Enhancing the sustainability of inclusive preschool education (new perspective)
During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, my country's preschool education has achieved leapfrog development.
Data from the Ministry of Education shows that in 2020, the gross enrollment rate in the three years before school will reach 85.2%, and the coverage rate of inclusive kindergartens will reach 84.74%, an increase of 17.5 percentage points from 2016.
The problems of "difficulty in entering a kindergarten" and "expensive entrance" have been effectively alleviated, and more and more families have benefited from it.
In the next step, how can preschool education get better and better?
A few days ago, the reporter interviewed Liu Yan, a professor in the Faculty of Education of Beijing Normal University.
Reporter: At present, what challenges are facing the development of inclusive preschool education?
Liu Yan: After the problems of "difficulty in entering kindergartens" and "expensive entry into kindergartens" have been effectively alleviated, inclusive preschool education faces three main challenges:
First, the rapid growth in the number of inclusive kindergartens, especially public kindergartens, has put pressure on some local governments and made it more difficult to guarantee follow-up funds.
The second is that some inclusive private parks have a poor foundation, and the "price limit" policy restricts the source of funding, which may further reduce the quality of education.
Third, most kindergarten teachers, including non-edited teachers in public kindergartens and inclusive private kindergarten teachers, have low incomes, which affects the source of teachers, professional quality and team stability.
Reporter: What are the biggest difficulties facing public parks and inclusive private parks?
Liu Yan: The biggest difficulty facing public kindergartens is that many kindergarten teachers are not staffed, and the “equal work is not paid for the same work” for teachers and non-service teachers, which affects the stability and quality of the preschool teacher team.
The difficulties of inclusive private parks are mainly manifested in the poor original foundation and low quality of education.
If only "price limit" is not given effective support, the quality of education in these kindergartens will be further reduced.
After three pre-school education action plans, the problem of "difficulty in entering kindergarten" has been basically solved, and the main problem now is "difficulty in getting a good kindergarten."
At present, it cannot be solved entirely by expanding the number and scale of public kindergartens. We should take practical and effective measures to help inclusive private kindergartens improve the quality of education.
Reporter: Do you have any suggestions for realizing the sustainable development of inclusive preschool education?
Liu Yan: First of all, we must coordinate the integrated development of public parks and inclusive private parks.
Establish a fiscal investment system that treats public parks and inclusive private parks equally.
It is recommended to use the county as a unit to calculate and determine the average cost of inclusive kindergarten students, and to formulate a unified standard for the average cost of preschool education students to share with the family and the government, so as to reflect the fairness of educational financial investment.
Secondly, government funding should be used first to increase the income of kindergarten teachers.
It is recommended to establish a unified standard inclusive salary guarantee system for kindergarten teachers.
Third, improve the financial subsidy and fund use supervision system for inclusive private kindergartens.
While implementing the "price-limiting strategy" for inclusive private kindergartens, government subsidies and kindergarten fees cannot be lower than the actual cost of running kindergartens.
Fourth, in order to ensure the sustainable development of inclusive preschool education and allow more children and families to enjoy fair and quality preschool education, inclusive preschool education should be included in the scope of basic public services.
Reporter: What suggestions do you have for improving the quality of kindergarten childcare education?
Liu Yan: Only with high-quality teachers will there be high-quality education.
It is necessary to improve the social status and treatment of preschool teachers, so that more outstanding students are willing to apply for preschool education majors and devote themselves to preschool education.
At the same time, we must improve the quality of pre-service and post-service education for kindergarten teachers, and create a team of kindergarten teachers who understand professionalism, love learning, and have lifelong learning awareness and ability.
Our reporter Zhang Shuo