The concept of education, that is, the concept of educational methods, is the rational understanding and subjective requirement of "what education should be" formed by the educational subject in teaching practice and educational thinking activities, including educational purpose, educational mission, educational purpose, educational ideal, educational goal, educational requirement and educational principle.
What is "educational philosophy"?
Check the authoritative Encyclopedia of Education in China (edition 1985) edited by Dong Chuncai, the Dictionary of Education Management edited by Li Ji (edition 1989), the Dictionary of Education edited by Gu Mingyuan (edition 1990) and the English version of Encyclopedia Britannica (65439).
Although we are still in the stage where there is no clear definition of "educational concept", this does not prevent people from using the word "educational concept" frequently, which shows that "educational concept" has been widely recognized both inside and outside the educational circle. Throughout those literary theories that openly use the concept of "educational idea", and even their titles are "educational idea" (there are not a few such works and papers), we find that most authors avoid making necessary explanations and definitions of the concept itself when using "educational idea".
There are two reasons: first, a considerable number of authors regard "educational concept" as a mature concept, just like "educational concept" and "educational thought", and naturally there is no need to explain it; Secondly, "educational concept" is indeed a complex concept, which has similar meaning and nature to many basic concepts of education, but it is not completely similar and similar. The uncertainty of its connotation boundary makes it seem to be an all-encompassing concept. So it can only be understood, but it is difficult to explain.
However, it is precisely because of our lack of discussion on the basic connotation of the "educational concept" and our inaccurate understanding of its meaning that the widespread use and even abuse of the "educational concept" are inevitable.
For example, some books regard some concepts that reflect or reveal the characteristics of education or teaching activities and the attributes of education subject and object as various educational ideas, and some people even include some trend characteristics of educational development, such as internationalization, legalization, industrialization and popularization, into the category of educational ideas, as if educational ideas were a treasure chest. To clarify the vague understanding of the concept of education, we must discuss this concept honestly.