Today, Zhou Yaming, director of the Municipal Education Commission, was a guest on the "2024 People's Livelihood Interview" to communicate with the audience on the education topics that citizens are concerned about.
Compulsory education has been expanded and improved
Being able to attend a good school at home is not only the expectation of the general public, but also the direction that the education department has been working towards. Last year, as a pioneer in the creation of high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education, six districts, including Huangpu, Changning, Putuo, Yangpu, Jiading and Fengxian, accepted and basically passed the supervision and acceptance of the national high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education. Zhou Yaming said that it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of compulsory education to expand and improve quality, so that there are more and more good schools at the doorstep.
Students' comprehensive literacy is improved
Off-campus practice
Society is the best classroom. In 2021, Shanghai began to build a "three-kilometer community extracurricular education activity circle", and this year will also complete the legislative work of the "Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Promotion of Extracurricular Practical Education in Primary and Secondary Schools". Zhou Yaming said that the "Regulations on the Promotion of Extracurricular Practical Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in Shanghai" has been in the making for ten years, which is to bring together high-quality resources from the whole society, comprehensively improve the comprehensive quality level of students, and promote off-campus practical education that matches the city's positioning and adapts to the needs of talent training in the new era.
"International Institute for STEM Education"
At the beginning of November last year, the 42nd session of UNESCO's General Conference was held in Paris, France, and the General Conference adopted a resolution to establish the UNESCO International Institute for STEM Education in Shanghai. The Institute's primary mission is to promote education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) around the world, from early childhood to adulthood, and to provide inclusive, equitable, relevant and quality STEM education for all. At present, the site of the institute is located in Xuhui Binjiang. The establishment of the International Institute of STEM Education in Shanghai has filled the gap in the establishment of important intergovernmental international organizations in Shanghai, which will help drive more international organizations, institutions and enterprises to settle in Shanghai, enhance the city's soft power, and also help promote Shanghai to deepen the reform of STEM education and teaching, and continuously improve the quality of scientific and technological innovation talent training.
The new institute is the first UNESCO Category I institute to be established in China and the first global Category I institute outside Europe. Zhou Yaming said that in the future, the Municipal Education Commission will continue to do a good job in research, sort out the relevant policies and measures of foreign-related management services, and study various safeguard measures and conditions. At the same time, we should give full play to the advantages and spillover effects of regional talent highlands, make a good start for the talent exchange, cooperative research, training and seminars, experience radiation and other work of international organizations, and ensure the high-standard construction and operation of the institute.
Sports
Getting children moving is the focus of many parents. In September 2023, Shanghai specially issued the "Shanghai Action Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of Physical Education in Primary and Secondary Schools and Further Improving the Physical Health of Students", which contains 6 special actions and 20 specific measures.
How to ensure the implementation of "promoting primary and secondary school students to exercise for one hour inside and outside the school every day"? Zhou Yaming said that first of all, it is necessary to make sports events "hot". In September this year, the four-year Shanghai Student Games will be held, which is also the highest level of comprehensive student games in the city. The sports meeting will not only build a platform for students with a certain level of sports to show their skills, but also create conditions for as many students as possible to "move" and "compete". The sports meeting set up a number of competitions with reference to major events such as the National Student (Youth) Games, and also combined the physical and mental characteristics and interests of students of different ages, and arranged a variety of sunshine sports activities at all levels of urban schools, so that students can participate in flexible and diverse forms.
Secondly, it is necessary to make the physical health monitoring work of students "practical". In recent years, the physical health of students in Shanghai has generally shown a good trend of steady recovery. Next, the Municipal Education Commission will organize schools to standardize the physical health testing of students in accordance with national requirements, and guide all districts to explore the establishment of intelligent daily testing methods.
"Good education for young children" scientific care
High-quality kindergartens
In 2023, Shanghai will start the comprehensive construction of high-quality kindergartens, and 98 kindergartens in the city will become the first batch of high-quality kindergartens. This year, there will be about 130 kindergartens in the city to become high-quality construction parks.
At the same time, there is also a municipal-level guidance team composed of university experts, teaching and research personnel, high-quality kindergarten principals and pre-school group directors to carry out fixed-point sinking guidance; Organize the "Dream Transformation Garden" activity to guide the kindergarten to transform the space and optimize the environment; Organize exchanges and exhibitions on various themes to stimulate the initiative and vitality of the kindergarten. Through unremitting efforts, every kindergarten at the door of the house will be built into a high-quality kindergarten, and better realize "good education for young children".
