Promote diversified development of high school stage schools
2024-11-26
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "adhere to the diversified development of high school education", which put forward higher development requirements for high school education. High school is a key link and completion stage in the cultivation of talents in basic education. It connects higher education upwards, compulsory education downwards, the labor market and social life horizontally, and has multiple missions such as preparing for further education and employment, laying the foundation for lifelong learning and a better life. At present, high schools still face many challenges: the stratification of ordinary high schools has intensified, and the chronic problems of only scores and only enrollment have not been completely solved; The attractiveness of secondary vocational schools is insufficient, and there is an urgent need for transformation and development to improve the quality of education. Diversified development of high school schools can lead up and down, promote the matching of education supply and individual endowment diversity of learners, facilitate the collision of supply and demand, and help match the effectiveness of education with the diversity of economic and social talent demand. It has become a key factor in determining the high-quality development of basic education and even the high-quality construction of the education system. Revisiting the positioning and attributes of universal high school education, looking back at history, China's high school education has undergone an evolutionary development from elite, mass to universal. Elite high school education mainly screens and eliminates junior high school graduates based on their academic performance, and the winners are given the opportunity to receive high school education. With the continuous improvement of popularization, more and more students have the opportunity to receive high school education. The early foundation and preparation of high school learners in terms of knowledge, abilities, core competencies, etc. have actually diverged, requiring a new examination of the functional positioning and value attributes of high school education. Chinese primary and secondary school students face their first education diversion after completing compulsory education. The first mechanism to achieve diversion is the academic track system, which is a dual track system for general and vocational education; Secondly, there is the "school stratification", which refers to the vertical division between high schools, thus forming a "dual track+pyramid" style high school education pattern. Related research shows that this high school diversion pattern has led some audiences to become trapped in a fixed perception of path dependence between "high-quality high schools and first-class universities", and thus become increasingly obsessed with their high school entrance examination scores. Junior high school is a compulsory education stage, which should follow the laws of education, aim to enhance core competencies, and value high-quality and balanced education; The first diversion after junior high school should reflect the classification function of education, identifying and selecting academic innovation and technical skills talents, and then adapting to their strengths and teaching according to their aptitude. However, in the current strict hierarchical structure of high school, the first diversion after junior high school has become the starting factor for screening students based on scores, entering different schools, and embarking on different life paths. In the context of the comprehensive popularization of high school education and the urgent need to build an educational power to support Chinese path to modernization, high school education urgently needs to complete the following transformation: First, return to the basics. High school is the completion stage of basic education, which should highlight the "foundation" attribute of basic education. The training objectives, curriculum system, and educational methods should highlight the positioning of universal education as "facing everyone". The second is to emphasize universality. The goals and tasks of high school education should move from the "dual track and dual point" approach of general education and vocational education to the integration of multiple goals and diverse tasks based on the inherent consistency of the two types of education, with general education as the common pursuit. While preparing for further education and employment, it should lay the foundation for future life and the lifelong development of everyone. The third is to highlight differences. The diversity of human innate talents determines that high school education needs to match the diverse needs of learners; The diversity of talent demand driven by technological and industrial changes determines that high school education needs to match the diverse needs of the times and society. This means that high school education urgently needs to demonstrate uniqueness and differentiation, providing as many choices as possible to meet the growth and development of each student. In the long-term development, the two types of education, vocational and regular high schools, have formed two relatively independent education systems and institutional support systems to release the inherent vitality of high school classified talent cultivation through structural coordination. From the establishment of the People's Republic of China to the 1980s, high school education in China was mainly based on general high schools. Data shows that vocational education graduates accounted for only 4% of the total number of high school graduates in 1979. The "roughly equivalent" policy for general vocational education was officially proposed in 1983 and has been the core concept of China's high school education structural reform for more than 40 years. This is the basic requirement for the country to develop high school education and coordinate the structure of education types in a specific period, and it is also a major educational policy arrangement that adapts to the economic and social development at that time. But with the development of the times, due to complex factors such as regional economy, industrial structure, and development planning, the proportion and standards of general employment urgently need to be redesigned and matched according to local conditions and needs. Especially in today's world where vocational education is regarded as an equally important type of education as general education, its key value lies in meeting the development potential and growth needs of technical and skilled talents, and supporting the demand for engineering and hands-on talents in modern development. If the proportion of vocational education talent cultivation continues to use a constant data, it is not suitable for the new needs of economic and social development, nor is it suitable for the functional positioning of vocational education as a type of education. At present, there is an urgent need to promote institutional innovation in order to build a high school education ecosystem that is adaptable and teaches students in accordance with their aptitude, and cultivate top-notch innovative talents in all walks of life independently, so as to provide a solid and stable basis for Chinese path to modernization. The three paths to optimizing the structure of high school education should take the fundamental goal of cultivating morality and talents, and release the endogenous driving force of high-quality talent cultivation in high school through various paths. One is to promote the integration and coordinated development of vocational and general education in the high school stage. The integration of vocational education and general education in high school is a fundamental issue in the structure and system of high school education. Its core is the unity of internal consistency logic such as high school education value, education goals, evaluation standards, and talent quality. Only by building internal consistency and external integration between the two types of education can we further explore feasible paths and implementation mechanisms for classifying and cultivating talents, so that children with different potentials and advantages can receive educational support suitable for their own growth, and help transform the demographic dividend into a talent dividend. The second is to promote the typological development of existing high schools. China's high school stage has a huge scale, diverse types and levels of schools, and significant differences in educational levels. In ordinary high schools, there are both first-class high schools with excellent educational quality and county-level high schools that occupy half of the country but have relatively weak strength; Vocational schools not only have first-class vocational schools leading the forefront of the industry, but also weak schools facing "closure and merger". The complex educational situation, diverse levels of education, highly differentiated personalized needs of learners, and diverse demands for talent in economic and social development are intertwined factors that require high-level coordination and planning at the national and provincial levels. Cities and counties should explore typological construction, and achieve differentiation and individualization of talent cultivation through enriching school forms, classified development and construction, and diversifying and distinctive educational processes and methods. The third is to promote the diversification of high school education methods. Technological innovation is the core competitiveness of a country. Every child's innate talent must be equally respected, protected, and appropriately stimulated and cultivated in the educational process. High school education should be good at guiding students to discover and develop their strengths and potentials, creating a nurturing field that respects differences, enriches choices, and meets needs, making independently chosen courses the ubiquitous carrier and universal means of high school nurturing goals, and making differentiated and customized high school nurturing methods the foundation and norm of high school education and teaching. It should be noted that the stage transformation and structural optimization of high school education require adhering to the value concept of returning to the essence of education, transcending short-term utilitarianism and score ranking, from the perspective of cultivating people's livelihood and happiness, from the height of accelerating the construction of an education powerhouse, establishing a quality concept of high school education in the era of comprehensive popularization, and making every school a main battlefield where everyone can make the most of their talents and shine. (New Society)
Edit：Momo Responsible editor：Chen Zhaozhao
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