The first national education conference in the new era was held in 2018 when reform and opening up saw its 40th anniversary. The education community has thoroughly studied and implemented the spirit of the conference, systematically reviewed the achievements and experience of 40 years of reform and development in the education field, continued to explore the frontier and highly debated issues in the field of education, and produced a number of new educational theoretical results.

1 General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Statement on Education Has Developed and Enriched the Theoretical System of Socialist Education with Chinese Characteristics

On September 10, 2018, the CPC Central Committee held the first national education conference in the new era. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important speech, which summed up the achievements and experience of the education reform and development since the 18th CPC National Congress, systematically expounded the development law of socialist education with Chinese characteristics, and further developed the theoretical system of socialist education with Chinese characteristics.

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    The important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping on education is a major innovation in the theoretical system of socialist education with Chinese characteristics.

Since the reform and opening up, socialist education with Chinese characteristics has taken shape and continuously evolved. The most important theoretical achievement of the first national education conference in the new era was using the “Nine Upholds” to summarize the new philosophies, new ideas and new strategies of the Party Central Committee’s reform, as well as the development of education since the 18th CPC National Congress. “Nine Insistence” refers to upholding the party’s comprehensive leadership over education cause, taking strengthening moral education and cultivating people as a fundamental task, giving priority to the development of education, adhering to the direction of running socialist schools, adhering to develop education based on China’s reality, upholding people-centered education, deepening education reform and innovation, taking serving the rejuvenation of Chinese nation as an important mission of education, and taking teaching staff as basic work. These constitute the pillars of General Secretary Xi Jinping vision for education, which indicates that our party’s understanding of the laws of education has reached a new height (Sun 2018a, b). In addition, it marks a new milestone in the history of education in our country (Chen 2018) and started a new journey in the development of socialist education with Chinese characteristics. It is the latest achievement of scientific socialist education theory (Cui 2018). It not only inherits the basic principles of Marxist educational thoughts, but also enriches and develops scientific socialist educational theories, and blazes a trail of socialist educational theories with Chinese characteristics (Cui 2018).

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    The Important Statement of General Secretary Xi Jinping on Education is an Ideological System with Rich Connotation

The important statement of General Secretary Xi Jinping on education is a theoretical system of socialist education with Chinese characteristics in the new era containing rich, extensive and profound connotations. It systematically explains the essential characteristics, functional positioning, strategic goals, fundamental tasks, development laws, education model, source of power, supporting power, governance system and other major issues (Cui 2018). Strengthening the party’s overall leadership over education is the fundamental guarantee for developing education in a positive direction (Wang 2018a, b). The concept of strengthening moral education and cultivating people, building an education system that comprehensively fosters the students’ all-round moral code, pairing intellectual and physical and aesthetic grounding with a hard-working spirit, and finally cultivating talents in the new era—these all grasp the essence of education modernization. It reflects the accurate grasp of the rules of a socialist school program, the law of teaching and educating people, and the law of student growth (Zeng 2018). Prioritizing the development of education is a primary move to promote the development of various undertakings of the party and the state. Adhering to the direction of running a socialist school systematically answers the fundamental questions of who this education is meant to train and training methodology. Developing education in accordance with China’s reality shows the firm confidence of developing education according to our vision. The development of education centered on the people not only profoundly clarifies the socialist nature of education in China, but also shows China’s education is people-oriented (Sun 2018a, b). Deepening education reform and innovation not only shows that education reform is a powerful driving force for the development of education undertakings but also conveys the great determination to deepen the reform of the education system. Serving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is an important mission of education, as it emphasizes the realization of the two centenary goals, as well as promoting the fact that the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation depends on talents and education (Sun 2018a, b). Looking at teaching teams as the basic work shows that teachers are the primary resources of education (Zhang 2018a, b, c, d, e).

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    The Important Statement of General Secretary Xi Jinping on Education is the Fundamental Observance of Education Reform and Development in the New Era

The important statement of President Xi Jinping on education is a component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the fundamental observance of education reform and development in the new era (Tian 2018). In implementing the fundamental tasks of strengthening moral education and cultivating people and fostering socialist builders and successors, it is necessary to proceed onwards from the physical and mental characteristics of students and the ideological reality. One needs to improve delivery mechanisms, and bring Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics into the class and be known to students (Sun 2018a, b). From the perspective of improving the quality of the entire nation, the plan places physical education in the school in a more important position, strengthens students’ physical exercise, strives to cultivate students’ sports interests and sports habits, resulting in a strong and determined individual (Zhu 2018).. To develop labor education in the new era, we must be determined to adjust and reform the curriculum structure and use top-level policies to ensure practical results (Xu 2018). In further developing comprehensive education reform, we must accelerate reforms in key areas and links to lay the foundation for advancing education modernization. We must highlight quality education evaluation, and resolutely overcome the fundamental problem of only putting importance on exam results, degrees, thesis and titles. Leading educational institutions should put the focus of school management on fostering people. We will improve the Double First-class initiative and dynamic adjustment mechanism, and improve the level of talent cultivation, innovation, and service contribution. In accordance with the country’s future development and industrial transformation, we will timely reform and adjust disciplines in universities. We will integrate positive forces to carry out collaborative innovation and long-term research, which will ultimately provide support for technological innovation (Sun 2018a, b). In implementing the prioritized development strategy of education and optimizing the allocation of resources, we will promote the implementation of the responsibility of prioritizing the development of education, improve the funding mechanism for education, and prioritize education and financial investment in the economic and social development plan. Furthermore, we will give priority to guaranteeing education investment and the allocation of public resources to meet the needs of education and human resource development. We will further adjust and optimize the structure of education expenditures, continue to increase investment in education and teaching reform, and comprehensively improve the efficiency of the use of educational funds (Zeng 2018). To develop education in correspondence with China’s reality, we should not only learn from the useful practices and experiences of other countries, but also take into consideration Chinese history, study China’s national conditions, and serve China’s national needs (Ge 2018).

