Quality Education: Theory · Operation · Experience

Author: Zhou Feng
Editor-in-Chief: Wang Ning
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-06-01
Features:
Fragment: It can be seen that educational reform, moving from subordinating to politics to serving the economy and then to subordinating to the comprehensive improvement of the qualities needed by modern society, is an inevitable outcome of the development of education itself and aligns with the laws of modern education development. Especially since the 1980s, with the deepening of reform and opening-up, China's education has gradually aligned with the trends of international education development, profoundly influenced by the scientification and humanistic trends. The combination of scientification and humanism, as reflected in educational work, is the popularization, lifelong nature, comprehensiveness, democratization, subjectivity, and scientification of education. In the process of education moving toward modernization, various educational reform theories and models such as intelligent education, personalized education, personality education, success education, harmonious education, and joyful education have emerged both domestically and internationally. Quality-oriented education can be said to be a comprehensive development and advancement of these educational theories and practices. Therefore, we might also say that quality-oriented education is the core of modern education, and modern education must necessarily be quality-oriented education.
II. Quality-oriented education is an inevitable requirement of comprehensive social progress for education
Basic education is the education that lays the foundation for everyone's lifelong development, and the quality of this foundation directly affects their future development level. However, the quality of this foundation is not merely about the amount of knowledge, nor can it be simply reduced to scores. On March 28, 1996, Jiang Zemin pointed out at an educational symposium, "Our economic work is achieving two fundamental transformations: the transformation of the economic system and the transformation of the growth mode. Under this new situation, our educational work must further address two major issues: first, education must fully adapt to the needs of cultivating various types of talents for modernization construction, and second, it must comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of education. This can also be said to be the two major transformations facing the national education sector at present."① Jiang Zemin's remarks raise a major educational issue that urgently needs to be addressed: how should education respond to the upgrading and sustainable development of the economy? For China's basic education, to achieve the "two major transformations," it is necessary to gradually shift from the exam-oriented education model that has long troubled us to a quality-oriented education model centered on improving students' comprehensive qualities. Implementing quality-oriented education in basic education is also the form of achieving the "upgrading and transformation" and "sustainable development" of basic education.
Postscript: After working hard in front of the computer for five months, the book "Quality-Oriented Education: Theory, Operation, and Experience" is finally ready for publication, and my mind has relaxed somewhat. Looking back, my reflections on quality-oriented education, a new phenomenon, have spanned six years. During this time, I have written some articles and also practiced educational reform in primary and secondary schools, deepening my understanding of it from skepticism to conviction. I believe this process is natural, so even if there are still people who are not particularly fond of quality-oriented education today, or even oppose it, this is understandable. I believe that as the practice and theory of quality-oriented education are further refined, they will eventually realize that for China's basic education in the 21st century, taking the path of quality-oriented education is its inevitable choice. Therefore, vigorously promoting research and practice of quality-oriented education in primary and secondary schools holds a bright future.
For myself, writing this book has directly led to me suffering from sciatica, the pain of which has made me more aware of the importance of physical fitness and has made me more respectful of writing. The reason I was able to complete the writing in a relatively short time is not only due to the urgent needs of my teaching work but also due to the help and support of many people around me, so I would like to sincerely thank them. Director Jiang Haiyan took the time to write a preface for this book, giving the author great encouragement; Professor Ding Yuan, Professor Liang Qiongfang, National Supervisor Zhou Guoxian, Professor Zhang Renjie, Professor Wang Dingcheng, Associate Professor Wang Xiaomian, Associate Professor Shi Tiuru, Associate Professor Xiao Jianbin, Mr. Chen Jian, and Mr. Wang Ning all provided various forms of assistance; as well as the colleagues in the Office and Reference Room of the Education Department of Guangdong Institute of Education also gave me much practical help. Of course, because I was writing while ill, my wife, Ms. Ding Jing, had to bear a great burden. Without her full support, along with the help and encouragement of everyone, I would not have been able to complete the writing in such a short time.
During the writing process, the author referred to and consulted a large number of domestic and international educational literature and materials, but due to space constraints, it is not possible to list them all here. The author sincerely apologizes to the original authors and expresses heartfelt gratitude. This book was written entirely according to the author's own thoughts, and given the author's limited ability and insufficient materials, some of the views and conclusions expressed in the book may not be fully mature. The author sincerely welcomes criticism and advice from colleagues in the field of education to jointly promote the deepening of quality-oriented education research.
Author: Zhou Feng
May 25, 1998