated the construction of public cultural and sports facilities in China, laying a solid foundation for national fitness. Sports venues are the basic for sports activities, and the number of sports venues keeps increasing to provide convenience for the people and promote the development of sports activities.5 The state sport general administration of the ministry of education and the communist youth league central issued Decisions on a Nation-wide Notice of Hundreds of Millions of Students the sunlight sports in Beijing Olympic Games as an opportunity to youth sports to upsurge, held in the Olympics, the Olympic spirit of teenagers in our country, display in the raise the level of school sports work and all the health quality of teenagers. Through sunshine sports, we strive to use 3–5 years to promote the full implementation of the school “student physical health standards”, promote the students to meet the standard level, form a good physical exercise habit.6 Then, in order to further implement the sunlight sports under the state council promulgated the Opinions on Strengthening Teenagers Sports to Enhance the Physical Fitness, once again stressed the “health first” guiding ideology, to strengthen students’ physique as one of the basic goals of school education, establishing and perfecting the mechanism of school sports work, fully guarantee the school physical education and sports activities, encourage popular participation in youth sports activities and competition, strengthening the construction of sports health facilities and 4 Xi Jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist

builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001). 5 Jiang Pingping. Xi Jinping: create a new situation for the development of China’s sports industry and accelerate the building of China into a strong sports country [N]. People’s Daily, 2017-0828(001). 6 Jiang Pingping. Xi Jinping: create a new situation for the development of China’s sports industry and accelerate the building of China into a strong sports country [N]. People’s Daily, 2017-0828(001).

5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up

111

faculty, a comprehensive school, community, family, combination of youth sports network, cultivate good habits of physical exercise and a healthy lifestyle. We try to form a sound atmosphere of young people loving sports, advocating sports and being healthy and upward, and a strong atmosphere of the whole society cherishing health and attaching importance to sports. The Promulgation of the Regulations on National Fitness in 2009 designated August 8 as national fitness day every year, during which various sports activities were carried out in communities, promoting the legalization of national fitness system and providing guiding ideology for local, community and school to promote national fitness. In 2012, to further implement the “Opinions on strengthening youth sports to enhance teenagers”, the Ministry of Education and Sports Administration issued “Several Opinions on Further Strengthening School Sports Work” pointed out that we should fully recognize the importance of strengthening school sports work, strengthen the sense of responsibility, the pushing forward quality education and school sports as a universal right of the people’s satisfactory education important task. It is of great strategic significance to improve students’ comprehensive quality, realize the modernization of educational management ability, and train socialist builders and successors who develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically.7

5.1.3 2013–Present: Healthy China Strategy Xi Jinping thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era was elected President of the People’s Republic of China in 2013. In the new era, Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the idea of national fitness. Xi Jinping pointed out that the popularity of national fitness and participation in international sports cooperation are also important indicators of a country’s modernization. National fitness is the foundation and guarantee for all the people to improve their health and live a healthy life. People’s health is an important part of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and an important foundation for everyone to grow up and live a happy life. We should carry out nationwide fitness campaigns and promote the all-round development of both mass sports and competitive sports. Party committees and governments at all levels should attach great importance to physical education and sports work, place it in an important position, and earnestly pay close attention to it. We must adhere to the people-centered approach, take the people as the main body of sports development, take meeting people’s fitness needs and promoting their all-round development as the starting point and goal of sports work, implement the national strategy of fitness for all, and constantly improve people’s health. It is better to incorporate mass sports into the national games and organize people to participate in the games. 7 Han Yatong, Xu Xinyi. Xi Jinping: give priority to people’s health development strategy to ensure

people’s health in an all-round and full cycle [N]. People’s Daily, 2016-08-21(001).

112

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

The State Council issued Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption, which elevated national fitness to a national strategy and took improving people’s physical fitness and health as the fundamental goals. Government agencies, enterprises, public institutions, social organizations, schools and other institutions should implement the work-out, afterclass fitness system, advocating one hour of fitness every day. We need to promote the open use of venues and facilities. We actively promote the opening up of public sports facilities at all levels for free or at low cost. We should accelerate the opening of sports facilities in enterprises and public institutions to the public. School stadiums and gymnasiums should be open to students during their spare time, and effective measures should be taken to strengthen security, accelerate the opening of school stadiums and gymnasiums to the public, and regularly make the opening situation open to the public. We will increase the utilization rate of rural sports and fitness facilities. During his visit to the August first school, Xi stressed the role of football in sports education and hoped that the students could maintain and develop their love of football, feel the collective strength, experience the fun of sports and build up their physical fitness. He hoped that a group of excellent football players could grow up through the development of campus football. We should emphasize that quality education is the core of education. In education, we should put people first and teach students in accordance with their aptitude. Primary and secondary school students are the majority of young people, is the country’s future and hope. To be successful, primary and secondary school students must study hard, improve their comprehensive quality, strive to cultivate their moral integrity, strive for high goals, strive for excellence, be strong, healthy and physically and mentally, temper their will and fortitude.8 For the implementation, the chairman of the hope for the campus football and better play to the role of the football education, in 2015, the State Council issued Decision on Overall Scheme Notice issued by the reform and development of Chinese football, the national development and reform commission, the state sport general administration, the ministry of education jointly issued Opinions on China football in medium and long term development plan (2016–2050), which has made the request with special emphasis on the role of the campus football and the cultivation of juvenile football talent and to promote the construction of a football field. Sports is an important symbol of social development and human progress, and an important embodiment of comprehensive national strength and national soft power. To develop sports and improve people’s physical fitness is the fundamental task of China’s sports work. We need to implement the national strategy of national fitness, popularize national fitness and promote healthy China. We should give full play to the important role of mass sports in strengthening the foundation of sports and inject new vitality and impetus into the development of China’s sports undertakings.

8 Han Yatong, Xu Xinyi. Xi Jinping: give priority to people’s health development strategy to ensure

people’s health in an all-round and full cycle [N]. People’s Daily, 2016-08-21(001).

5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up

113

The healthy China strategy is a further development proposed by Xi Jinping based on his further thinking on national fitness. Building a healthy China is an important part of Xi Jinping thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We must comprehensively, systematically and accurately grasp the core concepts and basic ideas of the healthy China strategy and make overall plans to solve the most direct and practical health problems that people are most concerned about. If national fitness is to raise physical education from school to society, then healthy China is to raise it to the national level. In October 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed for the first time to promote the construction of a healthy China. Xi Jinping stressed at the national health and health conference, that “without universal health, there can be no overall well-off society. To put people’s health as the priority development of strategic position, in order to popularize the health living, optimization of health services, improve the health care, construction environment, and healthy development of health industry as the key point, we will speed up the establishment of a healthy China, efforts to omni-directional, the whole cycle to ensure people’s health, for the realization of the “two” one hundred goals, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation the Chinese dream of laying a solid foundation for health”. In the following year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the “Healthy China 2030” program outline, as an action program for building a healthy China, marking the basic formation of the top-level design for building a healthy China. At the same time, the State Council promulgated “the Decisions on Strengthening School Sports to Promote the Students’ Physical and Mental Health of Universal Development”, to strengthen the school sports is the implementation of quality education, the important way to promote students’ allround development. China tries to promote the construction of modernization of education, health and human resource power, realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation the Chinese dream is of great significance. This opinion pointed out that by 2020, obviously improve the quality of physical education teaching, students’ physical exercise habit of basic, sports skill and physical health level improved significantly, rule consciousness, spirit of cooperation and will quality is significantly enhanced, basic formation system, system perfect, full of vitality, pragmatic school sports development pattern with Chinese characteristics. Xi Jinping put forward a “healthy China” development strategy in his report to the 19th national congress, stressing that people’s health is an important symbol of national prosperity and national prosperity. The core concept is people-centered, and the development concept of “innovation, coordination, green, open and Shared” is implemented. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping thought of socialism with characteristics for a new era, the CPC central committee and the state council have formulated a series of policies to deepen the reform of the sports system and promote the development of sports. During this period, there were as many as 10 state council policy documents on the overall reform direction of sports. The promulgation of the “healthy China 2030” planning outline, “opinions on implementing a healthy China”

114

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

and “healthy China action organization, implementation and assessment plan” laid a foundation for Xi Jinping’s “healthy China” strategy. Healthy China actually inherits the further development on the basis of national fitness strategy and achieves the role of educating people by cooperating with sports in many aspects and fields. It also provides the direction for the future development of sports in China, and the promotion of healthy China strategy has become the key work to improve and guarantee people’s livelihood. The Opinions on Implementing a Healthy China put forward that life lies in sports and sports need science. We should provide targeted sports and fitness programs or sports guidance services for different groups with the efforts to build people around the fitness organization. We shall open public sports facilities free of charge or at low cost. We should promote the development of a disease management and health service model that integrates physical and medical services. The physical health of college students is included in the assessment of colleges and universities. We try to raise the proportion of those who pass the national standards for measuring physical fitness and the proportion of those who take regular physical exercise. Xi in 2018, in the national education conference stressed that, we must work hard in the firm ideal faith, education guide students to establish communist broad ideal and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, strengthen students’ the socialist road with Chinese characteristics of confidence, confidence, system theory, the culture, to shoulder the era of national rejuvenation. Students should be educated and guided to love and support the communist party of China, be determined to listen to the party and follow its lead and be determined to take root in the people and contribute to the country. To strengthen the moral cultivation, education and guidance of students to cultivate and practice the socialist core values, step by step to repair the moral character, become a person with great love, great morality and great feelings. We should make great efforts to increase our knowledge and knowledge. We should educate and guide students to cherish their study time, seek knowledge and learning without distractions, increase their knowledge and enrich their knowledge, and move forward in the direction of seeking truth, understanding and understanding. To cultivate the spirit of struggle, education and guidance of students to set up lofty aspirations, experience dare to take responsibility, the spirit of unremitting struggle, have the courage to struggle, optimistic attitude towards life, to do vigorous, unremitting self-improvement. To enhance the comprehensive quality of work, education and guidance of students to cultivate comprehensive ability, cultivate innovative thinking. To establish the concept of health first education, open full physical education, to help students enjoy fun in physical exercise, enhance physical fitness, sound personality, temper will. We should comprehensively strengthen and improve aesthetic education in schools, insist on aesthetic education and cultural education, and improve students’ aesthetic and humanistic qualities. We should promote the spirit of labor among students, educate and guide students to advocate and respect labor, understand the most glorious, the most noble, the greatest and the most beautiful truth about labor, and be able to work hard, honestly and creatively when they grow up. In 2019, in order to carry out Xi proposed in the national conference on education, the thought of training builders and successors for socialism, the State Council

5.1 The Development of Sports Education Policy Since the Reform and Opening up

115

issued Opinions on a New Era to Push Forward the Reform of Ordinary High School Education Mode Guidance, put forward the direction and focus of the reform of high school educational way of system, curriculum, management, development and evaluation are made a comprehensive and systematic design, the overall situation, strong pertinence and maneuverability of distinctive characteristics, promote the reform of high school education embodies the new era of integrity, systematic, coupling, compared with the past, there are many major breakthrough and innovation.9 Closely around the fundamental problem of “who to cultivate, how to cultivate and for whom to cultivate”, we have made principled provisions on what to teach, how to teach, what to learn, how to learn, what to evaluate and how to evaluate. At the same time, the State Council also promulgated the opinions on deepening education and teaching reform to comprehensively improve the quality of compulsory education, emphasizing the role of sports purchasing service, social sports organizations and campus football in sports education. Insist on health first, implement school sports to fix the foundation of action. We shall implement a plan to improve nutrition for rural students receiving compulsory education. The comprehensive intervention system for students’ vision health should be improved to ensure sufficient sleep time for students. It emphasizes the great role of cultivating people with virtue and cultivating the builders and successors of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

5.2 Sports Achievements Since the Reform and Opening up 5.2.1 Nationwide Fitness Popularization Since reform and opening-up, the country’s increasingly focus on people’s health problem. In 1995, we first put forward the concept of the national fitness, then the “sports law of the People’s Republic of China” national fitness program outline “policy documents, such as the national fitness ordinance” about speed up the development of sports industry, promote the sports consumption of the several opinions but also the national fitness rises for national strategy, to improve the people’s physique, improve the level of health as a fundamental goal, the government vigorously promote the “six projects” construction, establish a convenient, populist public sports service system. Since the national fitness popularization, sports venue construction to get fast development, the national physical deterioration of the situation has improved, sports consumption increasing, basic implementation into three: include the national fitness cause in all levels of the national economic and social development plan, the national fitness cause funds into the fiscal budgets at various levels, the national fitness work included in the annual work report at all levels of the government. Since the Regulations on the Public Cultural and Sports Facilities has been released, the number of sports facilities, phyletic and various, including basketball, 9 Han Yatong, Xu Xinyi. Xi Jinping: give priority to people’s health development strategy to ensure

people’s health in an all-round and full cycle [N]. People’s Daily, 2016-08-21(001).

116

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

football, table tennis table, social activities such as instrument, the area is larger, according to “the sixth national sports ground survey data” bulletin shows that by the end of 2013, the national total of 1.6946 million sports ground, land area of 3.982 billion m2 , sports ground covers an area of 1.46 m2 per capita. According to several national census data, the per capita area of sports venues in China is increasing, but the growth rate is slowing down. According to the 2014 national fitness survey bulletin, 410 million urban and rural residents aged 20 and above participated in physical exercise in 2014. In 2014, the percentage of people who regularly took part in physical exercise was 33.9%. Compared with 2007, the percentage of people who often take part in physical exercise has increased significantly, and the per capita level of sports consumption has increased significantly. The survey results also show that more and more urban and rural residents go to public sports venues for physical exercise, which shows the effect of the construction of public sports venues and facilities in China in recent years and provides a guarantee for all the people to participate in physical exercise. China’s residents to participate in physical fitness methods from the original excessive focus on walking, running gradually turned to square dance and various ball activities. This transformation also reflects the diversity of sports and fitness programs for urban and rural residents in China, and also reflects the trend that basic fitness programs are still relatively concentrated. Scientific fitness activities continue to increase. By the end of 2017, China’s sports venues had exceeded 1.957 million, with an average per capita area of 1.66 m2 . The number of officially registered sports organizations increased by an average of 10.86% annually, and the number of sports associations at all levels and of all kinds increased substantially. National fitness sites have reached 3 per 10,000 people. By August 2018, there were more than 2 million social sports instructors, and the ratio of public welfare social sports instructors per 1000 people in China exceeded the standard of 1.5%. There were nearly 210,000 professional social sports instructors and 184,000 swimming lifeguards. In 2017 alone, nearly 3300 nationwide fitness activities were held around the national fitness day, with more than 90 million participants. In 2017, the total size (total output) of the national sports industry was 2.2 trillion yuan, and the added value was 781.1 billion yuan, according to the announcement. Sports service industry (with the exception of sports products and related products manufacturing, 9 categories of the sports facilities construction) has maintained a rapid development momentum, the added value of proportion in the sports industry continue to rise, up from 55% in 2016 to 57% in 2017, which directly related to the public sports consumption sports performance, sports fitness leisure activities outstanding growth, the growth rate of 39.2% and 47.5% respectively. In addition, the construction of national fitness facilities, such as sports venues, fitness trails and sports parks, has been increasing with a growth rate of 94.7%, reflecting the rapid and vigorous development of China’s sports facilities.10 10 State general administration of sports. 2014 national fitness survey bulletin [EB/OL]. http://www.

sport.gov.cn/n315/n329/c216783/content.html.

5.2 Sports Achievements Since the Reform and Opening up

117

5.2.2 School Sports Work Has Been Effective In terms of school sports management system, an organizational framework system of coordinated management from the central government to the local government, the ministry of education and the general administration of sports has been formed, and the youth sports department has been established. With the continuous introduction of sports policies and the continuous improvement of sports laws and regulations, school sports have stepped into the legal, standardized and scientific track with the introduction of a series of school sports systems, documents and top-level design.11 Sports teaching, the school sports has established the thought of “health first”, formed the student-centered teaching concept, and divided into four levels of school physical education curriculum content system, teachers team construction to speed up the ascension bring teachers’ specialization level, accelerating the construction of school sports facilities, to guarantee the students physical activity time, the importance of sports in school teaching increasingly important, including school sports work and students’ physical health level has been officially included in local government performance evaluation index system; School physical education and students’ physical health are included in the evaluation index system of education modernization and education running level. The physical health and sports skills of school students are integrated into the physical education examination. Development of campus football is our school’s sports and the implementation of the education missions, youth campus football work eagerly anticipates the phased results were obtained in deepening the reform of school sports, school sports work throughout the country attaches great importance to the party and country, the government departments to coordinate, all kinds of schools to carry out the policy support, social parties, hundreds of millions of students actively participate in the new pattern. The school sports work pay attention to the pioneering top-level design combined with the feasibility of the feet on the ground, realizes the top-level design development and explore the benign interaction of innovation at the grass-roots level to interest as the guide, pay attention to cultivate the students’ sports interests and skills, and strive to meet the students’ diverse sports demand, promote the school sports reform, development and innovation constantly, promote students to form the habit of lifelong exercise. The students’ height, weight and other morphological indicators continue to grow, and the qualified rate of students’ physical health standards reaches more than 95%. According to the 2014 national physique monitoring bulletin, the physical development level of students in urban and rural areas in China, namely height, weight and chest circumference, continued to improve in 2014. Lung capacity showed an increasing trend, and the detection rate of malnutrition among urban and rural students was further reduced, and there was basically no moderate malnutrition. The infection rate of roundworm among rural primary school students continued to decrease. 11 Han Yatong, Xu Xinyi. Xi Jinping: give priority to people’s health development strategy to ensure

people’s health in an all-round and full cycle [N]. People’s Daily, 2016-08-21(001).

118

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

5.3 Problems Existing in the Development of Sports at Present 5.3.1 Uneven Development of Mass Sports In 2015, Liu Peng, director of the general administration of sport, said that there were four shortcomings in the implementation of the plan: the development of national fitness is still unbalanced. Between regions, between urban and rural areas and between populations; The public service system of national fitness needs to be improved. Public spending remains low; Social organizations of sports need to be developed and strengthened, and the mobilization of social forces to participate in national fitness is not enough. The overall physical fitness level of all the population has increased, while adult males have decreased. The data shows that overweight and obesity have become a prominent problem affecting the quality of Chinese adults and the elderly. “2010 national student physical fitness and health survey results” shows that college students’ physical quality continues to decline slowly, the detection rate of poor vision continues to rise, and the trend of younger age, the detection rate of obesity continues to increase, the prevalence of dental caries rebound. According to a world health organization study, 600 million people in China are nearsighted, and the rate of myopia among teenagers is the highest in the world. According to the 2014 national fitness survey bulletin, “lack of time and space” are still the main reasons for urban and rural residents not to take part in physical exercise. The age structure of people who take part in physical exercise is unbalanced. More people in the age of 50 and above often take part in physical exercise, while the number of people in other age groups is relatively low. The enthusiasm of urban and rural residents to participate in physical exercise has increased, but the scientific fitness consciousness is weak; Sports consumption level has been improved, but “material consumption” is still the main way. According to the 2010 and 2014 the national physical health test results, overall national physique qualified rate increased, but the average qualified rate is still less than 90%, the number of different provinces qualified differences more, such as the highest and the lowest rate of qualified of the Tibet autonomous region of Guangdong province is 20%, is the national fitness effect is significantly different in different regions, the rural people’s physique qualified rate always is better than city, parts of difference too much, even two year comparison, we can see significant parts of progress such as Liaoning, Henan, Hubei. The qualified rate has dropped in some areas, even substantially, such as Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Xinjiang (see Table 5.1). The scientific nature of national fitness needs to be improved, and most residents have great blindness when they participate in sports activities. Physical fitness activities in enhancing physical fitness, disease prevention and control there is still a lot of room for improvement. Therefore, it is urgent to issue authoritative guidelines on

5.3 Problems Existing in the Development of Sports at Present

119

Table 5.1 The qualified rate of national physical health City/province

2014

Town

Rural

2010

Town

Rural

Beijing

91.6

95.5

84.5

90.4

95.1

82.9

Tianjin

93.0

94.2

91.3

89.1

92.1

84.3

Hebei

84.1

86.9

79.6

84.6

89.6

76.7

Shanxi

93.0

96.9

86.3

89.6

92.3

85.5

Neimeng

85.9

88.7

81.7

92.6

94.7

89.3

Liaoning

89.7

90.9

87.6

82.4

86.8

75.4

Jilin

87.8

90.0

84.3

83.0

83.4

82.3

Heilongjiang

87.8

89.0

85.9

89.3

92.8

84.2

Shanghai

97.1

96.8

97.5

96.1

95.7

96.7

Jiangsu

91.2

92.3

89.4

93.8

94.1

93.3

Zhejiang

93.7

94.0

93.3

94.9

95.9

93.3

Anhui

91.7

93.8

88.3

87.4

92.4

78.9

Fujian

88.3

90.3

85.2

89.2

91.4

85.7

Jiangxi

91.6

92.4

90.4

89.9

93.0

85.1

Shandong

91.5

92.8

89.4

92.1

94.5

88.8

Henan

91.5

93.0

89.0

85.2

87.3

81.9

Hubei

94.2

95.1

93.2

88.8

94.1

80.3

Hunan

84.3

84.0

84.6

89.7

91.4

87.1

Guangzhou

95.9

96.0

95.7

95.7

93.5

91.1

Guangxi

86.9

88.2

84.8

94.4

97.3

89.8

Hainan

90.3

92.1

87.5

93.9

95.3

91.7

Sichuan

84.2

86.9

79.9

87.2

89.6

83.5

Guizhou

81.5

83.3

78.4

84.5

89.0

77.4

Yunna

89.1

89.3

88.7

90.0

92.7

85.6

Xizhang

76.4

77.9

73.9

78.9

83.3

71.9

Chongqing

92.7

94.6

89.5

92.6

92.3

93.4

Shanxi

87.2

88.3

85.5

87.1

89.6

83.3

Guansu

90.6

92.9

86.8

88.3

90.9

84.5

Qinghai

84.5

86.5

81.2

80.8

83.9

75.8

Ningxia

87.8

90.5

83.3

87.8

89.9

84.6

Xinjiang

82.5

83.7

80.5

85.8

87.5

83.0

sports and fitness activities from the national level to guide residents to engage in sports and fitness activities scientifically. The public service supply of national fitness is insufficient and unbalanced, and the people’s space supply type is relatively single. In cities, fitness path is the main, while in rural areas, table tennis table and basketball court are the main, making it difficult to meet the diverse construction needs of different groups. There are

120

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

still many deficiencies in the construction of sports venues in China, such as the differences between the country, urban and rural areas, east and west. Although in our country land area, and constantly strengthen the building of sports ground in recent years, but the per capita area of phase is much less than the other countries, the United States for 16 m2 , while Japan while land is small, but their sports area of up to 19 m2 per capita, visible attaches great importance to the sports function to the promotion of national quality, have been carried out for 25 years, although the national fitness exercise consciousness is very weak, but people often take part in physical exercise also has the very big disparity with the developed countries, the number of There is a big difference in the number and area of sports venues per capita in China in the eastern and western regions. The total number and area of the 10 eastern provinces are almost the sum of the 18 provinces in the central and western regions, which may also be related to the difference in population distribution in the regions. There are differences between urban and rural areas. Cities have 13.12 sports venues per 10,000 people, with an area of 1.83 m2 per capita. Rural areas have 10.79 sports venues per 10,000 people, with an area of 0.97 m2 per capita.12

5.3.2 Physical Education Awareness in Schools Has Been Strengthened, but not Enough Attention Has Been Paid to It Although in the current evaluation system of sports, sports also be incorporated into the school appraisal indicators, but unlike major objective examination, physical examination is moisture, schools in order to make the final data looks good, will be a large number of modified PE, makes it look good school sports is full of false composition, school sports work take temporary solution not effect a permanent cure, after all is not enough emphasis on quality education, not enough emphasis on student-centered teaching concept, especially in high school and college, sports are no longer included in the final appraisal system, make the development of sports become a mere formality, but the students don’t focus into sports, It is the indulgence of the school that makes the students lazy and lucky. If the school strictly takes the physical education performance as the real data, in a sense, it can stimulate the motivation of students to exercise. Most schools only arrange two a week physical education and physical education is occupied by a lot of, the students’ sports activities time is far less than the required one hour a day, inadequate school sports facilities, sports equipment are the legacy of before, almost no update, also won’t add new types, and the lack of sports ground maintenance consciousness, such as football field lawn, pose a safety hazard, and rainy days almost impossible to use. There are problems in the construction of physical education teachers. Just as physical education is not valued by the school, neither are physical education teachers. 12 State general administration of sports. 2014 national fitness survey bulletin [EB/OL]. http://www.

sport.gov.cn/n315/n329/c216783/content.html.

5.3 Problems Existing in the Development of Sports at Present

121

The number of weekly courses taught by physical education teachers is the largest among all subject teachers, because they are in small Numbers and are responsible for the physical education of all classes in the school. Class hours and low pay, physical education teacher’s salary is far lower than the main subject teacher, and the working environment is poor, need to stay in the playground, and so on, resulting in difficult to retain young physical education teachers. Secretary Xi Jinping prioritizes the development of teachers as a core task, which is the most important point in school physical education. Students lack of exercise consciousness, physical quality, the worse the more students don’t want to exercise lead to physical decline further, mainly is the school is not active, not build a attaches great importance to the exercise, the atmosphere of the school to carry out sports activities, if the school sports work, the development of rich extracurricular sports activity type, set up all kinds of sports clubs, actively carry out various campus fun games, stimulate the atmosphere of the whole school to participate in sports, students will naturally interested in sports.13

5.4 Future Trend of Sports Development Sports is an important part of our socialist cause. Since the reform and opening-up, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attaches great importance on the development of undertakings of physical culture and sports and special care, in the key of the development of undertakings of physical culture and sports stage in a timely manner to a comprehensive system of policy guidance, in determining the key issues of the development of sports to make sense of the wise decision, the party and state leaders for the sports work kind instruction and great inspiration, not only for the development of China’s sports clear direction, and guide the progress also provides tremendous power. Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), the CPC central committee with Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the work of sports. Xi Jinping has repeatedly given important instructions and delivered important speeches on sports work, and put forward a series of new ideas, new thoughts and new viewpoints, which formed an important exposition of Xi Jinping on sports work and provided fundamental guidelines for doing sports work well in the new era.

13 State general administration of sports. 2014 national fitness survey bulletin [EB/OL]. http://www.

sport.gov.cn/n315/n329/c216783/content.html.

122

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

5.4.1 Implementing the National Fitness Strategy and Deepening the Healthy China Strategy Xi stressed that “to speed up the building of a strong country in sports, we must adhere to the people-centered concept, take the people as the main body of sports development, meet the people’s fitness needs and promote all-round development of the people as the starting point and goal of sports work, implement the national strategy of fitness for all, and constantly improve people’s health. It is better to include mass sports in the national games and organize people to participate in the games.” Construction of China, the national fitness rise for the national health strategy, will provide new opportunities for sports development, will continue to meet the higher demand of the broad masses of the people’s health, and further build athleticism, good atmosphere of nationwide fitness, promote the sports into their lives, to cultivate healthy green way of life, enhance the people’s well-being and the acquisition, improve the health level of the whole nation. We shall continue to improve basic public sports services, vigorously implement the “six projects around us”, so that the people can fully enjoy the benefits of fitness; Sports venues are the basis of national fitness, and the construction and management of fitness venues should be strengthened. To foster and support grassroots sports organizations, we should give full play to their role, guide, mobilize and encourage social forces to participate in national fitness, and explore ways to build national fitness think tanks with Chinese characteristics. Strengthen scientific fitness guidance, improve the level of public participation in national fitness and quality. Social sports instructors are not only the organizers of grassroots sports activities, but also the guidance of scientific fitness. If they give full play to the role of these people, the guidance of scientific fitness will be more powerful. In other words, we should promote the combination of modern information technology and national fitness. The 13th five-year plan period is the decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and a crucial period of building a strong sports country. Sports front will comprehensively implement the important discourse on physical education, sports work forum, the national fitness inter-ministerial meeting spirit, earnestly implement the “healthy China 2030” planning outline “and” national fitness plan (2016–2020), closely around the core “for the convenience of Huimin”, firmly grasp the “six side project” of public sports, promote the establishment of coverage and the national fitness function is perfect public service system, and constantly improve the level of the national fitness equalization of public services, to ensure that by 2020 all basic sports fitness service goals. We shall give top priority to people’s health, foster the concept of greater health and greater health, promote the integration of fitness for all and health for all, give full play to the unique advantages of sports in health promotion, and enable the people to enjoy a better quality of life and a longer healthy life, so as to make new contributions to building a healthy China.14 14 State general administration of sports. 2014 national fitness survey bulletin [EB/OL]. http://www.

sport.gov.cn/n315/n329/c216783/content.html.

5.4 Future Trend of Sports Development

123

5.4.2 Adhere to Promoting Morality and Bringing into Play the Role of Physical Education in Schools Talent cultivation is a unified process of educating people and educating talents, and educating people is the basis. Xi Jinping included labor education in the requirements of socialist builders and successors, put forward the general requirements of “morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor”, and from six aspects of how to train socialist builders and successors, this is a major innovation in the party’s education theory. Since the implementation of quality-oriented education for more than 20 years, it has gradually become the core concept of China’s education and the broad consensus of all sectors of society. We should follow the law of education and the law of talent growth, and strive to build an education system of all-round cultivation of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor, and make moral cultivation of people run through all fields and links of educational work, so as to make quality education specific and cultivate new people of the era of all-round development. To develop youth sports and campus sports, the youth generation not only influences the future of Chinese sports, but also determines the future of China. On the way to realizing the dream of sports power, we should firmly grasp the youth generation. “When young people are strong, China is strong. Youth is strong, strong youth is various, including ideological and moral character, academic performance, innovation ability, practical ability, but also including physical health, strong body, sportsmanship”. I hope that through your wonderful performance at this youth Olympic Games, the majority of young people across the country are actively engaged in physical exercise, not only to study well, but also to the physical good, do all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical beauty, and become the backbone of the construction of the motherland in the future.