2 Exploring the Logic of Educational Reform and Development in the 40 years of Reform and Opening-up

The year 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up. Reviewing 40 years of education reform and development and clarifying the logic of education reform and development over the past 40 years, education researchers have provided ideas by conducting research, reflecting strong collective awareness and academic consciousness.

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    Resolving the Issue of Access to Education by Focusing on the Word “Greatness” and Improving Popularization

China’s education has seen great changes. This change is represented by the substantial increase in the gross enrollment rate of all types of education at all levels, the significant increase in the level of popularization and the number of years of schooling per ca pita. This addresses the issue of access to education. In general, education has seen “four major shifts”. These are the strategic position shifting from strategic focus to priority development, the development focus shifting from scale to quality improvement, the function shifting from society-centered to people-oriented, and the development mode shifting from copy-and-imitation to independent exploration (Zhong 2018). This means that China’s education has progressed to a new level of quality education. In terms of all levels and types of education, an inclusive public service system that highlights public welfare has been initially established at the preschool education level (Yu and Zhang 2018). Compulsory education has been universally popularized, entering a new stage of balanced development and integration of urban and rural areas. The enrollment rate of basic education at all levels has reached the average level of middle- and upper-income countries in the same period (Zhang 2018a, b, c, d, e). The efficient and fair development of basic education can be attributed to the top priority given to compulsory education (Yuan and Liu 2018). Higher education policy development contained four stages: preliminary construction centered on comprehensive reconstruction, standardized development with a focus on structural optimization, prosperous development driven by scale expansion and focusing on connotation construction (Qi and Li 2018). Vocational education has been vigorously developed, with secondary and higher vocational education occupying half of secondary education and higher education respectively. In the past, the teacher education system was closed and training and fostering were separate. Now it becomes the open and integrated system. The teacher education model has gradually diversified, and the management system has changed from plan-oriented to standard-oriented (Qu and Yu 2018).

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    Pushing Education Reform to “Deep Water Zone”

The history of 40-year educational development is also a history of educational reform. Major progress has been made in reforming the personnel training system, examination methods and enrollment system, modern school system, school administration system, education management system, the rule of education law, and the opening up of education. The reform of the education investment system has also formed an education funding input system that focuses on government investment and multi-channel investment in line with the nature of education services and national conditions (Wang and Zhao 2018) From a wide logical perspective, these reforms can be described as the rational allocation and competition of interests between different levels of government and their departments, between governments and schools, social organizations, markets, and school leaders, teachers, and parents. It is a process that begins from rebuilding the education order and then breaking the regulation, empowerment through the rule of law, and promoting co-governance through negotiation. This process seeks moderate tension among different educational interests, stimulates their vitality, and that transitions from regulation to empowerment (Fan and Sun 2018) Since then, education reform has entered the deep water zone. The difficulty is that it is reform after the establishment of the basic framework of its own body, and the reform after the pursuit of high-quality development in education (Deng 2018). The reform of the “deep water zone” should be applied in areas such as improving the implementation of the system of moral education, promoting reform on the school-running system and education management, improving education’s ability to serve economic and social development, and expanding education openness.

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    Developing World-class Modern Education with Chinese Characteristics

In the new era, the main theme of education is developing world-class modern education with Chinese characteristics, building a strong education power, accelerating educational modernization, and providing satisfying education. With the new methodology, the institutionalized, systematic, and standardized school education system and its functions have undergone revolutionary changes. They call for a new education system and education governance mechanism (Fan and Sun 2018). For example, talent training should fully and correctly utilize information technology to cultivate talents with ideals and belief, innovative thinking, courage and dedication. It should furthermore contain development across the board and personality development (Gu 2018). The focus of compulsory education reform and development should be gradually shifted to the development of special features; national projects that have developed special characteristics of compulsory education should be strengthened (Fan and Song 2018). At the same time, we must persist in opening up to promote reform and development, and push China’s basic education toward the world stage through reform and going global too (Yuan and Liu 2018). The development of higher education policies requires a coordinated and unified mechanism, as well as a sufficiently rich and diverse value orientation. The process guarantees continuous to make new policy tools, and policy discourse strengthens public participation (Qi and Li 2018). The reform of education funding input should use the system to regulate government education investment and non-compulsory education tuition income and strengthen private education and social donation incentives (Wang and Zhao 2018). The development of the rule of law in education should further strengthen the value of the rule of law in education, and it should be implemented through legislation, law enforcement, justice, and law compliance to ensure the comprehensive promotion of the modernization of the rule of education (Shen et al. 2018).

3 Fostering Students’ Values Guided by Core Socialist Values

The cultivation of values is the first priority in education. Fostering character and civic virtue is the fundamental task of education. Cultivating students’ core values of socialism is one of the most important components of this fundamental task. The academic field continues to pay attention to the issue of value education, and profoundly focuses on the era characteristics and requirements, fundamental directions and foundations and school education paths.

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    Value Education Faces the Dual Challenges of Diversity and Complexity

The values of the times are the background and starting point of value education at school. Diversity and complexity are words commonly used to summarize the characteristics of the values of the times. “Our social environment is showing a diverse and complicated situation.” (Zhang 2018a, b, c, d, e) The development of new media has exacerbated the epochal characteristics of such plural values. New media technology, such as the mobile internet, is a fundamental feature that not only changes the way individuals communicate with each other but also accelerates the formation of coexistence in the overall diversity of the social environment. In light of university students, the “decentralization” and “fragmentation” of the new media not only dispels the recognition of their socialist core values but also blurs their value judgment (He 2018). It can be said that the values of this generation of students is diversified and interwoven with each other.

