Blowing the Horn of ＂Strengthening Teachers＂ —— Review of 2022 Teacher Education Hotspots
A series of measures to "strengthen teachers" sounded the horn of accelerating the construction of teachers in basic education, and also gave the best answer to "how to strengthen teachers" in the new era.
Source | China Teachers’ Daily, December 28th, 13th edition.
Author | Our reporter Huang Hao
Education is the foundation of a country and a strong country. Report to the 20th CPC National Congress emphasized that education, science and technology and talents are the basic and strategic supports for building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. The report makes special arrangements for "running a satisfactory education for the people", highlighting the basic, leading and overall status of education.
Teachers are the first resource for the development of education — — In 2018, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of Teachers’ Team Construction in the New Era was released, which once again emphasized the extreme importance of teachers to education.
Promoting the high-quality development of education in the new era with the construction of high-quality teachers is undoubtedly the logical way to promote the education power. How to strengthen the teacher? Following this logical thread, to build a team of high-quality professional and innovative teachers, it is urgent for us to build a world-class teacher education system with China characteristics, which has also become a new mission of teacher education in the new era.
Looking back on 2022, around the mission of teacher education, the Ministry of Education and other eight departments issued the "Strong Teacher Plan for Basic Education in the New Era" (referred to as "Strong Teacher Plan"). Focusing on the plan of strengthening teachers, the collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education has been implemented rapidly, the training of normal students in the "excellent teacher plan" has been strengthened, and the training documents for primary school science teachers have been issued … … A series of measures to "strengthen teachers" sounded the horn of accelerating the construction of teachers in basic education, and also gave the best answer to "how to strengthen teachers" in the new era.
The plan of strengthening teachers was introduced to find a "fulcrum" for the construction of teachers.
The introduction of the "Strong Teacher Program" coincides with the fifth year of the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of Teacher Team Construction in the New Era", and it is also the "Action Plan for Revitalizing Teacher Education (2018— 2022) The last year of implementation.
"China education in the new era needs to build a high-quality education system. High-quality education cannot be separated from high-quality teachers, and high-quality education system cannot be separated from high-quality teacher education system. Therefore, it is timely to introduce the strong teacher program at the current time node, which is of great significance to the times. " Li Zhengtao, director and professor of the Institute of Basic Education Reform and Development of East China Normal University, said.
Focusing on perfecting the characteristic teacher education system in China, perfecting the training mechanism of high-level teachers, strengthening the construction of rural teachers, improving the governance level of teachers, and promoting the digital construction of teachers, the plan for strengthening teachers has put forward 15 specific measures, including building a foundation to improve quality, making up for the weak, making the best and building the strong, covering all dimensions of teacher education, which is typical and systematic.
As an outline document, the plan of strengthening teachers first puts forward "strengthening training and perfecting the teacher education system with China characteristics", which is one of the weak links of teacher education in China and a topic that many teachers’ education experts and researchers are eagerly concerned about.
In recent years, the state has continuously increased its investment in teacher education. At present, 215 normal colleges and more than 500 non-normal colleges have participated in teacher training, basically forming a teacher education system with China characteristics. However, the level of running a normal university and the level of guarantee still need to be strengthened, and the conditions for running a normal university need to be improved. It is against this background that the National Development and Reform Commission supports about 50 normal universities to strengthen the construction of teaching and research facilities, and supports each university to invest 100 million yuan in the central budget.
Under the double blessing of policy and funds, how to build a perfect teacher education system? Zhong Binglin, a member of the National Education Advisory Committee and a professor at Beijing Normal University, suggested that according to the 14th Five-Year Plan, we should give full play to the main role of normal universities in teacher training, encourage comprehensive universities to hold teacher education, and encourage high-level engineering colleges to carry out vocational education for teachers.
Liu Yichun, an academician of China Academy of Sciences and president of Northeast Normal University, pointed out that to improve the overall quality of teachers, it is necessary to improve the system of teacher education: first, to improve the quality of students through the policy attraction mechanism; second, to improve the quality of excellent teachers and educator teachers through the reform of the training mode of normal universities; and third, to improve the quality of development through on-the-job experience and vocational training.
In short, vertically, pre-service training and post-service training of teachers need to be integrated and strengthened; In the horizontal direction, teachers’ education institutions in normal universities and comprehensive universities need to intensify reforms in training mode and discipline construction.
Today, the curtain of reform has been opened. The long-term goal listed in the plan of strengthening teachers is to build an open, coordinated and linked high-level teacher education system to meet the requirements of educational modernization and building an educational power by 2035. Imagine the future, this scene is not far away from us.