5.4.3 Promoting Governance in Accordance with the Law and Strengthening Organizational Leadership We adhere to the leadership of the communist party of China, adhere to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics sports, promoting the modernization of sports management system and management ability, and further to promote administration according to law, to carry out the perfect sports laws and regulations system construction, the republic of China sports law of the People’s Republic of China the revision is that the government again after the reflection on the problems existing in the sports results, proved our country sports law system needs to be perfect, sports supervision system needs to be strengthened, concept of administration according to law to promote. We further unify our thinking, change our thinking, administer according to law, enforce the law in a civilized way, strengthen our awareness of law and responsibility, and ensure the implementation of the law. We will continue to do a good job in publicizing and popularizing the law, guide the broad masses

124

5 Shaping the Physical Education in China: The Contexts and Efforts

of the people to study and understand the law, and create a good social atmosphere for abiding by the law. Management according to law, administration according to law is a long-term and arduous task, directly under the state council, state general administration of sports, as a responsible for the management of the sports work throughout the country, in promoting the sustainable development of the undertakings of physical culture and sports health and implement management plays a very important role, in accordance with the need in the future work, further transform government functions, improve the level of service, efforts to promote the reform, the scientific, standardized, the development of China’s sports undertakings along the orbit of rule by law forward steadily.15

5.4.4 Developing Physical Education Through Science and Education We try to establish and improve a scientific and technological innovation system that is reasonably distributed and optimally allocated to meet the needs of mass entrepreneurship and innovation in sports. On the basis of institutions of higher education, the sports research institutes and key laboratories, we try to promote the development of special research platforms for competitive sports, platforms for scientific and fitness guidance for mass sports, and platforms for scientific research services for the sports industry. With the focus on health promotion, exercise prescription, scientific fitness guidance and service, we try to carry out research and application of national fitness theories and methods. With the goal of making breakthroughs in “three major sports”, basic sports and winter sports, we will strengthen research in the fields of scientific material selection, sports protection, training monitoring, physical fitness recovery, injury treatment, sports rehabilitation, information analysis and application, and focus on solving key technical problems in key sports events. We will focus on equipment and equipment with independent intellectual property rights, new sports service technologies, and “Internet plus” products to promote scientific and technological innovation and the transformation of achievements. Closely combined with the practice of sports reform and development, the major theoretical and practical problems in the development of sports are studied. We shall attach importance to the application of high-level research results, encourage research institutions at all levels and institutions of higher learning to build sports think tanks, and provide consulting services for sports development and major decisions. We strengthen the construction of research teams in sports philosophy and social sciences, focus on training the backbone of sports theoretical research, and strengthen the training of young sports theoretical talents. To promote the construction of sports philosophy and social sciences team style of study, strict academic standards. 15 State general administration of sports. 2014 national fitness survey bulletin [EB/OL]. http://www.

sport.gov.cn/n315/n329/c216783/content.html.

5.4 Future Trend of Sports Development

125

We have optimized the environment of the growth of sports talents, improved the talent selection and flow, safeguard measures, implementation of the “outstanding young and middle-aged professional and technical personnel one hundred people plan” “elite coaches contradiction cultivation plan”, etc., to strengthen the training of coaches, priority teachers team construction, formed a group of capable, moral backbone personnel. We should improve the status of PE teachers in schools, ensure that PE classes are not occupied, and ensure that every child has one hour of exercise time every day. Meanwhile, we should improve the core quality of PE teachers and improve the level of teaching quality.

5.4.5 Strengthen the Construction of Sports Culture, Cultivate Moral, Intellectual, Physical, Aesthetic and Labor Successors to Socialism To speed up the building of a strong country in sports, “we must carry forward the Chinese sportsmanship and sportsmanship, be firm and confident, and work hard,” Xi said. Insist on cultivating and practicing the socialist core values and carry forward the national spirit with patriotism as the core and with reform and innovation as the core spirit of the Times inherit the spirit of the Chinese traditional sports and sports culture, strong cultural self-confidence, cultivate a new generation of art of morality, intelligence and physique full scale development of socialist builders and successors, and to realize China’s dream and two plans to add one hundred brick tile. Establish a new concept of sports and fitness culture. The promotion of mass fitness culture can stimulate and drive more people to participate in national fitness, fully understand and vigorously publicize the importance and unique role of national fitness campaign in promoting national health, and guide the people to actively establish the new concept of “my health is my decision” and “exercise makes life better”.

Chapter 6

Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

This chapter concentrates on shaping the aesthetic education in contemporary China from the perspectives of policies and concerns. The sections, including the concept and function of aesthetic education, the review of aesthetic education policy, the effect of aesthetic education, the concerns on aesthetic education, the aesthetic education evaluation system, and the development trend of aesthetic education, all contribute to exploring how to understand the development of China’s aesthetic education, historically.

6.1 The Concept and Function of Aesthetic Education 6.1.1 Definition of Aesthetic Education The concept of aesthetic education was put forward by German poet and aesthetician Schiller at the end of the eighteenth century. In his famous book about human aesthetic education, he regarded aesthetic education as a way to solve the split problem of human nature caused by the modernization process. He believes that the perfect state of human nature is the harmony and unity of sensibility and rationality. However, modernization makes people stay away from nature and their sensibility is undeserved suppressed, resulting in the crisis of human survival and development. Therefore, it is necessary to restore the sensitivity of human perception, the richness of emotion and the diversity of imagination with the help of perceptual education, so as to achieve the

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_6

127

128

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

balance and coordination between sensibility and rationality. This kind of education with special significance is “aesthetic education”.1 At the beginning of the twentieth century, when the theory of aesthetic education was introduced into China, it was also recognized as a part of promoting the comprehensive development of human beings. For example, Wang guowei, in 1903, published On the Purpose of Education, with the aim that education is to cultivate the ability of physical and mental. This kind of education contains intellectual education, moral education, aesthetic education and sports. The aesthetic education serves as the means of moral education and intellectual education. The educators must pay attention to put forward the education policy of “five educations simultaneously”, which means “military nationalism”, “materialism”, “civic morality”, “aesthetic education” and “world outlook” education, which also means comprehensive education. The present educational policy of China also clearly stipulates that morality, intelligence, body and beauty constitute the education to promote the all-round development of human beings. The aesthetic education is not a course or a group of courses, nor is it just about teaching people to learn artistic skills such as painting, singing or dancing, but an important part of the national educational policy.2 In 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving Aesthetic Education in Schools (hereinafter referred to as the opinions), which clearly and concisely defined the concept of aesthetic education. It points out that aesthetic education is not only aesthetic education, but also sentiment education and soul education. This clear definition makes a clear boundary between aesthetic education and moral education, intellectual education, physical education and labor education. This division aims to explain that the essence of aesthetic education is to educate students with aesthetics as the core, which should focus on the cultivation and training of students’ ability to perceive, embody and create beauty. Make students in the edification of the United States in the restraint of emotion, purify the soul. The clear definition of the concept of aesthetic education in the opinion is a highly generalized and incisive summary of the discussion on the connotation of aesthetic education in the history of education, which reflects the essential characteristics of aesthetic education and helps to form and gain people’s correct understanding and deep perception of aesthetic education. The aesthetic education in the socialist schools serves for the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and the cultivation of students’ spiritual and behavioral beauty. Aesthetic education can promote the development of moral, intellectual and physical education of students. It can improve students’ thinking and develop their moral sentiment. It can enrich students’ knowledge and develop their intelligence. 1 Chinese government website. Opinions of the general office of the state council on comprehensively

strengthening and improving aesthetic education in schools [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/ 2015--09/28/content_29398333.htm. 2 Decision of the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, decision of the CPC central committee and the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, China vocational and technical education, 1999.

6.1 The Concept and Function of Aesthetic Education

129

It can improve people’s physical and mental health, improve the quality of sports; It can inspire students to love labor, love working people, and carry out creative labor.3

6.1.2 The Significance of Aesthetic Education As the national education policy, implement the main gripper basic task and the development of the important way and content of quality education, the reform and opening-up, the CPC Central Committee and State Council attaches great importance to aesthetic education, especially since the 18th Party and the state tries to improve the teaching of aesthetic education and improving students’ aesthetic and cultural accomplishments as comprehensively deepen the reform of the society in various fields, integrated comprehensively deepen education reform, comprehensively promotes the development of literary and artistic work of high quality is an important task, have issued a series of major policy, school got unprecedented attention to aesthetic education development, ushered in the important opportunity of development. As we all know, beauty is powerful, and education without aesthetic education is incomplete. Thousands of years ago, Confucius put forward the idea that “poetry prospers, ceremony prevails, and music succeeds”, emphasizing the role of aesthetic education in cultivating personality. Cai yuanpei once shouted loudly: “aesthetic education is the most important, the most basic outlook on life education.” Jobs also said that the biggest difference between apple and other computer companies is the pursuit of technology, while always maintaining the pursuit of art and beauty.4 In the modern society with increasingly abundant material supply and more prominent spiritual problems, aesthetic ability plays an increasingly important or even irreplaceable role. For individuals, it is about the ability to feel life. Each of us is in the same world, but we have different understandings of beauty, different perspectives on the world, and different degrees of happiness. No wonder they say, “when you take away the love of beauty from our hearts, you take away all the charm of life.” For individuals, aesthetic education can cultivate aesthetic ability. Aesthetic perception is concentrated in aesthetic perception, which is a kind of sensory ability corresponding to aesthetic needs. Aesthetic ability also contains rich imagination and deep understanding. People’s aesthetic ability is not born, is the result of acquired education. The acquisition of aesthetic ability mainly comes from aesthetic education. Because aesthetic education is an education of image and emotion, it determines that aesthetic education can directly train the sense and perception ability, on this basis, improve 3 Chinese government website. Opinions of the general office of the state council on comprehensively

strengthening and improving aesthetic education in schools [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/ 2015--09/28/content_29398333.htm. 4 Decision of the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, decision of the CPC central committee and the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, China vocational and technical education, 1999.

130

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

the imagination and understanding, improve the aesthetic psychological structure, and comprehensively cultivate the aesthetic ability. Aesthetic education can cultivate one’s disposition. Human disposition refers to human personality and desire, which is an integral part of individual perceptual life. Therefore, it is also associated with individual desire and utilitarian heart, which always has the nature of narrow utilitarianism and egoism. Since temperament is a part of the individual’s perceptual life, some rational education, such as moral preaching, can only impose some external norms and restrictions on people, but cannot really reach the heart. As an emotional education, aesthetic education enables people to enter aesthetic activities and gain pleasant feelings from the perception and experience of aesthetic objects, so it can play a role in people’s temperament. Aesthetic education can help the educated set up a correct aesthetic. Human activities are dominated by their own world view, and aesthetics is an important part of the world view. People should be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil, as well as beauty and ugliness. The correct aesthetic is to be able to distinguish beauty from ugliness, know what beauty is and master the aesthetic standard. In reality, for people in the aesthetic problems, the big truth is both unreasonable and useless, can only make people resist. Only through aesthetic education, let people understand the boundary between beauty and ugliness, help people to establish a correct world view and aesthetic, can make people consciously eliminate all despicable desire invasion. For the society, aesthetic ability is also an important basis for cultivating historical and cultural consciousness. Lacking sufficient aesthetic ability and inner pursuit of beauty, it is difficult for citizens to truly establish cultural confidence in their hearts, and it is difficult for them to continue to improve the level of modern civilization on the basis of inheriting history.5 In the current era, aesthetic education is directly related to whether we can shape and produce according to the law of beauty. The law of beauty is the law of form, of how form is pleasing to the eye. To produce according to the law of beauty is to give practical objects a pleasing form of production. If there is no aesthetic perception of the form of beauty, it is impossible to produce according to the law of beauty in production practice. With the development of human society, with the improvement of material and spiritual living standards, people have higher and higher requirements for beauty. People not only need to create more works of art to meet people’s spiritual needs, but also require daily contact with the product of beauty everywhere. The rise of technical aesthetics and the increasing attention paid to artistic design in the contemporary era is just to illustrate the trend of the current era. Therefore, the development of human perception and imagination not only creates conditions for the development of art, but also creates conditions for the development of material production. Therefore, the general improvement of people’s aesthetic ability can continuously improve the aesthetic level of the whole society.

5 Chinese government website. Opinions of the general office of the state council on comprehensively

strengthening and improving aesthetic education in schools [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/ 2015--09/28/content_29398333.htm.

6.1 The Concept and Function of Aesthetic Education

131

Secondly, in aesthetic activities, in the process of cultivating temperament and improving personality, people can establish a beautiful and harmonious relationship with the surrounding world and people. This beautiful and harmonious relationship has penetrated into the ethical, moral, political and economic relations of the society, changing the spiritual and cultural life of the society. And the beautiful and harmonious social relations and the spiritual and cultural life of the society are influencing and shaping the spirit, sentiment and personality of individual human beings subtly. In this cycle, the whole society will become better and better. Thirdly, the passion and correct aesthetics acquired in aesthetic education have a great impact on people’s practical activities. Passion makes people stick to their career, and the correct aesthetic can ensure that people pursue beauty without deviation. So, it can play a positive role in promoting the development of society. From this point of view, the aesthetic education is not only the cause of a few educators and aestheticians, but also the cause of the whole society and mankind. It is not only a specific way of education in society, but also a systematic project of self-generation, self-development and self-perfection of human beings. Therefore, some scholars summarize the role and significance of aesthetic education as follows: “in the modern society with increasingly abundant material supply and more prominent spiritual problems, aesthetic ability plays an increasingly important or even irreplaceable role”. For the individual, it is about the ability to feel life, the ability to experience happiness in the good life. For the society, the aesthetic ability is also an important basis for cultivating historical and cultural consciousness. Lacking sufficient aesthetic ability and inner pursuit of beauty, it is difficult for citizens to truly establish cultural confidence in their hearts, and it is difficult for them to continue to improve the level of modern civilization on the basis of inheriting history. It is not only a personal blessing, but also a national blessing, when every citizen has a good heart, a perfect character, a more interesting life and a higher spiritual state.

6.2 Review of Aesthetic Education Policy Aesthetic education policy refers to the meeting resolution documents, laws and regulations or policy documents issued by the party and the state and their corresponding major administrative departments. From the extension, macro level, we mainly refer to the various resolutions and laws and regulations on aesthetic education formed by the CPC Central Committee and the National People’s Congress, the highest power organ of the country, and specifically refer to the various policy documents on aesthetic education issued by the state council and the ministry of education.6 6 Decision

of the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, decision of the CPC central committee and the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, China vocational and technical education, 1999.

132

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to the aesthetic education in schools, especially since the 18th national congress of the CPC. Since 1949, from the national policy level, at different times, the Ministry of Education issued the Interim Procedures “primary school” (draft) and the Provisional Regulations (draft) on the middle school, including the regulations mentioned: “the implementation of intellectual education, moral education, sports, aesthetic education of all-round development education”; For a considerable period of time after 1957, China’s educational policy put more emphasis on the education centered on moral, intellectual and physical education, and aesthetic education was only a part of “all-round development”, which was no longer specifically mentioned in the policy. It was not until 1986 that aesthetic education was explicitly returned to the national policy document, namely the seventh five-year plan for national economic and social development of the People’s Republic of China (1986–1990) formulated by the state council at the Fourth Session of the sixth National People’s Congress. In 1999, the State Council promulgated the Decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deepening Education Reform and Comprehensively Promoting Quality-oriented Education, advocating the quality-oriented education, and aesthetic education as the core content of which was developed in a concentric way. Since then, the aesthetic education, as one of the national educational policies, has clearly appeared in all kinds of national policy documents at all levels. In the new century, the CPC central committee with Xi jinping as the core of party and state leadership attaches more importance to aesthetic education. The third plenary session of the 18th central committee of the communist party of China (CPC) central committee’s decision on several major issues of comprehensively deepening reform specifically put forward the “improvement of aesthetic education” in schools. Then, the state council and the ministry of education issued relevant documents, especially in 2015, issued by the general office of the state council on strengthening and improving comprehensive school aesthetic education work opinion, since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, also have ever lived in China a special deployment improve school aesthetic education work system, special files. From then on, aesthetic education from the national policy level established its entry into the “reform” tide. Right now, we’re in that situation.7 The policies of aesthetic education since the founding of new China can be interpreted in three stages.

7 Chinese government website. Opinions of the general office of the state council on comprehensively

strengthening and improving aesthetic education in schools [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/ 2015--09/28/content_29398333.htm.

6.2 Review of Aesthetic Education Policy

133

6.2.1 Preliminary Development Stage Issued since 1949, the first year of aesthetic education policy is in March 1952, the Ministry of Education issued two files: “Primary School Provisional Regulations” (draft) and the Provisional Regulations (draft) on the Middle school, including the regulations mentioned: “the implementation of intellectual education, moral education, sports, aesthetic education and so on comprehensive development of education”, when it comes to aesthetic education, primary goal for “make children have love beautiful ideas and appreciate the art of the preliminary ability.” “To provide children with a comprehensive basic education, so that they will become loving, self-conscious and active members of the new democratic society.” The education of middle school is to “cultivate students’ aesthetic concept and inspire their artistic creativity” and “develop their body and mind comprehensively”. From these two documents, we can see that the understanding of aesthetic education at that time was mainly “edify aesthetic concept”, “appreciate art”, “inspire artistic creation” and so on. However, there are also some concepts such as “aesthetic education is a comprehensive development of body and mind” and “it is a component of comprehensive basic education”, which have some enlightening significance to the current definition of aesthetic education. In 1957, chairman Mao had a discussion with the educational circles about the educational policy and the “all-round development of education”. In this discussion, there was no mention of “aesthetic education”, and the “comprehensive development” was changed to “several aspects of development”. After that, aesthetic education faded from the field of educational policy making for a period of time.8

6.2.2 Explicitly Included in the Education Policy Stage In 1986, the Fourth Session of the Sixth National People’s Congress adopted the seventh five-year plan for national economic and social development of the People’s Republic of China (1986–1990) formulated by the state council, which carrying out the policy of moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education. In 1999, the CPC central committee and the state council issued the Decision on Deepening Education Reform and Comprehensively Promoting Quality-oriented Education. The Decision clearly states: “to carry out quality-oriented education, moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education must be organically integrated in all links of educational activities.” “We should

8 Decision

of the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, decision of the CPC central committee and the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, China vocational and technical education, 1999.

134

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

change the weak state of aesthetic education in schools as soon as possible and integrate aesthetic education into the whole process of school education”. Primary and secondary schools should strengthen music, fine arts classroom teaching, colleges and universities should require students to choose a certain period of humanities courses including art. We try to carry out a variety of extracurricular cultural and artistic activities to enhance students’ aesthetic experience and cultivate their ability to appreciate and create beauty. This is after the reform and opening up, aesthetic education again be explicitly included in the party and the national education policy, clear as a indispensable part of the all-round development education, the important way and content of quality education, and put forward the “aesthetic education not only can edify sentiment, improve quality, and help develop intelligence, has an irreplaceable role in promoting students all-round development” of the major judgment, clearly expounds the transformation of “exam-oriented education” to “quality education” in the aesthetic education has a huge role, fundamentally solve and fully cleared the return to education policy in the thoughts of aesthetic education, understanding and practice on the concept of many obstacles. For school aesthetic education, this is a decision of historical significance, which not only clarifies the name of aesthetic education, but also clarifies the important position of aesthetic education in quality education and how to play its educational role in schools.9 After that, in as long as 13 years of time, almost all the policies on aesthetic education are expressed as a fixed sentence: to train socialist builders and successors who develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically. This sentence reflects on the Party’s 16th national congress (2002), 17th national congress (2007), and 18th national congress (2012), 2010–2020 National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development Program Outline (2010). However, the premise of this statement varies in different educational policy texts. The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held on the premise of education, ethics and quality education. The National Medium and Long-term Education and Development Plan is based on the premise of adhering to comprehensive development, promoting the organic integration of moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education, and improving the comprehensive quality of students. The 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC) was held on the premise that cultivating people with moral integrity is the fundamental task of education and all-round implementation of quality-oriented education. In 2006, the compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China was amended to stipulate that schools of all kinds and at all levels should strengthen ideological and political work. Implement the policy of comprehensive development of moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education.

9 On

“compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China (amendment draft)”—on February 25, 2006 at the 20th meeting of the standing committee of the tenth National People’s Congress, bulletin of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China 2006.

6.2 Review of Aesthetic Education Policy

135

6.2.3 The Stage of Comprehensive Strengthening and Improvement In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee put forward the specific work requirements of improving aesthetic education teaching and improving students’ aesthetic and humanistic qualities in the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform. Introduced in 2015, the State Council on Strengthening and Improving Comprehensive School Aesthetic Education Work Opinion by the Ministry of Education issued a series of supporting documents, and with the national 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government and Xinjiang production and construction corps signed a memorandum of school aesthetic education reform and development of pioneering the central departments and local governments build synergy of effective system, promote reform and development of school aesthetic education to promote school aesthetic education units in the provinces to determine and promote comprehensive reform of the timetable and roadmap. This series of policies points to several difficulties and pain points in aesthetic education teaching in schools, and its purpose is to ensure every child has the opportunity to receive aesthetic education. Improving the teaching of aesthetic education, students’ aesthetic and cultural literacy is constructed in the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth on Comprehensively Deepen the Reform of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Certain Major Issue put forward by the general requirements, this is not only the “Outline” and “national education career” much starker choices—and graver consequences—in planning in the school aesthetic education development direction and focus of further clear, also puts forward the comprehensive of improving the quality of school aesthetic education goal, marked the official school aesthetic education development in our country into the era of quality.10

6.3 The Effect of Aesthetic Education As a component of comprehensive quality education, aesthetic education in schools has been widely concerned, especially in recent years, aesthetic education has shown a good momentum of development, aesthetic education has been accepted by more and more people, and a lot of practical experience has been explored in various places. Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), aesthetic education in China’s schools has become more and more prominent, with remarkable results in education and teaching, continuous improvement in resource 10 On

“compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China (amendment draft)”—on February 25, 2006 at the 20th meeting of the standing committee of the tenth National People’s Congress, bulletin of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China 2006.

136

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

security, continuous improvement in promotion mechanism, fruitful brand projects and breakthrough progress in aesthetic education in schools. In a sense, the improvement of aesthetic education teaching quality in schools is usually the improvement of its overall elements. One of the signs is whether students’ artistic quality can be steadily improved at the original level or corresponding period/age, which is an important criterion to test the improvement of aesthetic education teaching quality in schools. Since the reform and opening up 40 years ago, especially since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), the artistic quality of students in primary and middle schools has presented gratifying changes at the original level. In 2015, the ministry of education in the school aesthetic education reform and development, said at a news conference in 200 more than the average college freshman aesthetic investigation showed that nearly 80% of the surveyed students in the stage of primary and secondary schools received a formal art of classroom teaching, 62% of the students participated in the school of art community or interest group, 33% of the students to master a certain artistic skills. The survey also showed that 67% of the students had some ability to appreciate art. In terms of aesthetic education curriculum construction, the music and fine arts curriculum of 93.5% of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government in the stage of compulsory education reached 9% of the class hours stipulated by the state. In high school education, 86.43% of the country’s schools offer six credits of compulsory art courses, and 75.7% of secondary vocational schools include art courses in compulsory public basic courses and guarantee 72 class hours. At the same time, the ministry of education “high art into campus” activities, organizing students art performance and create Chinese excellent culture and art heritage school and China youth education science research institute “the campus drama” exhibition, “high quality art teaching development project” and “advisors” project of Beijing as a representative of the school aesthetic education courses and extracurricular activities are increasingly rich, the diversification of aesthetic quality resources configuration, three-dimensional, socialization more palpable.11 In terms of the guarantee of aesthetic education resources, great achievements have been made in the construction of aesthetic education teachers. The number of aesthetic education teachers in basic education nationwide increased from 465,000 in 2007 to 739,700 in 2017. Regular colleges and universities have established a relatively stable contingent of public art education teachers who are engaged in fulltime and part-time teaching. The facilities and facilities for aesthetic education have been greatly improved. From 2007 to 2017, the compliance rate of art equipment in primary schools increased from 40.7 to 79.5%, and that in junior high schools from 55.6 to 88.9%. The influence of school aesthetic education brand project is deepening day by day. The program has been running for 11 consecutive years, with 11 Progress of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html.

6.3 The Effect of Aesthetic Education

137

a total input of 657.44 million yuan from the central government. The art exhibition activities of students in universities and primary and middle schools have explored a three-stage model of schools, provincial and national levels, which has become a normal mechanism and an important lever for promoting aesthetic education in various regions. At the same time, all regions actively promote the reform of aesthetic education in schools based on the actual situation and have accumulated a lot of valuable experience. The first is to build a scientific aesthetic education curriculum system. In terms of aesthetic education courses in schools, music, fine arts and other art courses are taken as the main body in accordance with national requirements, and aesthetic education courses are fully opened in accordance with the curriculum plan, curriculum standards and teaching guidelines. Beijing, Shanghai, Gansu and other places have set up aesthetic education curriculum systems with aesthetic and humanistic qualities as the core, adding dance, drama, drama, film and television courses in primary and secondary schools. Tianjin, Hebei province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Sichuan province have developed local and school-based aesthetic education courses with ethnic and regional characteristics, and listed outstanding traditional culture and art and intangible cultural heritage projects as interest courses in primary and secondary schools, elective courses in ordinary colleges and universities, and compulsory courses in art colleges and universities. In Liaoning province, Anhui province, Hubei province and shaanxi province, high-quality aesthetic education network course resources are built to serve the aesthetic education of schools in rural areas through distance education. In addition, Beijing arranges 1000 campus activities of high art, ethnic art and opera every year. Zhejiang province establishes the school, the city county and the provincial student art performance work mechanism; Tianjin established 200 schools for inheriting Chinese fine culture and art; In Cuiping district, Yibin city, Sichuan province, students’ art practice workshops are built according to local conditions to guide students to enhance cultural confidence, enhance understanding and love of national culture in aesthetic education practice activities. The second is to strengthen the guarantee and support of aesthetic education resources in schools. In Jiangsu province, aesthetic education courses, teachers and equipment are taken as hard indexes in various supervision and evaluation. Nantong city in Jiangsu province has clearly stipulated that 10% of the funds for teacher training should be used for art teacher training, and more than 60 rural weak schools should be favored year by year. Sichuan province has formulated the “five-year action plan of sports and art for ordinary primary and secondary schools in Sichuan province” and determined the annual target and task table of teacher supplement and art equipment allocation during the 13th five-year plan period. Hebei province regards the construction of teachers as the key to aesthetic education, clarifies the proportion of new aesthetic education teachers, and establishes a supplementary mechanism for aesthetic education teachers in rural primary and secondary schools. Fujian province has designated the “project of filling and improving the quality of aesthetic education facilities and equipment for primary and secondary schools” as the “practical projects for the private people” project in 2017, with a special fund of 100 million yuan to equip

138

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

more than 1700 rural primary and secondary schools with music and art teaching equipment. At the same time, we should strengthen the cultivation of aesthetic quality of all subjects in the training of normal university students. In the cultivation of art normal students, they go to rural primary and secondary schools to “harden” before graduation. Training in rotation mode to the aesthetic education teacher “recycled” for further study, with “great aesthetic education” concept to guide the teachers training, expand the scale of training and feeling, the art course and non-artistic course teachers, campus off-campus art workers into the category of training objects, and to draw 15% of the training in the national training places for aesthetic education teacher training. Under the tight financial situation, Tongliang district committee and district government insisted on investing 1.5 million yuan in special funds to improve aesthetic education and teaching equipment in schools. At present, 77 and 69 of the 92 primary and secondary schools in the region have reached music standards for art equipment. Fujian provincial government will “aesthetic education of primary and secondary schools facilities of vacancy and quality engineering” as “for the people” project in 2017, put into a special fund of 100 million yuan, for more than 1700 rural primary and secondary schools equipped with music art teaching equipment, and implementation of four 100 students’ aesthetic accomplishment promotion plan, namely to cultivate construction of primary and secondary school students orchestra and aesthetic education practice base of primary and secondary schools, 100 each, demonstration school of aesthetic education in primary and middle school campus culture environment and all the 100 schools with Chinese excellent culture and art heritage. For example, “Tongliang district in Chongqing is a purely agricultureoriented exurb with a per capita fiscal income of only 5500 yuan”. From 2015 to 2016, “according to incomplete statistics, from 2005 to 2015, the compliance rate of art equipment in primary schools increased from 40.9% to 67.7%, and that of art equipment in middle schools increased from 55.4% to 82.2%, both by 26.8 percentage points.”12 In addition, some provinces and cities also innovate the training and management system of aesthetic education teachers in schools. In view of the aesthetic education of Shanghai teachers title evaluation problem, further improve the basic education teachers title evaluation method, in accordance with the requirements for title setting percentage, single art and sports teacher’s title appraisal and sequence, follow the rules of art discipline, build more fit subject characteristics of title appraisal method, attract large Numbers of teaching art talents. The training plan of primary and secondary school teachers in Hebei province is inclined to aesthetic education teachers, and the provincial special training of aesthetic education teachers is implemented to improve the overall quality of aesthetic education teachers in various schools. The third is to improve the evaluation mechanism of aesthetic education in schools. Jiangsu province develops the work plan of artistic quality assessment for junior 12 Progress of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html.

6.3 The Effect of Aesthetic Education

139

middle school graduates and plans to enter junior middle school students’ artistic quality assessment results into the high school entrance examination in 2020. Shandong province has incorporated the assessment results of the artistic quality of junior middle school graduates into the enrollment of senior high school students, and the assessment results of the artistic quality of senior high school students into the comprehensive quality assessment. In 2017, all primary and secondary schools and secondary vocational schools in the province will be covered. Ten cities and states in Hunan province have formally included art courses in the senior high school entrance examination. Yunnan province has incorporated music and fine arts into the provincial junior middle school academic proficiency examination. Shaanxi province has launched the construction of an online management platform for aesthetic education in primary and secondary schools, and the quality assessment, self-assessment and annual report will be released online by the end of 2018. Fourth, make full use of information means to solve the dilemma of aesthetic education. Since the promulgation of the state council’s guidance on actively promoting “Internet +” action in 2015, “Internet +” has penetrated into all walks of life, profoundly affecting and reshaping the structure of all industries. “Internet plus” is exerting a profound influence on the educational concept and system. In April 2018, the ministry of education released the action plan of education informationization 2.0, which proposed the development goal of “three complete fields, two high schools and one high school”, and will construct a new mode of talent cultivation under the condition of “Internet +”, develop a new mode of internet-based education service, and explore a new mode of education governance in the information age. “Internet plus” will further promote the structural reform of education and help realize the goals of education informatization 2.0. The reform of educational informatization has also affected art education, which has great demand for artificial intelligence and Internet +. Speech and image recognition, human-computer interaction, big data and other functions perfectly meet the needs of music, fine arts and other disciplines for modern education. Years of relevant technology and dedicated to the art education areas, positive response national policy, through the leading independent research and development of the country’s singing sound recognition technology, identification and evaluation technology, music sheet identification technology, singing sound filtering noise reduction technology is committed to a number of leading core technologies such as cloud computing, big data, such as mobile Internet technology and the depth of the education teaching, realize the teaching process of intelligent, digital, promote deep reform of the teaching, examination, learning, pipe, realize the personalized teaching and learning, improve teaching efficiency greatly, eventually establish a sound Internet + aesthetic education, actively promote the reform of national aesthetic education development. With the support of information means, Beijing dongcheng district has established a resource sharing platform, built an assessment database for primary school students’ artistic quality, input the completion of art course learning indicators into the database at any time, and automatically generate student growth files. Students can check their learning records and scores of art subjects through the Internet.