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    Values education needs to be dominated by pluralism and neutrality

The coexistence of values comes as a result of social development and individual thought development. However, excessively diversified values will restrict the individual value identity and hinder the integration of social values. Therefore, in values education, a commonly used and effective method is to identify a leading one among the various values. The leading content is the core values of socialism, the orientation, guidance and leadership of strengthening core values in value education (Lin 2018). The dominant character and abilities mainly include valuable judgments, social responsibility, and social emotion. Value judgment determines value choice and action. The real task of value education is to improve the value judgment ability of students. The core of value education is grasped when the improvement of value judgment ability is handled (Gao 2018a, b, c). Social responsibility is a core attribute in the development of young people’s values. It is necessary to attach great importance to the influence of family, as well as emphasizing a student’s own experience, and developing and practice of core socialist values (Su 2018). The improvement of social-emotional ability can realize the social construction of students, which can ultimately promote the healthy operation of society (Du and Mao 2018) The emotion of shame also has significant educational values. It can provide motivation for education, and education itself is a way to deal with shame (Gao 2018a, b, c). On the leading mechanism, the first is to realize the sublimation from individual moral consciousness to the common ideal through cultural identity (Song and Niu 2018). The second is to emphasize the mutual relationship between moral emotion and value (Wang 2018a, b). The third is to establish the overall ethics pattern (Sun 2018a, b). In addition, the complex living world also requires education for “baseline values” (Yu and Gao 2018).

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    Strengthening School Exploration by Following the Rules

Education ultimately takes place in the school, so does value education. Based on reviewing the past exploration by schools, research has increasingly emphasized that values education must be compliant with the laws of education and the principles of values education. The core socialist values are a structured ideological system, and the core values of socialism should lead to the integration of moral education. In light of the education path, more emphasis is placed on the construction of school culture, the modernization of school systems, the transformation of teaching methods, and the deepening of teacher–student interaction (Yang 2018). From the perspective of the implementation strategy, more emphasis is given to the “connection point” of content, the “access point” in time, and the “growth point” of morality (Feng and Wei 2018). In particular, “dimensional consciousness” should be strengthened, and the relevant values should be aligned with the three dimensions. These are the state, society and citizens. It should be pointed out that at the 2018 session of The Chinese Society of Education’s Young and Middle-aged Theoretical Workers, many scholars paid attention to the value improvement of schools themselves, believing that today schools should realize the shift from management to governance in value education (Chen and Zeng 2018).

4 Building School Life for Children

Children are both participants and constructors in school education. School education is not only a means for achieving a better future for children but also an important part of a better life for children in the present. An in-depth understanding of children and their lives is of great significance for the construction of current school life.

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    Recognizing Children as Children

In modern society, children occupy a prominent position and become the starting point of modern education. This is largely due to the discovery of childhood and the recognition of children as children. Childhood may influence an adult life. For example, childhood is the predecessor of adulthood, and hence the future of tomorrow’s adults depends on today’s children (Ye 2018) Children also have the significance of an independent stage, like the children’s impact on the world. Children are the source of all human and cultural resources (Liu 2018a, b, c). It may be manifested as children’s subjective status. For example, only by truly recognizing children’s subjective status in theory, can education be shifted from “shaping” to “cultivating” and “serving”, from “burning yourself” to “igniting others”; from designing the future for children to helping children create their future (Xiang 2018). It may also mean that children have the need to grow up. We should avoiding overemphasizing, boosting or overstating children. The idea that discussing children abstractly, romantically, sadly, or even exaggeratedly is harmful. Modern education needs to respect children’s autonomy, independence, and creativity. At the same time, it should be strict with children, guide children in a correct and effective way. They cannot treat every child with an abstract, universal, and general perspective (Wu 2018). Education is of the children’s interest, and receiving an education is often regarded as children’s inalienable right. Because education is inherently related to the overall interests of each child, thus constituting children’s basic interest and well-being. Moreover, this right is, to a large extent, unique to children; it profoundly affects their opportunities and achievements in the future (Cheng 2018a, b).

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    Children as Constructors of World’s Significance

Children are not just adults in development, or existing social adaptors, they are also newcomers to the world. Their arrival brings new life to the world, adding vitality to the world, and brings new forms of life, new works, and new action. At the same time, they are thrown into this world and enjoy the significance of this world by participating, experiencing, feeling, thinking, exploring, listening (Jin 2018a, b). These newcomers grow and construct themselves by interacting with this world while in the company of others. For example, building blocks display children’s natural abilities. Nursery rhyme performances mark the beginning of an individual seeking the sense of rhythm and aesthetic harmony. Learning classical poetry means that children will form a cultural world containing the aesthetic rhythm of the Chinese language. They all start from the body, centered on the activation of perceptual abilities and the arousal of aesthetic rhythm, gradually develop the possibility of children’s better life (Liu 2018a, b, c).

