Education originated from labor, which is a theory about the origin of education. Soviet educational theorists put forward. It is formed according to Engels' basic thought about labor creating people. Mainly from his books "The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and State" and "The Role of Labor in the Transformation from Ape to Man". Education originated from the unique productive labor of human beings. It is believed that human beings need to complete the intergenerational transmission of productive labor experience in order to maintain their own survival and development, which provides the foundation for the emergence of education. The sociality of human labor puts forward the objective requirements of transmitting and learning social codes of conduct, moral norms, customs and religious taboos, which promotes the emergence and development of education.

The labor origin theory of education, also known as the social origin theory, was formed under the guidance of Marxist historical materialism. According to this theory, human education originated from the needs of labor or labor process. Social production and life experience is formed and accumulated in the process of labor, and it is the need to transmit these experiences that urges human beings to produce education. At the same time, the development of human language awareness in the process of labor provides conditions for the emergence of education. Therefore, education is a unique social activity of human beings, which is produced in the process of labor.