Shanghai issues labor education guidance
The Shanghai government released a guide on enhancing labor education on Thursday after President Xi Jinping recently stressed the importance of labor education in cultivating the country’s younger generation.
According to the guide, the city will develop practice-oriented labor courses in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and colleges. It will also enrich labor-related educational resources in accordance with industrial development in the city.
The aim is to help young people understand the value of labor and respect all kinds of labor, develop their interests in it, train their skills and make them creative and diligent talent, according to the guide.
It lays out tasks for educational institutions for students of different ages.
Kindergartens are asked to enlighten children’s awareness in labor and encourage them to take care of themselves and respect other people’s work.
Primary schools are told to cultivate basic labor habits among students, ranging from daily life including hygienic habits to housework and campus work as well as charity services.
Middle schools will focus more on vocational labor experience, guiding students to do housework, take part in community services and vocational experience activities. Schools are asked to arrange for students to do woodworking, electrical engineering, traditional artisanship and some agricultural work to develop a spirit of working hard, a sense of responsibility and an awareness of work safety.
High schools will organize more voluntary and vocational activities and engage students in industrial production and creative activities to develop their skills in handling common work accidents, making plans for their future careers and being aware of serving others and society.
Colleges are asked to focus more on creative laboring activities and guide students to use their knowledge to innovate, start businesses, take up internships and take part in voluntary services and other social activities to develop their views on careers, professional ethics and sense of social responsibility.
Vocational schools will focus on cultivating top technical talent. They will need to provide students with more real-job practices and internships, encourage them to take part in skills competitions and support them to participate in technology upgrades and reform, as well as inventions.
Students learn how to pave a road.
Other requirements listed in the guide include primary schools having at least one hour of labor education every week.
Undergraduates in colleges will receive at least 32 hours of courses on labor concepts, innovation and entrepreneurship with at least 16 hours on workmanship for vocational school students.
The city will integrate the resources of laboring practice venues in the whole Yangtze River Delta region, including farms, factories, enterprises, research institutions and communities and new facilities for practicing urban agriculture, advanced manufacturing, modern services and cultural creativity to meet students’ needs.
According to the Shanghai Education Commission, the city will build three to five city-level comprehensive labor education bases in the next two to three years for students to experience agriculture, manufacturing, services and innovative experiments.
The guide also says that districts in Shanghai will upgrade local labor skills centers into comprehensive platforms with functions of teaching of labor courses, practicing labor skills, training labor-education teachers and research of labor education.
It will also build up a team of teachers specialized in labor education. Vocational teachers are encouraged to instruct or take part in labor education in primary and secondary schools. Labor models, skill masters and craftsmen from all industries are also encouraged to be part-time labor education teachers in schools.
Students learn how to cook.
Ji Mingze, deputy director of the commission’s education research office, said Shanghai had a good foundation in labor education as it began developing its curriculum standard in 1988 and revised it in 2004 and 2013 in accordance with city developments.
Education authorities are now making new plans, developing new teaching instruction and integrating more resources for labor education in the next five years according to the guide.
“In the future, labor courses will include laboring in daily life, industrial production and services,” said Ji. “There will be individual and group work, indoor and outdoor activities, short-term and long-term tasks for students. Meanwhile, the courses will be practice-oriented so as to guide students to solve real problems with logic and methods of engineering and skills, such as designing and making a clock for everyday use. There will also be plenty of options to meet their individual interests, such as woodworking, metalworking, ceramic craft and fabrics, etc.”