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    Improving Educational Life at School

Education is not only an important way for children to integrate into society, realize their own interests, and pursue a better life but also part of their better life. The first is to protect the basic interests of children. Education constitutes an important aspect of children’s interests. Specifically in terms of individual adults and public life. In selecting and determining children’s educational matters, children’s basic interests or rights need to be taken seriously (Cheng 2018a, b). The second is guiding children to open their life. A good school education life should be inspired by love. In the context of loving interaction, we should activate the individual’s current perception, thinking, memory, imagination and past experience, integrating past life with the present, thereby opening up the current life as a whole and forming a situation in which the individual’s life is actively developing (Liu 2018a, b, c). The third point is guiding children to enjoy life. Children learn to create a better life by enjoying a lovely life. Enjoyment highlights children’s subjective participation in the world, shows children’s spiritual acquisition and transformation, and builds the essential relationship between children and school life. Only when schools become children’s spiritual homes and call for them to “stay freely” can children’s hearts be soothed and grow (Jin 2018a, b). The fourth is promoting practical education. Educators, Through purposeful, planned and organized practical activities, enable learners to personally experience the acquisition and construction of knowledge in real-life situations, or to verify existing knowledge in practical application, to gain a sense of reality and practice, thereby forming practical innovative ideas, and develop the necessary problem-solving mentality and key abilities (Zhou and Hu 2018).

5 Information Technology Promotes Profound Changes in the Relationship Between Teaching and Learning

The relationship between teaching and learning is the basic relationship of education. Establishing a new teaching–learning relationship based on students’ development is an academic trend and policy requirement for teaching reform. Information technologies such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence have become important driving forces for profound teaching and learning.

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    Information Technology Is Changing Teaching and Learning

The development of information technology poses challenges to traditional teaching content, teaching methods, learning methods, teaching organization frameworks, and evaluation methods. The curriculum is no longer the sole source of knowledge, and the classroom is no longer the only place to learn. New technologies such as mobile Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence have greatly expanded the time and physical boundaries of learning, changed the way of learning and the way of interaction between man and knowledge, and changed all aspects of knowledge teaching as a whole (Liu and Tan 2018). With the support of technology, there is no longer a fixed time, space and content limit for learning. Learners can learn whatever they want to learn at any time and any place according to their own needs, and seek the guidance they need. The central position of pupils in learning will become increasingly prominent (Yang and Hu 2018). Teachers make full use of modern information technology to implement evidence-based teaching (Zheng and Cui 2018). Information technology not only changes the environment and methods of teaching and learning at the technical level but also changes the thinking and theory of teaching and learning at a conceptual level.

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    Deep Integration of Information Technology and Curriculum Teaching

Changes caused by information technology, such as flipping classrooms, MOOC, deep learning, and blended learning, reflect deep integration of information technology and curriculum teaching. Taking flipped classrooms as an example, the focus is on solving the problems of the intrinsic relationship between teaching autonomy and other disciplines, the fragmentation and systemization of knowledge, shallow learning and deep learning, and the similarity of teachers and students in the exchange of time and space (Du and Du 2018a, b). The main value of this teaching process reform is to promote students’ deep learning (An 2018). Deep learning sets the goal of teaching improvement as the development of students’ core literacy and the enhancement of students’ deep understanding, practical application and creative problem-solving ability; all of which helps to improve the formalization, superficiality, fragmentation and mechanical training in the current classroom teaching in elementary and secondary schools (Zheng and Liu 2018). In the process of deep integration, future learning, future education, and future classrooms are flourishing.

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    The Relationship Between Teaching and Learning Is Quite Complex

Although the relationship between teaching and learning is changing under the advancement of information technology, the relationship between teaching and learning is not completely dominated by information technology, and it is considerably more complex. No matter how advanced the technological media elements may be, it is not possible for them to generate educational significance alone in the teaching system. After all, they are to serve teaching and promote learning (Yu 2018). This complexity is reflected in the sense that, on one hand, teaching must refocus on “learning”. It must be student-oriented and built on happy, healthy, and personalized growth of students. “Teaching” should be student-centered, and it should be built on the diversity of the students, and the demands of the students’ diversity (Fang and Gong 2018). It can even be said that the classroom is neither teacher-centered nor student-centered, but centered on learning. It serves the learning and development of students (Ran 2018). On the other hand, the relationship between teaching and learning must be demonstrated through classroom teaching. “Learning” and “teaching” are not isolated, and they complement each other. Students in “learning” and teachers in “teaching” exchange knowledge and “create” and “enjoy” teaching (Li 2018). This complexity means that the adjustment of the relationship between teaching and learning requires the practical wisdom of teachers. It should flexibly be adjusted according to the teaching theme, teaching conditions and teaching context. In addition, under the condition of information technology, teachers cannot surrender their roles and responsibilities in the teacher-student relationship to artificial intelligence (Xin 2018).

6 Promoting the Healthy Development of Inclusive Preschool Education in Post-Popularization Age

The gross enrollment rate of the three-year preschool education in 2018 reached.

81.7%, entering the post-popularization era. In November 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Opinions on the Standardization and Development of Deepening the Reform of Preschool Education, which further clarifies the direction and measures for reform of preschool education, and promotes the universalization of preschool education, as well as the development of high-quality health.

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    Inclusiveness Has Become the Value Pursuit of the Reform and Development of Preschool Education

Expanding the supply of preschool education resources remains the major task of preschool education. To increase the penetration rate and meet the demand for admission, we have explored a variety of methods, such as mobilizing the government, communities, enterprises, institutions, and private sectors to establish kindergartens. Inclusiveness has been elevated to the value pursuit of preschool education. Inclusive kindergartens, public or private, are supported by the state. In order to encourage inclusiveness, we will continue to run public kindergartens. Additionally, we will increase efforts to support inclusive private kindergartens. In particular, supporting private kindergartens to provide inclusive services is an important way to expand inclusive resources and promote the non-profit shift of inclusive private kindergartens which better suits China’s national conditions (Wei et al. 2018).