140

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

Through the information platform, the school and the district education committee fully understand the students’ learning situation, and analyze, guide, manage and serve, so as to realize interactive, all-round, whole-process and flat management of aesthetic education. Hebei province applies modern means to do a good job in the school aesthetic education quality monitoring work, regularly carry out special supervision, timely report the monitoring situation and supervision results, to build a horizontal to the side, vertical to the bottom, up and down linkage collaborative promotion mechanism. Shaanxi province is exploring the development of “Internet + aesthetic education” artistic quality assessment, relying on the online classroom public welfare project, jointly building an aesthetic education resource network platform, promoting the promotion and implementation of the school aesthetic education Internet platform in various regions.

6.4 The Concerns on Aesthetic Education It should be said that the school aesthetic education has made breakthrough progress, but at the same time, aesthetic education is still a weak part in the school education work, the advance of aesthetic education work is a huge engineering, system of form a complete set, all kinds of schools in our country in the implementation of a comprehensive strengthening aesthetic education teaching work deployment and the implementation of the process of “opinion” still exists many problems and difficulties urgently to be solved, school and social aesthetic education to the school work is work and the misconceptions in understanding, aesthetic education is still to be lacking in quality-oriented education. The existence of these problems and problems is not in line with the historical conditions proposed by the 19th National Congress of the CPC that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era.13

6.4.1 The Understanding of Aesthetic Education Is not Deep and Comprehensive Aesthetic education is not a specific course. Art curriculum is the main channel of aesthetic education in schools, but aesthetic education is not a specific course, but a basic educational goal of education. One of the most important goals of aesthetic education is to cultivate high-quality citizens with aesthetic and humanistic qualities for every educated person. Therefore, a curriculum is not competent, but should be implemented in the whole process of school education and teaching, the construction of art curriculum as the main body, the integration of various disciplines curriculum 13 Progress

of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html.

6.4 The Concerns on Aesthetic Education

141

objectives and system, and fully mobilize the school social resources to participate in a wide range of aesthetic education pattern. Aesthetic education is not just a professional skill. In reality, we usually call music, art class and art teachers “aesthetic education class” and “aesthetic education teacher”, but aesthetic education is not just a professional technology, but the quality that every educator should have. Art class should play the role of the main channel and position of school aesthetic education, while the teaching content of any other course must contain aesthetic education elements. Every teacher should be good at exploring aesthetic teaching content and improve students’ aesthetic quality with aesthetic teaching behavior. Aesthetic education cannot be directly equated with art education. Art education is the core content and main way of implementing aesthetic education in schools, but aesthetic education is not equal to art education. At present, as the forms of aesthetic education activities become more and more abundant, some people have some misunderstandings on the cognition of aesthetic education. One prominent manifestation is that they think that aesthetic education is writing, painting, singing, dancing and so on, and limit it to the scope of art education, while ignoring the integrity of people’s inner spirit. In fact, the significance of aesthetic education is not only reflected in the visible skills, but also in the internal cultivation, including the deep content of aesthetic and humanistic quality, which affects a person’s emotion, interest and temperament, and can also form a person’s behavior standard and style subtly. Therefore, the teaching of art knowledge and skills in aesthetic education should be oriented to help students develop their interest in art, improve their aesthetic ability and have preliminary artistic creation ability, rather than simply learning knowledge and skills.14

6.4.2 To Integrate Aesthetic Education into Moral Education, the Understanding of the Relationship Between the Two Is not Perfect Aesthetic education cannot be directly equated with moral education. First of all, aesthetic education and moral education are indeed closely related. Man is an organism, and his aesthetic feelings and consciousness are connected with moral will and consciousness, which cannot be absolutely separated. Therefore, the enrichment and deepening of one’s sensibility in the process of aesthetic education will have a positive impact on his moral development. Furthermore, aesthetic emotion and aesthetic consciousness are the basis of the development of moral will and moral consciousness. Undoubtedly, the core of aesthetic education is to educate people, which has the function of promoting the moral development of students. However, 14 Progress of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html.

142

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

aesthetic education is not moral education in the general sense, but to promote the moral development from the perspective of human sensibility.15 But moral education and aesthetic education are different. In terms of their characteristics, the process of moral education emphasizes on reasoning and rationality, while the process of aesthetic education emphasizes on emotional experience and sensibility. Moral education promotes moral development, mainly to cultivate moral cognition and willpower, and aesthetic education promotes aesthetic development, mainly to cultivate acute and profound perception, experience, imagination and intuition ability, and enhance aesthetic awareness. Moral education mainly develops students’ sociality, and aesthetic education mainly develops students’ individuality. Precisely because the specific goal is different, the task is different, the process is different, so the method adopted in the specific teaching is also different. Aesthetic education is relatively independent of moral education, intellectual education and physical education, and has its own characteristics and rules. However, in the specific teaching process of ordinary art courses, deviation from the goal of aesthetic education and violation of the law of aesthetic education are everywhere. At present, some primary and secondary schools mistakenly equate aesthetic education with moral education in cognition and practice; some schools regard moral education as the only or main purpose of aesthetic education, and often equate students’ moral development with aesthetic development directly. For example, students’ compliance with discipline, doing good deeds in public places, strengthening collective consciousness, mutual help among classmates, respect for teachers and so on are regarded as aesthetic education results.

6.4.3 Utilitarian Aesthetic Education Influenced by exam-oriented culture for a long time, aesthetic education is more and more inclined to utilitarianism. Ignoring the educational value of aesthetic education, only focusing on fame and fortune, or cultivating and delivering professional talents for the field of art. On the whole, the current aesthetic education does not show the characteristics of aesthetic education, but blindly imitate professional art education, knowledge and skills orientation is very obvious. In order to create favorable conditions for students to enter higher education, some schools and parents unilaterally strengthen music and art skills training, and the mastery of knowledge and skills has become the main goal of aesthetic education. Students’ humanistic and aesthetic qualities are almost completely replaced by boring knowledge learning and skill training. In addition, in order to pursue fame and fortune, some schools and regions encourage teachers to cultivate students with special skills in art, and teachers and parents encourage 15 Du wei. Some notable problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3).

6.4 The Concerns on Aesthetic Education

143

children to participate in art training and grade examination. In order to win awards in competitions and competitions, teachers take great pains to rehearse programs and prepare open classes.

6.4.4 Shortage of Aesthetic Education Teachers The shortage of teachers has always been a real problem restricting the development of aesthetic education, especially in rural areas. In 2016, China association for the promotion of art education and China economic and social data center of Tsinghua university released the analysis report on the situation of aesthetic education teachers in the national compulsory education stage, which comprehensively calculated and analyzed the stock, structure, gap and equipment standards of the aesthetic education teachers in the national compulsory education stage. The report pointed out that in the past 10 years, the scale of aesthetic education teachers in compulsory education has been expanding, the ratio of teachers to students has been rapidly improved, and the talent structure has been further optimized. However, from the two basic variables of the amount of class hours and the intensity of teachers’ work, there are still large gaps in the aesthetic education teachers of primary and secondary schools in China, unbalanced regional development and a large gap between urban and rural areas. On the whole, in 2015, the total number of aesthetic education teachers in compulsory education in China accounted for 6.5% of the total number of full-time teachers, but according to the experimental plan of compulsory education curriculum setting, the number of aesthetic education class hours should account for 9–11% of the total number of class hours. This means that even if aesthetic education courses in compulsory education start at the minimum standard amount of class hours, there is a very unbalanced configuration of 6.5% teachers undertaking 9% of the courses. At the same time, although the total number of aesthetic education teachers in most provinces has reached the basic demand target, the absolute shortage of teachers in some provinces is relatively large. From the perspective of regional gap, the total number of shortages of compulsory education aesthetic education teachers is mainly concentrated in the central and western regions, while the proportion in the eastern regions is small. The shortage rate of aesthetic education teachers in rural primary schools in guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Qinghai province, Gansu province, Jiangxi province, Henan province and Hainan province is more than 50%. Even if measured by the most basic aesthetic education target, the aesthetic education course rate is only 30%. Meanwhile, the absolute shortage of aesthetic education teachers is mainly distributed in rural schools. According to the demand target of low-class hours and medium work intensity, only about 0.5% of the shortage of more than 120,000 aesthetic education teachers is distributed in urban schools, while the rural schools account for 83.4%.16 16 Du

wei. Some notable problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3).

144

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

6.5 The Aesthetic Education Evaluation System In the current evaluation system, the examination result is the main evaluation index, music and fine arts and other related courses in the school belong to the “minor subject”, in the game with the entrance examination, aesthetic education has become “chicken rib”, almost become decoration, cope with, squeeze and stop the phenomenon of aesthetic education is common. Because music and art is not the most of the students at the heart of the entrance examination for secondary school or college course, teaching is more “around the core of the entrance examination for secondary school or college course”, only some choose to enter oneself for an examination the students of arts, to focus on the art course learning, but usually is a separate class at school, or outside school by the students themselves to go to the art exam training. There are also a small number of students to learn art in order to become a special student of art, in order to get extra points in college entrance examination, the original encourage students to develop their artistic quality extra points alienation into curve college entrance examination.17 For teachers, although the ministry of education has issued “measures for the management of part-time teachers of physical education and aesthetic education in schools”, specific implementation rules are lacking in various regions. In the actual operation process, music and dance and other art teachers are often managed according to the same standard of other disciplines, such as requiring a certain number of papers and projects. In some regions, teachers of aesthetic education are often embarrassed by the so-called “‘main subject’ teachers first” in the aspects of class hour and class pay, professional title evaluation and employment, performance evaluation, excellent evaluation and further study and training. There is no effective connection between basic education and higher education in aesthetic education. Basic education and higher education are still in the state of separation in aesthetic education. This state is embodied in the following aspects: first, there is a lack of institutional design and coordination between aesthetic education in colleges and universities and that in primary schools, middle schools and high schools, making it impossible to achieve effective cohesion and organic integration between the two. For example, higher education and basic education lack internal consistency in aesthetic education curriculum setting, training plan, teaching objectives and many other aspects, especially in curriculum setting and aesthetic education quality cultivation has not formed a unified and complete connection system. Second, due to the differences in the level of economic development and cultural characteristics of different regions in China, the resources distribution of aesthetic education is not balanced, and the aesthetic education level of basic education in different regions is quite different, which leads to a large gap in aesthetic education quality of students in colleges and universities. Some college students have received systematic and complete aesthetic training and aesthetic edification in the basic education 17 Progress of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html.

6.5 The Aesthetic Education Evaluation System

145

stage and have good aesthetic quality, while some college students lack systematic aesthetic training and edification in the basic education stage and their aesthetic quality is relatively low. This situation makes it difficult for colleges and universities to effectively connect aesthetic education with the primary and junior high school, which requires colleges and universities to make targeted system design to solve this objective difference.

6.6 The Development Trend of Aesthetic Education Aesthetic education is an important part of the party’s educational policy, an important carrier of strengthening the education of socialist core values, an important form of inheriting and innovating the fine traditional Chinese culture, an important aspect of implementing the fundamental task of promoting morality and cultivating people, and an important content of deepening the comprehensive reform in the field of education. The Report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that cultural confidence should be strengthened. Therefore, we should give full play to the important role of aesthetic education in promoting beauty, promoting wisdom and cultivating morality, and focus on improving students’ aesthetic and humanistic qualities, so as to train socialist builders and successors who develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically.

6.6.1 We Will Fully Implement the Fundamental Task of Fostering Virtue and Fostering People Aesthetic education and moral education are closely related. First of all, people are an organism, and their aesthetic feelings and consciousness are connected with moral will and moral consciousness, which cannot be absolutely separated. Although we sometimes have to separate them in the research, but, in the actual human activities, they are more or less connected. Therefore, the enrichment and deepening of one’s sensibility in the process of aesthetic education will have a positive impact on his moral development. To this, predecessor had had deep exposition. For example, Cai yuanpei believes that the important function of aesthetic education is to assist moral education. He said, “to develop civic morality, we must have a philosophical world view and outlook on life. Zhu guangqian, an aesthetician, advocated an education based on emotion. He believed that aesthetic education is the only way for moral education. So moral education starts from the root, we must be happy. The function of aesthetic education lies in pleasure and cultivation, so it is the basic moral education.”

146

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

It can be said that aesthetic emotion and aesthetic consciousness are the basis of the development of moral will and moral consciousness.18 The core of aesthetic education is to educate people, we should thoroughly implement Xi jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era, adhere to cultivate people by virtue, strengthen the education of socialist core value system, improve aesthetic education, improve students’ aesthetic and humanistic qualities. To strengthen the top-level design of aesthetic education moral education content, combined with large, primary and secondary school moral education target, multidimensional, diverse and multi-level demand, around the rich student life, edify students’ sentiment, develop the students thinking in images, cultivate students imagination and creativity, and promote students’ innovative spirit and the formation of healthy personality, such as the goal, to study and establish conforms to large, primary and secondary school students’ age characteristics, psychological characteristics and cognitive level of operational system of aesthetic education goal; To speed up the building of socialist core values as the guide, kindergartens integration of the aesthetic education in school moral education goal and the content system, before the overall academic education, basic education, special education, art education in higher education, vocational education, to join each other to make it, as a whole the good classroom teaching, extracurricular activities, and campus cultural environment of aesthetic education, the mutual infiltration.

6.6.2 Fully Explore the “Aesthetic Education” Function of Each Subject Cai yuanpei pointed out: “all the courses in the school have nothing to do with aesthetic education”. Therefore, on the one hand, we should reform aesthetic education and give full play to the role of music, fine arts and art as the main position and channel of aesthetic education. On the other hand, we should fully explore the factors of aesthetic education in various subjects and integrate the spiritual essence of aesthetic education into the whole process of education and teaching. Improving students’ aesthetic and humanistic quality is not only the responsibility of aesthetic education courses, many courses contain a lot of aesthetic connotation. Humanities and social sciences can “cultivate beauty with culture”, physical education can “cultivate beauty with form”, and natural sciences such as physics and chemistry can also be interlinked in science and art. On the basis of grasping the spiritual essence of aesthetic education, we should integrate aesthetic education into the whole process of school education and teaching, help students to understand the intrinsic value of aesthetic education, improve comprehensive quality in the edification and infection of aesthetic education, and give full play to the cultivation function of aesthetic and humanistic quality of each subject. 18 Du

wei. Some notable problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3).

6.6 The Development Trend of Aesthetic Education

147

It should be fully implemented since the suggestions about school aesthetic education policies, earnestly implement xi work of literature and art symposium speech, To integrate aesthetic education with teaching, we should not only excavate aesthetic education resources in the teaching of various subjects for timely and appropriate education, but also establish the concept of aesthetic education and aesthetic education, so that each class itself becomes a kind of aesthetic existence.

6.6.3 To Build a Teaching Staff with Strong Moral and Artistic Merit To comprehensively improve the quality of aesthetic education in the school, the most important thing is to have a team of high-quality aesthetic education teachers with noble teachers’ ethics, exquisite professional skills, reasonable structure and full of vitality. We should make full use of the opinions of the CPC central committee and the state council on comprehensively deepening the reform of the construction of teachers in the new era to comprehensively strengthen the construction of teachers in aesthetic education. First, the reform and transformation of aesthetic education in colleges and universities should focus on cultivating a group of excellent aesthetic education teachers, especially excellent professional teachers in dance, drama, drama, film and television fields that are seriously lacking in aesthetic education in primary and secondary schools. Secondly, the professional ability of aesthetic education teachers should be improved reasonably. Schools at all levels should strengthen the allocation of aesthetic education teachers to form a contingent of aesthetic education teachers with quantitative guarantee, high quality, one specialty and multiple abilities, comprehensive education, teaching and moral education ability, and modern technology. We should build art education studios and build a group of aesthetic education teachers with famous teachers, prominent leaders and academic leaders as the backbone. Third, organize training and research to promote the professional development of aesthetic education teachers. In the “national training plan” and the teacher training plans of all provinces and cities, special programs for aesthetic education are set up, and teachers of aesthetic education, administrative cadres of educational administrative departments and principals of all kinds of schools are organized in a planned way to participate in regular professional training of aesthetic education. We will improve the ranks of district (county) teaching and research personnel, set up teaching and research cooperation groups in colleges and universities, and strengthen teaching and research work. To carry out scientific research and experiments on aesthetic education in schools. Fourth, improve the incentive mechanism of aesthetic education teachers. We should increase the input of funds, promote the cooperation, exchange and experience sharing of aesthetic education teachers in large and middle schools, increase the work allowance of aesthetic education teachers, and activate the enthusiasm and initiative of aesthetic education teachers. Fifth, we should reform the evaluation mechanism of teachers, follow the rules of aesthetic education and the

148

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

professional characteristics of aesthetic education teachers, and build a professional title evaluation method that is more in line with the characteristics of disciplines, so as to stimulate the enthusiasm of teachers.19

6.6.4 Improve the Evaluation Mechanism and Build Support and Guarantee Mechanism Only when there is a standard can we follow it, only when there is a basis for measuring it, and only when we firmly grasp the principle of improving quality, can we guarantee the formation of the modern school aesthetic education system with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, based on the “Compulsory Education School Management Standards” issued by the Ministry of Education in 2017, we should firmly follow the path of reform, innovation and development of aesthetic education in schools with Chinese characteristics, accelerate the construction of aesthetic education quality standard system in schools, and use standards to cover the bottom line of quality. On the one hand, we try to strengthen the support of aesthetic education resources and strengthen the research and formulation of national aesthetic education standard system. we have organization by large, aesthetic education of primary and secondary schools teachers and art, aesthetic education experts team of researchers, research to develop national aesthetic standards, relevant systemized schools at various levels and of aesthetic standards, such as college aesthetic education curriculum standard of aesthetic education, aesthetic education of primary and secondary schools teachers’ professional standards and school teachers establishment standard, all kinds of art classrooms and facilities configuration, consumable supplies security standard, the standard of aesthetic education practice base construction, etc., work for school aesthetic education of all types and at all levels to provide professional standards, for aesthetic education resources construction, education teaching, and provides professional support and legal basis for monitoring and evaluation. In addition, should make full use of information technology means, to expand coverage and excellent aesthetic education resources, to strengthen the construction of aesthetic education of network resources and vigorously develop and form a complete set of course materials of colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools of aesthetic education courses of high quality digital education resources, and encourage the development of schools of various levels combined with “Internet +” of the new situation, innovate the school aesthetic education teaching methods. On the other hand, the evaluation mechanism should be improved. In daily work, aesthetic education should be taken as an important part of the evaluation and testing of primary and secondary schools, vocational education and higher education, and a supervision and verification mechanism should be established. At the same time, 19 Du

wei. Some notable problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3).

6.6 The Development Trend of Aesthetic Education

149

giving full play to the guiding role of enrollment system reform exam, combining with the state examination enrollment system reform deepening, we try to produce the primary and middle school students’ artistic categories into the students’ comprehensive quality evaluation, through faithfully record the student art appreciation, art practice and art performance and as an important reference student enters a higher school, the quality of play an important guiding role.

6.6.5 Promoting Linkage Between Schools and Society Aesthetic education is not only for children’s aesthetic education, but also a work facing the whole nation. On the one hand, we should make up for the shortage of aesthetic courses in primary and secondary schools and universities; on the other hand, we should build excellent public cultural service space to make it a spiritual place for the public to cultivate aesthetic feelings. We should vigorously carry out social practice activities of students’ aesthetic education, enrich the content and form of activities, and expand the coverage of activities. We will encourage schools to carry out small, scattered, flexible and diverse aesthetic education activities for students, and hold art festivals on a regular basis, so as to form a number of schools with distinctive artistic education features that have achieved remarkable results and are exemplary and leading the way. We will vigorously establish student art associations and interest groups, and support and develop student art troupes. Promote the brand construction of art troupe, improve the construction of student symphony union and student chorus union, and make it become an important platform to guide students’ cultural and artistic edification and cultivation, and promote the construction of campus culture. Secondly, it is necessary to establish social aesthetic education bases, push forward the reform of system and mechanism of combining culture and education, explore and improve the cultivation mode of aesthetic education talents, encourage the establishment of cooperative relations between art colleges and primary and secondary schools, and expand the selection mechanism of artistic talents. By setting up art lecture halls, holding special art design exhibitions and sending counselors, the school provides professional services of low price and high quality with social and cultural resources.20 At the same time, it is necessary to explore aesthetic education resources inside and outside the school to promote the integration and linkage sharing of aesthetic education resources in schools, families, communities and society. All official art museums in Germany have departments that encourage children to appreciate art and create freely. Art galleries, museums and theatres have become one of the basic places for ordinary citizens to improve art education, and also important places for young parents to lead their children in family art education. Therefore, we need to promote home—school cooperation, school—club cooperation, make full use of the museum, 20 Du wei. Some notable problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3).

150

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

library, cultural centers, science and technology museum, student activity center, network and broadcast television and other kinds of education resources, fully tap is aesthetic elements and aesthetic value of all resources, continuous efforts should play the role of education, improve the level of the public aesthetic especially teenagers, promote the students basic knowledge in aesthetic education level, development level and to explore the level of awareness, knowledge, ability and the comprehensive improvement and sublimation of emotion.21

6.6.6 To Reshape the Value of Aesthetic Education and Build a Foundation for Cultural Confidence Aesthetic education teaches people to discover, understand and pursue beauty. In short, it lets people know what beauty is and what is ugly. From the general point of view, aesthetic education is based on aesthetic education of people, people of culture, let the Chinese aesthetic education for our culture confidence to build the foundation. Aesthetic education in modern China is more and more closely connected with society, culture and politics, and therefore has more and more practical operability. The ideal beauty of Chinese red army of workers and peasants who are undaunted by difficulties and obstacles to climb the snowy mountains and cross the grassland; During the Anti-Japanese War, the communist party of China played a central role, all the Chinese people common hatred of the enemy, indomitable will against the enemy; During the war of liberation, the people’s liberation army “should be brave to pursue the poor” and seize the spiritual beauty of national liberation; In the period of socialist construction, the people’s sense of responsibility to forge ahead and build their homes; Since the reform and opening up, the people have been vigorous and innovative; Since the beginning of the new era, the confident beauty of people working with one heart and one mind to realize their dreams has been the fruit of the CPC’s efforts to beautify the people and shape the nation with great beauty step by step.22 Therefore, we should form the science school aesthetic education course system and aesthetic education mechanism, to the mission of aesthetic education is rooted in the socialist core values and Chinese excellent traditional culture fertile soil, and by its unique way down a thin, small, implement, the socialist core values deep throughout the course of aesthetic education, the cultivation of the comprehensive development of socialist builders and successors, and to realize the “two” one hundred goals, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’s dream of China to lay the solid foundation. At the same time, we should give full play to the function of “world 21 Progress

of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools—materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html. 22 Cai yuanpei. Selected works on aesthetics of CAI yuanpei [M]. Beijing: Peking University press, 1983:175.

6.6 The Development Trend of Aesthetic Education

151

language” of aesthetic education, introduce Chinese culture to the world through aesthetic education, tell Chinese stories well, show a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China, strengthen cultural confidence, and improve the soft power of national culture. In recent years, the CPC central committee has attached great importance to the unique role of literature and art in fostering and carrying forward the socialist core values. Xi jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th national congress of the communist party of China: “dig deeply into the ideas contained in China’s excellent traditional culture.” The humanistic spirit and moral norms, inheriting the innovation, make Chinese culture present eternal charm and style. The cultural art is clearly positioning for a country and an important part of the soul of a nation, visible, art as a way to master the spirit of people of the world, its education shall belong to the bacon casting the soul of the work, its essence is the ideology. Aesthetic education should extol the beauty of life, cleanse the darkness of the soul, reflect the right value pursuit and lofty belief, and contribute to the progress and development of the nation and society. Therefore, the contemporary value and world significance of Chinese aesthetic education spirit are worth studying deeply. Aesthetic education and aesthetic activities can improve people’s cultural quality and character in many ways, and its significance ultimately boils down to one point, which is to guide people to have a lofty spiritual pursuit and improve their life state. A person should not only pay attention to increase their knowledge and skills, more importantly, should pay attention to broaden their mind, cultivate their own atmosphere, improve their life realm, that is, to pursue a more meaningful, more valuable, more interesting life, this idea is very practical today.23 The Chinese aesthetic education spirit grows out of the national culture and comes out from the spiritual source. Only by returning to it, relying on it, using it and developing it, can the aesthetic education manifest the confidence and self-improvement of the Chinese culture. In the teaching process, we should fully display the traditional Chinese aesthetic spirit, focus on art education, attach importance to social education, and conduct artistic creation around Chinese virtues. The spirit of Chinese aesthetic education grows out of the national culture and comes out from the source of spirit, which can act on the systematic thinking, value and method of creative practice. Only by returning to it, relying on it, using it and developing it, can aesthetic education reveal the confidence and self-improvement of Chinese culture. We should take Chinese excellent culture as the carrier to realize the diversification of educational resources and forms of aesthetic education in schools. Taking folk culture as an example, it can be roughly divided into material folk custom, social folk custom, spiritual folk custom and language folk custom, involving people’s customs and habits, food, clothing, housing, folk skills and other aspects. Each type of folk culture can provide rich educational resources for aesthetic education. For example, the Spring Festival is the most common and solemn festival in our country. It is also a very old festival. The Spring Festival is celebrated every year on both sides of the Taiwan straits and in Chinese communities all over the world. It is not only a time for family 23 Report to the 19th national congress of the communist party of China [M]. People’s publishing house, 2017. 62.

152

6 Shaping the Aesthetic Education in China: Policies and Concerns

reunion, but also a major festival for the whole family to wish a happy New Year. For another example, the traditional folk handicrafts represented by the pattern paper-cut are an interpretation of Chinese folk culture, both in terms of pattern color and connotation, reflecting people’s aesthetic concept and beautiful vision. Therefore, this is not only a beautiful handicraft, with practical value and decorative value, but also shows the honest and honest people’s feelings and customs of the Chinese nation. All these folk customs can be used as important resources for aesthetic education in schools. For another example, the folk nursery rhymes are also very remarkable. The earliest history of nursery rhymes can be traced back to the warring states period. Although they are children’s literature, they carry the happiness of ancestors.24

References25 1. wang guowei. On the purpose of education [M] / / wang guowei’s complete works: volume 14. Hangzhou: zhejiang education press. 2009:9–12. 2. CAI yuanpei. Opinions on new education [M] / / CAI yuanpei’s complete works: volume 2. Hangzhou: zhejiang education press, 1997:9–16. 3. Chinese government website. Opinions of the general office of the state council on comprehensively strengthening and improving aesthetic education in schools [EB/OL]. http://www. gov.cn/xinwen/2015–09/28/content_29398333.htm. 4. zhou dechang, jiang yuesun. Concise dictionary of education [M]. Guangzhou: guangdong higher education press. 1992-01. 5. zhao lanna. Aesthetic education is a kind of rigid demand [N]. People’s Daily, 2017-07-04 (5). 6. interim regulations for middle schools (draft), shanxi zhengbao 1952, pages 99–103. 7. people’s education, no. 9, 1957, pp. 4–6. 8. zhao ziyang. Report on the seventh five-year plan [M]. Beijing: people’s publishing house. 1986:3. 9. the decision of the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, the decision of the CPC central committee and the state council on deepening education reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education, China’s vocational and technical education, 1999. 10. zhou ji. On the “compulsory education law of the People’s Republic of China (revised draft)”— on February 25, 2006, at the 20th meeting of the standing committee of the tenth National People’s Congress, the bulletin of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China was issued in 2006. 11. Guidance on the decisions of the central committee of the communist party of China on several major issues of comprehensively deepening reform. Beijing: people’s publishing house. 2013:3. 12. progress of school aesthetic education reform and development – materials distributed by press conference [EB/OL]. (2016-4-6) [2018-6-20]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/ moe_2069/xwfbh_2016n/xwfb_160406/160406_sfcl01/201604/t20160406_236722.html. 13. major dong. Breakthrough in aesthetic education in Chinese schools, China education news, 2018-04-17 (001).

24 Cai yuanpei. Selected works on aesthetics of CAI yuanpei [M]. Beijing: Peking University press,

1983:175. 25 All publications in Chinese.

References

153

14. chai wei and li xiaowei. Let aesthetic education and students “beauty encounter”—a review of the reform and development of aesthetic education in schools across the country.[EB/OL]. (2016-8-30) [2018-6-23]. http://www.MOE.Gov.Cn/jyb_xwfbs5147/201608/t20160830_277 029.HTML. 15. fujian provincial people’s government deepened reform and explored a new model of high-quality development of school aesthetic education [EB/OL]. (2017-9-11) [20187-8]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/A17/A17_ztzl/ztzl_gb-myjy/myyj_jyjl/201709/t20170911_ 314151.html. 16. fujian provincial people’s government. Deepening reform and exploring a new model of quality development of school aesthetic education [EB/OL], (2017-9-11) [2018-7-8]. http://www.moe. gov.cn/s78/A17/A17_ztzl/ztzl_gbmyjy/myyj_jyjl/201709/t20170911_314151.html. 17. how to respond to the work of aesthetic education in schools in these provinces and cities. China education daily, [EB/OL]. (2018-01-26). http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s3165/201 711/t20171106_318523.html. 18. ding yatang. Improving the cognitive level of aesthetic education [N]. People’s Daily, 201805-03 (018). 19. du wei. Some noteworthy problems in the current practice of aesthetic education in schools [J]. Zhejiang social sciences, 2004, (3). 20. tang hongfeng, Yin qianwen. 2016 annual report on Chinese art education—middle school [J]. Literature and art review, 2017, (3). 21. xi jinping, decisive victory in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects to win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era— report at the 19th national congress of the communist party of China [N]. People’s Daily. In the 2017-10-28 s. 22. CAI yuanpei. Biography (I) [M] / / CAI yuanpei’s complete works: volume 3. Hangzhou: zhejiang education press, 1997:668. 23. zhu guangqian. On aesthetic education [M] / / zhu guangqian’s complete works: volume 4. Hefei: anhui education press, 1987:146. 24. CAI yuanpei. Selected works on aesthetics of CAI yuanpei [M]. Beijing: Peking University press, 1983:175. 25. xi jinping, decisive victory in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects for the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era People’s publishing house, 2017. 62.

