May 18-19, 2024, the 2024 Symposium for Young and Middle-Aged Comparative Education Scholars of the Comparative Education Branch of the Chinese Society of Education was held at Henan University. With the theme High-Level Opening-Up of Education: International Experience and Chinese Wisdom, the symposium included 2 invited reports, 11 keynote reports, and 16 parallel forums. A total of 13 faculty and students from UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (TEC) participated in the event for presentations and commentaries, including Professor Kong Lingshuai, Associate Professor Song Jia, doctoral student Chen Chuan, and master's student Wang Rui.
Associate Professor Song Jia was invited to deliver a keynote report entitled High-Level Opening-Up of Education and Global Teacher Cooperation on the 19th. She provided a detailed interpretation of the Global Teacher Report, presenting a comprehensive overview of global teacher development from the perspectives of the current status of global teachers, the professional ecology of teachers, and outstanding practices of various countries. She also shared China’s practices and future challenges in promoting teacher professional development, as well as 10 major events in educational opening-up that UNESCO Teacher Education Centre has participated in, which received a warm response from the attendees. Additionally, as a commentary expert at Sub-forum 13, Associate Professor Song Jia affirmed the cutting-edge nature of comparative education research, emphasized the importance of defining key concepts in research, and put forward views such as that country-specific education research should focus on the uniqueness of the target country, and policy research should pay attention to changes in value orientations at different stages.
Professor Kong Lingshuai served as a commentary expert at Sub-forum 2. He argued that current comparative education research should emphasize problem awareness, theoretical foundation, analytical framework, and literature review, and put forward targeted opinions and suggestions for each paper.
Doctoral student Chen Chuan delivered a report entitled Conceptual Transformation and Experience Reflection on the Reform of Education for Japanese Overseas Children at Sub-forum 2. He sorted out the social drivers and connotative changes of Japan’s education for overseas children from compensatory education to international education after World War II. He pointed out that in the stage of internationalized education, Japan’s education for overseas children has policy goals of cultural dissemination, cultivating international talents, and building characteristic education. He also analyzed the Japanese government’s safeguard measures for the education of overseas children from three aspects: teacher support, environment optimization, and policy support.
Doctoral student Wang Lidan presented a report entitled International Comparative Study on Competitions for Primary and Secondary School Students at Sub-forum 3. She analyzed the research background, summarized international typical experiences such as providing policy and regulatory guarantees, multi-subject collaborative participation, and demonstrating humanistic care characteristics. She also put forward references on how competitions in China can better realize the value of talent selection and how to better leverage the strengths of all parties, and conducted lively discussions with the participating experts and scholars.
Doctoral student Du Yijin delivered a report entitled Research on Competitions for Primary and Secondary School Students in the UK and Its Implications at Sub-forum 3. Competitions for primary and secondary school students are one of the important ways to select and cultivate early top innovative talents. The report covered the research background, organization and supervision, basic situation, characteristics of competitions for primary and secondary school students in the UK, and their implications for China, aiming to provide references for forming a competition-based selection and cultivation mechanism for early top innovative talents with Chinese characteristics.
Doctoral student Zhang Xinyuan delivered a report entitled Exploring Effective Learning: The Construction and Practice of Professor Chi Mei-hua’s ICAP Theory at Sub-forum 5. She conducted an in-depth discussion on Chi Mei-hua’s academic trajectory and her outstanding contributions in the field of learning and cognition, with a particular focus on the ICAP learning style classification theory proposed by her. By summarizing the development process of ICAP and its application in practice, the study revealed that this theory plays a role in promoting deep learning among learners, providing guidance for educators in research, teaching design, and learning outcome evaluation, as well as its practical application in online teaching and teacher development.
Doctoral student Hu Qi presented a report entitled OECD Promoting Digital Transformation of Education: Goals, Paths, and Future Trends at Sub-forum 7. By systematically analyzing 30 OECD documents related to digital education, he summarized that the OECD has set the goal of building a digital education ecosystem. The OECD takes policy planning, evaluation and monitoring, and international collaboration as its practical framework. Issues such as the digital divide, inadequate supervision, and fragmented governance are the key areas that the OECD aims to improve.
Doctoral student Wang Nannan delivered a report entitled The U.S. Homegrown Teacher Project: A Typical Case of Policy Tools for Teacher Capacity Building at Sub-forum 15. She analyzed the development and evolution, content and measures, effectiveness and challenges of the U.S. Homegrown Teacher Project, exploring international experiences in promoting teacher recruitment and retention.
Doctoral student Xing Mengxiao delivered a report entitled How to Solve Teacher Shortage from the Perspective of Digital Humanism – An Exploration of UNESCO’s Actions at Sub-forum 15. She analyzed the theoretical connotation of digital humanism, the reasons why UNESCO attaches importance to teacher shortage, and the corresponding paths, exploring effective ways to solve the problem of teacher shortage.
Master's student Wang Rui delivered a report entitled Promotion Strategy and Value Analysis of U.S. Higher Education Internationalization at Sub-forum 1. She sorted out the definition, principles, and development context of higher education internationalization, interpreted the higher education data of U.S. education internationalization strategies, summarized the main value orientations of the strategies, and provided useful experiences and insights for China to build a higher level of opening-up in higher education.
Master's student Liu Zijing delivered a report entitled Upholding the Public Nature and Equity of Education: An Exploration of the Educational Policy Thoughts of American Modern Educator Diane Ravitch at Sub-forum 9. She analyzed Diane Ravitch’s educational policy thoughts from three dimensions: policy goals, policy content, and policy implementation, and based on this, explored the implications of Ravitch’s educational policy thoughts for China’s education reform.
Master's student Liu Yu delivered a report entitled Practice of Regional and Country-Specific Talent Cultivation in French Foreign Language, Literature and Culture Programs – A Case Study of the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) at Sub-forum 11. Based on the overview and problems of regional and country-specific talent cultivation in China’s foreign language and literature programs, she analyzed the specific practices of regional and country-specific talent cultivation at Inalco in France.
Master's student Shu Meihao delivered a report entitled New Models and New Spaces for School Performance Management – A Case Study of PISA-S at Sub-forum 15. He summarized that PISA-S, as an extension of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), provides a new model for school performance management, and discussed how this project continuously expands and extends the space for global education governance, the market-oriented space for third-party organizations, and the space for school autonomy.
With the theme High-Level Opening-Up of Education: International Experience and Chinese Wisdom, young and middle-aged scholars put forward their respective insights and inspirations based on China’s local education discipline construction and international educational opening-up experience, contributing solutions to China’s realization of a higher level of educational opening-up.