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    Shoring Up the Weakness in the Development of Preschool Education

Although issues like the difficulty to go to kindergarten and the high cost associated with a kindergarten have been alleviated to some extent, the imbalanced and inadequate development of preschool education remains acute. Insufficient teaching staff, obstacles to welfare access, and the development of teachers outside staffing plans are still difficulties of squad building (Hong and Jiang 2018). The government’s responsibility for developing inclusive preschool education and national standards for inclusive education are unclear (Yuan 2018). The government’s financial subsidies for inclusive private kindergartens are small and the methods are simple. There is a certain gap between the external support provided by the government and the actual needs and interests of inclusive private kindergartens. The environmental and regulative support for professional development is obviously insufficient (Wang et al. 2018). There is a huge gap of inclusiveness in rural preschool education between different provinces (Chen and An 2018). There are many reasons for the imbalance and inadequacy, but the fundamental one is the lack of legal protection. Therefore, we should accelerate legislation for preschool education, and identify the fundamental nature of preschool education in the legal form as public and inclusive and uphold it. We should incorporate preschool education into the basic public education service system and important social public undertakings, clarify governmental responsibilities, stipulate management system, investment systems, operation systems and teacher policy system for the development of preschool education. We should make it clear that we welcome non-governmental kindergartens and stress inclusive benefits and quality. We will effectively activate all kinds of resources, and truly establish a public service system for preschool education with public kindergartens, government-supported kindergartens, and inclusive private kindergartens as the main body. We will adhere to the principle of “equity and balance”, and give more support to central and western regions, old revolutionary base areas, areas inhabited by minority nationalities, remote and border areas and poverty-stricken areas and rural areas (Pang 2018). Only by shoring up these weaknesses can preschool education achieve healthy, orderly, and sustainable development.

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    Achieving Healthy and High-quality Development on the Basis of Inclusion

In the post-popularization era, the focus of preschool education development will shift to safety and quality, and to highlight healthy development. The Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Educational System and Mechanism has clearly defined State Council leadership, coordinated by provinces and cities, and with counties as the main body. This is a major adjustment of the preschool education management system and will have a fundamental impact on conditions and teams for preschool education, infrastructure and funding. We should accelerate the implementation. When it comes to the development of inclusive private kindergartens, we should step up the research and development of the guiding standards and regulations of pre-school education for inclusive benefit, clarify the beneficiaries of pre-school education of inclusive benefit, set application requirements for inclusive pre-school education institutions, make it clear shall be basic support given to inclusive private kindergartens, and strengthen regulation on their kindergartens (Huo, et al., 2018). We should improve the external support system to promote the development of inclusive private kindergartens, establish an internal and external evaluation system, build a unified standard for evaluating the quality of inclusive private kindergartens, increase the proportion and weight of process quality indicators in the evaluation system, and build a two-way interactive evaluation and feedback mechanism between the government and inclusive private kindergartens (Hu and Hu 2018). With the significant increase in the pre-school education penetration rate, the key factor affecting the healthy and high-quality development of pre-school education is the establishment of a pre-school teachers’ squad. We should establish independent colleges to produce pre-school teachers in a planned manner, enhance the educational level of pre-school teachers, and establish strict supervision guidance systems. Furthermore, it is advised that we standardize the education process of pre-school teachers, and strengthen the construction of local pre-school teacher training institutions. Internship in kindergartens is an important stage in the pre-school teacher training process, and it is an important link for pre-service teachers to obtain practical knowledge. We should provide multi-dimensional guarantees for education practice from aspects such as university student management and internship (Dan et al. 2018). There is another beneficial aspect of healthy and high-quality development, which is to support science and education, and to avoid building kindergartens into primary schools. We should make great efforts to continuously improve the professionalism and service quality of child care and education, utilize games as basic activities, cherish the unique value of games and life, and promote the happy and healthy growth of young children. We should explore the construction of gamification of kindergarten’s curriculum and transform kindergarten’s curriculum reform from “textbook theory” to “action-oriented practice” (Cai 2018). Avoiding building kindergartens into primary schools is a matter concerning both kindergartens and elementary schools. Therefore, while kindergartens insist on game activities, primary schools should implement zero-point teaching.

7 Promoting Integrated Governance of Compulsory Education in Urban and Rural Areas

Promoting the integration of urban and rural education and promoting the balanced and high-quality development of urban and rural education are the basic projects to be implemented as part of the strategy for rural rejuvenation and poverty alleviation advancement. Promoting integrated governance of compulsory education in urban and rural areas continues to be a hot topic of academic attention.

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    Urban and Rural Compulsory Education Shifts to Integrated Governance

Compulsory education is the top priority of education reform and development. It is the basic public service provided by the government and provided to all. Compulsory education for all people is the essential requirement of compulsory education. However, in terms of specific strategies, China has adopted a step-by-step strategy. After undergoing basic popularization, comprehensive popularization, and balanced development, compulsory education has now entered a new stage of integrated urban and rural governance. The reform and development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas has gone through stages of uneven development, balanced development and integrated development (Yang and Li 2018). In 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued a series of policies including Opinions on Implementing the Strategy for Rural Rejuvenation and Guidance on Three Years of Action in Fighting against Poverty, which put forward new requirements for accelerating the integration of urban and rural compulsory education.