Chapter 7

Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

This chapter involves shaping the labor education in China from the both dimensions of backgrounds and progress. All parts, including labor education policy, the effect of labor education, the problem of labor education, and the labor education policy development trend concentrate on investigating the background and progress of the cultivation of the labor education, contextually. On September 10, 2018, at the National Education Conference, Xi jinping stressed the need to adhere to the path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics and train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor. What kind of person is the primary problem of education. Xi made clear that art of morality, intelligence and physique to build a comprehensive training system of education, the formation of a higher level of talent cultivation system, integrate the ideological and moral education, knowledge education, social practice education, each link throughout all areas of basic education, vocational education, higher education, course system, teaching system, teaching material system, management system to design around this goal, a teacher must revolve around the goal to teach, students around the goal to learn, those who go against the practice of achieving this goal is determined to change to come over. Xi jinping stressed that we should carry forward the spirit of labor among students, educate and guide them to respect and respect labor, understand that labor is the most glorious, the highest, the greatest and the most beautiful, and be able to work hard, honestly and creatively when they grow up.1 In his speech, Xi jinping changed the past expression of “moral, intellectual and physical beauty” to “moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic labor”, from “four 1 Xi

jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_7

155

156

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

educations” to “five educations”, especially emphasized the important role and status of labor education in cultivating and cultivating people with moral integrity. It is of great significance and far-reaching influence to return labor education to educational policy. Will labor education into education policy, based on promoting person’s full scale development basic task, build up the art of morality, intelligence and physique full scale development of the education system, will completely change, one-sided development of heavy wisdom light Germany ills and criticism, and helps to solve a series of prominent contradictions and problems in current education development, realize the healthy development of the science education.2

7.1 Labor Education Policy China always has the tradition that values labor education. Since the founding of new China 70 years ago, with the development of social economy, the improvement of productivity level, the transformation of educational development and reform ideas, China’s labor education policies have shown different characteristics in different historical periods. As one of the important contents of China’s education, labor education has roughly undergone the following four stages of development: the first stage, from 1949 to 1976, was the period of labor production education, during which labor education paid attention to the physical labor of students, especially the graduates of each school section; The second stage was from 1977 to 1998, during which ideological education and labor technology education went hand in hand. The third stage is the period of social practice education from 1999 to 2014, which requires students to acquire good technical quality and cultivate their comprehensive quality. The fourth stage is from 2015 till now. Labor education has become an important part of the education system of cultivating people with moral integrity, cultivating people in an all-round way, and constructing the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labor.3

7.1.1 Education Period of Labor Production (1949–1976) In the early years after the founding of new China, the level of social economy and productive forces was not developed enough, and the main content of labor education was to teach students production skills and participate in production labor. In 1954, youth league central issued after the founding of the first on labor education 2 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline

(try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML. 3 Xi jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001).

7.1 Labor Education Policy

157

policy “Instructions on Organizations of Entrance of High and Junior High School Graduates for Labor Production”, encouraging graduates to participate in the labor production. It also laid the labor education policy for employment in early China labor production services. Since then, a series of policies have been introduced to encourage graduates to participate in labor production to achieve employment. Are mainly on the high and junior high school graduates engaged in labor production publicity outline “(1954),” about solving problem is high and junior high school graduates to study and to engage in productive labor of instruct report (1954), “about not bound in a planned way is high and junior high school graduates to participate in the industrial production of notice” (1954), and on the organization is high junior middle school graduates engaged in agricultural labor and self-study report (1955) and on the notice of labor education to strengthen the small and medium-sized school graduates (1957), etc. On the whole, the most realistic and direct reason for this stage of labor education is to solve the employment problem of graduates from primary and secondary schools, and it is also the need of the state to restore and develop agricultural production and labor.4 In the implementation of the curriculum, the Ministry of Education began to pay attention to the establishment of the basic knowledge courses. In 1957, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Addition of Basic Agricultural Knowledge Classes, informing that “all departments and bureaus consider it necessary and possible to add basic agricultural knowledge classes according to the district where the school is located, the sources of students and other necessary conditions, and after obtaining the consent of the local people’s committee, additional agricultural basic knowledge classes can be added”. In addition, in 1957, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the Notice on Strengthening the Labor Production Education of Primary and Secondary School Graduates, which formally proposed that the propaganda of students should focus on regular labor education through classroom teaching and various activities. In June of the same year, the Ministry of Education promulgated the “Notice on the 1957– 1958 School Year Teaching Plan for Middle Schools” and “Notice on the Addition of Agricultural Knowledge and Teaching Points of Agricultural Knowledge in the Fifth and Sixth Grades of Rural Primary Schools”, requiring the addition of basic agricultural knowledge courses in junior and senior high schools. We set up agricultural commonsense classes in rural primary schools, and formally integrate labor education into our curriculum system, so as to guide and help students’ agricultural production and labor after graduation with curriculum knowledge.

4 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline

(try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML.

158

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

7.1.2 Ideological Education and Labor Technology Education (1977–1998) In 1977, China resumed the college entrance examination system, and education ushered in the spring of respecting knowledge. In March 1978, Deng xiaoping put forward that “science and technology are the first productive forces”, China also entered the second stage of labor education. This stage began to mark is 1978, the Ministry of Education of the “Interim Regulations on the Work about for Fulltime Secondary School (trial draft)”and “Interim Regulations on the Work Full-time Primary School (trial draft)” issued and put forward in the full-time secondary school setting labor course. In addition, the ideological and moral education clearly put forward love for labor, part of the content of labor education began to become a part of moral education.5 In 1981, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Establishment of Moral Education in Primary Schools, which first proposed to start moral education in primary schools and took teaching students to love labor as an important content. In 1981, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Issuance of the Full-time Five-year Primary School Teaching Plan (revised draft), which officially established the establishment of labor classes in primary schools, to cultivate students’ labor views and habits, and cultivate love of labor and working people’s thoughts and feelings. And provisions, different grade students can be in extracurricular time, appropriate arrangements for some self-service labor; Fourth, the fifth-grade arrangement work class once a week, organizes the student to participate in the public welfare labor or the simple production labor. In the same year, the Ministry of Education issued the Full-time Sixth-form Key Middle School Teaching Plans put forward high school open labor and labor technology education, so that the students can not only that you can start work again, using the brain and hand, all-round development. The prescribed teaching schedule is 2 weeks for junior middle school and 4 weeks for senior middle school, which can be used separately or centrally.6 In 1982, the Ministry of Education issued Opinion on Ordinary Middle School Set up the Labor Technical Education Trial to introduce the labor technical education in an all-round way. After that, a couple of education policies have been proposed, including “Full-time Primary School Labor Outline (trial draft)” (1987), “the Notice on Reform and Strengthen the Moral Education of Primary and Secondary Schools (1988),” “Outline on Several Ideas to Strengthen Moral Education of Primary and Secondary Schools (1990)”, “Outline on Primary School Moral Education (1993), “Opinion on Further Strengthening and Improving School Moral Education Work (1994)”, “Notice on Middle School Moral Education Syllabus (1995)”.

5 Xi

jinping, the socialist education development path with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-09-11(001). 6 He dongchang. Important educational documents of the People’s Republic of China (1949–1975) [M]. Haikou: hainan press, 1998.

7.1 Labor Education Policy

159

In 1987, the State Education Commission issued the “Full-time Primary School Class Teaching Outline (trial draft)” to increase the proportion of modern science and technology knowledge, emphasize the labor education combined with industrial and agricultural production the labor technical education. It makes the students learn some basic knowledge of production technology and labor skills. In March 1990, as a compulsory course, labor technology education began to be implemented in high school teaching. In 1995, “education must serve the socialist modernization drive, serve the people, and must be combined with production and labor and social practice” was formally written into Article 5 of the education law of the People’s Republic of China.7

7.1.3 Social Practice Education Period (1999–2014) In 1999, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, promulgated by the State Council on deepening the education reform, comprehensively promote the quality education and put forward the combination of education with productive labor. It is an important approach to cultivate all-round development of talent for the implementation of quality education. China’s education must strengthen the physical education, aesthetic education, labor education and social practice to promote the all-round development of students and healthy growth and requires all kinds of schools at all levels should be from reality to strengthen and improve the students’ productive labor and practice education. During the labor education social practice education period, labor education has become an important part of cultivating students’ comprehensive quality.8 In 2001, the Ministry of Education issued the Foundation Education Course Reform Outline with the rules of “from primary school to high school to set comprehensive practice activity and as a compulsory course.” Its content mainly includes: information technology education, research-oriented study, community service and social practice, labor and technology education, and emphasizes the four part is not completely independent, four parts together to cultivate all-round development of students. During this period, the labor and technical education courses mainly cultivate students’ concepts and skills of loving and respecting labor. We try to obtain positive labor experience, good technical literacy to promote common development in various aspects. Understanding the necessary general technical and occupational division of labor is to form a preliminary technical awareness and technical practice ability. The Decision on the Reform and Development of Basic Education issued by the State Council in 2001 and it was first put forward that education must be 7 He

dongchang. Important educational documents of the People’s Republic of China (1949–1975) [M]. Haikou: hainan press, 1998. 8 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline (try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML.

160

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

combined with productive labor and social practice to train builders and successors of the socialist cause who are well developed morally, intellectually. The combination of education and social practice” has been added to the previous policy must be combined with production and labor”. In addition, the ministry of education issued the code of conduct for primary and secondary school students, the code of daily conduct for primary school students (revised) and the code of daily conduct for secondary school students (revised) in 2004. Among them “primary and secondary school students code” requires primary and secondary school students to take an active part in labor, thrift and plain, they can do things themselves; “Norms of daily conduct for middle school students” requires middle school students to actively participate in production labor and social practice, actively participate in other activities organized by the school, and comply with the requirements and regulations of activities. In 2004, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued “the Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Education of College Students”, requiring all colleges and universities to adhere to the combination of political theory education and social practice education, and strengthen the ideological and political education of college students through in-depth development of social practice. It can be seen that during this period, the labor education and ideological and political education began to be closely connected with social practice. In other words, social practice has become an important way to realize labor education, and social practice is an important way to cultivate students’ comprehensive quality and labor technical accomplishment. In order to ensure quality of students social practice, beginning in 2011, the Ministry of Education has released a list of ten several types of social practice base, has issued the following notice, including Notice on National Archival Education of Primary and Secondary Schools of the List of the Social Practice (2011), Notice on First General Fire Safety Education of Primary and Secondary Schools across the Country Social (2012). In 2014, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on the Implementation of Deepening the Reform of the Examination and Enrollment System, proposing to standardize the comprehensive quality evaluation of senior high school students and establish standardized files of students’ comprehensive quality. Labor and technical education, as an important part of comprehensive practice, has become one of the bases for higher education.9

7.1.4 Labor Education Pays More Attention to Comprehensive and Comprehensive Education (2015 till Now) For labor education in schools, families, and weakened the phenomenon in the society, in 2015 the Ministry of Education and other three departments jointly issued “Opinion on Strengthening the Labor Education of Primary and Secondary Schools” 9 He

dongchang. Important educational documents of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1975) [M]. Haikou: hainan press, 1998.

7.1 Labor Education Policy

161

and put forward to give full play to the comprehensive education function of labor. We try to pay close attention to the key link of labor education, implement relevant course, take the comprehensive practice activity course and general technology course stipulated by the state as the important channel to implement labor education, open fully open well. In 2017, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Moral Education Work Guide for Primary and Secondary Schools, which again clearly emphasized the strengthening of labor practice and proposed that “labor education should be infiltrated into the daily operation of schools”. Off-campus labor should be included in the school’s education and teaching plan. Every primary school, junior high school and senior high school should arrange a certain period of time for agricultural production, industrial experience, business and service industry internship and other labor practices.10 Since October 2018, in order to fully implement Xi jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era and the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, fully implement the spirit of the national education congress and accelerate the formation of a high-level personnel training system focusing on comprehensively improving the ability of personnel training, Achieve the cultivation of art comprehensive development of socialist builders and successors “this goal, the central committee of the communist party of China, the state council and the People’s Republic of China ministry of education has issued a” about to speed up the construction of high level’s opinions on undergraduate education comprehensively improve the ability of talent training, the formulation and implementation of vocational colleges and universities of professional talent training scheme of guidance”, “about a new era to push forward the reform of ordinary high school education mode guidance” and “on deepening the reform of education teaching comprehensive advice to improve the quality of compulsory education” and other documents, It points out the direction of carrying out labor education in higher education, vocational education, adult education, basic education.11 On October 8, 2018, the Ministry of Education issued Opinion on speeding up the Construction of Opinions on Undergraduate Education comprehensively improve the ability of talents training, pointed out that universities should improve students’ comprehensive quality as training goal, the development of quality education, strengthen the labor education, carry forward the spirit of labor in the students, education guides the student to advocate for labor, respect for labor. We will extensively carry out social activities such as social surveys, production labor, voluntary services, scientific and technological inventions, and work-study programs, so as to enhance students’ ability to express, communicate, work in teams, organize and coordinate, practice, and be bold and innovative. In the process of constructing a new 10 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline (try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML. 11 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline (try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML.

162

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

mechanism of all-round and whole-process deep integration of collaborative education, it is emphasized to strengthen the construction of practical education platform. With the comprehensive use of resources inside and outside the school, the experimental practice training platform to meet the needs of practical teaching is built. Strengthen the construction of experimental teaching resources in the school, and build an experimental teaching platform with intensive functions, resource sharing, sufficient openness and efficient operation. Build a network platform for students’ internship demand, collect and publish information about enterprises’ and students’ internship demand, and provide services for students’ internship practice. We will further increase the proportion of practical teaching, work hard to build practical education bases with industry departments and enterprises, strengthen the management of the internship process, and improve the practical education mechanism of win-win cooperation and open sharing.12 On February 23, 2019, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Plan to Accelerate the Implementation of Education Modernization (2018–2022) and China’s Education Modernization 2035. We try to accelerate the modernization of education implementation plan (2018–2022) to put forward the modernization of education. It involves strengthening labor and practice education, building the subject teaching and campus culture, family and social cohesion of integrated labor, and practice education mechanism. China’s Education Modernization 2035 has put forward eight basic concepts of promoting education modernization: putting morality first, paying more attention to all-round development, making education more accessible to everyone, paying more attention to lifelong learning, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, integrating knowledge with practice, integrating development, and jointly building and sharing. We have clarified the basic principles for advancing the modernization of education: adhering to the leadership of the party, adhering to Chinese characteristics, adhering to priority development, adhering to serving the people, adhering to reform and innovation, adhering to the administration of education in accordance with the law, and adhering to overall planning. It is pointed out that it is necessary to fully implement the fundamental task of cultivating moral character, enhance comprehensive quality, establish the educational concept of health first, comprehensively strengthen physical education in schools, comprehensively strengthen and improve aesthetic education in schools, carry forward the spirit of labor, and strengthen the cultivation of practical ability, cooperation ability and innovation ability.13 On June 11, 2019, the Ministry of Education issued Guidelines on the Formulation and Implementation of Training Programs for Professional Talents in Vocational Colleges and Universities, adding requirements on labor education. In terms of training objectives, the opinions stressed that the training objectives should be 12 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. The primary and secondary school moral education work guide [EB/OL]. (2017-08-17) [2019-04-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/ A06/s3325/201709/t20170904_313128.HTML. 13 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. The primary and secondary school moral education work guide [EB/OL]. (2017-08-17) [2019-04-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/ A06/s3325/201709/t20170904_313128.HTML.

7.1 Labor Education Policy

163

scientifically and reasonably determined in accordance with relevant state regulations, public basic curriculum standards and professional teaching standards, and in combination with the school’s educational level and orientation, so as to clarify the requirements of students’ knowledge, ability and quality and ensure the training standards. We should pay attention to the integration of learning and application, knowledge and action, focus on cultivating students’ innovative spirit and practical ability, and enhance students’ vocational adaptability and sustainable development ability. We will continue to regard fostering virtue as the fundamental task, and integrate it into ideological and moral education, cultural knowledge education, technical skills training, and social practice education. In terms of curriculum implementation, the opinions put forward that professional (skill) courses should be set up scientifically. Professional (skill) curriculum setting should be adapted to the training objective, the curriculum content should be closely connected with the actual production and social practice, with emphasis on application and practicality, and pay attention to the cultivation of students’ professional ability and spirit. Generally, 6–8 professional core courses and several professional courses are determined according to the ability requirements of corresponding professional posts (groups). Strengthen practice link, strengthen practical teaching, and further clarify the labor education arrangement. Practical teaching hours account for more than 50% of the total hours in principle. We should actively carry out cognitive practice, post practice, post practice and other kinds of practice, and strengthen the evaluation of practice and training with the goal of educating people. The internship time is usually 6 months, which can be arranged in different stages according to the actual situation of the major. We try to encourage vocational colleges and universities to build practical training bases of various types, strengthen students’ practice and training, coordinate efforts to educate people through culture, practice and activities, and carry out a wide range of social activities. In terms of learning process management and evaluation, the opinions emphasize that the training objectives and training specifications should be strictly implemented, and the proportion of process assessment and practical skills assessment in the total course scores should be increased. Strict examination discipline, improve the diversified assessment and evaluation system, improve the monitoring, evaluation and feedback mechanism of students’ learning process, guide students to self-management and initiative learning, and improve learning efficiency. Strengthen the whole process management and assessment of practical teaching links such as practice, training, graduation design (thesis). On June 11, 2019, the State Council General Office issued “Guidance on the Reform of Ordinary High School Education” to put forward to pay attention to the ordinary high school to carry out the labor education. General high schools should broaden the comprehensive practice channels. We try to improve the policy system for the effective development and allocation of social educational resources, create large social practice classes for students in light of local conditions, and build a number of stable social practice bases for students. We concentrate on giving full play to the patriotism, good tradition culture, such as military defense education base, as well as institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutions, the modern enterprise, beautiful country, the respect such as national park resources an

164

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

important educational role, open to the students in accordance with the provisions, free or preferential libraries, museums, science and technology museum and cultural center, museum, exhibition hall, stadium and other public facilities. We regularly organize students to provide volunteer services in communities, hospitals, welfare homes and social assistance institutions, and to go to military barracks and rural areas for experience activities. We will improve the school’s curriculum management and make reasonable arrangements for three-year courses in all subjects in accordance with the curriculum plan of ordinary senior high schools. In addition, the guideline also pointed out that comprehensive quality evaluation should be improved, regarded as an important system to develop quality education and change the way of education, and strengthened its important guiding role in promoting students’ all-round development. In addition to patriotism, abiding by the law, innovative thinking, physical fitness standards, aesthetic ability, etc., the evaluation of students’ labor practice ability should also be strengthened.14 In July 2019, Deepening the Reform of Educational Comprehensive Advice was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council to improve the quality of compulsory education. It is the first issued by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, which focusing on education teaching reform of the compulsory education stage. It is a deepening education and teaching reform in new era, and comprehensively improve the quality of compulsory education of the programmatic document. The Opinions on Deepening Education and Teaching Reform to Comprehensively Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education clearly put forward that we should insist on “five educations” simultaneously, develop quality education in an all-round way and strengthen labor education. We will give full play to the comprehensive educational function of labor, formulate guidelines for labor education, and strengthen students’ education in life practice, labor technology, and vocational experience. Optimize the curriculum structure of comprehensive practice activities to ensure that labor education hours are not less than half. Parents should arrange housework for their children, schools should adhere to the student duty system, organize students to participate in campus labor, and actively carry out off-campus labor practices and community volunteer services. A number of labor-education experimental zones should be set up. In rural areas, corresponding fields, forests and grasslands should be arranged as practical bases for studying agriculture, and urban areas should provide guarantees for students to participate in agricultural production, industrial experience, and business and service practice. Formulate the labor education program for each school period and cultivate students’ love of labor through effective measures to adapt to the current environment and conditions, such as curriculum teaching, in-school labor, off-campus labor, and housework. The core of developing qualityoriented education is to fully implement the party’s educational policy, to enable students to develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor in an 14 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. Basic education course reform outline (try out) [EB/OL]. (2001-06-08) [2019-04-24]. http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfifiles/business/htmlfi files/MOE/moe_309/200412/4672.HTML.

7.1 Labor Education Policy

165

all-round way, especially to improve the shortcomings of labor education. Bringing labor education into the overall training and education system greatly strengthens the position of labor education. Labor education should be targeted, according to the characteristics of The Times, the characteristics of urban and rural labor education resources and the characteristics of students of different ages, to carry out corresponding forms of labor education, at the same time, the housework, school labor, social labor.

7.2 The Effect of Labor Education Labor education is not only a necessary condition but also a basic and effective way to train and bring up all-round talents. Labor education enables students to establish correct labor views and attitudes, develop labor skills, love labor and form labor habits. Labor education does not stop at mastering labor skills, but aims at shaping students’ personality, perfecting their moral character and cultivating their values. “The importance of the integration of education and productive Labor is not only to produce skilled workers, but also to link education more closely with the changing working conditions and to contribute to the overall development of the individual,” said the resolution of UNESCO’s 38th general assembly. The combination of education and productive labor is the basic principle of Marxist educational theory, and also a basic measure of adhering to the direction of socialist education in China. Xi jinping has pointed out that we should respect work, creativity, knowledge and talents, and put respect for work at the top of the “four respects” list, highlighting the fundamental role of labor education. The education system should thoroughly implement general secretary xi jinping’s series of important statements on labor education, proceed from the reality of different objects from different classmates, handle the concept, goal, process and evaluation of labor education, ensure the correct direction of labor education, and give full play to the important role of labor education in moral education. Labor education entered the new era, more emphasis on the comprehensive education, under the comprehensive system deployment of the central and the ministry of education, government and education departments at all levels, schools of various levels in combination with the actual implementation of seriously, carrying out rich contents, various forms of labor education and labor education in our country has achieved obvious results, showing up to the good development momentum. First, the labor education mechanism has been constantly improved. After the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Curriculum Reform to Implement the Fundamental Task of Promoting Moral Education, which proposed to make overall planning of all levels, disciplines and links from primary school to graduate students, as well as all forces and positions inside and outside the university, to construct an allround and three-dimensional education system from multiple dimensions. Since the

166

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

18th national congress of the CPC, the ministry of education has earnestly implemented the guiding principles of Xi jinping’s major speeches and relevant decisions and arrangements of the central committee. Successively introduced the Outline of Perfecting Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture Education Guidance, the cultivation and practice of socialist core values is to further strengthen the views of the primary and secondary school moral education work.15 National Education Conference held in 2018, labor education is paid attention to by the unprecedented, across the country have the province (city) education conference, actively implement the fundamental task, forming education department and the division of labor cooperation, and work closely with the relevant departments, department of education, primary and secondary school level, scratching level, layer upon layer carries out the pattern of the moral education work. Some local education authorities have issued Guidelines on Strengthening Labor Education in Primary and Middle schools and Kindergartens. For example, Guangzhou has stipulated that the comprehensive evaluation certificate of labor skills obtained in labor education will be one of the required credits for comprehensive quality evaluation. Ningbo city clearly recorded the labor evaluation into the students’ final evaluation, comprehensive quality evaluation files, gradually promote the labor education into the ordinary high school credit assessment system, and as an important reference for higher education, evaluation.16 Second, the form of labor education innovation. In the practice process of labor education, the forms of labor education are becoming more and more abundant, the role of curriculum education is constantly enhanced, the practice education is steadily promoted, culture education, management education, network education, family, school, society, enterprise collaborative education mode has also been greatly developed, showing a trend of diversification. After the Third Plenary Session, the Ministry of Education issued Opinion on Comprehensively Deepen the Implementation of the Curriculum Reform to put forward the plan as a whole from graduate students each period, various disciplines, each link, and the power and position, off from multiple dimensions to build all-round, three-dimensional cultivation system, strive to promote the socialist core values into the teaching materials, into the classroom, in the mind. Among them, curriculum is the main carrier of educational thought, educational goal and educational content. The development of labor education must follow the laws of students’ physical and mental development and the laws of education itself and offer corresponding courses in different learning stages step by step.17 15 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. The primary and secondary school moral education work guide [EB/OL]. (2017-08-17) [2019-04-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/ A06/s3325/201709/t20170904_313128.HTML. 16 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. About vocational colleges professional personnel training plan formulation and implementation of guidance [EB/OL]. http://www. moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A07/moe_953/201906/t20190618_386287.html. 17 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. The primary and secondary school moral education work guide [EB/OL]. (2017-08-17) [2019-04-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/ A06/s3325/201709/t20170904_313128.HTML.

7.2 The Effect of Labor Education

167

In 2016, the Ministry of Education experts write compulsory education phase character, Chinese, history had to compile for universal textbooks, solicitation of subject moral education curriculums display activities, put forward to guarantee prescribed periods, enrich the teaching content, to grasp the teaching requirements, innovation teaching methods, improving evaluation, strengthening the teachers team, and ask around the schools while pays special attention to the moral teaching, give full play to the moral education function of the language, history, geography and other disciplines, improve the teaching of ideological content, the scientific nature and effectiveness, strengthening course teaching effect. We encourage secondary vocational schools and primary and secondary schools to jointly develop education on labor and vocational enlightenment, so as to train large numbers of high-quality workers and technical and skilled personnel to serve the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We concentrate on promoting the integrated development of education within and outside the university, and organizing various practical activities such as housework, volunteer services, employment, entrepreneurship, and scientific and technological innovation to fully meet the individual needs of students.18 China’s education aims to emphasizing on the practice and exploration, innovation in operating mechanisms, the implementation of the core socialist values in small detail. According to the requirement, all kinds of educators at all levels insist on the problem-oriented and pay attention to theoretical innovation, integrate moral education resources and innovate teaching. We focus on the construction of theoretical communities, social practice, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and the promotion of leading cadres. By means of innovation, enriching the connotation of labor education make students more love labor education. In addition, since 2015, through the revised Regulations for Primary and Middle School Students, the Ministry of Education issued the Outline of Vocational School Moral Education, which refine the socialist core values for the student’s daily behavior standards. It also focuses on strengthening the opinions of the labor education of primary and secondary schools, through the students to participate in social practice activities and results into the primary and secondary school education quality evaluation and students’ comprehensive quality evaluation method, the educational work to further promote implementation.

7.3 The Problem of Labor Education Labor education, as an important link in the implementation of moral education, is still the weak point of the whole education system. Although China’s labor education

18 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. About vocational colleges professional personnel training plan formulation and implementation of guidance [EB/OL]. http://www. moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A07/moe_953/201906/t20190618_386287.html.

168

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

has made great progress, it cannot be ignored that there are still many weak links and problems in China’s labor education.

7.3.1 Lack of Understanding of Labor Education in Family, School and Society In 2015, the Ministry of Education, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the National Committee of Young Workers jointly issued Opinions on Strengthening Labor Education in Primary and Secondary Schools, which described the goals and implementation approaches of labor education in an all-round way. However, the development of implementation and validity among regions and schools is still unbalanced. It is the lack of public understanding of the important position and strategic significance of labor education in the comprehensive development of human beings. The basic and strategic characteristics of labor education have not formed a broad consensus in public opinion and propaganda. On the whole, the phenomenon of labor education “being weakened in school, softened in family and weakened in society” has not been fundamentally reversed. From the school aspect, because of the education pattern, the labor safety, the teacher force, the activity site and so on restriction, some school’s labor class becomes the armchair strategist, the alienation becomes the pure classroom labor technique cultural education, even is often occupied. Many schools do not offer labor courses; Some schools offer labor courses, but they are often in name only. From the perspective of parents, due to the one-child policy and the pressure of academic competition, some parents mistakenly convey the idea of “I have good grades and don’t need to work”, treat labor as a burden and take care of it too much, resulting in the neglect of labor in family education. Many parents have the traditional concept of “people are superior”. In order to make their children become “people are superior”, they teach their children to despise labor and ordinary workers. From the point of view of students themselves, many teenagers who “value scores and happiness” lack the concept of labor, not only do not love labor, even despise labor, but also lack the habit and consciousness of selflabor. The primary and secondary school student labor opportunity decreases, the labor consciousness lacks, has appeared some student to despise the labor, will not work, does not cherish the labor achievement the phenomenon.19 What needs to be faced up to is that under the guidance of exam-oriented education, some people have formed a mindset of “read more, get high scores and go to a prestigious university”. Before all sorts of examination course, work class became dispensable “second division”. Because of the entrance examination for secondary school or college entrance is mainly use the examination score evaluation, admit students, as a result, school education exist only fractional theory “tendency, our 19 The

ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. The primary and secondary school moral education work guide [EB/OL]. (2017-08-17) [2019-04-24]. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/ A06/s3325/201709/t20170904_313128.HTML.

