Xinhua News Agency reporters Zheng Tianhong, Wang Ying, Xie Ying
The General Office of the Ministry of Education and other four departments recently jointly issued the "Notice on Further Standardizing the Work Related to Compulsory Education After-school Services". The notice requires that it is strictly forbidden to arbitrarily expand the scope, to compel students to participate, to increase students' homework burden, to charge fees arbitrarily in the name of after-school services, and to prohibit institutions and personnel who do not meet the requirements from entering the school to provide after-school services. The new rules will be officially implemented from the spring semester of 2024.
Since the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, primary and secondary schools in various places have carried out a variety of after-school services according to local conditions, which have been widely recognized and welcomed by the society, but also exposed some emerging problems. At the beginning of the new year, with the release of new regulations for after-school services, some districts began to deploy and implement them.
After-school services "refresh" the face of the campus
Coming to the playground of the No. 9 Primary School in Hunnan District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, it is like entering a white fairy tale world. The daily snowfall and the working snow guns create a big snowy mountain, and children play sliding, snowball fights, and build snowmen...... The reporter felt the characteristics and happiness of the winter after-school service.
On December 31, 2023, students of the No. 9 Primary School in Hunnan District, Shenyang City, played in the snow. (Photo courtesy of the school)
The after-school service courses of this Northeast campus are not only ice and snow sports, but also systematically cover 32 courses that include the all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, art and labor, including rock climbing, rowing, African drums, Hanoi Tower, jigsaw puzzles, origami, Chinese pastry, etc., which are very popular among children.
The reporter visited Kaifu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, and saw that some schools have set up "happy small farms" on campus, and children are busy digging soil, harvesting vegetables, and peeling leaves. After-school services cover a variety of courses such as creative arts, music, instrumental music, martial arts, table tennis, cheerleading and intangible cultural heritage.
Nie Tingfang, deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Education Bureau, introduced that Changsha has incorporated after-school services into the overall planning of school education and teaching, integrating 7 categories and 71 sub-categories of extended courses such as Xi guidance, moral education, and physical arts. Students can choose courses online according to their preferences, and their personal after-school service courses and schedules are automatically generated.
Eastgate Garden Primary School in Huangpu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, takes the opportunity of after-school services to take advantage of the gathering of scientific research institutions and high-tech enterprises in the district to design enterprise research courses, so that students can go out of the campus and experience the application scenarios of cutting-edge scientific and technological development and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The Huangpu Experimental School of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Education has done the addition of science education under the background of "double reduction", and the after-school service science and technology courses focus on innovative thinking and hands-on ability, and offer courses such as screenless physical programming, robots, and drones to stimulate students' curiosity, imagination and desire for knowledge.
From "one class, one characteristic" to "one case in a lifetime", in addition to various special courses to meet children's interests and hobbies, schools in many places use after-school services to expand and improve students with spare Xi, make up for shortcomings for students with learning difficulties, and guide students to complete homework in school as much as possible.
"In the past, it was really inconvenient for dual-income families to pick up and drop off their children when their children got out of school early, and after-school services have brought great convenience to the majority of families. Ms. He, a parent of a student in Changsha, said.
The "five prohibitions" allow after-school services to not deviate from the original intention
With the implementation of the "double reduction" policy for more than two years, after-school services have been widely welcomed. But at the same time, some places and schools have also shown signs of "going astray". For example, the "after-school" service is extended to lunch breaks, evening self-Xi, weekends and even winter and summer vacations, and new teaching content appears in the content of after-school services, resulting in students having to participate, which increases students' extra Xi time and increases the burden of schoolwork in disguise. In some places, after-school service policies are well implemented in primary schools, but they are "deformed" in secondary schools.
Some schools use the "guise" of after-school services to take care of related households and introduce unqualified institutions into schools, which seem to be charged by a third party and have nothing to do with the school.
After-school service screenless physical programming course carried out by Huangpu Experimental School of Guangdong Provincial Institute of Education. (Photo courtesy of the school)
Some teachers and parents have a bias in their perception of the policy, some teachers believe that the main role of after-school services is to improve students' academic performance, and many parents understand that after-school services are an extension of classroom teaching, and pay more attention to consolidating the knowledge learned that day and homework help, while ignoring the development of after-school activities and the cultivation of interests.
Wang Yunxia, principal of Changsha Experimental Primary School, said that because after-school service is a new concept, its connotation and extension are vague. The promulgation of the new regulations further clarifies the time scope and content of after-school services, especially the exclusion of morning (afternoon) nurseries, evening self-Xi and weekends from after-school services, and expressly prohibits brushing questions, teaching new classes and group make-up classes during after-school service hours.
In fact, in order to avoid the "deviation" of after-school services, some areas have been explored. In view of the problem of arbitrary fees that may occur in after-school services, Guangzhou has built an after-school service model of "basic custody + quality development", with financial subsidies for the basic custody part and quality development fees for the quality development part according to the principle of public welfare and inclusiveness.
The Changsha Municipal Bureau of Education issued the Notice on Regulating the Use of After-school Service Funds for Municipal Primary and Secondary Schools, clarifying that appropriate remuneration can be paid to teachers, and formulating standards for the distribution of class time subsidies for teachers in schools and external teachers.
In response to the chaos that may arise from the introduction of third-party institutions, some districts in Guangzhou have established a mechanism for the selection of after-school service institutions or a mechanism for the evaluation and withdrawal of third-party social institutions, and strengthened quality supervision throughout the process. For example, Tianhe District has established a process of "democratic agreement-agreement-publicity"; Liwan District has evaluated the quality of after-school services through data verification, field research, door-to-door lectures, visits and discussions, etc., and Huangpu District has conducted satisfaction evaluation with the help of the "Internet+" platform.
Gather the strength of multiple parties to improve the management mechanism
After the five "strict prohibitions" were introduced, the education authorities in many places issued documents as soon as possible and forwarded them on the official account. Some schools have been quick to carry out "self-inspections". Li Daijun, principal of No. 33 Middle School in Zhongshan District, Dalian, said: "After the notice was issued, our school immediately compared the content of the notice and started a self-examination of the five 'strictly prohibited' requirements. In this semester alone, 94.7% of our students participated in after-school services, and the hardship reduction rate was 5.9%, of which 35% were in arts, physical education, psychology, moral education, and labor. ”
Eastgate Garden Primary School in Huangpu District, Guangzhou took advantage of the opportunity of after-school services to explore the practice of cross-disciplinary and integration of five educations. (Photo courtesy of the school)
Grassroots educators believe that although after-school services have "blossomed" in primary and secondary schools across the country, in order to achieve stability and long-term success, it is also necessary for teachers and parents involved in after-school services to further unify and deepen their understanding of after-school services, take after-school services as an opportunity to educate people, and establish a new outlook on education, learning and Xi.
Hou Mingfei, principal of the No. 9 Primary School in Hunnan District, Shenyang City, said that in order to ensure the high-quality development of after-school services, relevant departments should provide necessary resources and financial support, including sufficient teachers, teaching equipment and venues for schools, as well as reasonable remuneration for teachers participating in after-school services.
A number of teachers and parents suggested that to ensure the effective implementation of the new regulations, it is also necessary to establish a sound monitoring mechanism, including regular inspections by the education department, internal self-inspections by schools, and encouragement of social supervision. Violations should be dealt with seriously in accordance with laws and regulations.
Source: Xinhuanet