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    Basic Concepts of Integrated Governance of Compulsory Education in Urban and Rural Areas

Integrated governance of urban and rural compulsory education is an inclusive concept which involves a multitude of factors: integration of school layout adjustments, school construction standards, allocation of school conditions, school funding, and manning quotas. The real integration of urban and rural compulsory education is reflected in the aspects of coordinated management, rational layout, equal resource allocation, equal attractiveness, equal development opportunities for students, and coordination with urbanization (Zhang 2018a, b, c, d, e). The integration of urban and rural compulsory education is a result and a process. In terms of integrated governance, rural area leans towards the weaker side. The basic concept of integrated governance of urban and rural compulsory education is based on the following understandings. The first is to focus on both the inside and outside. Institutional arrangements should be adopted to solve the problem of insufficient investment of overall rural public resources caused by the traditional dual urban–rural structure (Jin 2018a, b). The second is to grasp the urban and rural areas together. Large class size should be eliminated in urban schools, and rural schools should enhance foundation by shoring up weaknesses, shortcomings, especially for controlling dropouts. The third is to implement hardware and software together. Schools in urban and rural areas should adopt the same standard for equipment and manning quota. The fourth is to focus on process and outcome together. We should be upgrading supervision of balanced development of compulsory education, and promote development through supervision.

  1. iii.

    Promoting Integrated Governance of Compulsory Education in Urban and Rural Areas through Multiple Paths

The integrated governance of urban and rural education faces a series of difficulties. To resolve the problem of “urban schools being crowded, countryside schools being weak and village schools lacking students” and the problem of integrated governance of urban–rural school layout, we should find an effective path from the rural revitalization strategy, as well as reference the urban–rural integration development layout. The integration of urban and rural compulsory education funding is a prerequisite for the construction and operation of urban and rural schools. The public funding standard is unified between urban and rural areas. Additionally, the government has already introduced policies, allowing the transferring of public funds with children of migrant workers. Local governments should set up specifications to ensure the implementation of the rules and alleviate the financial pressure of governments with in-flowing students. The core of people’s demand for quality education is the demand for quality teachers. The integrated governance of urban and rural areas requires the coordination of urban and rural teachers. We can consider establishing a dynamic mechanism for the establishment of teachers based on the school-aged population holding a residence permit, implement a dynamic manning quota assessment system with unified central leadership, provincial co-ordination, hierarchical management, and special establishment for special use. We should reserve certain manning quotas and improve teaching staffing efficiency (Wu and Chen 2018). The construction of rural teacher squads should clarify the special legal status of teachers, promote the professional development of rural teachers, and improve the quality of rural teacher squads (Cheng 2018a, b). Teachers’ sense of achievement, happiness, and security stem from their status and treatment. Practical measures should be taken to improve teachers’ social status and salary (Wang 2018a, b). The integration of school conditions is a hardware guarantee for the integration of urban and rural education. For the shrinking of scale benefits in small schools, we must develop the hardware construction standards for rural small schools based on the principles of meeting the bottom line, ensuring quality, and avoiding waste, and promote standardized construction of school (Qin 2018). In addition, we should explore the integration of urban and rural compulsory education functions, and the integration of urban and rural school culture as well as building a learning community for teachers and students in urban and rural areas (Ji 2018).

8 Reform on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education-driven Mode to Train Talents in Colleges and Universities

In May 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium attended by teachers and students at Peking University that colleges and universities should take developing a high-level talent training system as fundamental work. The reform of talent training mode in universities has entered the fast lane. Innovation and entrepreneurship education have become one of the driving forces for the reform of talent training models in universities.

  1. i.

    Multi-level and Multi-type Talent Training Is A New Theme for Talent Training in Colleges and Universities

Talent training is the primary function of higher institutions, and teaching duties are their central work. People must profoundly and proactively understand the importance of talent training in universities and thought about the reform of talent training models. We should strengthen the fundamental function of talent training and allow the essential mission of the talent training back to its original form. Achieving a multi-layered, multi-typed talent training pattern is the subject of higher education talent training in the new era (Qu 2018). From multiple perspectives, returning to undergraduate education, initiating reform on undergraduate teaching, and creating student-centered education is inevitable for the current development of higher education. The undergraduate education of first-class universities has a greater impact on the value enhancement of students’ critical thinking ability. In order to promote and implement first-class undergraduate education in first-class universities, we should focus on cultivating and improving the critical thinking ability of college students.

(Zhang and Shen 2018) The conditions for the cultivation of top-tier innovative talents are becoming increasingly mature, and we should strengthen the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents. At present, a two-dimensional classification system with three types of selection and training has been formed: “strong selection-closed special zone cultivation”, “strong selection-semi-open dual cultivation”, “weak selection-open pass cultivation” (Lu et al. 2018). From the perspective of multiple types, it is impossible for homogeneous universities to cultivate multiple types of talents, so classification reform is a solution. Classification reform can provide a diversified higher education supply. The essence of higher education classification is the classification reform of talent cultivation. We should establish a classification system of higher education based on the positioning of talent cultivation (Li and Xue 2018). Simultaneously, the performance grading of talent cultivation in universities is of great import. We should change the quality concept of talent cultivation through performance evaluation, scientifically review the quality process of talent cultivation, serve the function of higher education, and establish long-term management incentive strategies (Zhang 2018a, b, c, d, e).

  1. ii.

    Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Is A New Lever for Reforming the Talent Training Model

There are multiple ways and options for reforming the talent-training model. In essence, the starting point of innovation and entrepreneurship education is to improve the employment competitiveness and overall quality of college students. During the reform, people increasingly find that innovation and entrepreneurship education is of significance, and it may be the focus of the reform on talent training models in colleges and universities. To deepen the reform of the talent training model, colleges and universities should promote overall and systematic changes, upgrade training goals, build curriculum system, initiate innovation in training mechanisms, and reform teaching methods, so as to integrate innovation and entrepreneurship education into the talent training system of universities. This will also establish a market for and social demand-oriented, learner-centered, competency-focused, and diverse talent training model (Zhao 2018). With the rapid development of China’s economy, industrial structure adjustment and development model transformation and upgrading, increasing social demand for innovative, composite, and application-oriented talents make reform of talent training models driven by innovation and entrepreneurship education inevitable (Ren and Liu 2018). There is no doubt that innovation and entrepreneurship education is first of all to improve the comprehensive quality of entrepreneurship and employment competitiveness of university graduates (Huang et al. 2018). But we should not be content with this. We must highlight the shaping of “complete and independent individuals. This means integrated training in multiple dimensions such as thinking mode, mental model, creativity, character, will, and problem-solving ability (Chen and Yuan 2018). We should focus on cultivating students’ positive psychological qualities such as active response, enthusiasm and innovation, keen excellence, self-efficacy, social wisdom and optimism, as well as promoting students’ overall positive growth (Ye and Xu 2018) Such innovation and entrepreneurship education will spur the reform of the talent training model.

