Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province explores county-level kindergartens to comprehensively manage rural branches and promote urban-rural integration of preschool education
Kindergarten in front of the village's baby's house
Introduction
Ren Shuxiang's family has two children.
In the past, the eldest went to the old kindergarten in the village, with concrete floors, and the child had fallen and injured in the kindergarten.
"The second child entered the new kindergarten in the village, and the conditions are much better in all aspects." After speaking, Ren Shuxiang stepped on the plastic floor.
A row of old houses in the park has been converted into a rest area for parents, with sofas and chairs neatly arranged, and the children's laughter can be heard from the next classroom from time to time.
Ren Shuxiang is a villager in Yangzu Village, Yangcheng Town, Ruicheng County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province.
The original kindergarten in the village was called Yangzu Village Kindergarten, and now it is called Yangzu Branch Kindergarten of Tiaoshan Street Kindergarten in Ruicheng County.
It's not just the names that have changed.
10 years ago, Ruicheng County explored and implemented an urban-rural integrated kindergarten model in which county-level kindergartens run sub-kindergartens in rural areas and comprehensively manage weak rural kindergartens. preschool education.
Running pre-school education well and realizing early childhood education is a major decision-making arrangement made by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it is a major livelihood project for the party and the government to do practical things for the common people.
In November 2018, the "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform and Standardizing Development of Preschool Education" was issued, which proposed that "the county should formulate the layout plan of kindergartens, and effectively integrate the construction of inclusive kindergartens into urban and rural public management and public service facilities. The plan "vigorously develops preschool education in rural areas. In principle, each township will run at least one public center park, large villages will build parks independently or set up branch parks, and small villages will jointly run parks."
On April 26 this year, the Ministry of Education held a press conference on the "Ten Years of Education", which stated that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, preschool education has achieved leapfrog development and historic achievements. from 62.3% to 88.1% in 2021.
Continuous efforts have been made to promote the universal, inclusive, safe and high-quality development of pre-school education. The gross enrollment rate in Ruicheng County for the three years before school has reached 99.5%.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the National Rural Revitalization Bureau released the third batch of 21 typical cases of rural public services across the country, "Ruicheng, Shanxi: The urban-rural integrated school-running model makes up for the shortcomings of rural preschool education" on the list.
Not long ago, the reporter came to Ruicheng County, which is located at the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces and where the Yellow River turns to the east, to explore the road of urban-rural integration.
Explore new ways
County-level kindergartens set up branch schools in rural areas, and comprehensively manage weak rural kindergartens
Walking into the outdoor activity area of the Yangzu Branch of the Tiaoshan Street Kindergarten, some children are concentrating on drawing on the drawing board, and some children are grouped in two groups, making clay figurines with great interest.
The teacher stepped forward from time to time to help.
It is hard to believe that the kindergarten was on the verge of closing if it wasn't for the on-site visit.
Only separated by a wall is the former park of Yangzu Village Kindergarten: in a small courtyard, the trees block the sunlight.
In the classroom, which is less than 20 square meters, the paint on the walls has peeled off, and the pinyin, numbers and paintings left by the children can be vaguely seen.
"At present, there are 35 children in the Yangzu branch. In the past, the hardware conditions here were poor, and the teachers and education management level could not keep up. At least there were only more than 10 children." Liu Fengni, the director of the Tiaoshan Street Kindergarten, said.
More than 10 years ago in Ruicheng, rural kindergartens had poor facilities and insufficient teachers.
Since 2010, the county has tried to appoint business principals from the county-level kindergartens to join a number of rural kindergartens. The business principals are stationed in rural kindergartens for at least one week every month to participate in lesson preparation and teaching, and help improve teaching plans and teaching quality.
However, the effect was not satisfactory. Li Junli, the head of the Preschool Education Unit of the Ruicheng County Education Bureau at the time, said frankly: "Some assignments have gradually become a formality, and some teaching suggestions are difficult to implement."