7.3 The Problem of Labor Education

169

country is to promote the reform of the entrance examination for secondary school or college, in an attempt to reverse the fractional theory, but the pursuit of the target of enters a higher school, the school and the family utility, plus part of the local education department also attaches great importance to the entrance record, some schools will has nothing to do with the entrance examination for secondary school or college education all marginalized. After pushing forward the reform of the new college entrance examination and evaluating the comprehensive quality of high school students, some parents also oppose the school organizing students to carry out social practice and participate in social welfare activities, believing that it is a waste of time and increases the burden on students”. The reason why labor education encountered difficulties in some places is mainly due to the alienation of labor education. At the cognitive level, the boundary between “labor education” and “labor technology education” is not clear, and the connotation of labor education is vague. At the educational level, labor education becomes the appendage of intellectual education, and class hours cannot be guaranteed. At the practical level, extracurricular activities, social practice or school cleaning are regarded as the whole content of labor education, which lacks “systematic design”. At the evaluation level, too much emphasis is placed on “materialized” rewards obtained through labor, such as scores of labor hygiene evaluation and the rank of physical labor competition, and lack of deep identification of labor value. This directly leads to the loss of labor education, resulting in labor education is difficult to fall into practice. For a long time, the government, schools, families, enterprises and public institutions, as well as all sectors of society, have generally lacked the idea of joint efforts and management of labor education and the mechanism of resource integration. The public’s understanding of labor education needs to be improved, and the consensus of the whole society to promote labor education needs to be formed. Labor education is a systematic project that requires the cooperation of schools, society and families. All forces should not be painstakingly engaged in labor education while at the same time opposing views in other aspects but should always lead labor education with positive values. Families, schools and society should form a consensus and work together to create a relaxed environment for labor education.20

7.3.2 Insufficient Guarantee of Labor and Education Conditions First of all, labor education teachers less overall level of low. Basic level school reflects commonly, the treatment of teacher of course of study of labor technology and other teachers has difference, labor education should be “small division” thought idea exists commonly. In terms of teaching staff, first of all, there is a serious shortage 20 The

ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. About vocational colleges professional personnel training plan formulation and implementation of guidance [EB/OL]. http://www. moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A07/moe_953/201906/t20190618_386287.html.

170

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

of teachers for professional labor course teaching, and the professional skills of teachers who are specialized in labor education are also low, which greatly affects the development of teaching work. For most schools, the physical education teacher or other teacher runs the labor program. There are obvious shortcomings in the teaching staff of labor education, such as the shortage of teaching staff, the shortage of teaching resources, and the lagging of teaching security policy. The shortage of teachers in labor education is a common problem reflected by various schools due to factors such as staffing, class hours, evaluation and recruitment system. At the same time, the policy of salary guarantees and professional title evaluation for teachers is not complete, so it is urgent and important to accelerate policy innovation. Secondly, labor education activities funding security is relatively inadequate, restricting the development of labor education. Textbook-oriented, game-oriented and superficial phenomena of labor education are prominent. Many schools on the grounds of student safety, to the class instead of work, to teach instead of work, to speak of the situation is widespread. Due to the fear of safety accidents in the process of labor operation, many schools generally take the arrangement of manual production, classroom operation and other activities to organize labor class teaching, far from the “out of work, flow sweat” labor experience requirements. At the same time, due to the limitation of class hours and class periods, students have little chance to understand the labor production process in the whole course and lack the foundation to cultivate labor emotion. In terms of hardware facilities, the lack of necessary labor places greatly restricts the development of labor courses under economic conditions. In addition, although some schools in the construction of labor education base, labor education innovation and exploration take the lead, but due to non-statutory implementation, the lack of internal impetus. In some places, labor education is far from attracting the attention of party and government departments and schools. The vast majority of schools are only satisfied with the opening and completion of classes, and many schools set up labor education courses are mere formality, lack of pertinence and strength, and to a large extent, they are meaningless. Schools only pursue the improvement of student enrollment rate and the mastery of knowledge, which leads to the emphasis on knowledge rather than practice. Even when schools offer labor education courses, they are only limited to classroom knowledge explanation and lack of practical labor training for students. The lack of suitable labor education projects, bases and uneven construction is an important factor restricting the advancement of labor education to depth and breadth. Due to the insufficient attention paid to labor education decision-making and the lack of effective policy support, secondary vocational schools, higher vocational colleges and enterprises with abundant labor technology resources, due to their different systems, have insufficient motivation to open up to primary and secondary schools, and there are obstacles in the connection

7.3 The Problem of Labor Education

171

of information and resources, so there is no linkage mechanism for the integrated development and utilization of resources.21 Labor education mechanism still needs to be improved The development course of educational policy of our country always attaches great importance to labor education. However, there are some problems in the whole practice of labor education, such as single implementation subject, unclear responsibility, lack of evaluation and supervision mechanism. The ministry of education should speed up the formulation of two documents: one is to formulate guidance on strengthening labor education in colleges and primary schools, carry out top-level system design, and clarify how to do labor education in the end. The second is to formulate the outline of labor education in colleges and primary schools, because the content and requirements of each period, the form is not the same. Through the formulation of labor education guidelines, clear specific content and implementation requirements, to ensure that labor education can be implemented. In big kindergarten labor education of primary and secondary schools to strengthen the implementation of the views and form a complete set of education guidelines, emphasis on labor education times characteristics, both on mental Labor and physical Labor, school education and social practice, labor education through the combination of physique and the principle of the education, learning period of refinement of school education, social practice, housework and so on each link of labor education connotation, systematic building school social family synergy mechanism, abundant labor resources supply practice, promote combining education with productive labor and social practice, to make work fine education falls down small implement. In order to improve the labor education mechanism, the state must complete a series of system construction, such as stipulating the subjects of labor education in the form of legal system, clarifying the responsibilities of each subject, establishing evaluation and supervision mechanism, and clarifying the use scope of labor education achievements. First of all, it is necessary to establish a diversified system of implementing labor education so that the implementation of labor education has objective conditions. Education administration departments and state power organs administer education according to law and are the main body of labor education administration. Schools are the subject of labor education implementation, and relevant departments, units, organizations and all sectors of society have the responsibility and obligation to cooperate with the implementation of labor education, and they are the subject of cooperation with the implementation of labor education in schools. Students directly participate in labor, is the subject of receiving labor education. Secondly, the obligation and responsibility of labor education should be clarified so that the implementation of labor education has the main motivation. Schools must play a leading role in the curriculum setting of labor education, overall organization and arrangement, coordinating labor education activities to carry out labor education 21 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. About vocational colleges professional personnel training plan formulation and implementation of guidance [EB/OL]. http://www. moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A07/moe_953/201906/t20190618_386287.html.

172

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

evaluation, and establishing labor education files. The administrative departments of education and the organs of state power shall supervise, administer and regulate the educational activities of various institutions of labor education according to law; Relevant departments, units, organizations and all sectors of society shall cooperate with schools in carrying out labor education, and shall not refuse to cooperate with schools in carrying out labor education without reason or cope with students’ labor education activities perfunctorily. Students at different ages must receive corresponding labor education. Finally, establish the comprehensive use incentive mechanism of labor education evaluation results. Educational administrative departments and state organs of power evaluate the quality and quantity of the units cooperating with schools in carrying out labor education, and the relevant state departments give benefits in various ways. The state stipulates that the results of individual labor education evaluation should be widely used in the process of higher education, employment and job promotion, as well as the selection of various talents, as an important part of the evaluation of moral integrity.

7.4 The Labor Education Policy Development Trend The combination of education and productive labor is the educational policy we have always adhered to. In socialist countries, labor education is endowed with a special meaning, that is, combining education with production labor as an effective way to realize the integration of Marxism body and brain and develop the educational concept in an all-round way, that is, taking labor education as an important content to train the successors and builders of socialism.22 Reflecting on the promotion and implementation of China’s labor education since the founding of new China, we can see that the development of China’s labor education shows obvious exogenous characteristics, specifically manifested in two aspects: exogenous drive and exogenous purpose. The typical manifestation of the exogenous drive is that every time labor education is paid attention to, it is driven by the important speeches of national leaders. In the 1950s, according to the spirit of comrade Mao zedong’s speech, “combining education with production and labor” was written into the party’s educational policy. In the 1980s, according to the spirit of Deng xiaoping’s speech, the academic circle launched a great discussion on the education policy and a study on the combination of teaching and labor in the new era. In the 1990s, according to Jiang zemin’s emphasis on innovation ability and practical ability, “combining with production labor and social practice” became the educational policy in the new period. In 2010, in accordance with the spirit of Hu jintao’s speech at the national meeting of commendation for model workers and 22 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China. About vocational colleges professional personnel training plan formulation and implementation of guidance [EB/OL]. http://www. moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A07/moe_953/201906/t20190618_386287.html.

7.4 The Labor Education Policy Development Trend

173

advanced workers, the ministry of education issued the notice on organizing and carrying out activities of model workers on campus. In 2015, according to the spirit of Xi jinping’s series of speeches, the “opinions on strengthening labor education in primary and secondary schools” was issued. The exogenous aim of labor education is embodied in the external teleological orientation of serving social development. In the 1950s and 1960s, the promotion of labor education was aimed at solving the employment problem of primary and secondary school students and easing the national economic pressure. In the 1980s and 1990s, the implementation of labor education was to serve the economic construction and strengthen labor technology education needed in the modernization drive. After the twenty-first century, labor education is valued to promote national innovation and national rejuvenation. On September 10, 2018, Xi jinping stressed at the national education conference that efforts should be made to build an education system for all-round cultivation of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, beauty and labor, and to form a talent training system of a higher level. Xi jinping, general secretary of the standing in the realization of strategic height of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, is put forward for the first time in the national education conference in the labor education into the overall requirements of the socialist builders and successors of the historic labor education from the traditional sense, the effective ways to promote the comprehensive development of teenagers promoted as important content of education, form the art of morality, intelligence and physique full scale development education system, the thought of new era to strengthen labor education guidance, has caused society’s strong resonance.23 Through the analysis of the evolution of China’s labor education policy, we can see that although the value appeal of labor education in different historical periods has different emphasis, there are still some common points. First, at the party and state level, strengthening labor education is an important demand to fully implement the party’s educational policy and implement the fundamental task of promoting morality and cultivating people. The party’s educational policy clearly requires that education be combined with productive labor and social practice. Through labor education, lets the student understand the history of the development of production, working people to create the history of the world, from set up the hard work, honesty, creative labor right idea, know the labor is basic obligations and rights of citizens, cultivate love labor and labor people’s emotions, cultivate social responsibility, develop good work habits, form the good labor quality. Second, from the perspective of social and national development, strengthening labor education is an important appeal to train comprehensively developed socialist builders and successors. In order to build China into a strong country in education, science and technology, and manufacturing, we must train hundreds of millions of workers with high quality and train new people who can undertake the great responsibility of national rejuvenation with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor. Third, from the perspective of family and students, strengthening labor education is an 23 Chen jing, huang zhongjing. From "physical education" to "ability education"—the development and change of China’s labor education policy [J]. Chinese moral education, 2015(16):33–38.

174

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

important demand to promote family harmony and personal happiness. Engels said, “labor creates man himself.” labor also creates man’s future. Students’ self-care ability, practical and mental ability, survival ability and vocational skills are closely related to their future life and work. Family education is the starting point of talent training, housework is an important way of daily talent training, family, school and society work together to promote labor education, is an important way to comprehensively improve students’ comprehensive practical ability, problem solving ability and cultivate students’ innovative spirit. From the point of view of the purpose, curriculum implementation and status of labor education, China’s labor education gradually from “physical education” to “ability education” development. On the one hand, the policy of labor education in China has changed from “combination of teaching and labor” to “combination of teaching and labor”. China’s educational policy has gone through a changing process from the combination of education and production labor to the combination of education and production labor and social practice. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, our country inherited the thought of “combining education with production labor” (abbreviated as “combining education with labor”) of Marx’s socialist construction and took production labor as an important part of socialist education. The necessity of combining education with productive labor is rooted in the thought of the nature of mass production. “Combination of teaching and labor” is not only an important pedagogical theory, but also closely related to social production relations and realistic politics. In the decision on the reform and development of basic education issued by the state council in 2001, it was first proposed that education must be combined with productive labor and social practice (“combining education with practice”). The change of this educational policy reflects the combination of labor education with economic development and the development of students’ comprehensive quality but separates from politics. On the other hand, the curriculum status of labor education is declining while the ability requirements are improving. In the process of the development of our country’s labor education, the status of the curriculum of labor education is declining, but the corresponding quality requirements of students to be cultivated are improving. This quality improvement is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, the quality requirements for the purpose of labor education. From physical labor at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, to the improvement of comprehensive quality after the reform and opening up of the use of both hands and brain to the new curriculum reform, the requirements of cultivating students’ ability undertaken by labor education are getting higher and higher. Secondly, the professional quality of labor education should be improved. The course requirements of the second stage of labor technology education are to master the primary production knowledge, production skills and management knowledge of labor skills. However, as an important part of comprehensive practical activity course, labor and technical education requires students to understand the necessary general technology and occupational division

7.4 The Labor Education Policy Development Trend

175

of labor, and to form preliminary technical awareness and technical practical ability. This change clarifies the professional skills and practical skills required by labor education.24 With the changes of society and the influence of various factors, the basic conditions and social atmosphere of traditional labor education have undergone great changes. The new era more emphasis on happiness is to struggle out, youth is used to struggle, no labor without man, no creation without success, no dedication is difficult to become a great tool. The unique value of labor education has not disappeared, but it plays an increasingly important role in training qualified constructors and reliable successors of socialism. We should educate and guide students to participate in various forms of labor education practice, learn to respect labor, respect the working people, enhance empathy, improve labor quality, form labor habits, carry forward the spirit of labor, improve personality and benefit the people. The five educations are carried out at the same time. The five educations are found, infiltrated and implemented in the five educations, and the five educations are understood, grasped and realized in the five educations. On the one hand, we should see the unique value of labor education, which is related to the cultivation of youth’s labor quality, which cannot be replaced by other four education; On the other hand, we should see the value of comprehensive education of labor education, give full play to the role of labor education in cultivating morality, increasing intelligence, strengthening health and cultivating beauty. On the one hand, we should see the content value of labor education. Living labor focuses on solving the problem of self-care, production labor focuses on solving the problem of material wealth creation, and service labor focuses on solving the harmonious relationship between individuals and society. On the other hand, we should see the carrier value of labor education. In the new era, the new situation and the new task, under the new historical conditions to carry out labor education opportunities and challenges coexist. On the one hand, attaching importance to labor education is a glorious tradition of socialist education, and labor education is related to the destiny of the country and the future of the nation. Cultivate new era demand for labor education is extremely urgent, need from the perspective of the fate of the nation, national future system of labor education, inheriting the fine culture of the Chinese nation, hardworking and integrated into the socialist core values in the labor education, cultivating professional dedication spirit, make labor education and the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, by line. On the other hand, we should also be soberly aware that today’s economic globalization, value diversification, informationization, and major changes in traditional ways of life and production and organizational forms will all have an impact on labor education. We should avoid one—sidedness in thinking and understanding, blindness in practice, singleness in evaluation and weakening in effect. We need to build a modern labor education system that is scientific and practical, develop a higher-level talent training system, develop a social atmosphere that values labor

24 Chen jing, huang zhongjing. From "physical education" to "ability education"—the development

and change of China’s labor education policy [J]. Chinese moral education, 2015(16):33–38.

176

7 Shaping the Labor Education in China: Background and Progress

and creativity, shift from simple physical labor to innovative and complex labor, and accelerate the building of a strong country in education and manufacturing. It is not only a topic of education, but also a matter concerning the future of the country and the nation. All happiness in the world needs to be created by hard work, which is the only way to success. To achieve the “two centenary goals” and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, in the final analysis, requires work. A bright future cannot be achieved without the solid working spirit of the younger generation.25

25 Chen jing, huang zhongjing. From "physical education" to "ability education"—the development

and change of China’s labor education policy [J]. Chinese moral education, 2015(16):33–38.

Chapter 8

Shaping the Management of off-Campus Training Institutions in China

This chapter concentrates on shaping the management of off-campus training instructions in China. The discourse on social education, status quo of off-campus training institutions since the 18th national congress of the CPC, progress in the rectification of special control actions, and policy features of social education since the 18th national congress all contribute to provide the overall landscape to construct the sustainable management of off-campus training institutions in current China.

8.1 The Discourse on Social Education Education run by social forces refers to schools and other educational institutions of various levels and types that are run or participated in by various social forces by way of donation, contribution, investment or cooperation as permitted by laws and regulations. Since China’s reform and opening up, as the main form of social forces to run education run by the local education is growing stronger, formed from pre-school education to higher education, from academic education to non-academic education, situation of the development of various types of levels, full of vitality, effectively increase the supply of education services, to promote the modernization of education, promote economic and social development made a positive contribution, has become an important part of socialist education career.1 Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi jinping has stressed the importance of social education on many important occasions. 1 Central government portal website, jinping with deputies to the national children of all nationalities

celebrate the “June 1 international children’s day” when stressed to get the kids to grow better (2013-05-30) [2019-07-21] [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-05/30/content_2415278.htm.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_8

177

178

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

In terms of children’s education, society needs to care about the growth of young people and children, help them establish socialist core values, cooperate with schools and families, create a good environment for the healthy growth of young people and children, and jointly shoulder the responsibility of young people’s growth and success in education. In terms of vocational education, we will guide all sectors of society, especially industrial enterprises, to actively support vocational education, strive to build a vocational education system with Chinese characteristics, and organically combine the theory and practice of vocational education. In terms of teacher development, effective measures in line with the actual conditions of rural schools shall be formulated in light of local conditions, with focus on supporting key areas, reform the system, encourage and guide social forces to participate in supporting the construction of rural teachers, further promote the integrated development of urban and rural education, and promote educational equity. The details are as follows. On May 31, 2013, Xi jinping and representatives of all groups of children to celebrate the “June 1” international children’s day speech stressed that children grow better, is our greatest aspiration. The party and government should always show concern for young people of all ethnic groups and strive to create better conditions for their learning and growth. Teachers and parents should assume the responsibility of educating and guiding the growth and development of children. The young pioneer’s organization should better serve children. The whole society should care about the growth of young people and support their work. We must resolutely prevent and crack down on words and deeds that infringe upon the rights and interests of young people and undermine their physical and mental health. On May 31, 2014, when Xi jinping presided over a symposium at Minzu primary school in Haidian district, he mentioned that “it is the responsibility of families, schools, young pioneers’ organizations and the whole society to foster the core socialist values among children”. Today’s generation of young children must be determined to learn, have dreams, love learning, love labor, love the motherland, consciously cultivate and practice the core socialist values since childhood, under the light of the stars and the torch, under the party’s sunshine, for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream is always ready.2 On June 24, 2014, Xi jinping, as the leader of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, made important instructions on accelerating the development of vocational education at the national vocational education work conference. He stressed that vocational education is an important part of the national education system and human resources development, and an important way for the majority of young people to open the door to success and success. At the meeting, xi stressed the role of all sectors of society in supporting the development of vocational education. Xi jinping pointed out that must firmly grasp the school-running orientation of service development, promoting employment, we will deepen reform of the system and mechanism and innovation at all levels all kinds 2 Central government portal website, jinping with deputies to the national children of all nationalities

celebrate the “June 1 international children’s day” when stressed to get the kids to grow better (2013-05-30) [2019-07-21] [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-05/30/content_2415278.htm.

8.1 The Discourse on Social Education

179

of vocational education mode, adhere to the fusion, between production and education cooperation, adhere to the combination and unity, guide enterprises to actively support the social from all walks of life especially industry vocational education, strive to build a vocational education system with Chinese characteristics. We will increase support for vocational education in rural areas, ethnic minority areas and poor areas, and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make a difference in life.3 On April 2, 2015, Xi jinping presided over the 11th meeting of the central leading group for comprehensively deepening reform, said that by 2020, China will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically realize the modernization of education. To develop rural education, so that every rural child can receive a fair and quality education and prevent the transmission of poverty from generation to generation, is a major task that will bring great benefits to both the present and future generations. We will give priority to the development of rural teachers by taking multiple measures, taking targeted measures and making precise efforts. Party committees and governments at all levels should strengthen organizational leadership, formulate effective measures in line with the realities of rural schools in light of local conditions, focus on supporting key areas, focus on reforming the system, and encourage and guide social forces to participate in supporting the construction of rural teachers.4 On June 2, 2015, when meeting with the seventh national congress of the Chinese youth pioneers, Xi jinping once again stressed the social responsibility in educating people. It is the common responsibility of the whole party and society to guide the healthy growth of children. Schools, families and all sectors of society should work together to create a good environment for the work of young pioneers and the healthy growth of children.5 On September 10, 2016, when visiting teachers and students of Beijing bayi school, Xi jinping stressed that basic education is the cause of the whole society, which needs close cooperation from schools, families and society. The school should bear the main responsibility, be responsible to the student, be responsible to the student family. Parents should respect the arrangement of school education, respect the creativity of teachers, cooperate with schools to do a good job in their children’s learning and education, and at the same time, cultivate good family traditions and give their children examples and guidance. All relevant units, especially propaganda, culture, science and technology, sports institutions should actively provide conditions for students to understand the society, participate in practice, exercise and improve.

3 Xi

jinping’s speech at meeting with the seventh national congress of the Chinese youth pioneers [N], People’s Daily,2015-06-02(006). 4 Chinese institute of educational fiscal sciences, Peking University, 2017 survey of Chinese educational fiscal families: current situation of Chinese families’ educational expenditure [J], no. 2–3, 2018 (total no. 152). 5 Central government portal website, jinping with deputies to the national children of all nationalities celebrate the “June 1 international children’s day” when stressed to get the kids to grow better (2013-05-30) [2019-07-21] [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-05/30/content_2415278.htm.

180

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

On September 10, 2018, Xi jinping delivered an important speech at the national education conference, laying out a comprehensive plan for accelerating the modernization of education, building a strong country in education, and ensuring that education meets the people’s satisfaction. Xi jinping’s important speech aroused warm response from all sectors of society. We all said that we should take the time, seize the moment and take solid action to implement the important directive of “the whole society should shoulder the responsibility for the growth and development of young people” and jointly shoulder the responsibility for the growth and development of young people. Families, schools, the government and society all have the responsibility to ensure the success of education. Xi jinping said that education is not only about individual development and family happiness, but also about national prosperity and rejuvenation. The whole society should shoulder responsibilities and form synergy. Family is the first school of life, parents are the children’s first teacher, to tell the children “the first lesson of life”, to help button the first button of life. Education, women’s federations and other departments should coordinate social resources to support family education. Party committees and governments at all levels should support the safety of schools, solve problems at home and abroad, safeguard the dignity of teachers and schools, and protect the lives of students.

8.2 Status Quo of off-Campus Training Institutions Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC Review on the development of non-governmental education China’s private education development has entered a new era, standing at a new starting point, the scale continues to expand. In 2017, there were 177,600 private schools of all kinds and at all levels, 6668 more than the previous year, accounting for 34.57% of the country’s total. It enrolled 17.218600 students, an increase of 816,300 or 4.98% over the previous year. The number of students in various types of education reached 5.51 million, an increase of 2.951 million or 6.12% over the previous year. Among them, there were 160,400 private kindergartens, an increase of 6169 or 4.00% over the previous year. There were 9.9932 million children enrolled in kindergartens, an increase of 342,400 or 3.55% over the previous year. There were 25.723400 children in kindergartens, an increase of 1.3468 million or 5.53% over the previous year.6 There were 6107 private primary schools, an increase of 132 or 2.21% over the previous year. Enrollment reached 1.37700 million students, an increase of 99,400 or 7.78% over the previous year. There were 8.1417 million students, an increase of 578,400 or 7.65% over the previous year.7 6 Central government portal website, jinping with deputies to the national children of all nationalities

celebrate the “June 1 international children’s day” when stressed to get the kids to grow better (2013-05-30) [2019-07-21] [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-05/30/content_2415278.htm. 7 Xi jinping’s speech at meeting with the seventh national congress of the Chinese youth pioneers [N], People’s Daily, 2015-06-02(006).

8.2 Status Quo of off-Campus Training Institutions …

181

There were 5277 private junior middle schools, 192 more than the previous year, an increase of 3.78%. It enrolled 2,090,900 students, an increase of 203,600 or 10.79% over the previous year. There were 5.768 million students, an increase of 448,700 or 8.42% over the previous year. There were 3002 private senior high schools, 215 more than the previous year, up 7.71%; It enrolled 11,14,100 students, an increase of 85,200 or 8.28% over the previous year. There were 3,062,600 students in the university, an increase of 271,800 or 9.74% over the previous year. There were 2069 private secondary vocational schools, 46 fewer than the previous year, or 2.17% less. It enrolled 786,800 students, an increase of 50,400 or 6.84% over the previous year. There were 1.733 million students in the university, an increase of 131,900 or 7.16% over the previous year. There were 747 private colleges and universities (including 265 independent colleges and one adult college), 5 more than the previous year. The enrollment of 1.7537 million undergraduate students was 0.87% higher than that of the previous year, or 15,100 more than that of the previous year. There were 6.2846 million students on campus, an increase of 122,500 or 1.99% over the previous year. The enrollment of postgraduate students is 747 students, including 1223 students. There are also 800 private institutions of higher education, with 744,700 registered students.8 From 2012 to 2017, the number of private schools (educational institutions) at all levels increased from 139,900 to 177,600, and the number of students increased from 14.5403 million to 17.218600. The number of private training institutions has increased from 20,155 to 21,234, and the enrollment has increased from 8.606 million to 9.014 million, which shows that the scale is expanding and developing rapidly.9 Survey on after-school education of primary and secondary school students With the development of The Times and the expansion of educational needs, afterschool training for primary and secondary schools is no longer limited to after-school tutoring, but has been expanding in scope. The overall participation rate of off-campus education for primary and secondary school students is 47.2%, and the average cost of off-campus education for students is about 5616 yuan. According to the estimated scale of students in each school period, the total scale of the off-campus education industry nationwide is more than 458 billion yuan. In primary schools, off-campus education for subjects and interests accounted for 86.9% of the family’s out-of-school expenditures, 81.3% in junior middle schools, and 87.3% in general and senior high schools. It can be said that a large part of the family’s out-of-school expenditures are invested in after-school education. In terms of subject off-campus education, the participation rate of subject offcampus education for primary and secondary school students is 37.8%, 21.8% for 8 Xi

jinping’s speech at meeting with the seventh national congress of the Chinese youth pioneers [N], People’s Daily, 2015-06-02(006). 9 Chinese institute of educational fiscal sciences, Peking University, 2017 survey of Chinese educational fiscal families: current situation of Chinese families’ educational expenditure [J], no. 2–3, 2018 (total no. 152).

182

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

rural students and 44.8% for urban students. By province, the highest participation rates were more than 60%, while the lowest were less than 20%. During the school year, the average weekly attendance is 5.4 h, with the longest province having more than 7 h per week and the shortest province having less than 3 h per week. The average weekly attendance during the summer vacation is 14.8 h, with the longest province having more than 25 h per week and the lowest having less than 10 h per week. Although there is little difference between rural areas and urban areas at ordinary times, the average time spent on after-school education in rural areas during summer vacation is 19.7 h, which is higher than 13.7 h in urban areas. The average cost of participating in after-school education for primary and middle school students nationwide is 5021 yuan. The cost is 4139 yuan for primary school, 5426 yuan for junior high school and 6288 yuan for senior high school. The rural cost is 1580 yuan, and the urban cost is 5762 yuan. In terms of interest after-school education, the participation rate of interest afterschool education for primary and secondary school students is 21.7%. In rural areas it was 5.4% and in urban areas 29%. By province, the highest participation rates were nearly 50%, while the lowest were less than 10%. The average weekly attendance is 3.5 h in school and 7.4 h in summer. The average cost of students participating in off-campus education of interest is about 3554, 1692 yuan in rural areas and 3694 yuan in urban areas. In the compulsory education stage, the proportion of outof-school education expenditure is relatively high, accounting for one third of the family education expenditure. The structure of family education expenditure varies greatly between urban and rural areas, but not between regions or within cities. The survey focused on family education spending during the basic education stage. Family education expenditure is divided into two parts: in-school education expenditure and out-of-school education expenditure. Campus expenditure mainly includes tuition fees, miscellaneous fees and other optional and expandable fees. Family expenditures outside school mainly include educational products and services purchased online and offline from institutions or individuals, including subject and interest after-school training. In the preschool stage, the average school expenditure accounts for 88.8% of the total education expenditure, while the average school expenditure accounts for 11.2%. In primary school, 61.7% of the education expenditure is in school, and 38.3% is outside school. At the junior middle school level, the expenditure on campus accounts for 67.5% of the education expenditure, and the expenditure off campus accounts for 32.5%. In the general high school period, 73.3% of the education expenditure was spent on campus and 26.7% was spent off campus.10 It can be seen that in the stage of compulsory education, the proportion of family expenditure on education outside school is relatively high, reaching about one third. Secondly, there are significant differences between urban and rural areas, but not between regions and within cities. Take primary school as an example, the average expenditure on campus is 4761 yuan, accounting for 61.7% of the average expenditure 10 Central government portal website, jinping with deputies to the national children of all nationalities celebrate the “June 1 international children’s day” when stressed to get the kids to grow better (2013-05-30) [2019-07-21] [EB/OL]. http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-05/30/content_2415278.htm.

8.2 Status Quo of off-Campus Training Institutions …

183

on education. The out-of-school expenditure was 2957 yuan, accounting for 38.3%. In terms of urban and rural areas, rural off-campus expenditure accounted for 16.6%, while urban off-campus expenditure accounted for 42.2%. Divide east, northeast, center, western area to look, off-campus expenditure proportion difference is not big. The highest rate was 42.1% in the eastern region, the lowest rate was 34.1% in the central region, 37.2% in the northeast and 36.3% in the western region. Within the town itself, the differences are small. The highest rates were 44.2 and 44.4% in the first- and second-tier cities, and 38.8% in other cities.11 After a brief analysis, with the popularization of free compulsory education, the expenditure of families within the education system, especially within the public education system, begins to decrease and converge. However, this does not mean the convergence of different families’ investment in children’s education. The greater the income gap, the greater the difference in education needs of families of different income levels. When the quality of the public education system fails to meet expectations, some families with higher income turn to the private education market for higher quality education resources. On the other hand, after the implementation of the free policy, public schools are more inclined to provide standardized and standardized education, leading to the failure of some families to meet the differentiated needs of education within the public education system. If local private schools are more developed, this group of families are likely to choose to send their children to private schools instead, leading to the growing division between the public and private schools. If the choice of private schools is limited, these families may also choose to send their children to after-school classes, resulting in the differentiation of market educational resources obtained by different families outside of school education.

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions The expansion of the scale and number of off-campus training institutions intensifies the interest competition between the source market and the private education market, and highlights the development contradictions of off-campus training institutions of different types and levels, making it difficult for the original internal elements to effectively cope with the changes in the external system. The “quantitative expansion” development mode has certain risks in personnel training and output, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of private schools. Therefore, the government needs to rectify off-campus training institutions. According to the general office of the national training institutions outside the ministry of education of special rectification work progress report (as of November 30, 2018), just across the county (city, area) the rectification, the country’s 2963 11 Chinese institute of educational fiscal sciences, Peking University, 2017 survey of Chinese educational fiscal families: current situation of Chinese families’ educational expenditure [J], no. 2–3, 2018 (total no. 152).