  1. iii.

    Integration with Professional Education Is the New Trend of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Innovation and entrepreneurship education that drives the reform on the talent cultivation model must be integrated with professional education. Innovation and entrepreneurship education is the best combination of professional education and innovative spirit, practical ability, cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability. To this end, we should embed innovation and entrepreneurship in classroom teaching, and reform teaching methods to form reflective teaching, ability teaching, and self-efficacy teaching, improve internalization of disciplines, and promote the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship (Shi and Wang 2018). We should establish and improve a new teaching system based on the concept of using innovation and entrepreneurship education to transform knowledge impartment, attach importance to the development and integrity of curriculum operation practices, and emphasize the generation of knowledge and abilities of students’ innovation and entrepreneurship (Du and Du 2018a, 2018b). Moreover, the new curriculum system needs a two-way discipline integration system orientation and social demand orientation to reconstruct the interdisciplinary curriculum system (Liu 2018a, b, c). By doing so, we can achieve integration with professional education. However, the current innovation and entrepreneurship education lacks a multidimensional quality evaluation system in concerted majors (Huang and Lv 2018). As such, there is a long journey before innovation and entrepreneurship education can be integrated with professional education.

9 Strengthening the Construction of Teacher Squad with the Ability to Educate People as the Core

The national education conference proposed that the construction of a teacher squad should be the basic task. Building a teacher squad with both adequate intelligence and virtue is a blessing to students, the nation and the state. In January 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform and Construction of Teacher Squad in the New Era (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). In February 2018, five ministries including the Ministry of Education issued and implemented the Action Plan on Revitalizing Teacher’s Education (2018–2022) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which identifies the reform direction of the construction of the teaching squad in the new era.

  1. i.

    Putting the Construction of Teacher Squad in An Unprecedentedly Important Position

Entering the new era, the CPC Central Committee attaches unprecedented importance to teachers’ work. General Secretary Xi Jinping places great importance on the construction of the teaching team, and puts forward a series of requirements, which include that teachers should have conviction, virtue, knowledge and love; teachers should be the pathfinders, helping students foster strong mind, acquire knowledge, make innovation and contribute to the world; teachers should adhere to the unity of teaching and education, of verbal instruction and personal example, of asking and focusing on the unity of society, and of academic freedom and academic norms. These point out the direction for the construction of the teaching team. The National Education Conference summarized a teacher’s mission of the times. This includes spreading knowledge, ideas, truth, shaping the soul, the message of life to new people. This is a new summary of the role and status of teachers and highlights the extreme importance of teachers to students, society, the state, the nation, and the future. We should comprehensively strengthen the construction of teaching teams as a major political task and a fundamental livelihood project, and build a high-quality teaching team with strong political qualities, excellent business abilities, and a high level of education (Chen 2018). The atmosphere of respecting teachers and valuing education throughout the society is becoming thicker, and the tradition of teacher’s dignity is being revived.

  1. ii.

    Integrating “teaching” and “educating people”

Teaching and educating people is a teacher’s duty, but there is an obvious phenomenon where schools overestimate teaching and underestimate educating people. In some places, primary and secondary schools, under the guidance of score-oriented and enrollment-oriented evaluation, underestimate or even neglect education. It is common in universities that research is overemphasized and teaching is neglected (Wang 2018a, b). Fostering character and civic virtue is the fundamental task of education. Schools are where fostering character and civic virtue takes place, and teachers are the ones who foster character and civic virtue. Therefore, in the new era, the construction of a teacher squad must return to fostering character and civic virtue, and to pondering the fundamental question of who should be trained, how to train people and for whom people are trained. The construction of the education squad should integrate “teaching” and “educating people” in value orientation and pay more attention to educating people. We should first train teachers to embody these values. The comprehensive development of teacher ethics is the key to improving teachers’ ability to educate others. On the one hand, we should vigorously improve the ideological and political quality of teachers. On the other hand, we should comprehensively improve the professional ethics of teachers (Wang 2018a, b). This requires teachers to take responsibility and regard the mission as their pursuit and goal. They should not only respect and love their job but also should also fulfill their social responsibility. They should be faithful when assuming the responsibility and mission of educating people (Gao 2018a, b, c).

  1. iii.

    Improving the Education Capability of Teachers

Generally speaking, there are two dimensions: one is a virtue and the other is talent. In terms of virtue, the emphasis is on fostering educational feelings and professional emotion. Educational feelings are the spiritual character of teachers who are obsessed with teaching and educating people. It can produce the spiritual experience of “cultivating students’ mind with the teachers’ mind”, and exert the educational effect of “cultivating people and mind”. Enhancing teachers’ educational feelings, integrating teachers’ perseverance with inherent strength and spiritual support, and enhance their sense of gain, honor, and happiness play a vital role in (Han and Liu 2018) awakening moral consciousness. Nurturing professional emotions can make positive emotions such as care and love play an important role in education (Gao and Yu 2018). As for developing talent, the first is knowledge sharing which plays an important role in promoting the professional development of teachers and improvement of education. We should encourage and help teachers build a sound professional knowledge, skill system, and sustainable self-development capabilities, as well as create an organizational atmosphere conducive to knowledge sharing within the school, and effectively promote and enhance teachers’ performance in collaborative learning, interactive communication, and knowledge and skill sharing (Zheng and Fu 2018). The second is education practical capability. The pre-service teachers’ educational practical capability is a comprehensive ability consisting of reflective practical ability, academic integration ability, and action research ability (Hu 2018). Then comes the personal education philosophy. As educators with virtue and conscience, teachers themselves should improve their philosophical care. The formation and systematization of teachers’ personal educational philosophy are the most profound changes in professional development (Cai et al. 2018).

