First, keep pace with the times and achieve ideological understanding.
The elderly are the precious wealth of society. With the overall progress of society and the accelerated development of economy, the cause of aging has attracted more and more attention from the whole society. As an important carrier to strengthen the ideological and political construction of veteran cadres and meet the spiritual and cultural needs of veteran comrades, and as an important position of the party in the ideological and cultural field, the education for the elderly should be highly valued. First, doing a good job in education for the elderly is the need to adapt to the trend of population aging. As we all know, the phenomenon of aging society has appeared in China (the international standard of population aging is that the elderly population aged 60 and above accounts for 10% of the total population). According to statistics, by the end of 20 1 1, the number of elderly people aged 60 and above in China had reached 654.38+85 million, accounting for 13.7% of the total population. It is estimated that by the end of 20 13, the total number of elderly people in China will exceed 200 million. As far as Yuhuan County is concerned, there are 63,500 elderly people over 60 years old, accounting for 14.7% of the county's population, which is higher than the national proportion of elderly people 1 percentage point. As a new topic, the education for the aged has been placed in front of us. Faced with this major social problem, we don't have to avoid it, but we must face it seriously. Second, it is the need of building a well-off society in an all-round way to do a good job in education for the elderly. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China puts forward the grand goal of "building a well-off society in an all-round way". It is necessary to build a learning society in which everyone learns all the time and improve the quality and creativity of all members of society. It can be said that the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way is a process of promoting the all-round development of society and people, as well as a process of promoting all-people learning and lifelong learning. This includes promoting the all-round development of the elderly and promoting the all-round development of education for the elderly. As an integral part of forming a learning society and perfecting the lifelong education system, the education for the elderly has gradually attracted the attention of all sectors of society. Furthermore, in the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, people pay more attention to the purpose of education for the elderly, and find a combination point between building a well-off society and the development of the elderly themselves, so as to facilitate the all-round development of the elderly and the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of education for the elderly. Thirdly, it is necessary to improve the lifelong education system and learning society to do well the education for the elderly. Everyone will get old one day. When people are old, they are not idle. They want to be carefree, healthy and live a long life. With the development of society and the progress of human beings, the elderly need to enjoy more education, improve themselves in education and realize the value of life. Doing a good job in education for the elderly can realize the desire of the elderly to live and learn, and make them "politically firm, fresh in thinking and eternal in ideals."
Second, strengthen coordination to ensure that organizational leadership is in place.
Doing a good job in education for the elderly requires a good development environment and the care and support of leaders. To this end, party and government leaders at all levels should attach great importance to running universities and education for the elderly as a systematic project to benefit the elderly, and earnestly do a good job. First, Party committees and governments at all levels should put the education for the aged on the agenda and put it in an important position. The main leaders should always care and ask questions, and make arrangements, assessments, rewards and punishments. Second, it is necessary to set up a leading group for the education of the elderly, with the leaders in charge as the leader and the heads of relevant departments as members, to strengthen the guidance, coordination and supervision of the education of the elderly, regularly analyze the situation of the education of the elderly, study and solve important problems in the education of the elderly in a timely manner, and urge relevant departments to do a good job of implementation. Third, all departments should cooperate closely and make concerted efforts. Institutions and departments for the work of veteran cadres should conscientiously perform their duties, and departments such as finance, human resources and social security, education, culture, civil affairs, and the elderly should work together to form a new pattern of multi-level, multi-channel and multi-form development of education for the elderly.
Third, improve security and ensure that funds are in place.
The central task of education for the aged is to run the university for the aged well. It is difficult to run a school well without certain financial support. Especially in developed coastal areas, due to different degrees of attention and financial support, it directly affects the development of local universities for the aged. In some areas, the budget tilt of universities for the aged is quite different and arbitrary, resulting in a low funding rate. To this end, the author believes that party committees and governments at all levels should establish a perfect school funding system to ensure the normal operation of schools, especially to include the funds for education for the elderly in the local fiscal budget of that year, which will increase year by year with the increase of students and social development, and give special subsidies to the establishment and equipment purchase of universities and schools for the elderly. Organizations, civil affairs and veteran cadres' work departments should call on and mobilize people who care about the education for the elderly in the whole society to sponsor the construction of universities for the elderly. In addition, education for the elderly is non-compulsory and the educated need personal investment. With the improvement of people's living standards, the number of students has increased year by year, and the proportion of retired cadres among students has decreased. After the examination and approval by the development and reform, price and other departments, the university for the aged can appropriately raise the standard of student fees, and the tuition fees should be returned to the school in full to make up for the lack of running funds.
