Facing the "double reduction", where does the school's "confidence" come from
【News Investigation·Follow Students' Double Burden 5】
A message popped up in Liu Xicong's cell phone.
"Many extracurricular trainings in the city have been cancelled. I want to send my child back to study. But in this way, will he lose miserably?"
Faced with the doubts of the parents, Liu Xicong responded with four words: "Don't worry."
Liu Xicong is a rural school teacher.
The Primary School in Pingkou Town, Anhua County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province, where he is located, is one of the largest rural primary schools in the reservoir area in Hunan Province. More than 2,000 children are studying here.
Although in recent years, parents have occasionally raised this idea to Liu Xicong, but there have been more similar consultations recently.
With the announcement of the "double reduction" opinions, the subject-based extracurricular training classes stepped on the "brake". As the main learning school, it has increasingly become an important support for parents and children.
In the face of the concerns of all parties, how should schools deal with the challenges brought about by the "double reduction"?
Where does the confidence of "rest assured" come from?
The rural campus can also be very exciting after 3:30 in the afternoon
The "double reduction" opinion was screened in Liu Xicong's circle of friends on the day it was released.
He heaved a sigh of relief, "Reducing the burden on the students has indeed reached the point where it has to be reduced."
One of his relatives, the couple worked as cleaners and taxi drivers in the city. The expenses for extracurricular tutoring for their two children exceeded 3,000 yuan per month, and the couple was miserable.
This is not an isolated case.
As a special post teacher, Liu Xicong has taught in Yiyang, Hunan and Weining, Guizhou.
He observed that over the years, many parents working outside the country chose to take their children out of the countryside to go to school in the city.
And the dazzling extracurricular training classes there make these parents who are not highly educated suffer from the dual pressure of mental and financial: the cost is high and they don’t know how to choose; if they don’t, they are afraid that the gap with other children will widen. Big.
"It's just that there is an effect. In many cases, the results of tutoring are often counterproductive." Liu Xicong said.
This sentence expresses the aspirations of many education practitioners.
Liu Xiya, the principal of Xiejiawan Primary School in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, has always believed that "the children are too wronged."
"School teachers have their own teaching rhythm in the classroom, while extracurricular training is completely another set. Training institutions often only cater to the needs of further studies. It is eager for quick success and instant benefit by engaging in knowledge indoctrination, tactics, and advanced learning. When children need to face each other at the same time For two rhythms, two sets of standards, how can the original laws and rhythms of learning not be disrupted? How can the ecology of education not be violated?" she said.
In Liu Xiya's view, the focus of education has returned to school. "From another perspective, it has returned to the proper laws of education, which also made the school and teachers breathe a sigh of relief."
After-school services have been carried out in Xiejiawan Primary School for several years.
The children choose their own school time according to the long time at home.
Liu Xiya said: “Each child accepts new knowledge at different speeds. After class in the afternoon, the teacher will strengthen and consolidate it according to his own situation. Of course, more children will be on campus. All interest groups fully enjoy their childhood."
The campus life after 3:30 is just as exciting in the countryside.
"As the state's support continues to increase, rural schools are also constantly progressing and developing. In recent years, I have become more and more confident to tell parents that without extracurricular tutoring, schools will definitely teach children well and even more effectively. "Liu Xicong said.
The complete primary school in Pingkou Town has formed a relatively complete on-campus after-school service.
There are two types of services, one is in-class tutoring, and the other is interest courses.
Among them, interest courses are more popular among children.
In addition to common courses such as calligraphy and football, the more "niche" Hulusi and Guzheng courses have also appeared in the optional courses.
With the enhancement of after-school services, Liu Xicong will face different faces every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, tutoring students in math and composition.
"Working hours have become longer, but if you ask if the pressure will increase, I don't think it is too big." He said, "The time spent with children is the happiest and most relaxing time."
Teachers have to work harder to reduce the burden on the children
Zhang Yixiang, a physics teacher in the Experimental Middle School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, almost always trots to the cafeteria to buy lunch every day.
The students came to the office with all sorts of strange questions before they were finished.
But he enjoyed the process very much.
Because in this process, he can feel the students' love for physics, and inspiration and creativity are constantly bursting out in the exchanges between teachers and students.
The "double reduction" opinion pointed out that the main position of school education should be strengthened, and the quality of education and teaching should be vigorously improved to ensure that students learn well in school.
This means that the time at school, especially the golden 45 minutes in class, is crucial.
To reduce the burden on the children, the teachers really have to work hard.
How to grasp the time in school, improve the quality of classroom teaching, and let students master various knowledge points easily and completely is what Zhang Yixiang thinks most often.
In an experimental class, after repeated comparisons, a classmate said excitedly: "Mr. Zhang, it turns out that friction really has nothing to do with speed!" This made Zhang Yixiang realize that in the past, teachers were designing and asking questions. At times, they are often in the "God's perspective" of omniscience and omnipotence.