184

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

counties (city, area) has launched special rectification work, of which 2758 counties (city, area) has been basically completed special rectification task, county (city, area) completion rate 93.08%. Among them, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Xinjiang and all counties (cities and districts) of Xinjiang production and construction corps have completed the rectification. In terms of the rectification of off-campus training institutions, there are 401,050 off-campus training institutions nationwide, 272,842 institutions with problems, and 269,911 institutions have been rectified, with a completion rate of 98.93%. The next step requires provinces that have not completed the rectification to speed up the progress and complete the rectification work as soon as possible. Each place should combine the cross-check work that each province carries out recently, strengthen self-check and inspect, consolidate management achievement, prohibit falsify, ensure training organization to rectify quality. To seize the winter vacation this key node, strengthen hot spot inspection, strict review and filing, strengthen training management, resolutely put an end to the problem of rebound. At the same time, to speed up the “national primary and secondary school students training institutions management service platform” information entry work, to facilitate social inquiry and supervision, the ministry of education will report the recent progress of the input. Policy changes to develop social education since the 18th national congress Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), the CPC central committee with Xi jinping at its core has given priority to education, and comprehensively deepened comprehensive reform in the field of education. We will innovate systems and mechanisms, improve supportive policies, strengthen standardized management, improve the quality of running schools, further mobilize the enthusiasm of social forces in running education, promote the sustained and healthy development of private education, and train socialist builders and successors who are well-rounded, morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor. Standardize the relevant policy documents of “private schools” Private education, also known as private education, is an educational form relative to public education and public education. It refers to social organizations or individuals other than state institutions that use non-state financial funds to organize activities of schools and other educational institutions for the society. The law of the People’s Republic of China on the promotion of privately-run education stipulates that privately-run education is a public welfare enterprise and an integral part of socialist education. The state implements the policy of actively encouraging, vigorously supporting, correctly guiding and administrating non-governmental education according to law. People’s governments at all levels shall incorporate privately-run education into the plans for national economic and social development, privately-run schools shall have

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions

185

the same legal status as public schools, and the state shall guarantee the autonomy of privately-run schools in running schools.12 Encouraging social forces to set up education and promoting the healthy development of non-governmental education is an important task bearing on the current and long-term interests. The law on the promotion of private education clearly puts forward the policy of the state to actively encourage and support private education. The state council on encouraging social forces to run education to promote the healthy development of non-governmental education several opinions are also clearly put forward to ease access, broaden the financing channels, increasing financial investment, to carry out the same funding policy, implement preferential tax incentives such as the development of non-governmental education measures, has formed the policy environment of private education sustainable development is good. The detailed implementation rules are stipulated in the three documents of opinions on strengthening the party construction of privately-run schools (trial), detailed implementation rules for the classification and registration of privately-run schools, and detailed implementation rules for the supervision and administration of profitmaking privately-run schools. Several opinions on deepening reform and standardized development of preschool education proposed to encourage, guide and standardize the running of kindergartens by social forces, and the national implementation plan for vocational education reform proposed that, after 5–10 years or so, vocational education has basically completed the transformation from government-run education to government-coordinated management and diversified social education. Specific policy documents are as follows.13 The State Council has put forward five basic principles in several opinions on encouraging social forces to run education and promoting the healthy development of private education. Classified management, public welfare orientation; Optimize the environment and take comprehensive measures; To administer and regulate schools according to law; Encourage reform, up and down linkage. Put forward to strengthen the party’s leadership over the privately-run schools, including strengthening the party building of privately-run schools and strengthening and improving the ideological and political education of privately-run schools. It proposes innovative systems and mechanisms, including establishing a classified management system, establishing a differentiated policy system, relaxing access conditions for running schools, widening financing channels for running schools, exploring cooperation between multiple subjects in running schools, and improving the withdrawal mechanism of schools. It proposes to improve the support system, including increasing financial input, innovating financial support methods, implementing the same funding policy, 12 Chinese institute of educational fiscal sciences, Peking University, 2017 survey of Chinese educa-

tional fiscal families: current situation of Chinese families’ educational expenditure [J], no. 2–3, 2018 (total no. 152). 13 Office of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html.

186

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

implementing incentive policies such as preferential tax and fees, implementing the policy of differentiated land use, implementing the policy of classified fees, guaranteeing the independent running of schools according to law, and protecting the rights and interests of teachers and students of schools. It is proposed to accelerate the construction of modern school system, including improving the corporate governance of the school, perfecting the asset management and financial accounting system, standardizing the school-running behavior of the school, and implementing the responsibility of safety management. The paper proposes to improve the quality of education and teaching, including defining the orientation of schools, strengthening the construction of teachers, and introducing and cultivating high-quality educational resources. It is proposed to improve the management service level, including strengthening the coordination mechanism of departments, improving the management mode of the government, improving the supervision and management mechanism, giving play to the role of industrial organizations, and strengthening the propaganda and guidance.14 The 23rd meeting of the 18th central committee deep reorganization (April 18, 2016) deliberated and adopted the opinions on strengthening the party building work of privately-run schools (trial), detailed implementation rules for the classification and registration of privately-run schools, and detailed implementation rules for the supervision and administration of profit-making privately-run schools. The main contents of the opinions on strengthening the party building work of privately-run schools (trial) are as follows: privately-run schools are an important part of the socialist education cause and shoulder the heavy responsibility of training socialist builders and successors. Party committees at all levels (leading party groups) should fully understand the importance and urgency of party building in privately-run schools, strengthen the party’s leadership over privately-run schools, strengthen the cultivation of socialist core values, and ensure that schools run and teach in accordance with the requirements of the party. The ministry of education and other five departments issued a notice on the implementation rules of classified registration of privately-run schools, to do a good job in classified management and registration of privately-run schools, define tasks, specify requirements, implement responsibilities, and ensure the implementation of decisions and arrangements of the CPC central committee and the state council and the harmony and stability of the education system. The state administration for industry and commerce of the ministry of education, ministry of human resources and social security, issued the notice of “detailed rules for the implementation of the supervision and administration of profit-making privately-run schools” to scientifically and prudently carry out the supervision and administration of profit-making privately-run schools.15 14 Office of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html. 15 Office of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions

187

Several Opinions on Deepening Reform and Standardized Development of Preschool Education put forward the basic principles of adhering to reform and innovation. We will focus on problems, take overall and comprehensive measures to overcome institutional and institutional obstacles to the development of preschool education, strengthen weaknesses in the system, stimulate the vitality of kindergarten management, encourage and guide social forces to regulate kindergarten management, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all sectors. In broadening ways to expand the supply of resources, encourage social forces to run gardens. The government has increased support to guide social forces to open more kindergartens for all. Establish the basic information filing and publicity system for kindergartens, and take the initiative to accept social supervision; Education, civil affairs, market supervision and other departments should improve the channels for parents to complain, timely response and solve the problems of parents; We try to improve the system of parental volunteers on duty in the kindergarten, give full play to the role of the kindergarten parents’ committee, and encourage parents to participate effectively in the decisionmaking and daily management of major issues in the kindergarten. We will develop a national information system for preschool education management and improve the level of information management in preschool education. In terms of standardizing the development of private gardens, this paper puts forward the prudent implementation of classified management, the control of excessive profit-seeking behavior, and the classified management of non-licensed gardens. The Fifth Meeting of the Central Committee on Comprehensively Deepening Reform adopted the national vocational education reform implementation plan on November 14. Guided by Xi jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, vocational education should be given a more prominent position in education reform, innovation and economic and social development, according to the plan. Firmly establish a new concept of development, and achieve a higher quality service the construction of modern economic system more full employment need, docking technology development trend and market demand, improve vocational education and training system, optimize the school layout, professional, deepening the reform of educational system and education system reform, to promote employment and to meet the needs of industrial development as the guidance, encourage and support social from all walks of life especially enterprises to actively support the vocational education, strive to cultivate talented workers and technical skills. “Plan” put forward, after about 5–10 year’s time, vocational education basically completed mainly held by the government to the government as a whole pattern of diversity in schools of management, social transformation, from the pursuit of scale expansion to improve the quality, by reference to general education mode of running to the enterprise social participation, the type of professional characteristic education transformation, a sharp rise in the level of modernization in the new era of vocational education, to promote the economic and social development and enhance national competitiveness to provide quality human resources support. 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html.

188

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

8.3.1 Standardize the Relevant Policy Documents of “off-Campus Training Institutions” As a supplement to school education, off-campus training institutions play a positive role in satisfying the selective learning needs of primary and secondary school students, cultivating and developing their interests and specialties, and expanding their comprehensive qualities. However, in recent years, some off-campus training institutions have carried out exam-oriented training in violation of the rules of education and the growth and development of teenagers, resulting in excessive extracurricular burden on primary and middle school students, increasing the economic burden on families, damaging the good educational ecology, and causing strong social reaction. In order to effectively reduce the excessive extracurricular burden of primary and secondary school students, promote the standardized and orderly development of after-school training institutions. Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), the relevant policy documents of standardizing “off-campus training institutions” can be traced back to the activity of “reducing load by ten thousand miles” in March 2013. Since then, “about lightens the burden of primary and middle school students’ extracurricular training outside the agency action notice for special projects put forward six management tasks and rectification requirements, special projects” about accelerating off-campus training institutions work notice has been clear about the four aspects of the specific requirements, and other documents will require more refinement, explicit step by step. The latest implementation opinions on standardizing off-campus online training issued in July 2019 extends the regulated objects from off-campus training institutions to off-campus online training activities for primary and middle school students using Internet technologies. Specific policy documents are as follows.16 Since March 2013, it has carried out nationwide activities of “reducing the burden of thousands of miles” in compulsory education schools with the theme of “publicizing typical experience, standardizing school-running behaviors, updating educational concepts and creating a good atmosphere”. In terms of standardizing training management, the document points out that local educational administrative departments should consult with industrial and commercial departments to explore and strengthen supervision measures for various off-campus training institutions. Offcampus training institutions shall not conduct false publicity in the name of linking various training results to compulsory education enrollment, nor hold training classes linked to enrollment, nor conduct discipline training beyond the approved scope of business, nor engage in training activities that increase students’ learning burden, such as taking new courses or catching up with the schedule. We will encourage and encourage more training institutions to join the self-discipline convention on offcampus training institutions for primary and secondary school students, standardize 16 Chinese institute of educational fiscal sciences, Peking University, 2017 survey of Chinese educational fiscal families: current situation of Chinese families’ educational expenditure [J], no. 2–3, 2018 (total no. 152).

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions

189

the qualifications, services, quality and fees of training institutions, fulfill their social responsibilities, and carry out green training.17 The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce have decided to jointly launch special action. According to the notice on effectively reducing the extracurricular burden of primary and middle school students to carry out special governance actions of off-campus training institutions, six governance tasks and rectification requirements are put forward: the off-campus training institutions with major safety risks should immediately stop and rectify. To guide them to apply for relevant certificates and certificates in accordance with laws and regulations, or to order them to stop running schools and properly dispose of them in accordance with laws and regulations, and to order them to conduct business within the scope of operation (business), and not to hold any training for primary and secondary school students. We will resolutely correct the bad behaviors such as “teaching beyond the outline”, “teaching ahead of schedule” and “strengthening examination-oriented” in discipline training conducted by off-campus training institutions. Resolutely investigate and punish the behavior of linking the training results of after-school training institutions with the enrollment of primary and secondary schools; We will continue to administer education strictly in accordance with the law, and resolutely investigate and punish some primary and secondary schools for failing to follow their teaching plans or for “non-zero-starting teaching”. We will resolutely investigate and punish primary and secondary school teachers for not giving lectures in class and for giving lectures in off-campus training institutions, and for inducing or forcing students to participate in off-campus training institutions. Once verified, teachers will be seriously dealt with according to laws and regulations and even be disqualified as teachers. Next, list management division of labor and management step, namely special management cent undertakes 3 stages. The notice on accelerating the special governance work of off-campus training institutions specifies specific requirements in four aspects. First, we must promptly clarify our responsibilities. Administrative departments of education should play a leading role, actively set up working institutions jointly with local civil affairs departments, improve coordination mechanism and implement departmental responsibilities. Second, we need to introduce a plan as soon as possible. Around special governance task requirements, should be about to notice pointed out in “unsafe, licenses is not complete, strengthening examination, training results, pegged to the recruitment of students admission, the non-zero start teaching, teachers to training institutions after lecture not talk in class” and so on questions, item by item analysis and research, to develop targeted work plan as soon as possible. Three to quickly organize and practice. Through community visits and surveys, questionnaires of primary and secondary school students and parents, and application of training institutions 17 Office

of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html.

190

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

and other channels, we should immediately conduct a comprehensive survey of offcampus training institutions within the jurisdiction, establish work books one by one, strictly review and analyze, distinguish different situations, and carry out rectification and implementation one by one. Fourth, we need to accurately understand policies. Local governments should accurately grasp the limits of policies, take into account local conditions, carefully improve auditing standards, highlight governance priorities, and refrain from “one-size-fits-all” practices. They should encourage and support the development of off-campus training institutions that cultivate students’ interests, develop students’ specialties, develop quality education, and conduct training in a standardized manner with complete procedures. The Third Meeting of the Central Committee on Comprehensively Deepening Reform (July 6) deliberated and adopted the opinions on standardizing the development of after-school training institutions and several opinions on deepening reform and standardizing the development of preschool education. The general office of the state council puts forward the basic principles of comprehensive measures for standardizing the development of after-school training institutions. To coordinate school, social and family education, not only standardize the training behavior of after-school training institutions, but also simultaneously improve the teaching of primary and secondary schools, improve the quality of school education and after-school service ability, so as to treat both symptoms and root causes and achieve effective results. Off-campus training institutions need to clearly set standards, in place conditions, management conditions, teachers conditions to follow the basic requirements; Need to approve and register in accordance with the law, ensure complete certificates and licenses, strict examination and registration; It is necessary to standardize the training behavior, refine the training arrangement, practice honesty and trustworthiness, and standardize the management of fees. We need to strengthen supervision and management, improve daily supervision, implement the annual inspection and annual report system, and publish the black and white list.18 The Ministry of Education, National Market Supervision Administration, Emergency Management Department Three Departments jointly issued by the general office on the sound training institutions outside several working mechanism of special rectification notice, aimed at around the problem such as law enforcement power shortage, imperfect regulatory means put forward a series of specific measures, drive around to speed up the training organizations outside the rectification progress. The central government, the general public and the general public are concerned about this important task. Local governments should improve their work mechanisms to address prominent problems and ensure that the task of special governance and rectification is completed on time. Around a stressed that the “notice” to perfect the education department to take the lead, many departments to participate in a joint law enforcement mechanism, increase the interdepartmental joint law enforcement, to 18 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll.

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions

191

without a license to carry out the training, the discipline class subject training institutions for training and other illegal conduct training institutions should firmly to investigate, and submit to market supervision department shall revoke the business license, fire department will fully to outside training institutions to carry out firefighting supervision and inspection, to eliminate potential safety problems. Second, we should speed up the process of application for certificates and certificates; third, we should set up an expert team for filing and auditing; fourth, we should realize the whole-process management of off-campus training institutions through the national unified off-campus training institutions management service platform; and rely on the platform to publish the relevant information of off-campus training institutions to the public, accept complaints from the masses and accept supervision from all walks of life. Fifth, we need to strengthen supervision of online training, standardize online education and training institutions in accordance with the management policies of offline training institutions, and effectively reduce the excessive academic burden on primary and secondary school students.19 Agreed to by the state council, the ministry of education, the national development and reform commission, ministry of public security, the ministry of civil affairs, ministry of finance, human resources, social security, national market supervision administration, state administration of radio, television, the all-china women’s federation and other nine departments jointly issued Notice on the Distribute Burden of Primary and Middle School Students (hereinafter referred to as the “notice”). The notice emphasizes strict management of after-school training institutions and put forward the off-campus training institutions to register the good faith management. According to regulation prohibit excessive training and strict teacher employment, it is forbidden to pegged to the entrance, control the training time five aspects, such as content, again to outside training institutions engaged in the management of subject knowledge training institutions, in particular, reiterated that it is strictly prohibited to students “loading” requirement, aims to further optimize the environment of external training reduce overweight extracurricular burden of primary and middle school students. It emphasizes that the family should fulfill the responsibility of education and guardianship. It emphasizes the need to strengthen the government management and supervision and puts forward the government should overcome the one-sided evaluation tendency, strict activity and competition management, and standardize the supervision of training institutions. At the same time, fully implementing the party’s education policy is to comprehensively improve the quality of education and the fundamental requirement, which considering the differences between town and country. The General Office of the Ministry of Education issued a Notice on Doing a Good Job in 2019 summer vacation for middle and primary school students, making a series of specific arrangements on summer safety education, reasonable arrangement of summer homework, carrying out various activities, and strengthening 19 Office

of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html.

192

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

supervision of after-school training institutions. The notice stressed that supervision of off-campus training should be strengthened and disciplinary training courses for primary and middle school students conducted by off-campus training institutions during holidays should be strictly reviewed and filed. Once found to have exceeded the training content in advance, training institutions are required to immediately rectify, rectification is not in place to directly cancel the training class, refused to rectify according to law according to the rules of punishment, until the suspension of the school permit. To overall education, market supervision, public security, firefighting, civil affairs, people club, residents’ committees and other departments as well as streets, specifically in the area under its jurisdiction before the summer school training institutions to carry out a screening, and no special inspections monitoring on a regular basis during the summer vacation, once found illegal conduct training institutions, determined to investigate and promptly report to the society. Training institutions that operate without a license or license and have major safety risks shall be implemented with “zero tolerance”. They shall be banned or ordered to stop business immediately for rectification.20 In order to standardize off-campus online training activities for primary and middle school students by using Internet and technology, promote their sustainable, healthy and orderly development, and effectively reduce the excessive extracurricular burden on primary and middle school students, the Ministry of Education and six other departments issued the Opinions on the Implementation of Standardizing Off -campus Online Training, which points out that we should stick to the principle of education, promote off-campus online training to follow the rules of education and students’ physical and mental development, and constantly improve the scientific, normative and appropriate training. We try to adhere to laws and regulations, supervise off-campus online training in accordance with laws and regulations, and promote off-campus online training institutions to strengthen industry self-discipline and carry out training business in an orderly manner. We need to continue to work to establish a working mechanism under relevant departments work together and adopt a new model of “Internet plus regulation” to make active yet steady progress. We put forward three main measures: first, the implementation of the record review system. Second, carrying out the investigation and rectification. Third, we need to improve oversight mechanisms. It is emphasized that local governments should coordinate off-campus and off-campus training, establish a working mechanism led by education departments and involving relevant departments under the leadership of local party committees and governments, and formulate detailed work plans and contingency plans. We will strengthen public services, strengthen accountability and ensure that all targets are met.

20 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll.

8.3 Progress in the Rectification of Special Control Actions

193

8.3.2 Relevant Policy Documents on Educating People Through Social Collaboration As main form of social forces to run education by the local education is growing stronger, formed from pre-school education to higher education, from academic education to non-academic education, situation of the development of various types of levels, full of vitality, effectively increased the supply of education services, to promote the modernization of education, and promote economic and social development made a positive contribution, has become an important part of socialist education career. In “on deepening the reform of education system mechanism of opinion” and “about deepening the reform of education teaching comprehensive opinions to improve the quality of compulsory education, once again stressed the government macro management, school run independently according to law, in accordance with the resultant force to promote orderly participation, social parties, schools, families, and society” the trinity “the pattern of cooperative education”.21 The 35th meeting of the 18th central committee’s deep reorganization adopted the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Education System and Mechanism. “The Opinions” pointed out that the basic principles of deepening the reform of education system and mechanism are: (1) stick to the combination of taking root in China and integrating China and foreign countries. (2) Adhere to the combination of goaloriented and problem-oriented. (3) Adhere to the combination of administrative supervision and service. (4) Adhere to the combination of top-level design and grassroots exploration. This means we will deepen reform to streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation, and improve services. We will resolutely delegate the power that should be delegated, effectively manage matters that should be under our control, strengthen oversight and oversight during and after the process, and build a new type of relationship between the government, schools, and society. “Opinions” pointed out that, deepen education system reform’s main goal is: to 2020, basic education system basic establishment, form a dynamic, efficient, more open and conducive to scientific development of the education system and mechanism, the people concerned about the education of hot difficult problem further relief, the government macro management, in accordance with the school run independently, in accordance with the law society orderly participation, and push the pattern to be more perfect, the parties together for the development, the world level modern education with Chinese characteristics to provide system support.22 21 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll. 22 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll.

194

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

Xi jinping presided over the sixth meeting of the central committee on comprehensively deepening reform, during which the opinions on deepening education and teaching reform and comprehensively improving the quality of compulsory education were reviewed and adopted. The main task of improving the quality of compulsory education is put forward in the opinions. First, adhere to the “five education” simultaneously, the comprehensive development of quality education. The second is to strengthen the main position of the classroom role, effectively improve the quality of classroom teaching. Optimize teaching methods, pay attention to heuristic, interactive and exploratory teaching. Strengthen teaching management, improve teaching management rules, standardize teaching behavior. Improve homework examination guidance, implement the requirements to reduce excessive academic burden. We will promote the integration of information technology with education and teaching to narrow the gap between urban and rural education. Third, according to the “four good teachers” standard, the construction of high-quality professional teachers. Fourth, we will deepen reform in key areas and create conditions for improving the quality of education. We will strengthen the development of curriculum materials, improve the enrollment and examination system, and formulate standards for evaluating the quality of county compulsory education, school running and student development. Give full play to the supporting role of teaching and research. We will implement the right to run schools and stimulate their vitality. We will improve the quality of compulsory education. Fifth, strengthen organization and leadership, adhere to the party’s overall leadership to strengthen assessment and supervision, and earnestly strengthen the value guidance, organization and leadership, support and guarantee for education and teaching reform. We will accelerate legislation on family education, and build a “trinity” of schools, families and society to foster children in concert.23

8.4 Policy Features of Social Education Since the 18th National Congress 8.4.1 Policy Positioning: Social Affairs to the National Attention Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi jinping has put forward the “Chinese dream” of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and expounded the profound connotation of the “Chinese dream” in a systematic way. To realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is to realize the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation and the happiness of the people. The Chinese dream, in the final analysis, is the dream of the 23 Office

of the People’s Republic of China ministry of education, the ministry of education of the national training institutions outside of special rectification work progress report (as of December 30, 2018) (2019-01-07) [2019-7-20], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3325/201901/ t20190116_367109.html.

8.4 Policy Features of Social Education Since the 18th National Congress

195

people. The Chinese dream is not only a national dream, but also a Chinese dream. The Chinese dream provides broad space and institutional slap for the individual struggle of Chinese people. The subject of the Chinese dream is the people, who are not only the subject of the Chinese dream, but also the beneficiaries, designers and practitioners. The Chinese dream is the common dream, goal and path of the Chinese people. History and reality tell us that the future and destiny of individuals are closely linked with that of the country and the nation. To realize the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the cohesion and investment of social forces. Therefore, general secretary Xi jinping proposed in Xi jinping’s report at the 19th national congress of the communist party of China to “support and standardize the development of education by social forces”. Social education is a major task concerned by the central government, the masses and the society, which is highly concerned by the state from social affairs to social affairs. Ultimately, the goal of accelerating the construction of a learning society and vigorously improving the quality of the people can be achieved.24

8.4.2 Policy Contents: Guide Self-Discipline to Strengthen Supervision Government oversight has gradually deepened. Gradually promulgate the relevant implementation rules for the management of private schools, clarify and refine the management measures, and gradually standardize government supervision. In 2013, the school of compulsory education “reduce the burden of 10,000 miles” activities, encourage and advocate more training institutions to join the “self-discipline convention on training institutions for primary and secondary school students outside school”, standardize the qualification, service, quality and fees of training institutions, fulfill social responsibilities, and carry out green training. In 2016, the content of the policy began to stress supervision and guidance of the government, the state council “about encourage social forces to run education to promote the healthy development of non-governmental education several opinions put forward to raise the level of management services, including strengthening department coordination mechanism, improve the government management mode, perfect supervision and management mechanism, give play to the role of industry organization, strengthen the propaganda and guidance”. Subsequently, the 23rd meeting of the 18th central committee deep reorganization (April 18, 2016) deliberated and adopted the opinions on strengthening the party construction of private schools (trial), implementation rules for the

24 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll.

196

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

classification and registration of private schools, and implementation rules for the supervision and management of for-profit private schools. The scope of government supervision was expanded. Promulgate and implement detailed rules to standardize the running situation of private schools, and standardize the running situation of off-campus training institutions; Manage by offline entity school, train organization criterion to the line again. In 2018, the third meeting of the central committee on comprehensively deepening reform (July 6) deliberated and adopted the opinions on standardizing the development of after-school training institutions and several opinions on deepening reform and standardizing the development of preschool education. The general office of the state council puts forward the basic principles of comprehensive measures for standardizing the development of after-school training institutions. To coordinate school, social and family education, not only standardize the training behavior of after-school training institutions, but also simultaneously improve the education and teaching of primary and secondary schools, improve the quality of school education and after-school service ability, strengthen the main role of school education, actively promote parents to change the concept of education, to achieve both symptoms and root causes, and strive for effectiveness. In July 2019, six departments including the ministry of education issued the opinions on the implementation of standardized off-campus online training, which supervised off-campus online training in accordance with laws and regulations. In 2017, the general office of the CPC central committee and the general office of the state council issued the “opinions on deepening the reform of the education system and mechanism”, and insisted on the combination of decentralization, regulation and service. We will deepen reform to streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation, and improve services. We will resolutely delegate the power that should be delegated, effectively manage matters that should be under our control, strengthen oversight during and after work, and build a new type of relationship between the government, schools, and society.

8.4.3 Policy System: From Regulations to Updated Legislation Before the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), on July 31, 1997, the state council promulgated the regulations on running schools by social forces, which was adopted at the thirty-first meeting of the standing committee of the ninth National People’s Congress on December 28, 2002. After the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), it was revised for the first time in accordance with the decision on revising 12 laws including > on the protection law of cultural relics of the People’s Republic of China at the third session of the standing committee of the 12th National People’s Congress on June 29, 2013. Based on November 7, 2016, the 12th 24th meeting of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress on the modified “private education promotion law of the People’s

8.4 Policy Features of Social Education Since the 18th National Congress

197

Republic of China” the decision of the second correction, regulation of private schools for non-profit and for-profit classification management, and signed by President xi jinping of the People’s Republic of China shall be promulgated by way of (55). There are three significant changes after the revision. First, in the governance mode, private education changes from “having laws that are difficult to comply with” to “having laws to comply with”. Second, in the legal person attribute, private education from “ambiguous” to “clear”. Third, in the development mode, private education from the “gray zone” to “sunshine and transparency.” Based on this, the important measures to implement the spirit of revising the law on the promotion of private education should be taken to deepen the comprehensive reform in the field of education, so as to do related work well, clarify tasks, refine requirements, implement responsibilities, and ensure the effective implementation of the decisions and arrangements of the CPC central committee and the state council and the harmony and stability of the education system.

8.5 New Situation, New Challenges and New Problems in Social Education 8.5.1 The New Situation First of all, Xi jinping’s important speeches have provided guidance for the reform and development of social education in the new era. Since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), the CPC central committee with Xi jinping at its core has adopted the five-pronged overall plan and the four-pronged strategy of advancing The Times, advancing the nation, and realizing the Chinese dream. Xi attaches great importance to the social education, deep answered why attaches great importance to the social education, need what kind of social education, how to carry out social education of the three fundamental problems, build a new type of relationship between government, school, society, run independently according to law to perfect the government macro management, in accordance with the school, society orderly participation, together to promote the pattern of the parties, for the development, the world level modern education with Chinese characteristics to provide system support. At the national education conference, xi pointed out that families, schools, the government and society all have the responsibility to run education well. The whole society should take responsibility for the growth and development of young people. Secondly, the government has put forward clear measures on how to fulfill the educational function. About specification training institutions outside the opinions of the development, put forward to fully implement the party’s education policy, the development of quality education, to promote the development of primary and middle school students’ physical and mental health as the foothold, to establish and improve the training institution outside supervision mechanism as the focus,

198

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

to build normative and orderly development of a long-term mechanism, external training institutions to solve the people reflect strongly primary and middle school students’ extracurricular burden overweight problem, form a good situation of faceto-face collaborative education. Several opinions on deepening reform and standardized development of preschool education were put forward, highlighting problemoriented, taking overall and comprehensive measures to break the institutional and institutional barriers restricting the development of preschool education, make up the weaknesses of the system, stimulate the vitality of kindergarten management, encourage and guide standardized social forces to run kindergartens, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all sectors. The national implementation plan for vocational education reform calls for encouraging and supporting all sectors of society, especially enterprises, to actively support vocational education, focus on training highquality workers and technical and skilled personnel, and provide high-quality human resources support for promoting economic and social development and improving national competitiveness. Finally, the social education system and mechanism are deepened to further promote the social education reform and development. In the opinions on encouraging social forces to run education and promoting the healthy development of private education issued by the state council in 2016, private education, as the main form of education run by social forces, has been growing and becoming an important part of socialist education. In 2017, the general office of the CPC central committee and the general office of the state council issued the opinions on deepening the reform of education system and mechanism, proposing to strengthen the organic combination of school education, family education and social education, and build a pattern of joint education of party and government organs, social organizations, enterprises and institutions at all levels, as well as streets, communities, towns and villages, and families. Attention should be paid to cultivating key capabilities that support lifelong development and adapt to the requirements of The Times. In terms of innovating the system and mechanism of universal and healthy development of preschool education, the guideline points out that social forces should be encouraged to set up kindergartens, and private kindergartens should be supported to provide universal and inclusive services with reasonable fees and qualified quality for the public.

