Cai Yuanpei put forward the educational policy of "five educations simultaneously". His thoughts mainly advocated "freedom of thought, inclusiveness" and educational independence, and put forward the concept of "aesthetic education" for the first time, which was called "a generation of masters, a model of the world" by Mao Zedong.

Yan is a civilian educator and is known as "the father of international civilian education". He advocated civilian education and put forward four major educations: literature and art education, people's livelihood education, health education and civic education.

Huang Yanpei advocates great vocational education and advocates the idea of "combining knowledge with practice, using both hands and brains, paralleling theory with practice, and paying equal attention to knowledge and skills". Liang Shuming advocated rural construction and put forward rural education theory.

Chen Heqin put forward the concept of "living education", which is called "the father of preschool education in China" and "the father of preschool education in China".

Tao Xingzhi is known as a "great people's educator" and put forward three propositions: "life is education", "society is school" and "teaching integration". Life education theory is the theoretical core of Tao Xingzhi's educational thought.