Only by starting from the children's age and cognitive stage to understand the problem, through bold assumptions, verification, practice, analysis, and summary, can students keep the knowledge points in the textbook in their hearts.
Now, in his class, students cannot see the "full house" PPT, nor can they hear too absolute judgments.
Everything is in accordance with the requirements of the syllabus and flexible "arrangements" according to the actual situation of the students.
"My course focuses on the process of inquiry, guiding children to discover problems by themselves through phenomena, and then choosing experimental equipment and design schemes independently, and infiltrating research methods into practice." Zhang Yixiang said, "Let students have a complete process of independent thinking. It’s more effective than others telling him about knowledge."
This process is not only a learning process for students, but also a reflection process for teachers.
Liu Xiya also believes that reducing the burden on students means that teachers need to spend more time preparing lessons and continuously improving the quality of class and homework.
This requires teachers to maintain long-term observation of students, carefully select every question, every case, and every text. Only by spending time to grind can they gain accuracy and effectiveness.
Now, the teachers of Xiejiawan Primary School are seizing the time to prepare lessons, discuss exchanges, study teaching plans and handouts in the office every day to prepare for the new semester.
"A class only talks about one point of knowledge, but it must be in-depth and thorough." This is the "creed" of Huang Hong, a Chinese teacher and head teacher of the No. 3 Primary School of Xi'an High-tech Primary School, Shaanxi.
"For example, in this class, I specialize in'action description'." Nearly 20 years of front-line teaching experience, coupled with her dual identity as a mother and teacher, made her pay more attention to the importance of companionship and common progress in addition to student achievement. .
According to Huang Hong, after reducing the burden, the children’s homework has been reduced a lot, and even the composition can be basically completed at school. “This is actually very demanding for the quality of homework after class.”
To this end, she developed a reading plan for the children, carefully selecting and reading a book with students every week, writing together, and sharing reading experiences.
Bit by bit, all of them were recorded in her official account.
"I am helping them grow, and they are also helping me grow." Huang Hong wrote in an article on the public account.
Burden reduction continues to deepen, and higher requirements are placed on schools
"After the'double reduction', how to further enrich the teaching staff on campus is the concern of many principals." This is the conclusion drawn by Qi Zhanyong, a professor at the School of Education of Shaanxi Normal University.
From April to June 2021, as a member of Shaanxi Normal University's "Hundred Schools" Western Basic Education Service Matchmaking Event, he conducted research on the basic education situation in western provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in my country.
Liu Xiya introduced that even in a prestigious local school like Xiejiawan Primary School, where the teacher-student ratio reaches 1:14, the school will cooperate with some off-campus football clubs, bands and other social forces to enrich students' campus life.
This is especially true in remote areas.
According to Wang Guoguang, the principal of Shuichang Township Central School in Shidian County, Baoshan, Yunnan, the education group he belongs to has both a primary school with more than 680 students and a primary school with only more than 30 students.
The latter is based on the standard 1:19 teacher-student ratio, and the number of teachers is only single digits. It is often necessary to integrate the teachers of neighboring kindergartens in order to barely make the children's campus life no longer monotonous.
The principals represented by Wang Guoguang hope that through policy guidance and salary enhancement, more "fresh blood" will flow to the countryside, and teachers there will have a sense of acquisition and belonging.
"In some places, the structural shortage of teachers is more serious. To enrich campus life, it depends on more teachers becoming'all-round teachers'." Qi Zhanyong said frankly, "In addition, as the burden reduction continues to deepen, the education direction of the entire school In fact, higher requirements have been put forward in terms of curriculum settings, teacher ratios, and safeguard measures."
When education returns to its growth, and when the pace of education that has been impacted by extracurricular training returns to its normal pace, how should primary and secondary schools better shoulder their responsibilities?
The principal and teachers started a new round of thinking--
"Continue to move towards the small class system." Liu Xiya believes that the class teaching from "big and comprehensive" to "small and refined" can better realize the close interaction and communication between teachers and students, and truly take each student as the basis. This book, let the classroom glow with vitality of life.
"Enhance children's cognition of vocational education." Wang Guoguang said that in the past, this was almost a blind spot.
However, in the future, facing the "blue ocean" of building a skill-based society, it is necessary for children to recognize and understand vocational skills during the compulsory education stage, and encourage them to develop a different and wonderful life.
"Reduce the non-teaching burden of front-line teachers." Liu Xicong said that teachers should not be caught by all kinds of irrelevant matters such as filling in forms and appraisals, but should devote more energy to enriching and improving their own skills and qualities, and improving their teaching and educating skills. Ability and level.
Facing all the big things and small things, the school needs to make unremitting efforts. The teachers pay more and call for deeper reforms and more comprehensive support.
"The'double reduction' is a good start. Only when the entire supporting measures are kept up, including the more scientific and perfection of the admission system, can we truly be sure that children can enjoy a complete and happy childhood. I believe this is also true. The direction of national policy guidelines and the joint efforts of all sectors of society." Qi Zhanyong said.
(Reporter Liu Meng)