10 Enhancing the Subject Consciousness of “Chinese Pedagogy” in the Construction of the “Three Major Systems”

Constructing the “three major systems” such as the discipline system, academic system, and discourse system with their own characteristics is a major task for the development of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics. The “three major systems” of pedagogy have to be reflected by different expressions in the long course of introduction, rooting and expansion of Chinese pedagogy over a hundred years. There is a long journey ahead. This awakening of subject self-awareness is the inherent strength of a discipline trying to construct its own “three major systems”, and it is also the tenacious pursuit of Chinese pedagogy in the framework of “Sino-foreign relations”.

  1. i.

    Dedicated to the “Three Systems” of Pedagogy with Chinese Characteristics

The subject consciousness of Chinese pedagogy starts from the “meta-research” on a subject’s nature, subject position, subject independence, and uniqueness. With the strengthening of the self-awareness of pedagogy, building “three systems” of pedagogy with Chinese characteristics has become a hot topic in pedagogy research.

On the one hand, it is a top-down, external-internal theory call for a reasonable extension to the discipline of education. On the other hand, it is also the theoretical consciousness of convergence that emerges after the development of the discipline itself reaches a certain height. The reason why “three major systems” are relevant, realistic and urgent in the field of Chinese pedagogy is that the universal issue captures the public issue of contemporary Chinese philosophy and social science research. More importantly, many fundamental and endogenous problems faced by contemporary Chinese pedagogy can also be made clear in this issue. It can also be expected that new theoretical solutions will be obtained in further deliberation and investigation. In response to the extremely unbalanced derivation of the pedagogy concept system, strengthening the research and construction of the basic concepts and terminology system of pedagogy is a basic and fundamental task for the scientific development of pedagogy. Education needs to restructure the core concepts, redefine what education is, what learning is, what school is, and what a teacher is. Based on this, an original theoretical explanation of Chinese education practice is created. All these need to study the subject with a clear discourse consciousness, return to the cultural origin of Chinese pedagogical discourse creation, and accumulate the power of discourse innovation in the “education of discourse”.

  1. ii.

    From Education Sinicization to Chinese Pedagogy

“Sino-Foreign Relations” in the development of educational disciplines was considered as the “issue of the century” that will influence the development of education in the future. The development and transformation of pedagogy in modern China is almost all “introduced” from abroad and built on the model imported from foreign countries. For more than a hundred years, Chinese pedagogy has not yet overcome this primary problem in theoretical production. In the sense of subject consciousness, “localization” and “sinicization” are almost the “cross-generational consensus” of Chinese education scholars for almost a century. However “sinicization (localization)” of education is a theoretical solution with inherent deficiencies. Therefore, from the “sinicization” of education to the creation of “Chinese pedagogy” based on Chinese educational practice has become a two-way transformation between “Chinese creation and world creation” in which Chinese pedagogy seeks Chinese discourse and world discourse in pedagogy. This is an important value orientation.

Research outcomes that can be qualified as “Chinese Pedagogy” should be manifested as summarizing Chinese features, providing products created by China, forming Chinese systems and enhancing China’s influence. The future of Chinese pedagogy should go beyond the thinking of simply seeking “Chinese pedagogy”, and strive to form a “pedagogy” community with world pedagogy, create a new “pedagogic” world, and thus become a “community with shared future for mankind” in a unique and indispensable way of expression and realization in the field of pedagogy. By doing so, Chinese pedagogy is not just pedagogy “in China”, or “pedagogy sinicization”, but become “global Chinese pedagogy”.

  1. iii.

    Making Research on Pedagogy More Normative and Scientific

Being normative and scientific is the key to the quality of pedagogic research and the level of educational discipline construction. Promoting the transformation of the research paradigm of educational disciplines and improving the standardization and scientific level of research are urgent tasks for the development of educational disciplines in China. According to the reality of pedagogical research, we will improve the standardization of pedagogical research and focus on three aspects: strengthening the literature awareness, constructing a self-consistent theoretical analysis framework, and focusing on the appropriateness of research methods. Literature is a knowledge map and the starting point of research. Without a comprehensive literature review, we do not know what others have done, nor where to start our research, and we cannot assess the value of the research. The self-consistent theoretical analysis framework is the pillar of the research, which reflects the research ideas and structure. The precision, reason and innovation can be reflected in the framework of theoretical analysis. In terms of research methods, there is more discussion needed, plus a quantity of empirical research. Pedagogical research in China lacks empirical research, which has shown a trend in the background of standardization and science and is in line with the trend. The widespread use of empirical research is an important turning point in the development of educational disciplines i.n recent years. But at the same time, empirical evidence is just one method among many, and it will not and cannot replace other methods. The key is to find the appropriateness and suitability between the method and the subject. The goal of making pedagogy research more normative and scientific is not to “scientize pedagogy”, but to form “education science” based on the scientific logic of pedagogy. It is meant to break through the boundary of connotation and extension, to form our own scientific boundary, and build our own scientific paradigm of “education science”.