1. According to the object of educational function-personal development function and social development function.
The individual development function of education refers to the influence and function of education on individual development. It is determined by the internal structural characteristics of educational activities, which occurs inside educational activities, and is also called the ontological function of education.
The social development function of education refers to the influence and function of education on social development. As a subsystem of social structure, education affects the survival and development of society by cultivating people. The social functions of modern education include: population function, economic function, political function, cultural function, scientific and technological function and so on. The social development function of education is the derivative of the ontological function of education in the social structure.
2. According to the nature of educational function-positive function and negative function.
The positive function of education refers to the positive influence and function that education contributes to social progress and individual development. The educational function, economic function, political function and cultural function of education often refer to the positive function of education. In the process of implementing education, to promote the realization of the positive function of education, we must fully follow the objective laws of social development and human development.
The negative effect of education refers to the negative influence and function that hinders social progress and individual development. The negative function of education is due to the incompatibility between education and political and economic development, the incorrect values and thinking mode of educators, the unreasonable internal structure of education and other factors, which hinder the development of society and people to varying degrees.
3. According to the manifestation of educational function-explicit function and implicit function.
The leading function of education refers to the consistent result of educational activities in actual operation according to educational purposes. For example, promoting people's all-round and harmonious development and social progress are all manifestations of explicit educational functions. The main symbol of the leading function is planning.
The recessive function of education refers to the unexpected function that comes with the dominant educational function. The difference between explicit function and implicit function is relative. Once the hidden potential function is consciously developed and utilized, it can be transformed into an explicit educational function.