"The main reason is that the system of running rural kindergartens has not been straightened out." Li Junli said, "In those rural kindergartens, some of the subjects running schools were village collectives and some individuals. Some rural kindergartens had insufficient funds for running schools and could not keep up with their management. In addition, some villages and towns had financial resources. Tight, insufficient investment in kindergartens, resulting in the level of running a kindergarten not improving."
Spot the crux and take precise measures.
In August 2012, Ruicheng County issued the "Opinions on Further Regulating the Management of Preschool Education", starting from the reform of the rural kindergarten-running system, through takeover, mergers and acquisitions, etc., to explore the implementation of county-directed kindergartens to set up branch schools in rural areas and comprehensive management. The urban-rural integrated gardening model of rural weak gardens.
According to the requirement that each county-directed kindergarten hosts 1-2 township kindergartens and 3-5 rural kindergartens, the 5 county-directed kindergartens in Ruicheng County have so far managed 20 rural kindergartens in 8 townships. 863 people at the time increased to 1508 people now.
Shen Yafen is a civil servant in Dawang Town and lives in Yuncheng City. She chose to send her child to the Dawang Center Kindergarten in Ruicheng County Kindergarten North Park in the town. "In terms of hardware facilities and teaching level, this place is no worse than the city."
Walking into Dawang Center Kindergarten, in the center of the teaching building hall, there is a maze built by children with waste plastic pipes.
In the classroom, there are brand-new desks and chairs, as well as a library area and a building block area, where many children's picture books and game props are placed.
"In terms of hardware conditions, teaching level, and management of the teaching staff, the county-directed garden manages the rural sub-gardens in accordance with integrated standards." Li Junli introduced that the principal of the county-directed garden also serves as the principal of the rural sub-garden, and is selected from the county-directed garden. Teachers with rich management experience and strong business ability will serve as the executive director of the branch, and are required to work in the rural branch for more than 3 years.
Make up for shortcomings
County-level parks and rural branch parks have integrated capital investment, integrated financial management, unified allocation of teachers, improved hardware, and standardized management
The wires in the park are messy, the road is a dirt road that has not yet hardened, the walls of the classroom are ash, the doors and windows are broken...
In August 2012, Jiao Shuixin was disappointed when he first arrived at the Ruicheng County Kindergarten North Kindergarten Ximo Central Park in Banqiao Village, Ximo Town as the executive director. Monthly rent."
In the following months, Jiao Shuixin transformed from a teacher in the North Kindergarten Kindergarten who studied teaching to an all-round principal: contacting the construction team to repair and remodel classrooms, contacting relevant departments to do electrical repairs, hardening the road in the park, etc.
Where does the construction funding come from?
Shang Yanxia, director of Ruicheng County Kindergarten North Kindergarten, introduced that daily meals and the purchase of game props, books and other expenses are uniformly invested by the county-directed kindergarten.
In terms of financial management, the fees charged by the rural branch parks are all included in the account of the county-directed park.
At the end of 2012, Ximo Central Park had a new look.
The renovated classroom is equipped with a brand-new multimedia teaching machine and various children's books and picture books.
In the park, the pavement has been hardened and leveled, and different game zones have been set up according to local conditions.
"The integrated investment and financial management of county-level kindergartens and rural branch kindergartens has largely changed the situation that rural kindergartens could not keep up with the previous investment." Jiao Shuixin said, "Since 2012, the county finance and county kindergartens have The park has successively invested more than 1.2 million yuan in special funds for us, which greatly improved the conditions of the Ximo Central Park.”
Not only strong hardware, but also excellent management.
Soon after taking office, Jiao Shuixin experienced a false alarm: after school one day, a parent came to pick up the child, and was told by the teacher that the child had been picked up by his aunt.
Contacted the child's aunt, but no one answered the phone and no one at home.
Teachers and parents were anxious to find the village until after 9:00 p.m. the child's aunt called and said that he was taking the child to play in the county town.