Fourth, bold practice, so that work innovation is in place.
Innovation is the soul of a nation's progress and an inexhaustible motive force for a country's prosperity. Doing a good job in old-age education also needs innovation. The author thinks that four innovations should be paid attention to in strengthening the education for the elderly in the new period.
The first is method innovation. With the improvement of living standards and the acceleration of social aging, it is the general trend and imperative to popularize education for the elderly, and the wide application of Internet technology is conducive to expanding the coverage of education for the elderly. At present, we can rely on radio and television, education network for the elderly and modern distance education in rural areas to meet the learning needs of the elderly with mobility difficulties in communities and remote rural areas; Pay attention to the function transformation, we must correctly handle the leisure and fitness functions of the elderly, promote the synchronous development of rural and urban elderly education, make the strong vitality and great return of elderly education recognized by the whole society, promote the formation of network of elderly education, and realize the goal of popularizing elderly education. In specific work, the departments of civil affairs, education and veteran cadres should strengthen unity and cooperation, integrate the resources of education for the elderly, and form a sharing mechanism of education resources for the elderly; Mobilize the enthusiasm of all walks of life to run education for the elderly, and expand the scale of running schools by means of joint operation, assistance, public operation, co-construction, crowding out and borrowing, and form a three-level school-running network at county, township (street) and village (community).
The second is teaching innovation. The construction of teaching staff is the key to the development of universities for the aged, and the quality and level of teachers is an important symbol of the level and status of running universities for the aged. At present, the teaching staff of Yuhuan University for the Aged is relatively weak, and the school has no establishment. Teachers are mainly employed by social, education, health, culture, sports and other departments as part-time courses. To adapt to the development of old-age education in the new era, we must improve the construction of teachers and improve the level of education and teaching. First, with the university for the aged as the leader, a team of senior teachers with complete categories, reasonable structure and high quality should be established to provide teacher protection for the aged education. The second is to strengthen the professional training of university teachers for the elderly, with strong support from education, finance, health and other departments, establish a talent pool of teachers and a source base for teachers, and gradually establish a team of teachers combining professional teachers, part-time teachers and hired teachers. Third, give full play to the advantages of retired teachers in the construction of teachers' team and integrate the elderly teachers' team. Fourth, we should combine the characteristics of the elderly at all levels, be close to the reality of economic and social development, and compile professional supporting and high-quality teaching materials.
The third is activity innovation. "Cultural support for the aged" is a way of life to meet the spiritual needs of the elderly with the purpose of communicating ideas, exchanging emotions, expanding personality, giving full play to expertise and serving the society. "Learning, teaching, having fun and doing something for the elderly" is the working principle of education for the elderly, and it is the spiritual demand of the elderly, which is in the same strain as the content of "supporting the elderly with culture". It can be said that the development of education for the elderly is the most effective way of "cultural pension". Therefore, we give full play to the main role of veteran comrades in organizing activities, guide them to participate in the organization and management of activities and learning, and stimulate their initiative in self-education, self-management and self-service. At the same time, strengthen resource integration, coordinate all kinds of activities and learning places related to the elderly, realize resource sharing, reduce construction and management costs, and improve efficiency.
The fourth is management innovation. To strengthen the management of education for the elderly, we should attach importance to team building, establish a sound system, and establish a good image of elderly educators; Persist in keeping pace with the times, blaze new trails, constantly improve the management mode of elderly education, improve working methods and improve teaching quality. Respect, care and service for the elderly are the starting point and the end result of education for the elderly. Adhere to the principle of giving priority to the elderly, so that every link of our work can reflect the wishes of veteran comrades, meet their needs and safeguard their interests. On the premise of serving veteran comrades well, we should actively explore new ways to develop old-age education under the condition of market economy and develop old-age education as an important "sunrise industry". Universities for the aged, in particular, should further update their concepts, innovate their mechanisms, make full use of existing resources and promote the healthy and rapid development of education for the aged.
The author is convinced that the education for the elderly in China, which is facing great development opportunities, is facing problems that no country or any education has ever encountered in human history. In the new era, as long as the work of education for the elderly is "four in place" in terms of ideological understanding, organization and leadership, fund implementation and work innovation, it can effectively enhance the development momentum of education for the elderly, stimulate its vitality and promote its innovative development.