8.5.2 New Challenges First of all, the change of the main contradiction in our society has posed new challenges to social education. The 19th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC) was held in Beijing on October 18, 2017. The theme of the congress is: never forget why we started out, always bear in mind our mission, hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, decisively finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and disdainfully strive to realize the Chinese dream of great national renewal. The 19th national congress fully recognized the

8.5 New Situation, New Challenges and New Problems in Social Education

199

major achievements made in the development of various undertakings of the party and the state since the 18th national congress, identified the historical orientation of China’s development, and ushered in a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved. What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The change in the principal contradiction in Chinese society is a historic change that relates to the overall situation and puts forward many new requirements for the work of the party and the state. There is a contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development in the field of social education. In the reform and development of education, the level of running schools needs to be improved and the level of equity needs to be improved. Education cannot fully meet the development needs of the new era, and some deep-seated institutional barriers need to be solved. To solve the contradiction in the field of education, we need not only the faster and better development of public education, but also the great development of private education. Under the new historical situation, how to carry out the task of “training new people to take on the great responsibility of national rejuvenation” of the party and the state is also an important challenge that social education needs to face in the new era. Second, the revision of a series of laws and the full implementation of the party’s educational policy have also posed challenges to social education. In terms of private schools, need to deal with regulatory issues, on November 7, 2016, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress passed “the standing committee of the National People’s Congress on amending the law of the People’s Republic of China private education promotion law > decision”, the rule is applicable to private schools, a nonprofit and for-profit classification management, and the President of the People’s Republic of China signed by President Xi jinping to be released. In addition, as the “education law” and “private education promotion law” and other relevant law after the modification of new entrepreneurial orientation, private training institutions outside make it out of the school education field to enter the stage of the ministry of commerce and industry supervision, the ministry of commerce and industry will be according to the relevant provisions of the laws and regulations and national standards to implement regulatory responsibilities, to unlicensed and beyond, running fee refund is not standard, false advertising, such as strictly to investigate and punish illegal ACTS. Strengthen daily supervision, take reports and complaints seriously, timely follow up, and investigate them to the end. For the problems with strong public response and bad social influence, special rectification should be concentrated, and the joint efforts of street, education, urban management, public security, fire control and other departments should be made to give a heavy blow to the black sheep of private off-campus training institutions, so as to maintain a healthy market order for private off-campus training institutions committed to cultivating core competitiveness. Industrial and commercial departments should also

200

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

pay attention not to exceed their powers, once found that there is a suspected criminal act to transfer the case to the judicial department to deal with, can not be replaced by administrative penalties.25 Finally, the governance of off-campus training institutions challenges the cooperation of multiple departments. In accordance with the opinions on standardizing the development of after-school training institutions, we will ensure that those in charge of the supervision and approval work are responsible for the supervision, prevent heavy examination and approval and light supervision, improve the supervision responsibility system and working mechanism, and strengthen the construction of supervision teams. The education department shall be responsible for investigating and dealing with institutions that operate illegally without school-running licenses, and shall, on the basis of the examination and approval of school-running licenses, focus on the supervision of training contents, training courses, enrollment targets, teacher qualifications and training behaviors, and take the lead in organizing comprehensive law enforcement of off-campus training market. Market supervision departments should focus on the supervision of registration, fees, advertising and anti-monopoly. Human resources and social security departments should focus on supervising vocational training institutions to conduct training for primary and middle school students without approval. The establishment of institutions, civil affairs departments focus on the supervision of off-campus training institutions in violation of relevant registration regulations; The departments of public security, emergency management, health and food supervision shall focus on the supervision of the safety, health and food conditions of off-campus training institutions; Network and information, culture, industry and informatization, radio and television departments cooperate with education departments to do online education supervision within their respective responsibilities. All departments need to clarify their powers and responsibilities, perform their respective duties, and improve the efficiency of daily supervision. New problems At present, the social education is facing new problems, a new era in different regions, different groups and institutions of education is facing many problems, need to concentrate the power of the social from all walks of life at all levels of the government to promote the development of education fairness and quality, in accepting education equal to protect people’s rights at the same time, for the primary and middle school students during the work. In terms of regions, the gap between urban and rural social and educational development needs to be narrowed. Some areas still have the prominent contradiction between urban and rural dual structure, and there is still a big gap in the development of urban and rural education. The proportion of family expenditure inside and outside school can also reflect the participation of students in after-school education 25 Xi jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-9-11 (001).

8.5 New Situation, New Challenges and New Problems in Social Education

201

in the stage of basic education. In the compulsory education stage, the proportion of out-of-school education expenditure is relatively high, accounting for one third of the family education expenditure. There are big differences in the structure of family education expenditure between urban and rural areas. Rural off-campus expenditure accounts for 16.6%, while urban off-campus expenditure accounts for 42.2%. Based on the data, it can be seen that the urban-rural dual structure caused by economic gap has not been eliminated in social education. On the contrary, through the form of off-campus training, it has further shifted from economic imbalance to educational imbalance, affecting the equity of compulsory education. As for institutions, social education can be divided into private schools and offcampus training institutions. In terms of private schools, the party construction work of private schools is still facing some new situations, new problems and new challenges. The coverage rate of party organizations is relatively low, the subordination relationship is not smooth, the party secretary team is not strong, the education management of party members is relatively loose, the party organization guarantee supervision role is not in place, and the ideological and political work is weak. Therefore, it is necessary to support and standardize the development of private education, adhere to and strengthen the party’s leadership over private schools, set up private schools should be synchronized with the planning of party construction, party organization and party work, to ensure that private schools always adhere to the socialist direction of running schools. A classified registration and management system for for-profit and non-profit private schools should be established to improve the quality of education. In off-campus training institutions, “exam-oriented” leads to excessive extracurricular burden of primary and middle school students, increases the family economic burden, destroys the good education ecology, and social reaction is strong. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce regulations to reduce the excessive extracurricular burden of primary and secondary school students and promote the standardized and orderly development of after-school training institutions. As far as the student group is concerned, the heavy after-school burden of students is an old problem in the field of education. With the blowout development of after-school training institutions, it is presented in a new form, which is not conducive to the overall promotion of quality-oriented education institutions. Mr. Xi talked about the popularity of BBC educational programs on the Chinese Internet and the Chinese people. The core of social education is quality education “Quality education is the core of education”, which is the weight of quality education in Xi jinping’s mind. In his communication with primary and middle school students, he said that primary and middle school students are the majority of teenagers and the future and hope of the country. The young people who represent the future and hope of our country should be a group of people with pure heart, sound personality and noble character, as well as a group of people with cultural accomplishment, humanistic care and responsibility. General secretary xi jinping’s speech at the ninth collective study of the political bureau of the CPC central committee proposed that we should deepen education reform, promote quality-oriented education, innovate education methods, improve the quality of personnel training, and strive to form an educational environment

202

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

conducive to the growth of innovative personnel. During a visit to the teachers and students of Beijing August 1 school, xi jinping pointed out that quality-oriented education is the core of education. Education should focus on putting people first and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. In his report to the 19th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC), Xi jinping pointed out that we should fully implement the party’s education policy, implement the fundamental task of cultivating people with moral integrity, develop quality education, promote equity in education, and train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically. Off-campus training is a supplement to school education and plays a positive role in satisfying the selective learning needs of primary and secondary school students, cultivating and developing their interests and specialties, and expanding their comprehensive quality. But in recent years, some off-campus training institutions to carry out against law and education teaching quality education requirements of the “test” training, parents passive participation and scores become the general trend, interfere with the normal school education teaching and the recruitment of students school order, increased the burden of overweight students extracurricular, adding to the family economic burden, the people reflect a very strong. The CPC central committee and the state council attach great importance to this work. General secretary Xi jinping made important instructions at the 2018 central economic work conference, calling for reducing the excessive extracurricular burden on primary and middle school students. Under the background that China vigorously promotes the development of private education, the trend of government supervision also changes namely, the attitude of off-campus training institutions is to continue to support and encourage their development, but to guide them to focus on quality education. We should not only support the development of off-campus training institutions within the framework of the system, but also stick to the bottom line of their public welfare attributes. We should be firm in both hands and not err on the side of bias or on the side of softness. For discipline class education training institutions, education departments will jointly with relevant departments, focus on the recruitment of students school before, summer and winter vacations, and other key periods and hot spots, to carry out comprehensive supervision of the February, serious processing individual violations training, continue to keep high pressure situation, and will strengthen the training institutions information system construction, form a set of regulation, to report, services for the integrated management platform. As for the training aimed at cultivating primary and middle school students’ interests and hobbies, innovative spirit and practical ability, the state

8.5 New Situation, New Challenges and New Problems in Social Education

203

will encourage and provide broader development space for quality-oriented education institutions engaged in culture, art, sports, science and technology, etc., and they will also be more recognized by the capital market in the future. Quality education is the basic way to educate people in society The expansion of the scale and number of private schools, including off-campus training institutions, intensifies the interest competition between the source market and the private education market, and highlights the development contradictions of private schools of different types and levels. There are certain risks in personnel training and output, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of private schools. Therefore, the government needs to “promote and regulate the development of private education.” For the private education system, it needs to lay emphasis on students and strictly control the quality of running schools. First of all, private schools need to clarify their school-running attributes and find the right development orientation. The reform plan of classified management of private schools is an important part of the central education reform strategy and provides a clear direction for the development of private schools in the new era. School-running attribute has become an important indicator to guide the development direction of private schools and determines the value choice of development philosophy and strategy of private schools. Private schools need to conduct selfevaluation and estimate based on their own conditions and development potential, and fundamentally solve a series of problems such as “what kind of schools to run”, “how to run schools” and “how to run schools well”. Secondly, the development track of private schools is divided into profit-making and non-profit, so accurate positioning of schools is imminent. For for-profit private schools, effective capital operation and market-oriented competition mode can help them establish unique competitive advantages in the source market. For non-profit private schools, policyoriented support conditions and favorable public opinion environment can help them to achieve a smooth transformation and avoid falling behind in the fierce market competition. Second, private schools need to provide quality education and safeguard students’ rights and interests. For private schools, quality assurance is the bottom line of their development and the primary premise of effectively safeguarding the development rights and interests of students. Privately-run schools must meet the requirements in many aspects such as the conditions of places and teachers. Adhere to an efficient teacher recruitment system, deepen the personnel and distribution system, improve teacher performance assessment, create good conditions for private teachers’ professional development; In the process, it emphasizes the sense of responsibility, enhances the quality and ability of management personnel, promotes development through management, and ensures the orderly operation of all aspects of the school; To strictly manage school teaching and curriculum setting, strengthen classroom teaching supervision and teaching interaction, strengthen lesson preparation and teaching reflection among teachers, with the emphasis on improving students’ overall quality and practical ability. In addition, effective monitoring means is an important condition to guarantee the quality of running a private school. By means of data-based

204

8 Shaping the Management of off-Campus …

analysis and monitoring, real-time tracking of the development of private education can achieve resource sharing and information exchange among private schools with different school-running attributes, so as to effectively improve the effectiveness of private school management.26

26 The ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China, the ministry of education of human resources and social security administration for industry and commerce about print and distribute the for-profit private schools implementing rules for the supervision and administration of the notice, (2017-01-05) [2019-07-15], [EB/OL] http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A03/s3014/201701/ t20170118_295144.htmll.

Chapter 9

Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

This chapter concentrates on constructing the policies on abolishing the “Five Only”, contextually. “Five only” performance, the serious negative impact of “Five Only”, the origin of “Five Only”, the “Five Only” policy, the reform proposal to eliminate the “Five Alternatives” all involve exploring the policies on the current policy of Five Only. At the national education conference in 2018, Xi jinping pointed out that we need to deepen the reform of the education system, improve the mechanism for promoting moral integrity and training people, change the unscientific orientation of education evaluation, and resolutely overcome the chronic problems of relying only on scores, higher education, diplomas, papers and caps, so as to fundamentally solve the problem of education evaluation. We will deepen reform of the system for running schools and the management of education, and fully stimulate the vitality of educational development. To promote economic and social development of education service ability, adjusting and optimizing the regional layout, subject structure, professional Settings, establish and improve the dynamic adjustment mechanism of academic disciplines and accelerate the construction of first-class universities and first-class disciplines, promoting production-study-research cooperative innovation, active in innovation development strategy, focus on cultivating innovative, compound and applied talents. We need to open up education and cooperate with world-class resources in running schools at a high level.1 “Five Only” is an education evaluation system with serious defects, which does not conform to the basic rules of education. From the perspective of educate, students’ personality and psychological characteristics are diversified. Different students have 1 Xi

jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-9-11 (001).

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 J. Li and E. Xue, Shaping Education Reform in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7745-1_9

205

206

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

different characteristics and interests, and each student has different abilities and specialties. The most important purpose of education is to train students to be suitable and meet the needs of society. This needs to be based on the different characteristics of each student to be appropriate guidance, need to give students a variety of knowledge, cultivate a variety of abilities, develop a healthy body, cultivate good moral character, develop a sound personality, make every student become a moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor comprehensive development, their own happiness, useful talent for the society. From the point of view of teachers, teachers are the engineers of human soul, and only those who have skilled professional knowledge, superb thinking ability and noble teacher ethics can truly cultivate qualified talents. This requires that the evaluation of teachers should not be “only diploma”, “only thesis”, “only hat”, but should be a comprehensive measure of teachers’ moral, knowledge, ability and other comprehensive qualities.

9.1 “Five Only” Performance Scientific view of educational evaluation is an important premise of educational evaluation and plays an important role of educational “baton”. However, the “five” evaluation standard “one size fits all” has distorted people’s educational values and educational evaluation and has become an important factor restricting the comprehensive and healthy development of students and has become an obstacle to the reform and development of education in the new era. Increasingly improved education evaluation system in our country, but as a result of the traditional education mode, long-term effects and realistic national conditions in the field of all kinds of education at all levels, the single evaluation standards of education, education evaluation, backward education evaluation system still exists some crack problem, seriously restrict the development of education cause in our country, also hindered the advance of fair quality education.

9.1.1 “Score Only” Generally speaking, score refers to the result of examination or evaluation. Although it is an important standard to test students’ academic level and measure teachers’ teaching effect, it is not the only standard. “Score only” means to score, mainly in the field of basic education in our country, mass education at various levels and the result of the examination were used to evaluate students’ the only magic weapon, as even the student achievement of a point of “four” (pass, excellence, high rate, low rate, average) as an important evaluation of teacher performance evaluation standards, the pursuit of “Scores Only”, single absolute evaluation criteria, so that the “content points, student’s wiener” such extreme slogan. The spread of the “score

9.1 “Five Only” Performance

207

only” theory leads to the alienation of high school and junior high school education. The major examinations that determine students’ fate, such as the high school entrance examination and the college entrance examination, all place more emphasis on book knowledge. To be specific, one of the harms of the “score only” theory lies in “teaching what you test”. Teachers directly indoctrinate knowledge points, and in order to test points, they put more emphasis on knowledge and less on ability, thus examination becomes the ultimate goal of teaching. Harm the second is to “teach what learn what”, students for higher grade rote learning, eliminated the personality development and the all-round development, the lack of the spirit of independent thinking, to a certain extent, to the test machine, the result must be is a mediocre talent and creativity of degradation, hinders the cultivation and development of innovative talents.

9.1.2 “Only for Higher Education Degree” Higher education degree usually means going from junior high school to senior high school and from senior high school to university through the unified entrance examination. Enrollment rate is an important standard to measure the quality and development level of a school, but it is not the only standard. “Entrance” only refers to the government, schools, teachers and students will be bound as the only pursuit, mainly displays in: when evaluating teachers and schools, to the student’s grades or graduation rates, some simple descriptive statistics as the main basis to evaluate, regardless of the basis of students enrolled, students’ family background, training cost factors, such as not using incremental evaluation and developmental evaluation, one-sided pursuit of “chase” “online rate”, “high weight ratio” “this ratio” “north” qing rate, etc. Such a simple and absolute way of evaluation, not only makes primary and secondary schools into the error of exam-oriented education, but also leads to unfair competition between schools. Under the guidance of this educational evaluation view, the school deviates from its running direction and lacks the goal of cultivating “four-oriented youth”. School leaders and teachers desperately focus on intellectual education, moral education, physical education, aesthetic education and labor education were “marginalized”. Attach great importance to the subjects that should be included in the total scores of the middle and college entrance examinations; Other subjects are relegated to “minor subjects”, and class time is often crowded out. At the same time, in order to allow their children to go to elite schools, parents enroll their children in various tutoring classes, resulting in the proliferation of after-school tutoring institutions, resulting in an increasingly serious “schoolwork burden” of students outside the school.2

2 Xi

jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-9-11 (001).

208

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

9.1.3 “Diploma Only” Diplomas and academic qualifications are the learning experience of receiving scientific and cultural knowledge training in educational institutions. Although they can reflect one’s education level, they are not the only expression of one’s level. “Diploma only” means that diploma is regarded as the only standard for judging talents by society, government and schools. Studying for a diploma, rather than seeking genuine talent and learning, leads to “having a diploma but no level”. As a result, no matter schools, parents, students, or the job market and employers, they all rush for a high diploma and fall into the pattern of “credentialism”. Throughout the current job market, many recruitment units set the threshold of high academic qualifications, review the first degree, and even “check the third generation” of academic qualifications (undergraduate, master, doctoral), in order to highlight the high standards of employers, which results in a group of capable talents being rejected. At the same time, it also promotes the trend of exam-oriented education, making students rush to apply for prestigious universities and parents willing to pay high prices to buy college entrance examination voluntary filling service. In addition, “diploma only” further worsens the educational environment and damages the social atmosphere, causing some people to rush to take an examination of adult education in famous universities, and even the phenomenon of overseas “diploma only” exists for a long time.3

9.1.4 “Thesis Only”/“Paper Only” A paper is an article to conduct scientific research and describe scientific research results. It is not only a means to discuss problems in scientific research, but also a tool to describe scientific research results in academic exchanges. “Only papers” refers to only the number of papers published and publication level as the evaluation standard, mainly manifested in: many colleges and universities have clearly stipulated the number and level of papers for master’s and doctoral postgraduates, and students’ evaluation of awards, excellence, graduation, employment and other criteria are based on papers as the evaluation standard or hard conditions. Under the encouragement of “paper-only” orientation, students write for publication and publish for publication, eager for quick success and instant benefit, and eager to achieve success. At the same time, too much emphasis on scientific research paper writing leads many students to weaken the independent course learning and reading accumulation, leading to a lack of solid academic foundation, research ability and innovation awareness, it is difficult to have greater development. What’s more, the phenomenon of paper fraud, plagiarism or plagiarism results in academic misconduct, and the quality of student 3 Xi

jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-9-11 (001).

9.1 “Five Only” Performance

209

training is often criticized. The phenomenon of “thesis only” is prominent. Teachers’ professional title promotion, year-end assessment, talent selection, national award evaluation and application projects are basically based on papers. The “paper-only” approach is not only bad for the healthy development of higher education, but also for the real academic progress. On the one hand, the thesis cannot reflect the teaching and educating responsibilities of teachers. “Thesis only” leads to teachers have to blindly pursue the number of papers, neglect teaching and other aspects of work, especially leads to the decline of undergraduate education quality. On the other hand, the practice of “only papers” promotes a surge in the number of academic papers published in China, but it is a false prosperity, which is not conducive to the real development of academia and solving social problems. Under the pressure of only thesis, some teachers even violate the integrity of scientific research.

9.1.5 “Only Academic Title” “Title” is usually a symbol of social status, which to some extent reflects the level and level of talents. In school education, it is a variety of honorary titles and titles of cadres. “Title only” refers to taking “title” as the sole basis for students’ employment and development, teachers’ promotion and treatment, which is mainly manifested in the following aspects: some employers unilaterally emphasize “title” to select students, give priority to admission, and even set high bonuses for “title”; Some schools overemphasize the “merit student” “outstanding student cadre” and other honorary titles and student cadre experience, and directly linked to higher education, employment and scholarships. Driven by “title only”, students are labeled, resulting in “title flying everywhere”, and it is difficult to tell the true from the false. Some parents and students compete for fame and profit, and even go around to pull strings, take the road, in order to seek students “hat”; Even some student organizations appear utilitarian, vulgar tendency, many student cadres “official” standard ideology and individualism style is serious, seriously damaged the good campus culture and learning atmosphere. In recent years, China has implemented various talent programs to attract and reward talents, such as “Yangtze river scholar”, “Jieqing”, “Qingqian” and so on. Provinces, cities and schools have also implemented similar programs, such as “Pearl river scholar”, “Tianfu scholar”, “Huashan scholar” and so on. These titles are popularly known as “titles”. “title” means more academic resources, and more resources bring more hats, and so on, and so on, and so on. This makes many scholars eager to apply for “hat”, not only spending a lot of time and energy that should be used for teaching, but also tend to choose “short, even and fast” research in order to get “hat” as soon as possible, forming a impetuous academic atmosphere. Some are also keen to rub elbows and undermine the academic climate.4 4 Xi

jinping. Adhering to the path of socialist education development with Chinese characteristics to train socialist builders and successors who are fully developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-9-11 (001).

210

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

9.2 The Serious Negative Impact of “Five Only” “Five Only” is a narrow way of educational evaluation, which makes education extremely utilitarian and short-sighted, deviates from the fundamental task of moral education and the educational goal of all-round development, and seriously affects the growth of students, the quality of teachers, social stability and the competitiveness of the country.

9.2.1 “Five Only” Has Seriously Affected the Growth of Students “Only score” and “only study” is the stubborn disease of our country’s basic education. This exam-oriented education evaluation standard seriously hinders students from obtaining comprehensive education of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, beauty and labor, which not only violates the laws of physical and mental development, but also violates the original intention of our country’s people-oriented and comprehensive development education. In order to get rid of this malpractice, China has been developing quality-oriented education since the 1990s. However, as the evaluation index of higher education is still mainly based on scores, it is difficult to promote quality-oriented education, and the competition for scores even becomes more and more fierce. Students are under great academic pressure, tired to deal with homework, generally lack of sleep, and the rate of myopia and obesity keeps rising, even causing psychological problems. According to the special investigation of education blue book, the suicide of primary and middle school students has become a serious fact that cannot be ignored. By twenty-first century education research institute “suicide problem research of primary and middle school students” research survey, conducted by Chinese web search ways to grab the statistics in October 2016 to September 2017 in the electronic media and the media of the network information, a total of confirmed 392 cases of child and adolescent suicide and attempted suicide death information, including clear annotation for the information of 267 cases of primary and middle school students. The main reasons for suicide of primary and middle school students can be roughly divided into: family conflicts (72 cases, 33%), academic pressure (55 cases, 26%), teachers-student conflicts (35 cases, 16%), psychological problems (21 cases, 10%), emotional disputes (11 cases, 5%), school bullying (9 cases, 4%), and other problems (12 cases, 6%). When analyzing the causes of family conflicts, the root cause of quite a few family conflicts is still academic pressure. If the indirect effect is considered, academic pressure may be the primary reason for primary and secondary school students to commit suicide.5 5 Song

naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

9.2 The Serious Negative Impact of “Five Only”

211

At the same time, the “starting line” has been brought forward constantly, and the phenomenon of pre-education and over-education has emerged, such as primary education in kindergarten and secondary education in primary school. After-school training institutions are springing up. According to the 2017 China education finance family survey conducted by the China institute of education and fiscal sciences of Peking University, the overall participation rate of students in after-school training in primary and secondary schools nationwide is 48.3% (including taking part in subject tutoring or interest expansion training). About 30% were provided by commercial companies. Among individual providers, in-service teachers account for a certain proportion. The per-student expenditure for after-class tutoring was the highest in northeast China, reaching 4357 yuan per year. The second is the eastern region, with 3592 yuan/year; The central region (1970 yuan/year) and the western region (1806 yuan/year) have a per capita expenditure less than half that of the northeast region. The difference between urban and rural areas is even more striking: rural students spend an average of 419 yuan per year on after-school training, while urban students spend 3710 yuan per year, nearly nine times more than rural students. According to the estimated scale of students at all levels, the total scale of the off-campus training industry nationwide has reached more than 490 billion yuan. “Only score”, “entrance” only down only to score as the important basis of the students getting accepted to all the activities of the basic education stage school turn around the test scores and graduation rates, basic education narrow as “teach what”, “don’t take an examination of teaching” exam-oriented education, the school to weaken or even give up to the responsibility of the all-round development of students, the students’ interest in specialty, personality development in “score” only under the pressure of “entrance” only be curbed. Under this educational background, the function of marks is absolutize and enlarged, and students are cultivated as learning machines pursuing marks. “Only score”, “entrance” only not only eliminated the nature and characteristics of students, ability and quality of fostering talents in school simplification, unable to meet the diverse demand of the society needs, also makes the necessary social responsibility in today’s society, creative thinking, critical thinking, collectivism, the consciousness of cooperation and get proper training. In addition, the society begins to enter the intelligent age. In terms of knowledge memory and simple understanding, artificial intelligence is surpassing human beings, and many jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence. Students cultivated by knowledge memory are unable to adapt to the requirements of this age. Under the command of “only score” and “only higher education”, children’s personality development is restrained, interest and talent are ignored, and personality education is ignored. The homogenized products produced by the education assembly line are difficult to cultivate innovative talents.

212

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

9.2.2 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Overall Construction of Teachers In “paper”, “diploma”, “only hat” evaluation under the baton, diploma, paper, cap alone could gain the extra treatment, which makes the whole faculty diploma, papers and a cap as the most important direction, lead to teachers narrow utilitarianism, academic atmosphere is blundering, also deviated from the sacred duty of teachers, it is difficult to complete basic task. This has had a profound negative impact on China’s education and scientific research. Its essence is to evaluate people’s achievements in an unscientific and single way. Unit into the person, “only a diploma”, and even some units to plain code marks a price “title”, determine the introduction of talented person’s salary start, the scientific research funds, supporting policies, etc., instead of considering the unit’s actual ability of the actual demand for talent and talent, ability is the people who didn’t “hat”, talent evaluation to a certain extent in alienation, rigid.6 Some teachers do not spend their time on their own teaching and research work, but according to the requirements of the “hat” to carry out various activities, once the “title” is displayed, with the “title”, can get more projects, funds, papers published, awards opportunities. After obtaining the “title”, some scholars become the object of competition for poaching by various universities. They frequently change their work units for higher funds and welfare, and the strange phenomenon of “peacock flying southeast” appears, which seriously affects the orderly and normal development of higher education, and also damages the good atmosphere for scientific researchers to devote themselves to research. At the same time, when colleges and universities adopt the “hat only” vision in introducing talents, human resources departments of colleges and universities will mistakenly judge the real level of some scholars, mistakenly introduce some scholars with “title” but cannot devote themselves to scientific research, and reject some scholars with solid knowledge but no “title”. In other words, the introduction of some “hat” is very shining but questionable character, moral standards controversial scholars, to the educational atmosphere of colleges and universities, social evaluation has a great negative impact.7

9.2.3 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Development of Scientific Research and Academic Research Academic papers are the most direct carriers of scientific research results. It is a common practice in international academic circles for researchers to publish their 6 Song

naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123. 7 Twenty-first century education research institute. Education blue book: China education development report (2018). Social sciences academic press. 2018:4.

9.2 The Serious Negative Impact of “Five Only”

213

papers in professional journals and communicate with peers. However, in the current evaluation system of China, the paper has gradually become the main evaluation index, and is closely linked with the application of bonus, promotion of professional title, promotion of position, etc. “Only thesis” and “only title” lead to a desire for quick success and instant profits. Current basic course for college students, in the hospital clinical work, teaching, science and technology promotion and so on is given priority to with practical jobs, blindly allow researchers to pursue the SCI papers published, on the one hand may make the post actual higher levels of people do not have the correct evaluation and promotion, the chance of winning, on the other hand also led to a lot of research project with practical demand. Even in the field of basic research, where “publishing papers is the main way to show scientific research results”, the evaluation criteria of “the hero of a paper” is quite distressing to researchers. In order to complete the annual assessment workload and earn the annual “SCI paper” score, some researchers are not to do those long period, original, forward-looking and leading projects, but to pick short and fast projects that are easy to produce papers. If this goes on for a long time, it will easily lead to a lack of in-depth research work, produce a large number of repetitive and low-quality “junk papers”, and make it difficult to make breakthroughs in the forefront of science in the world.8 At the same time, the evaluation mode of “thesis only” affects the development of discipline. The evaluation standard of “one-size-fits-all” paper will form a vicious circle, that is, if a certain discipline or research direction is popular, the paper will be relatively easy to publish and attract more researchers, and the paper will be cited frequently. On the contrary, it is very difficult to develop a discipline that is unpopular and difficult to publish papers. Research talents will be lost in large Numbers, and the discipline will even shrink and disappear. In addition, under the “one size fits all” evaluation standard, some people will think about how to publish papers more quickly, and even the phenomenon of paper fraud and academic misconduct. Some researchers are forced by the title promotion, performance improvement and other practical pressure, engage in paper fraud, plagiarism or find someone to write.

9.2.4 “Five Only” Seriously Affects the Cultivation of the Country’s Future Talents To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China is bound to compete with developed countries in the middle and upper reaches of the global industrial chain, which is in urgent need of talents with innovative and creative ability and leadership. It is difficult for the education system under the guidance of “Five Only” to cultivate a large number of such talents. 8 Song

naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

214

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

At present, an important problem is that “diploma” becomes the necessary “golden key” and “stepping stone” for talents. A diploma from a high-level university like “985” and “211” is available everywhere, while a diploma without a high-level university is impossible. This phenomenon has caused the majority of parents, students regardless of their own learning ability, social employment needs, singleminded pursuit of “diploma” phenomenon. This has greatly affected the benign development of vocational education in China. On the one hand, students’ vocational interest is suppressed; on the other hand, vocational education becomes the receiving place of “low score”, which aggravates students’ and parents’ discrimination against vocational education and makes vocational education fall into a bad cycle. China has a shortfall of 22 million skilled workers, but it is difficult for vocational and technical schools to recruit students, according to China central television’s finance channel. Relevant data show that the employment rate of the 2017 class of higher vocational college graduates has exceeded that of undergraduates for the first time. However, far from matching the actual demand for talents, it is difficult for vocational colleges to recruit enough students. “Score only” and “higher education only” evaluate students with a single unreasonable index, while “diploma only”, “thesis only” and “hat only” evaluate talents with a single unreasonable index. Diplomas, papers and hats are all indicators of personal competence, but they are not the only indicators, let alone comprehensive indicators. It can not only reflect the ability of talents, but also cause other bad consequences. “Diploma only” will not only make employers miss out on talents, but also lead to social injustice. Current partial unit of choose and employ persons often asks applicant to have specific education “one’s previous experience”, if graduate at “985” or “211” school, be not this namely apply for without opportunity, more requirement of unit of choose and employ persons all educational setting is very outstanding, deny the later period of applicant grows, this is extremely unfair to applicant.9

9.3 The Origin of “Five Only” “Five Only” has long been a problem, can foster “learn” from one thousand the feudal traditional culture to a “youngster” examination evaluation system, examoriented education has entrenched, “score” only “entrance” only “diploma” only “paper” only “title” only wind intensified, causes our country higher education and school education one-sided pursuit of scores, students passively accept, the old talent, quality, students’ view, distorted view of education evaluation in our country. “Learning and excellent official” feudal traditional culture “Learning and good is official” is usually considered to be a good read can go to an official. Since the imperial examination system in sui and tang dynasties, “learning 9 Twenty-first

century education research institute. Education blue book: China education development report (2018). Social sciences academic press. 2018:4.