In response to the irregularity of the pick-up system, Jiao Shuixin, referring to the County Kindergarten North Park, established a pick-up and drop-off system of "pick-up card" and "registration + telephone confirmation": parents who pick up their children must hold a passport with photos of themselves and their children and keep their children's information. Pick-up card, other relatives and friends come to pick up temporarily, must be registered and confirmed by phone with the parents of the child on the spot.
Jiao Shuixin also found that some teachers left the garden from time to time after class, and some had to leave the get out of class early and find someone else to take care of it.
To this end, she has formulated the management method of "leaving the park halfway", strictly applying the leave reporting system; improved the "assessment and scoring" mechanism, and implemented performance appraisal in combination with the daily performance of faculty and staff and the situation of on-the-job teaching.
"Learning from the relevant management methods of the county garden, we have successively formulated 12 categories of system specifications such as safety management, job responsibilities, and performance appraisal." Jiao Shuixin said.
Jiao Shuixin has worked in Ximo Central Park for nearly 10 years, from serving as the executive director in 2012 to her retirement at the end of last year, and standardized management has always been the focus of her work.
"According to the requirements, the county-directed garden implements unified deployment management for urban and rural teachers. In addition to stipulating that the principal of the park is assigned to work in the rural branch for not less than 3 years, it also stipulates that ordinary teachers from the county-directed park work in the rural branch for not less than 1 year. The stability of the teaching team ensures the continuous improvement of the management and teaching level of rural kindergartens." said Li Haiyan, who took over as the executive director of Ximo Central Park at the end of last year, "taking over the baton, we will continue to strengthen hardware and strictly manage."
According to Xiao Jianhong, a member of the party group of the Ruicheng County Education Bureau, since 2012, the county-level kindergartens have dispatched more than 280 executive principals and teachers to the rural branches under integrated management.
change teaching
Implement gamified teaching, and the urban and rural curriculum models, teaching and research activities, and children's evaluation methods are basically the same, and improve the quality of rural kindergarten care and education
In the past, Chen Yinpeng, a teacher in Ximo Central Park, mainly taught children to read, recite ancient poems, and sing nursery rhymes.
Now, she mainly teaches children to play.
Play and teach?
Walking into the children's classroom, the reporter explored the truth of game teaching.
In the "sand water area" outside the kindergarten classroom, an area of about 20 square meters is filled with about 30 centimeters of sand and soft soil.
With shovels in hand, the children played sand digging games in pairs.
Some want to build a castle with sand, and some want to dig a maze. Coco, a 6-year-old child, has a unique idea: "Yesterday, I went to Dayudu with my parents and saw the long and long Yellow River. I will dig one today." Yellow River'!"
"Are you digging by yourself? When will you dig?" Seeing that Coco was a little shy, Chen Yinpeng guided him, "Do you need to call some friends?"
Coco called three more friends, and soon dug a meandering "river" more than two meters long, painted "farmland" beside the "river", and built a "house" with sand.
Then, the little "manly" Xuan Xuan and Bei Bei took the buckets to the faucet next to them to get water, and ran back and forth several times. The clothes on their chests got wet, but there was still not much water in the "river".
"If you encounter difficulties, you have to think of ways. Let's take a look around. Is there a better way?" After listening to Chen Yinpeng's words, Xuanxuan and Beibei walked around the sandy area and found that there was a stick in the cabinet under the faucet. With a long hose, I connected the hose to the faucet, and the "Yellow River water" in the river immediately flowed.
"I'm willing to use my brain and solve the problem independently. It's awesome!" Chen Yinpeng gave Xuanxuan and Beibei an encouraging applause.
The confidence of the two children increased, "Tomorrow we will dig a 'ji' bend in the Yellow River."
"Gamification teaching is to cultivate children's spirit of unity and cooperation and problem-solving ability by means of entertaining and entertaining." Chen Yinpeng said, "Different from traditional lectures in class, we accompany children to participate in games in the process of observing, Record their performance, analyze their psychological activities and character traits, and help them think independently, solve problems, and develop character building in situational teaching.”
"Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform and Standardizing Development of Preschool Education" pointed out: "Insist on taking games as the basic activities, cherish the unique value of children's play activities, protect children's curiosity and interest in learning, respect individual differences, encourage and support children to pass Close to nature, direct perception, practical operation, personal experience and other ways to learn and explore, and promote the happy and healthy growth of children.”
Gamification teaching promotes the happy and healthy growth of children. Chen Yinpeng learned from the county-level garden.
"Referring to the school schedule in the county-directed kindergarten, we ensure that children have two hours of outdoor play activities and one to 1.5 hours of indoor play activities every day, changing the teaching arrangement of rural kindergartens in the past." Li Haiyan introduced that in recent years, Ruicheng The county implements the teaching reform of "playing as the basic activity". Under the urban-rural integrated preschool education model, the county-level kindergartens provide demonstration and guidance, and all rural kindergartens advance simultaneously.
Regarding how to carry out gamification teaching, Chen Yinpeng admitted that he had no idea at first.
In addition to the teaching and research activities in this kindergarten, she and her colleagues will regularly participate in the teaching and research activities organized by the County Kindergarten North Kindergarten to discuss and exchange problems in the practice of childcare and education.
Chen Yinpeng was deeply impressed by participating in a teaching seminar on roller games for kindergarten large classes held by the County Kindergarten North Park.
In the instructional video, the children were taken to the roller activity area in groups of three or five, where a dozen rollers with a diameter of about 50 centimeters were placed.
From lying on the roller, to slowly squatting on it, to standing on it and starting to move slowly, the game design goal is gradual.
Some daring children stood up and walked directly, almost falling, while others squatted on the rollers, showing embarrassment, and dared not move.
Teachers stand by and teach others, reminding them to take a step by step, or encouraging them to face and overcome difficulties bravely.
"Game teaching is not completely free for children to play, nor is it highly controlled. Teachers should observe carefully and intervene in a timely manner when children may encounter difficulties, games may stagnate, or safety problems may arise." Chen Yinpeng said that through repeated discussions , everyone gradually deepened their understanding.
"At the end of each month, we will carry out teaching and research activities with 5 rural kindergarten teachers under integrated management around specific themes and curriculum settings." Shang Yanxia said that the county also cooperates with normal colleges and universities inside and outside the province, and the other side sends experts Regularly go to county-level gardens and rural kindergartens to carry out teaching guidance, seminars and exchanges.
The way children are evaluated is also changing.
"In the past, children were taught pinyin, literacy, and ancient poems, and the children in the large class in kindergarten would also take exams, and there was a tendency to 'primary school' teaching; now we refer to the teaching evaluation method of the county-level garden, and focus more on cultivating and examining children in situational teaching. The ability of independent thinking and problem solving.” Li Haiyan said, “For example, we will also teach pinyin, but it is more to guide children to make handmade works in the shape of letters, which not only exercise their hands-on ability, but also help them easily remember the letter. "
Wu Ruixiao, deputy head of Ruicheng County, introduced that in recent years, in accordance with the requirements of urban-rural integration of preschool education, Ruicheng County has basically implemented the same urban and rural curriculum model, basically the same class schedule, basically the same teaching and research activities, and basically the same way of evaluating children. , The "Five Basic Consistencies" that the weekly recipes are basically the same, promote the integrated management of urban and rural care and education, and improve the quality of rural kindergarten care and education.
"It's time to eat, it's time to eat!" At lunch time, the children were led by Chen Yinpeng to the kindergarten canteen. Xuanxuan and Beibei held up their bowls and showed the reporters, "Boiled noodles with shredded pork, seaweed egg drop soup, and Xiao Fang Mo. , croissants, we love to eat." On the wall of the cafeteria, the weekly meal recipes are posted.
