Educational function refers to the various influences and functions of educational activities and systems on individuals and society. As an independent system, education is a kind of micro-level activity, which consists of educators, educatees, educational contents, educational methods and means, and the interaction among these elements constitutes the internal structure of educational activities. The operation of the internal structure of educational activities is that educators use certain educational methods and means to act on the educated, and the result is to affect the development of the educated. Therefore, the intrinsic function of education is the role it plays in the development of the educated. Macroscopically, education is a subsystem of society, which forms a complete social structure together with other systems such as population, culture, economy and politics. The development and change of society is driven by the contradictory movement of productive forces and production relations, while education affects other subsystems of society through its role in productive forces and production relations, thus showing the function of affecting social development, which is the external function of education.

Educational function is different from educational function, educational purpose and educational value. Educational function, educational purpose and educational value refer to the tasks and functions that education should realize, and are people's functional expectations for education. They are determined by subjective wishes based on the development needs of society and individuals, and are subjective. Educational function is the inherent attribute of education itself, which is manifested in the influence and function of education on the educated and society. The actual effect of education in practice depends on the relationship between education and other things, how people do education and what education actually does in practice. Therefore, the influence and function of education on other things can be positive or negative.