According to its functional characteristics, it can be divided into value and functionality; According to the characteristics of its requirements, it can be divided into ultimate and developmental; From the point of practical importance, it can be divided into formal decision-making and informal decision-making; From the scope of its embodiment, it can be divided into internal educational purpose and external educational purpose.

1. Purpose of value education and function education

The purpose of value education is to achieve the goal of education in the development of people's value orientation, that is, the direction and requirements of people's values, outlook on life, morality, aesthetics, society and world outlook, which reflects the results that education should achieve in constructing and leading people's spiritual world, humanistic feelings, personality and conduct, aesthetic consciousness, attitude towards life and social orientation. The fundamental purpose of this kind of education is to cultivate people with social feelings and personal sentiments.

The purpose of functional education is the expected result of education in developing people's activities in or acting on various things, that is, the direction and requirements of people's functional development, which are presented in educational practice with specific requirements in terms of ability, skills and skills. The fundamental purpose of functional education is to solve the development and promotion of people's practical ability and effectiveness in various activities, and to develop and enhance the usefulness and effectiveness of people's behavior in various activities.

2. Ultimate sex education purpose and developmental education purpose.

The ultimate educational purpose, also known as the ideal educational purpose, refers to the educational purpose with the ultimate result, which shows the ultimate result of various education and its activities in the cultivation of people. It contains the most ideal requirements of human development and has the nature of "perfect person".

The purpose of developmental education, also known as the purpose of realistic education, refers to the continuous educational purpose, indicating the various results that education and its activities have to achieve in different stages of development, and indicating the various requirements for human training in different periods and before and after different stages.

3. The educational purpose of formal and informal decision-making.

The educational purpose of formal decision-making refers to the educational purpose determined by certain social authority and required by all levels of education.

The educational purpose of informal decision-making refers to the educational purpose contained in educational thoughts and theories. It exists with the help of certain theoretical propositions and social foundations, rather than being formally established by an authority in society.

4. Intrinsic educational purpose and external educational purpose

The intrinsic educational purpose, that is, the direct purpose to be achieved in the specific educational process, is the direct direction to the expected results of specific educational activities, including the expected results of the development and changes of learners' emotional conduct, knowledge cognition and behavioral skills, as well as the foreseeable concrete results reflected by a course and its teaching objectives or the teaching objectives of a unit or a class.

External educational purpose refers to the educational purpose with a higher level in the field of educational purpose, which embodies the overall goal and result expected by a country's education in cultivating people, and is the general principle requirement of a country for cultivating people in all levels and types of education.