"Treasure Jewels"
The community childcare "baby house" is popular with many families. Since the full launch of community childcare services in 2022, by the end of 2023, about 60% of Shanghai's towns and towns have set up 240 community childcare "baby houses", providing about 25,000 childcare places, providing timed and temporary childcare services at the doorstep of families with young children aged 1-3, opening up the "last mile" to serve the public.
From the Shikumen on the Huangpu River to the farmhouse on Chongming Island, the "Baby House" adapts measures to local conditions, adopts a variety of modes of flexible embedding, and combines the overall planning of the "15-minute life circle" to deliver services to parents. Zhou Yaming introduced that the city's school-age families can receive 12 times a year "baby house" free service, the districts will gradually "baby house" appointment into one network, parents can make an appointment at any time, anywhere to make an appointment to the nearest "baby house" to receive services.
Vocational education has distinctive characteristics
In recent years, the development of vocational education in Shanghai has been continuously upgraded.
It is an important measure to improve the quality of running schools and promote the work of "double excellence" in secondary vocational education and "double high" in higher vocational education. The project was established to build 18 high-quality secondary vocational schools and 60 high-quality majors, and concentrated efforts on building a number of schools and majors with exemplary and leading roles. We will continue to promote 10 high-level vocational schools, 50 high-level professional groups, and a number of new types of vocational education with a five-year consistent system. Through study, students in vocational colleges not only obtain higher education qualifications, but also hold vocational skill level certificates, which are very "popular" when they are employed and looking for jobs.
New industry-education integration platforms such as the city-level industry-education consortium, the industry-education integration community, and the modern industry college promote the deep integration of the education chain and industrial chain. Vocational schools, high-level colleges and universities and leading enterprises jointly develop curriculum and teaching materials, introduce industrial tutors to teach, and carry out practical training based on production scenarios, so that the vocational college students trained can "learn well" and "get started quickly".
Shanghai has also infiltrated the concept of labor education into vocational experience activities, and Shanghai has institutionalized and normalized vocational experience activities in the social practice of junior high school students, guiding primary and secondary school students to understand vocational education, experience the fun of vocational education, establish vocational ideals, and enhance the influence of vocational education. Since 2014, Shanghai has taken the lead in holding career experience days in the country, designing nearly 400 career experience projects every year, and more than 1 million primary and secondary school students have participated in the experience in the past ten years.
Higher education is moving towards the "new".
With 80,000 teachers and 800,000 college students, Shanghai has made significant contributions to the construction of the Science and Technology Innovation Center in the past decade. Zhou Yaming said that in the face of the requirements of the new stage of development, Shanghai universities should strive for greater breakthroughs.
On the one hand, basic research should be continuously strengthened. It is hoped that it will take five years to gather 200 young scientists under the age of 40 as the main body of basic researchers, carry out high-risk, original and long-term basic research, focus on exploring the unreached realm of mankind, and strive to produce original, transformative and subversive major research results. In addition, universities in Shanghai are actively promoting AI for Science, using AI to promote the paradigm change of basic research. By continuously strengthening basic research, we will provide the source power for the birth of new industries, new models, and new kinetic energy, and the development of new quality productive forces.
On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the cultivation of innovative talents. A few days ago, the "Implementation Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Strengthening the Precise Supply of Talents in Key Areas and Dynamically Adjusting the Enrollment Structure and Scale of Colleges and Universities" was promulgated, and by 2026, the proportion of enrollment in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine majors will be further increased, and the classification of academic degrees and professional degrees will be more coordinated.
Zhou Yaming said that according to statistics, the professional layout of Shanghai universities has a small layout and training scale of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine, and the supply of professionals related to key industries and digital economy is insufficient. To this end, by strengthening the overall planning and control of educational resources, and adopting a combination of incremental tilt and stock adjustment, we should expand the enrollment scale of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine, improve the talent training system, and realize the mutual matching and mutual promotion of disciplines and industrial chains, innovation chains, and talent chains. At the same time, in the field of artificial intelligence, we will explore and carry out the cultivation of unconventional top-notch innovative talents, cultivate first-class talents in the front line of industrial innovation, and hope to provide a steady stream of high-level innovative talents for the cultivation and development of new quality productivity.