Part of the layout of the report on the plan of strengthening teachers in China Teachers’ Newspaper
Cooperate to improve quality and speed up, and help normal education to be stronger and more specialized.
Normal university is the main source of teacher training and the main position of teacher education. How to better train normal students, improve the quality of teacher training, and let the best talents train better people? Building a strong normal college is the meaning of the title.
The plan of strengthening teachers proposes to implement the collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education and focus on the construction of weak normal colleges.
In 2022, as the landing of the plan of strengthening teachers, the collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education was officially launched, led by 10 high-level normal colleges such as Beijing Normal University and East China Normal University, and some provincial higher-level normal colleges participated as "collaborative assistance" colleges to jointly help weak normal colleges. This plan covers 72 normal colleges across the country.
In the past 40 years, the dispute between the integration of normal universities and the nature of normal universities has not been cut off. Some weak normal universities have turned to comprehensive schools, and the training of normal students has been weakened. The collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education emphasizes returning to the initial heart of normal education and focusing on the main business of normal education, which also brings new opportunities to the development of local weak normal colleges.
Since June, 2022, ten groups of the collaborative quality improvement plan for normal education have held joint meetings one after another, which has started a series of assistance work.
In Hunan Normal University, starting from July 2022, the training course on improving the ability of young and middle-aged key teachers in weak colleges undertaken by Hunan Normal University, the first summer social practice activity led by the Youth League Committee of Fujian Normal University, and the training course for key teachers in rural primary schools jointly undertaken by Hunan Normal University and Ningxia Normal University started one after another, which opened the learning curtain for college students in the group. In order to better serve the development of weak normal universities, "teacher training bases" have sprung up in the recipient universities Hunan First Normal University, huaihua university and Ningxia Normal University.
In the delegation of Southwest University, Southwest University took the lead in organizing and participating in the "one-on-one" in-depth discussion and exchange between helping universities and recipient universities, and doing a good job in helping weak normal universities from strengthening the construction of teachers, focusing on the construction of disciplines and specialties, and improving the management and development level of schools. In the future, the group universities will also make great efforts to jointly develop online course resources, joint teaching and research, promote subject teaching and teachers’ common development, actively carry out large-scale academic forums and expert reports, and promote the high-quality development of teacher education in seven universities.
Although affected by the epidemic, the development of group work has encountered certain obstacles. However, after overcoming many difficulties, many colleges and universities have gained growth and forged friendship in the process of practical assistance.
"Due to cooperation, we have forged a deep affection with Ningxia Normal University, laying a solid foundation for cooperation in implementing the collaborative quality improvement plan." The relevant person in charge of Fujian Normal University said. Wang Mingbo, a cadre of Hexi College who was sent to Southwest University, said, "The package of assistance projects of Southwest University College of Literature in terms of teacher training, academic leadership and quality improvement, discipline construction guidance, professional certification, etc. can really be described as a timely help."
It can be predicted that the collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education, which began in 2022, will improve the supply quality of basic education teachers from the source. Of course, collaborative quality improvement is not only "helping the weak", but also promoting the collaborative "win-win" development mechanism of normal education in China.
"High-level normal universities are not pure exporters and contributors. Young teachers in these universities form a partnership with young teachers in upgrading normal universities through teaching, research, curriculum co-construction, cooperative research or training … … Collaborative quality improvement is a holistic development action of China’s normal education system. " Zhao Jian, secretary of the Party branch of the Teacher Development College of East China Normal University and head of the expert working group of the collaborative quality improvement plan for normal education, said.
Part of the layout of China Teachers’ Newspaper’s report on the collaborative quality improvement plan of normal education
"Excellent Teacher Plan" and "Expansion" to cultivate "tomorrow’s teachers" rooted in the countryside
"I hope you will continue to uphold ‘ Learn to be a teacher and behave in the world ’ Our school motto, cherish time, study hard, sharpen our character, increase our ability to preach, teach and solve doubts, go where the motherland and the people need it most after graduation, and strive to be satisfied with the party and the people ‘ Siyou ’ A good teacher contributes to the cultivation of socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique and beauty. " On September 7, 2022, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader sent a reply to the normal students of the "Excellent Teacher Program" of Beijing Normal University, which aroused strong repercussions in the education sector.
The "excellent teacher plan" refers to the "directional training plan for outstanding teachers in underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions". Starting from 2021, normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education and local normal colleges will take a directional approach to train about 10,000 undergraduate normal students for primary and secondary schools in 832 poverty-stricken counties and land border counties in the central and western regions every year. On the eve of Teachers’ Day in 2022, the representatives of normal students in the "Excellent Teacher Program" of Beijing Normal University wrote to the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader, reporting the learning gains since entering the school and expressing their determination to take root in teaching and educating people at the grassroots level after graduation.