9.3 The Origin of “Five Only”

215

and excellence is an official” is often used to encourage students to study hard, hoping to achieve success in the future. To this end, “all kinds of inferior, only reading high” become the literati to pursue the wise words, “learning and excellent is an official” has become the ultimate goal of scholars. The imperial examination system has been implemented in China for more than 1300 years. The value of “reading and being an official” contained in the system has long been deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and the examination culture continues to this day. This has led to the distortion of many teachers, parents and students’ educational evaluation views. They blindly pursue high scores in exams and admission to prestigious universities, while neglecting the development of students’ specialties, practical innovation and comprehensive development.10 Exam-oriented education under the single score evaluation system Exam-oriented education aims at improving students’ examination ability and only focuses on students’ examination results. Although many attempts have been made in the reform of educational evaluation system and entrance examination for secondary school or college enrollment system in China, the disadvantages caused by the examoriented education system under the long-term influence cannot be eliminated. Longterm since, our country most test to select talents as the main purpose, simply by the form of a paper and pencil tests to assess students’ knowledge and basic skills, in order to take into account social equity, often will test scores as the only standard of evaluation, to form the “scores” of “everyone is equal before marks”. the examination score evaluation system. However, the single evaluation mode under exam-oriented education and the evaluation standard of scores will inevitably lead to the deviation of educational direction and educational goal and make it difficult for education to play its real educational function. The specific educational evaluation mode of industrial society is constantly strengthened The basic characteristics of industrial social production mode are standardization, systematization and scale, and the school education mode corresponding to this production mode also presents these three characteristics. Since the reform and opening up, China has gradually established a standardized large-scale education system. These indicators have played a positive role in the rapid development of education and the large-scale cultivation of talents in China and have been constantly strengthened in the practice of educational evaluation, which is deeply rooted in people’s hearts. However, with the advent of the era of universal education, there are more and more side effects of simply relying on a few indicators to guide. In particular, China’s society is gradually moving from industrial society to knowledge society, and the types of talents needed by the society are changing. The education system led by “five Only” is difficult to meet the needs of social development. 10 Song naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

216

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

The deviant and oriented view of social selection and use of people Social employment system plays an important guiding role in education. In the 1970s and 1980s, university diplomas and diplomas and theses were scarce and highly valued by the society. Today, although this influence has slowed down, but still to a certain extent, China’s employers are still to evaluate talents with diplomas and academic qualifications as evaluation criteria, taking students’ high academic qualifications, papers and honors as important indicators. Talent is the first resource of economic and social development, but equating talent with “high academic degree” and “high title” reflects the bias of current social talent view and the deviation of talent evaluation system, and also causes a misleading view of social values and educational evaluation.11 The traditional view of success in family education Influenced by the traditional concept of success, most parents have the expectation of “expecting children to become Jackie chan” and “expecting women to become a phoenix”. Coupled with the growth of the one-child group brought by the family planning policy, parents are more concerned about the education of their children, hoping that their children can be “admitted to famous universities”, “won honors” and “found good jobs”. Plus be affected by compare climate, in order to “do not let the child lose on the starting line”, most parents do not hesitate to persuade the child to attend all kinds of remedial classes, buy all kinds of guidance materials. The traditional view of achievement in family education hinders children’s interest and personality development, hinders students’ independent learning and overall development, and distorts the view of educational evaluation.

9.4 The “Five Only” Policy The direction of the government to solve the “Five Only” problem is very clear. In order to correct the “Five Only” problem, the Chinese government has actively introduced policies and done a lot of useful work since the 18th national congress.12 Eliminating the “focus on scores and higher education” in compulsory education In 2014 the state council on deepening the reform of examination recruitment system of the implementation opinions “(hereinafter referred to as” opinions “) focuses on the overall quality appraisal of the category of test enrollment system reform in our country, put forward the formation classification test, comprehensive evaluation and multiple admission examination recruitment mode, “classification test” refers 11 Twenty-first century education research institute. Education blue book: China education development report (2018). Social sciences academic press. 2018:4. 12 Ju guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18.

9.4 The “Five Only” Policy

217

to the classification of higher vocational colleges exam. According to the opinions, higher vocational colleges should be separated from ordinary colleges in terms of examination and enrollment. “Comprehensive evaluation” mainly aims to provide students with more diversified and comprehensive evaluation methods by improving the academic level examination of senior high school, standardizing the comprehensive quality evaluation of senior high school students, and deepening the reform of the content of the college entrance examination. In addition to the unified college entrance examination, high school academic achievement examination and comprehensive quality evaluation of high school students will be an important basis and reference for students to graduate and enter higher education. Students can participate in the academic level examination for many times, reducing the pressure of examination; Comprehensive quality evaluation records the development and outstanding performance of students’ moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic aspects, such as ideology and morality, physical and mental health, interests and specialties, social practice, etc., attaches importance to social responsibility, practical ability and innovative spirit, and provides evaluation methods other than scores. The exam will focus on students’ ability to think independently, analyze and solve problems, and enhance the basic, comprehensive, etc. “Multiple admission” mainly refers to the increase of admission methods by improving and standardizing independent enrollment, improving admission methods, and broadening lifelong learning channels for social members. At the same time, it provides diversified educational opportunities for social members, such as secondary vocational schools adopting registration and adult higher education implementing flexible schooling system. Through a series of measures and system construction to solve the “score only” single evaluation mechanism. In 2016, the Guidance Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Further Promoting the Reform of the High School Examination and Enrollment System aimed at the prominent problems existing in the high school examination and enrollment system. The exam content emphasizes the mechanical memory, the repetition training, aggravates the student’s burden; Admissions irregularities occur frequently, some unreasonable points project, influence the education fair, and according to the spirit of the fifth plenary session of the party’s 18 and the state council on deepening the reform of examination recruitment system of the implementation opinions “requirement, put forward on the basis of the compulsory education curriculum standard to determine the junior high school level exam content, improve the quality of proposition, reduce the content of the nature of memorizing and mechanical training, strengthen links with the student life, social reality, pay attention to examine students’ comprehensive ability to apply the learned knowledge to analyze and solve problems. Attention should be paid to the examination of teaching experiment operation of related subjects. To improve the way of presenting examination results, we can use scores, grades and other forms to encourage qualified areas to implement “grade” presentation, overcome the dispute over points, and avoid excessive competition.13 13 Twenty-first century education research institute. Education blue book: China education development report (2018). Social sciences academic press. 2018:4.

218

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

In 2017, the Notice of the Ministry of Education on the Issuance of the Management Standards of Compulsory Education Schools proposed to establish an evaluation system to promote student development: to monitor and improve education and teaching by comparing the comprehensive evaluation index system of primary and secondary education quality. Implementation of comprehensive quality evaluation, heavily. The above policies are aimed at abolishing the “focus on scores” and “focus on higher education degrees”. The main targets are primary and secondary schools, especially high schools. This is because the general high school education plays a crucial role in the national education system. It is of great significance to consolidate the achievements of the popularization of compulsory education, enhance the sustained development of high school education and improve the overall quality of the people.14 The above policy formulation reflects the characteristics and requirements. The deployment of the opinions of the state council on deepening the reform of the examination and enrollment system in 2014 is to thoroughly implement the requirements of the third plenary session of the 18th CPC central committee on promoting the reform of the examination and enrollment system, further promote educational fairness and improve the level of selection. It can be seen that the CPC central committee and the state council have put forward new requirements for education reform and development. Since then, the number of policies related to the abolition of the “Five Only” in the field of education has increased compared with the past, which reflects the importance of the state. At the same time, since the new century, especially since the 18th national congress of the communist party of China, China’s compulsory education and general high school education have entered a new stage of development, the overall school level has been gradually improved, has entered a new stage of development with the emphasis on connotation development and quality improvement. However, there are still some outstanding problems, such as incomplete implementation of quality-oriented education, serious tendency of one-sided exam-oriented education, and evaluation of education quality based on scores and enrollment rate.15 The above policies will also eliminate the main body of “Only Score” and “Only Higher Education degrees” from schools and the government to parents, media and social public opinion, which not only requires schools to pay attention to the comprehensive evaluation of students, but also puts forward that parents should pay attention to family education and create a good social atmosphere. This reflects the requirement put forward by Xi jinping at the national education conference that families, schools, the government and society all have the responsibility to run education well. That is, to lead the reform of education evaluation, we need to make efforts from the four aspects of government, school, family and society to set up a scientific view of education quality in an all-round way and create a new situation of education reform 14 Ju guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18. 15 Ju guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18.

9.4 The “Five Only” Policy

219

and development in the new era. It is not only the government and schools that are responsible for education, but also the family. Parents need to establish scientific concept of education, earnestly fulfill their duties of family education and rational help children determine the growth target, strengthen the communication with the child, cultivate children’s good thoughts, good conduct, good habits, to overcome the blind competition, prevent excessive burden, outside to the child to help the child button first grain of buttons. In addition, efforts should be made to create a sound social atmosphere for the sustained, healthy and coordinated development of compulsory education. The news media should adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion and do a good job in publicizing and reporting the party’s educational policies, scientific educational concepts and typical experience of educational and teaching reform. To break the “Five Only” and establish a multi-talent evaluation mechanism In 2016, the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of System and Mechanism of Talent Development pointed out that the evaluation mechanism of talents should be innovated to highlight the evaluation of morality, ability and performance. We need to formulate guidelines for advancing the reform of the talent evaluation mechanism by classification. Adhere to both political integrity and talent, pay attention to the ability, achievements and contributions of the evaluation of talent, overcome only academic qualifications, titles, papers and other tendencies. Do not take the thesis and so on as the appraisal application talented person’s restrictive condition. Establish a talent evaluation mechanism that conforms to the characteristics of primary and secondary school teachers and general practitioners. In 2016, the Ministry of Education on Deepening the Reform of College Teachers’ Evaluation System Guidance “proposed” to virtue first, teaching, scientific research as the base, the development for this as the basic requirements, adhere to the socialist direction of running, insist on having both ability and political integrity, pay attention to ability, performance and contribution to evaluate teachers, overcome extreme degree, title, thesis, such as to improve the level of ethics and business ability, strive to build a ideal faith, moral sentiment, solid knowledge, the party and the people of goodness of heart satisfactory professional teachers team with high quality”. At the same time, strengthen the assessment of teachers’ ethics, “regard the performance of teachers’ ethics as the primary content of teachers’ performance assessment, professional title (post) assessment and hiring, post-employment and rewards and punishments”; Improve the orientation of scientific research evaluation, and propose to “reverse the tendency of over-indexing and targeting the quantity of scientific research projects and funds, and change the excessive reliance and unreasonable use of quantitative evaluation indexes in the evaluation and employment of teachers’ professional titles (posts) and income distribution”. In October 2018, the Ministry of science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Chinese Academy of

220

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering jointly issued the Notice on the Special Action to Clean up the “only papers, only titles, only academic qualifications, only awards”, and decided to carry out the “Four Only” cleaning in relevant universities. The government’s work has played an important role in correcting the “Five Only”. In 2018, the administrative measures of “Yangtze river scholars award plan” clearly stipulates that academic committees of universities or academic organizations authorized by them shall evaluate the academic level of the candidates of the university and submit them to the university for approval and recommendation. Academic evaluation should be guided by innovation quality and contribution, and overcome the tendency of focusing on academic qualifications, qualifications, papers and hats. “Young scholars of the Yangtze river” is an academic and honorable title, which avoids being directly linked with material interests. Winners should cherish honor and be disciplined. The title shall not be used again after the employment period. In 2018 “about classification guidance” to push forward the reform of talent evaluation mechanism based on the current talents evaluation mechanism is still insufficient classification evaluation, evaluation criteria, evaluation means convergence, evaluation socialization degree is not high, main body autonomy of choose and employ persons to carry out the such outstanding problems as not enough, points out that needs to be solved by deepening reform, including science set up the evaluation standard. We should always evaluate talents based on their abilities, achievements and contributions, and overcome the tendency of focusing on academic qualifications, qualifications and papers. We should pay attention to the professionalism, innovation, accountability performance, innovation achievements and actual contributions of various talents. Efforts should be made to solve the problem of “one size fits all” evaluation criteria. Evaluation indexes such as papers, monographs and influence factors should be set up and used appropriately and differentiated evaluations should be carried out to encourage talents to make contributions and pursue excellence in different fields and positions.16 In 2019, the departments of science and technology, personnel and social sciences of the ministry of education also made plans to eliminate the “Five Only”. The 2019 work guidelines of the ministry of education’s science and technology department call for efforts to eliminate the “Five Top Priorities” in education evaluation and the “four top priorities” in science and technology evaluation, and guide colleges and universities to change their style of science and technology. We try to deepen reform of the awards for outstanding scientific research achievements (science and technology) in institutions of higher learning, and place greater emphasis on encouraging originality and paying attention to quality and contribution. We will continue to carry out large-scale campaigns to publicize and educate students about the study style, and strengthen education on the integrity, ethics and safety of scientific research. We will further improve the work mechanism of scientific research integrity management and implement the main responsibility of preventing and dealing with academic misconduct in colleges and universities. The ministry of education of the ministry 16 Ju guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18.

9.4 The “Five Only” Policy

221

of personnel on the issuance of 2019 key points of the notice pointed out to promote the reform of talent evaluation mechanism. To guide colleges and universities to establish and improve the talent evaluation system oriented by innovation ability, quality and contribution. With the implementation of major talent plans as the starting point, we will push forward the evaluation system for representative and landmark achievements, further optimize the evaluation index system, resolutely overcome the tendency of “only five”, and form an evaluation system conducive to dedicated research and innovation of talents. We will carry out major talent projects. We will actively participate in the implementation of major talent programs such as the national 1000 talents plan and the 10,000 talents plan, and fully implement the Yangtze river scholars award program. The work guidelines of the department of social sciences of the ministry of education in 2019 clearly requires the organization and implementation of the eighth award for outstanding achievements in scientific research of colleges and universities (humanities and social sciences). To formulate implementation measures for printing and distributing achievement awards. Adjust the award setting and add youth achievement awards. Optimize the review process and strictly review the discipline. We will hold commendations and awards meetings to publicize outstanding achievements and talents. Firmly establish the quality first evaluation guidance, constantly improve the academic evaluation system, overcome the “five only” dysentery chronic diseases. The above policies mainly focus on the reform of talent evaluation methods, mainly for academic research fields, evaluation of university teachers, etc., the central committee of the communist party of China (CPC) and the state council are the main publishing institutions. The persistent problems of “only papers”, “only diplomas” and “only title” not only exist in the field of education, but also are national problems that must be paid great attention to. The talent evaluation system of the education system proposed in the above policies is characterized by comprehensiveness and categorization. First of all, comprehensive performance of talent for teachers’ ethics, teaching, scientific research, social services, professional development, comprehensive evaluation. Among them, the first highlight of teachers’ ethics orientation, teachers’ ethics as the primary content of all aspects of teacher assessment, the establishment of teachers’ personal credit record and teachers’ ethics assessment negative list system. Secondly, it highlights the guidance of teaching performance evaluation, and makes it clear that the primary mission of teachers is to educate people. It emphasizes that all teachers must undertake education and teaching work, and professors must give lectures to students of different majors. At the same time, it strengthens the assessment of teaching quality and teaching discipline and improves the standards of teaching evaluation. Third, outstanding ability to guide and in scientific research, social service and the professional development of the assessment focuses on ability, overcome, thesis evaluation only education background, talents, pay attention to examine the professional ability, practical, innovative and performance, etc., taking multiple evaluation indexes, and representative evaluation system, pay attention to the results of quality rather than quantity. Secondly, the classification is reflected in the classified investigation of talents, and the establishment of classified evaluation mechanism according to the

222

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

characteristics of talents of different occupations, positions and levels. The education system includes all kinds of teachers at all levels. Scientific and reasonable evaluation should avoid “one size fits all” and set evaluation standards according to the characteristics of each post, so as to encourage talents to make contributions to different posts. Primary and secondary school teachers should be evaluated on their teaching methods, educational achievements and practical experience, rather than simply using the student enrollment rate and examination results. For “doublequalified” teachers in vocational colleges, it is necessary to investigate their professional theoretical knowledge, practical operation ability and professional teaching ability, to highlight their professional and practical qualities, and to invite industries and enterprises to participate in the evaluation. For teachers in universities and colleges, different evaluation standards should be set for their research types. For talents of social welfare research and applied technology development, the number of papers, citation status, ranking of influence factors and other relevant indicators are only used as evaluation references. Through the above measures, the reform of educational evaluation system is deepening, and a new scientific and diversified evaluation system is gradually established.

9.5 The Reform Proposal to Eliminate the “Five Alternatives” Radical cure “Five Only” still need to pay efforts, “Five Only” long-standing, the root of the disease has been deep, become stubborn miasma chronic disease, to break the need for collective wisdom and collective effort, for a long time. 1. The reform of college entrance examination attaches great importance to students’ all-round development and breaks the “focus on scores”. At the national education conference, Xi jinping proposed the party’s education policy for the new era. At the same time, he demanded that students’ ideals and beliefs should be strengthened, patriotism should be cultivated, moral character should be enhanced, knowledge and knowledge should be increased, fighting spirit should be cultivated, and comprehensive quality should be enhanced. These requirements closely in line with the characteristics of the growth of young people in the new era, reflects the party and the state’s expectations and requirements for young people, and further enriched the moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor “five education” educational policy, the direction is more clear, more operable. The reform of the content of the college entrance examination should implement the educational policy of “simultaneous development of five educations”, and further improve the examination content system that covers the requirements of the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor. First, we should further deepen the examination of moral education. “Who, how and for whom to train” is the fundamental issue of education, which directly affects the overall implementation of the party’s educational policy. “A country without

9.5 The Reform Proposal to Eliminate the “Five Alternatives”

223

virtue does not flourish, and a person without virtue does not stand”. This judgment put forward by Xi jinping profoundly reveals the special position of moral education in the all-round development of human beings. Therefore, promoting the growth of human virtue is the primary task of education. The college entrance examination has a positive guiding effect on education and teaching. Guided by Xi jinping thought on socialist education with Chinese characteristics for a new era, we should cultivate people with moral integrity throughout the examination. According to the content and characteristics of the subject, we should organically integrate the requirements of ideals and beliefs, patriotism, moral cultivation, knowledge and knowledge, fighting spirit and comprehensive quality into the examination. Through the test of present and establish material, guide students to cultivate and practice the socialist core values, to carry forward Chinese excellent traditional culture, cultural revolution and the socialist advanced culture, set up correct view of history, view, national outlook and cultural viewpoint, determined the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics confidence, confidence, system theory, the culture.17 Second, we should strengthen the body of the United States and work to test and guide. Cultivation of art comprehensive development of the socialist builders and successors is a new era of the party’s education policy, body beauty work for students is an important part of comprehensive development, is to reflect the law of education, embody the zeitgeist, and represents the direction of the age, rich period flavor content, content of the college entrance examination reform should be included in the examination system, guide the foundation education to strengthen physical health, advocating labor, self-restraint cultural and aesthetic consciousness into the students’ development. Requirements and different disciplines according to the high school teaching and the characteristics of the paper and pencil test, test system design methods, examining goal clear, examines the key, the present form, through optimizing the structure of the examination paper and topic, the healthy idea and consciousness, aesthetic ability and accomplishment, the spirit and practice of labor into the content of the examination scope, strengthening the examination experiment operation skill and social practice ability test question design, guides the student to attach importance to physical education, aesthetic education and labor education, and guide the foundation education teaching break the wisdom of “only” bad tendency, consolidate the basis of overall growth of students, promote the comprehensive qualities of comprehensive promotion. Third, we need to adhere to the “four unified”. First, adhere to the unity of political and academic rationality. The primary task of the reform of the content of the national college entrance examination is to implement the party’s educational policy for the new era, implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue, and serve the people, the CPC’s governance, the consolidation and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and reform, opening up and socialist modernization. At the same time, the content reform of the college entrance examination should be based on the selection requirements of college talents, high school curriculum standards, 17 Ju guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18.

224

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

assessment theory and technology, and other scientific design of the content and innovative test format. Second, uphold the unity of value and knowledge. College entrance examination load value leading and guiding mission, to examine knowledge and ability at the same time, scientific and effective integration of moral education, physical education, aesthetic education, labor education and other aspects of values into the content of the exam, only this can help the reform of education evaluation, reverse the “only score” education evaluation orientation. Third, uphold unity and diversity. The content reform of the college entrance examination should be promoted under the overall framework of the scientifically designed college entrance examination evaluation system. At the same time, each discipline can give full play to the advantages of the discipline according to the requirements of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education policy, and design the reform plan of the examination content that reflects the characteristics of the discipline. Fourth, uphold the unity of dominance and subjectivity. The reform of the content of the college entrance examination embodies the national will, based on the goal of comprehensive development and education, and guides the implementation of quality education in the basic education stage through the reform of the content of the examination. At the same time, the reform of examination content should take students as the main body, follow the teaching practice and students’ cognitive rules, and take promoting students’ healthy growth and talent as the starting point and foothold of the reform. Only by adhering to the unity of dominance and subjectivity, the reform of examination content can serve the national election. In short, the reform of the content of the college entrance examination is to help improve the quality of basic education and promote the reform of education evaluation by building an examination content system that meets the requirements of the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor.18 Actively promote school evaluation and eliminate “only for higher education degree” In the past, the evaluation of a school’s quality and level of running a school, the public often focus on the rate of enrollment, which of course is linked with the parents “long for their children” “hope women become phoenix” mentality, but also has a lot to do with the lack of evaluation at the school level. Evaluation of a school is very different from that of an individual or a group, because there are great differences in evaluation orientation, content determination, index selection and implementation subjects. However, the result of school evaluation is very important, because this result is often closely related to measuring the level of a school’s operation, management and development, and the effectiveness of school management by school leaders, as well as the promotion flow determined by this. From this point of view, school evaluation will be a new evaluation activity with high social attention in the future. The difficulty

18 Ju

guangyu, ma luting. The final cure of miasma malady of wu wei and the improvement of the examination and enrollment system [J]. Chinese exam, 2019(01):15–18.

9.5 The Reform Proposal to Eliminate the “Five Alternatives”

225

of carrying out the evaluation with the school as the unit lies in the determination of the evaluation content.19 According to the education law, compulsory education law and other provisions, as well as relevant documents and policy results, school evaluation can take school management as the bottom line and school-running characteristics as the high line, so as to promote and guide the standardized development of schools and encourage and support the development of school characteristics. School management evaluation has a solid basis of policy provisions. In order to promote the legal running and scientific management of schools, the ministry of education formulated and implemented the “compulsory education school management standards (trial)” in 2014, which put forward 92 requirements in six aspects of school management. According to the work guidelines of the ministry of education and the work plan of the office of the education supervision committee of the state council in 2018, the ministry of education will take the lead in formulating the measures for evaluating the management of primary and secondary schools to evaluate their management. These measures are launched successively, which means that the evaluation of schools with the main content of work and effect in student management, curriculum and teaching management, teacher management, educational resource management, safety management and other aspects is about to start. As mentioned above, the evaluation of this aspect mainly points to school education and teaching, work and life order, finds loopholes, hidden dangers and risks, and the bottom line is to prevent the occurrence of major accidents that endanger the safety of teachers and students and the stability of the campus. The characteristic evaluation of running a school needs to be discussed deeply in theory and practice. From the perspective of theory, to form the characteristics of running a school means at least: first, the school has a unique concept of running a school, development positioning and educational goals, and fully embodies the connotation of talent training; Second, the school features the strong support of curriculum, teaching materials and teachers, forming characteristic education and teaching activities or projects; Third, the special courses and activities have a solid foundation of students, which effectively covers all or most of the students in our school; Fourth, it puts forward the specific measurement or evaluation standard of the characteristic, and can provide the basis of explaining this characteristic. In practice, the characteristic evaluation of running a school can also be connected with the comprehensive quality evaluation of students, planning and implementing together. Although the evaluation of the characteristics of running schools in the field of basic education still needs to be in-depth, the evaluation of the characteristics of running schools has been carried out for several years by the evaluation of undergraduate teaching work in colleges and universities, which can be studied, used for reference. In a word, the evaluation of school governance level and development characteristics is helpful for comprehensive investigation and scientific evaluation of a school’s management level, operation status and characteristic advantages, and provides a 19 Song naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

226

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

basis for the government to manage the school and adjust school leaders. It can be predicted that effective school evaluation will play a strong guiding role, promote the school to further strengthen and improve internal governance, standardize schoolrunning behavior, enhance management efficiency, further cohesion and highlight school-running characteristics, stimulate school-running motivation and vitality, and achieve characteristic, high-quality and diversified development.20

9.5.1 Improve the Teacher Evaluation System, Break the “Only Thesis” “Only Hat” Since the 18th CPC national congress, Xi jinping has put forward a series of new requirements on how to be a “good teacher” in the new era. In terms of professional consciousness, teachers are required to do “three solid establishment”: firmly establish the socialist ideal and belief with Chinese characteristics, firmly establish the concept of lifelong learning, firmly establish the consciousness of reform and innovation; In terms of professional quality, teachers are required to be “four good teachers”: have ideals and beliefs, moral sentiments, solid knowledge, and a heart of love; In terms of professional ability, the majority of teachers are required to do the “four guides”: do students temper character guide, do students learn knowledge guide, do students innovative thinking guide, do students dedication to the motherland guide; In terms of professional ethics, the majority of teachers are required to achieve “four unity”: adhere to the unity of teaching and educating people, adhere to the unity of words and deeds, adhere to the unity of asking questions and paying attention to society, adhere to the unity of academic freedom and academic norms. At the national education conference, xi jinping stressed that teachers are the engineers of the human soul and the inheritors of human civilization, bearing the responsibility to spread knowledge, ideas and truth, and to shape souls, lives and new people. Teachers of the people have great honor, every teacher should cherish the honor, cherish the profession, strict requirements on their own, and constantly improve themselves. To be a teacher is to persist in teaching and educating people, have love for education, indifferent to fame and fortune. Xi jinping, general secretary of the speech, the party and the country to strengthen teachers team construction put forward higher request, to further ensure treatment of teachers, improve teachers’ status put forward higher request, in its own qualities and professional ethics of teachers’ team put forward higher request, to strengthen the teachers management put forward higher request, to deepen the evaluation in the new age “good teachers” pointed out the direction of the work, must be resolutely correct evaluation and rewards and punishment on the basis of test scores, graduation rates all teachers mistake. First, the ethics of teachers as the first standard for evaluating teachers. 20 Song

naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

9.5 The Reform Proposal to Eliminate the “Five Alternatives”

227

“Teachers are the model of human beings”. We must stick to the bottom line of law and discipline and teachers’ professional ethics, and “resolutely punish the problems existing in the teaching staff according to law and discipline”. The second is to foster virtue and promote the healthy growth of all students as the fundamental criteria for evaluating teachers’ performance. We must resolutely overcome the “score only” and “enrollment rate only” orientation of teachers’ work evaluation, resolutely change the practice of simply evaluating teachers based on test scores and ranking, and rewarding and punishing teachers based on enrollment rate; The third is to take teachers’ achievements in teaching and educating people as the main basis for teachers to “evaluate excellent teachers” and professional title promotion, and to overcome the wrong tendency of “only hat” and “only diploma”. Fourth, it is necessary to further clarify the dual responsibilities of “teaching” and “educating” teachers and take “one post and two responsibilities” as the basic system of teacher performance evaluation.21 In colleges and universities “paper” only “hat” only “diploma” only education evaluation mechanism, not only for guidance and scientific research of forming error to make scientific research more and more utilitarian, also make the talent evaluation to a certain extent in alienation, rigid situation, university teachers’ education values distorted, deviate from the education of beginner’s mind, away from the education task, seriously affects the growth of students, teachers, national future and national development and the future. To change the simple and one-sided teacher evaluation mechanism such as “only thesis”, “only hat” and “only diploma”, and guide teachers to take teaching and educating as the primary task, is also the internal requirement of colleges and universities to insist on cultivating people with virtue. To break the “five ways”, colleges and universities need to lead the innovation of talent evaluation mechanism with soft management concept. Soft management is a management concept and method that allows individuals to consciously and actively complete the tasks assigned by the organization under the condition of introspection and self-discipline. Colleges and universities are a high-level cultural organization, and college teachers are a group of people with a higher level of knowledge who engage in creative mental work. The characteristics of their organizations and groups determine that soft management is more conducive to the realization of college goals and teachers’ creativity. At present, the general implementation of performance management in colleges and universities, the paper, projects, awards and other quantitative indicators as assessment criteria, “double first-class” construction, compared to the number of key disciplines, compared to the number of academicians, compared to the number of papers, the overall implementation of a mechanical simple “hard management. This kind of management behavior is incompatible with the organizational nature of colleges and universities and the group characteristics of college teachers. Teachers in colleges and universities have the important mission of teaching and educating, scientific research and social service, and the particularity of their behaviors also 21 Song naiqing, xiao Lin, luo shiyan. Cracking the “five ways” and constructing the education evaluation view in the new era in China—based on the perspective of student development [J]. Education and teaching research, 2008, 32(11):1–6 + 123.

228

9 Shaping the Policies on Abolishing the “Five Only”

determines that teachers’ work results cannot be judged by utilitarian, pragmatic and instrumental rational evaluations such as “only papers” and “only hats”. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a flexible and humanized soft management for college teachers. Soft management in colleges and universities should reflect respect for teachers and encourage teachers to participate in management.