Chen Yinpeng said: "Referring to the meal recipes of the county Zhiyuan, we mix meat and vegetables with each meal, and the nutrition is balanced, so that children can eat well."
cohesion
Continue to carry out activities such as parents' entry experience and parent-child interaction, take multiple measures to stabilize the teaching team, and promote the formation of multi-party joint efforts
"What should I do if I play games most of the day, and my child can't keep up with primary school?" The child Pippi was studying in the kindergarten of the Dawang Center of Ruicheng County Kindergarten North Park. After learning about the child's daily lessons, Xie Jin, a resident of Dawang Town, was a little puzzled at first.
A parent-child interaction into the campus activity made Xie Jin change his concept: when he walked into the Dawang Center Kindergarten, he saw discarded beer bottles being built upside down into the path in the park, which was quite artistic; on the roadside, a packaging bag with the word "chemical fertilizer" was stuffed into it. The cotton cloth becomes the sandbags stacked by the children when they play outdoor games; in the corridor of the teaching building, the baskets of corn cobs have become various handicrafts under the children's creation.
The apple orchards, fruit cold storages, and agricultural plantations around the kindergarten have also become classrooms for children, where they conduct outdoor practice activities every month.
"Integrated management is not 'one size fits all'. We make full use of local resources, set up courses and dress up the environment according to local conditions, and form the teaching characteristics of rural kindergartens." said Li Hongyan, executive director of Dawang Center Kindergarten.
In the parent-child interaction class, Pippi's performance also surprised Xie Jin.
Pippi cooperated with his father to make handicrafts. He offered to make a "Shenzhou 13 manned spaceship": fold cardboard into a rocket launch base, use plastic beverage bottles as arrow bodies, and roll cardboard into a tube as auxiliary materials. pusher.
Xie Jin started fighting while listening to Pippi talk about the space in his mind.
After the handmade work was completed, Pippi also took out a watercolor pen and drew a picture of the Tiangong Space Station on the white cardboard, which is the "background wall" displayed behind the handmade work.
"I want to be an astronaut in the future too!" Pippi expressed his dream when showing his work to the teacher and other classmates.
"Although they didn't learn many primary school courses, the children's curiosity, interest in learning and hands-on ability have been exercised." Xie Jin said.
"In recent years, with reference to the experience of the county-level kindergartens, we have continued to carry out activities such as parent-entry experience and parent-child interaction in rural kindergartens to help parents understand the laws of children's physical and mental development and learning characteristics." said Jiao Longsheng, director of Ruicheng County Education Bureau, " Through the activities, parents' recognition of the kindergarten teaching and management model has been enhanced, a good family atmosphere has been created for children's growth, and the formation of a rural preschool education ecosystem jointly built by kindergartens, families and society has been promoted."
Multi-party construction, the teaching staff more stable.
"Working in the village is far away from home. The county has allocated special funds. We can receive transportation subsidies every month, and the performance salary is higher than when working in the county garden." Li Haiyan said.
The "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform and Standardizing Development of Preschool Education" requires that "all localities should promptly supplement the teaching staff of public parks".
Yang Dan, a teacher from the Ximo Central Kindergarten in Ruicheng County Kindergarten North Kindergarten, joined the job in August 2019. He passed the rural kindergarten teacher recruitment examination organized by the county that year and became a rural kindergarten teacher in preparation. "In recent years, the annual career The unit is openly recruiting, and the county will set up establishments and positions for teachers in the county-level garden and our rural kindergarten." Yang Dan said.
Jiao Longsheng introduced that in recent years, Ruicheng County has allocated special transportation subsidies for the teachers of the county-level kindergartens who work in the rural kindergartens; it is clearly required that the county-level kindergartens are inclined to the teachers in the rural kindergartens in terms of salaries and other aspects; establish a normalization mechanism for teachers to join the staff, 2014 A total of 189 kindergarten teachers have been recruited since the beginning of the year, of which 55 are rural kindergarten teachers.
What makes Jiao Longsheng gratified is that "many rural parents have changed their preschool education concept, no longer oppose kindergartens to carry out game courses, and actively support kindergartens to collect waste tires, cartons, bottles and other game materials, make toys for children, and support children at home. , to carry out game activities in the garden.”
Our reporter Qiao Dong