By Dou Yuqi
7-year-old Xiao Shen (pseudonym), a child in distress, has pleasant personality, but lacks the initiative to study. His parents suffer from serious disease with limited income. Both of them were plagued by the kid's education problem. Education pressure was not relieved, until Yangpu District Civil Affairs Department arranged a family education instructor to the door regularly, talking with Xiao Shen and his parents for many times, and proposing communication suggestions.
Every year, Yangpu District Civil Affairs Department invites social organizations such as Shanghai Yanze Social Work Development Center and Shanghai Renyu Social Affairs Service Center to provide custody and support services for 30 children in distress throughout the district. Social workers tailor-make for each child and link to psychological counseling, legal aid, benevolent enterprise and more resources. Family education instructor is a part of services.
In Occupational Classification System of the People's Republic of China (2022 Edition) revised by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security this year, "family education instructor" has officially emerged as a new national occupation for the first time. Last year, "Family Education Instructor Curriculum Program" was issued in Shanghai Open University, with integrated design of public policy research, practical demand survey, professional course R&D, training organization implementation, assessment, evaluation and certification, exploring "Shanghai program" and "Shanghai model" of family education instructor training.
Driven by "double reduction" policy, Shanghai launched "full supervisor system" in primary and secondary schools in 2020, and improving scientific family education instruction ability of 180,000 kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers has become "rigid demand" of high-quality education in the new era. Relevant experts believe that the construction of scientific, systematic, standardized, regulated, authoritative and appropriate family education instruction courses is urgent, but teaching subjects, objects, courses, teaching organizations, learning effect evaluation and other aspects on the training market lack unified regulations and standards, and "family education instructors" of different regions, institutions and professional organizations vary in training quality, hence affecting learner experience, learning effect and industrial development. There are realistic demand and high expectation of curriculum program among grass-root schools and teachers.
As a result, according to the training target of "family education instructors", Shanghai Open University organized a group of professional teams to shape a structural curriculum program through the steps of public policy research, practical demand survey, professional course R&D, training evaluation and certification. Pursuant to overall planning and instructive opinions of the nation and Shanghai Municipality on boosting family education, Shanghai Open University organized experts to set forth Family Education Instructor Curriculum Program.
This program includes two parts of "general education module" and "study section module", with a total of 60 class hours. Each module stretches across curriculum theory teaching, practical skill training and practical operation of family education practice projects. In the meantime, it is subdivided as per study section, meeting different learning needs of learners.
Wang Bojun, Vice President of Shanghai Open University, told reporter that since the launch of family education instructor training work in July 2020, it has targeted at kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers in the education system, and cultivated 2,000+ junior family education instructors. They play an active role in schools and communities, perform family education instruction tasks, and gradually rise as a vital new force in the family education sector in Shanghai.
Beyond that, high-quality faculties guarantee the training quality. To this end, Shanghai Open University has established a "hundred-people faculty base", comprising leading experts, backbone teachers, grass-root practitioners and more. The team consists of not only gurus in the family education sector, distinguished professors from universities, but also frontline "Internet celebrity" teachers with profound practical experience and trainers active in the family education sector. In the meantime, "teacher teaching and research system" is also explored and built. Each course is led by senior expert, numerous trainers form a team, and courses have undergone collective discussion and repeated polishing, so as to ensure scientific, authoritative, professional and targeted course contents.
In the next step, Shanghai Open University will persistently explore the "hundred, thousand, ten thousand project" of family education instructor training: namely within five years, gather 200 famous family education experts at home and abroad; train 5,000 family education instructors (junior); recruit 10,000 family education volunteers. Strive to foster a professional family education instructor team for various schools, towns, village neighborhood committees and more at all levels, and provide talent assurance and intellectual support for the fast-growing family education in Shanghai.