"I will return to my hometown after graduation — — Qiandongnan, Guizhou, takes root in basic education, strives to be the pioneer of education reform, the forerunner of education and poverty alleviation, and the guide of student growth, and shows his regretless youth where the motherland and the people need it most! " After receiving the reply from the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader, Xiong Guojin, a normal student of the "Excellent Teacher Program" of Beijing Normal University, said.
The orientation of the "excellent teacher plan" is very clear, and the continuous implementation of this plan will help optimize the structure of teachers in underdeveloped areas and improve the ability of local teachers to teach and educate people.
"This is an important measure to promote the effective connection between consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation in education and rural revitalization, and to help improve the fairness and quality of education." Ren Youqun, director of the Teacher Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education, said.
In order to implement the spirit of the important reply from the Supreme Leader General Secretary to the normal students in the "Excellent Teacher Program" of Beijing Normal University, in September 2022, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Further Improving the Training of Normal Students in the "Excellent Teacher Program". This document puts forward requirements in such aspects as deeply planting roots in grassroots education to serve the country, forging excellent skills in preaching and teaching, optimizing process management to stimulate learning momentum, and deepening collaborative mechanism to support lifelong development. It requires normal universities to do a good job in the training of normal students in the "excellent teacher plan" on the basis of the common requirements for normal students, and cultivate a group of "four haves" good teachers where the country and people need them most.
In fact, the relevant institutions undertaking the task of "Mentor Program" have already taken action.On the second day after receiving an important reply from the Supreme Leader General Secretary, the Party Committee of Beijing Normal University decided to expand the enrollment scale of the "Excellent Teacher Program" to 800 students in 2023, and expand the enrollment quota and enrollment scope year by year.Strive to cover all poverty-stricken counties and provinces in the central and western land border counties during the 14 th Five-Year Plan period, and at the same time support the "excellent teacher plan" in all directions through the "strong teacher project".
Hao Fanghua, president of Huazhong Normal University, introduced that the school promoted the "excellent teacher plan" with "four optimizations", including "optimizing enrollment, carefully organizing students" and "optimizing the training system and implementing ‘ Five educations ’ At the same time, optimize the skills of teachers, highlight the characteristics of digital training, optimize the coordination mechanism and build a platform for strengthening teachers. Taking the enrollment work as an example, for two years in a row, the school has added 150 separate programs to 22 central and western provinces such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai. The school leaders led teams to the students’ places of origin to issue admission notices to the freshmen representatives of the "excellent teacher program" and give the "first lesson" to the normal students of the "excellent teacher program".
In two years’ time, normal graduates of the "Excellent Teacher Program" will take up their jobs, take root in the countryside and start a journey of educating people. After four years of tailor-made curriculum infiltration, they will be full of enthusiasm and skilled skills, whipping up their hooves in the vast rural primary and secondary schools, bringing new vitality to the revitalization of rural education.
Part of the layout of the report on "Excellent Teacher Program" in China Teachers’ Newspaper
Teachers should cultivate "complement each other" and make science teachers "strong"
"Cultivating innovative spirit should start from primary school. Primary school students don’t need many discoveries or inventions, but teachers should start from primary school and guide them to be good at discovering problems and designing solutions to problems. " On July 25th, 2022, the "National Summer School for Science Education" teacher training (Guangzhou venue) jointly organized by South China Normal University and Guangzhou Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences started in South China Normal University. Academician Zhong Nanshan, winner of the Medal of the Republic and director of Guangzhou National Laboratory, gave a lecture, which attracted wide attention from all walks of life.
This training activity, jointly organized by the Teacher Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education and the Science Communication Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was first held in the main venue of Beijing in July 2022, and the number of people watching the live broadcast on the first day exceeded 1 million. Subsequently, 11 sub-venues, including Wuhan, Guangzhou, Changchun, Urumqi and Nanjing, began to "speak" in succession. After the summer training course resources of science education were uploaded to the national wisdom education platform, the cumulative number of hits exceeded 64 million.
Looking back on 2022, the training of science teachers has received unprecedented attention.
In May 2022, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Strengthening the Training of Science Teachers in Primary Schools. This document directly attacked the weak link in the training chain of pre-service science teachers, and made macro arrangements in four aspects: strengthening the enrollment scale of science education majors, increasing the training of science teachers in related majors, optimizing the training scheme of science teachers in primary schools, and innovating the collaborative mechanism of training science teachers in primary schools. This is undoubtedly a powerful "complement" for the current construction of science teachers in primary schools in China.
