Introduction: Let me show you the development of early childhood education.
First, the development status quo
1. Market-oriented preschool education has brought a heavy burden to low-and middle-income families.
Professor Feng Xiaoxia, chairman of the China Preschool Education Research Association, believes that most of the current problems in preschool education stem from the problems left over from the reform of the preschool education system at the beginning of this century: "First, the kindergartens originally run by enterprises and institutions were thrown out as a' burden' because of the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and the streamlining of institutions; Later, it was introduced to the market on the grounds of' giving priority to ensuring compulsory education funds' or' reducing government financial expenditure'. The kindergartens of these former enterprises and institutions only serve the majority of low-and middle-income people. " Kindergartens or private kindergartens in the name of "institutional innovation" are either expensive or of poor quality. Even if there are not many public kindergartens left, the high fees make the citizens complain [1].
2. If the investment is insufficient, charge parents more.
In the interview, the reporter learned that most parents in Beijing think that the current monthly tuition fees in 700 yuan, plus the annual sponsorship fee of12,000 yuan, are generally too high, while the fees in private kindergartens are much higher, far exceeding the cost of training a college student. Parents who can't afford it have to send their children to "black households" (unregistered) kindergartens. Gao Xia, a researcher in national institute of education sciences, pointed out: Although the fees of this kind of kindergartens are low, it is difficult to guarantee the children's safety, health, teachers' level and indoor environment.
Apart from some people's one-sided pursuit of profits, the main reason for high fees is insufficient investment in preschool education. According to the Preschool Education Research Association, preschool education funds account for 1.2%- 1.3% of the total national education funds, and some provinces only have a few ten thousandths; The world average is 3.8%. Part of the shortage is solved by charging parents more.
3. It is difficult for contract preschool teachers to enjoy teacher treatment.
The salary of kindergarten teachers in the establishment of public kindergartens is basically guaranteed, but the kindergartens that have been "dumped" by enterprises and institutions have lost their establishment. Although qualified as a teacher, it can't be included in the management of public institutions. Without teacher status, it can't enjoy the social security, professional title evaluation, business training and other benefits that teachers deserve. They become contract teachers, and the salary of contract kindergarten teachers is often about half lower than that of teachers in the establishment.
4. Major issues of preschool education should be stipulated by law.
Second, development decision-making
It is reported that in recent decades, major countries and regions in the world have attached great importance to the legalization of preschool education, and have successively promulgated preschool education laws or related educational regulations: the United States' Fixed Funding Law for Child Care and Development, Early Learning Opportunity Law, No Child Left Behind Law, and School Preparation Law; Britain's Child Care Act and Protection Standards Act; Sweden's pre-school education act; Australian Child Care Act; Japan's child welfare law; South Korea's Preschool Education Development Act; North Korea's Child Care Education Law and China's Taiwan Province Province's Early Childhood Education Law. The Preschool Education Research Association believes that China also urgently needs a Preschool Education Law to stipulate the nature, status and purpose of preschool education in the form of law; The responsibilities of the government and relevant departments; Pre-school education investment and condition guarantee; Qualification and approval procedures of pre-school education institutions; Qualifications and training of pre-school teachers and related staff. To provide protection for preschool education.
1. Increase financial input and improve the input system and mechanism of preschool education.
Many experts suggested that the state should establish a multi-channel mechanism to raise funds for pre-school education, such as financial allocation, social investment, parents' contributions, and public welfare donations, establish a cost accounting system for pre-school education, formulate a standard for public funds per student, ensure that financial input increases year by year, and gradually implement the system of free education for one year before school in different regions and stages; Set up special funds for preschool education, focusing on supporting preschool education in rural areas and ethnic minority areas. Specific measures include: stipulating that public kindergartens should allocate a certain number of places to receive qualified children from poor families; Independent establishment of project parks (classes) to support low-income children in communities where poor people are concentrated; Rural primary school affiliated project park (class); Recruit people who are willing to participate in the project in private parks, review the conditions and quality of running parks, entrust qualified people to recruit funded children, and the government buys their services.
Experts also believe that all regions should be allowed, supported and encouraged to explore policies and measures to implement pre-school free education according to local needs and strength, rather than across the board. According to cost accounting, the city can implement the education cost sharing mechanism of government investment, organizer investment, social donation and parents' payment; The rural areas are mainly invested by the government, supplemented by parents' fees.
Many long-term follow-up studies in the world show that the public benefits of preschool education investment greatly exceed the private benefits. Therefore, many countries bring preschool education into the category of public services and implement a free or cost-sharing system, and the government is often the main undertaker. Zhu Jiaxiong, a professor at East China Normal University, and other scholars believe that in view of the financial difficulties of some local governments in China, it is necessary to set up preschool education with the help of social forces (their institutions) and the market. The main function of the market is to solve the problem of people's educational choice, and the government's investment is used to ensure that low-and middle-income families, especially rural children, receive preschool education.
2 as soon as possible to verify the preparation, examination and approval of kindergarten teachers' qualifications and salary standards.
Experts pointed out that what needs to be done as soon as possible is to re-approve the kindergarten teacher staffing standards, solve the long-term backlog of serious shortage of staff, determine the minimum wage standards for supernumerary teachers in public kindergartens and private kindergartens, formulate kindergarten teacher qualifications that meet the needs of career development and the actual situation in China, and establish and improve the social security system for kindergarten teachers. These standards and systems should be conducive to attracting high-quality talents into the ranks of kindergarten teachers. In addition, it is necessary to improve the training system for preschool teachers, strictly examine the qualifications of training institutions, and solve the problem of teacher training quality from the source. Solving these problems as soon as possible will also help to broaden the employment channels for college graduates.
Third, the direction of development
JamesHeckman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, wrote a special article to analyze the value of preschool education from the perspective of human capital investment, and put forward that preschool education is the most worthwhile educational field. Of all the investments in all stages of education, only the investments in preschool education and the lower grades of primary school generate returns that exceed the cost opportunities. A large number of studies in the fields of education and psychology have found that children's preparation before school is highly related to their future academic performance and development. Therefore, since Johnson, successive American presidents have personally presided over the formulation of pre-school education-related bills.
In recent decades, the development trend of preschool education in market economy countries in the world is: from private behavior to public responsibility. The commonly implemented strategies and measures include: "getting every child ready for school" as the main goal of national education development; Free education for five-year-olds; Compensatory preschool education for children from poor families and disabled children aged 3-4; Supervise the fees and quality of private kindergartens; The government purchases the services of private kindergartens, etc.