"This is the first document specifically aimed at the training of teachers in a specific profession since the publication of" Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of the Construction of Teachers in the New Era ".Director Ren Youqun pointed out in an article in this newspaper that this move is intended to increase the supply of science teachers in primary schools majoring in science education or science and engineering from the source, and lay a talent foundation for cultivating more young people with scientific dreams and innovative ambitions from childhood.
In the opinion of experts who have been engaged in science education for a long time, due to various reasons, there was a great dislocation between the training and demand of science teachers in the past. On the one hand, the employment of graduates majoring in science education trained in colleges and universities was not satisfactory, on the other hand, a large number of science teachers were urgently needed in primary and secondary schools, especially primary schools, and could not be introduced. Lin Changchun, the chairman of the Science Teacher Education Committee of China Young Science and Technology Educators Association and a professor at Chongqing Normal University, pointed out that how to improve the quality of science teachers’ training in the new era is an important issue that needs to be studied and solved urgently in the reform of talent training mode for science education majors in colleges and universities.
For the first time, the Party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress integrated education, science and technology and talents. Strengthening the construction of science teachers and improving the quality of science teachers’ training are the proper actions to implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress and the relevant documents of the Ministry of Education.
The Notice on Strengthening the Training of Science Teachers in Primary Schools can be described as "the key to solving the problem". Ren Youqun emphasized that education is a long-term undertaking, and promoting the construction of science teachers in primary schools is a "small incision" that waits for no time. Teachers’ colleges should take the initiative and shoulder the mission of the times to train science teachers, and put strengthening the training of science teachers into the focus of school work.
Fortunately, a number of normal universities have found a new way to train talents in science education. For example, Guangxi Normal University, based on its understanding of the importance of science education and teacher training, took the lead in setting up a research institute of science education and offering undergraduate majors in science education more than 20 years ago, and embarked on the pioneering road of discipline, specialty and curriculum construction of science education, even in the most difficult time.
According to Luo Xingkai, a professor at the Institute of Science Education of Guangxi Normal University, "it is an innovative practice — — It is not only necessary, but also proved feasible to cultivate high-quality professional and innovative primary and secondary school teachers from the source of normal education by relying on innovation-led and driven practice in concept, content and method.
Facing the future, more and more colleges and universities will attach importance to science education like Guangxi Normal University.
Science education is related to the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country through science and technology and the long-term development plan of the country, and science teachers are the source of innovative talents training. We expect more and more outstanding science teachers to emerge continuously, injecting powerful forces into building a strong country through science and technology.
Part of the layout of the report on the training of science teachers in China Teachers’ Newspaper
Online training and upgrading, innovative teacher education model
Putting teacher training on the wings of informationization is an important action to empower teacher education.
At the beginning of 2022, the Ministry of Education launched the "Strategic Action of Education Digitalization" to accelerate the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of education. In March, the National Smart Education Platform was officially launched. In July, the special learning activity of "Summer Teacher Training" on the national wisdom education platform was implemented.
It is understood that the topic of "Summer Teacher Training" is the largest special teacher training organized at the national level in recent years for teachers of all levels and types. According to the curriculum of "General Education+Discipline", it provides high-quality digital learning resources, supports teachers to make full use of summer autonomous learning and continuously improve their education and teaching ability. The project provides 2258 resources, and teachers can choose according to their own needs in each course. In terms of study time, teachers can choose their study time flexibly in summer.
Since it was officially launched on July 20, 2022, teachers have actively participated. As of August 31, more than 13 million teachers have registered to study in the special topic, and the cumulative number of visits to the special page is nearly 1.3 billion.
"Relying on the national wisdom education platform to carry out summer teacher training is an important way to improve teachers’ ability and quality in the digital age, an important practice to innovate teacher education mode and explore the construction of a modern teacher education system, and an active exploration to promote the balanced allocation of quality education resources by digital means." At the special graduation ceremony of "Summer Teacher Training", the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education pointed out.
Layout of China Teachers’ Newspaper’s Report on Summer Teachers’ Training
Relying on big data, the platform can record what teachers have learned and are learning through personal space, and record the hours. At the same time, the platform has been connected with the national teacher management information system. After teachers log in and verify their identity information, the platform can push personalized learning resources for teachers.
Nowadays, the topic of "Winter Teacher Training" of the National Smart Education Platform in 2023 has kicked off, and video resources such as studying, propagating and implementing the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, the national model of teaching and educating people in 2022, and the advanced deeds of special post teachers will be launched soon. A large-scale teacher training based on the digital platform will also be launched.
When online training becomes the norm, digital literacy will become an indispensable part of teachers’ new literacy. We believe that more teachers will become practitioners of digital learning, and constantly enhance their awareness of using digital technology to optimize, innovate and change education and teaching activities, so as to "teach better".