Ministry of Education: The phenomenon of large class size should be gradually eliminated in ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) According to the website of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education recently issued the Basic Requirements for the Teaching of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Colleges and Universities in the New Era. The document requires that the educational administration should be arranged reasonably, and in principle, the required courses of ideological and political theory should not be arranged in the evening and weekends. Teachers’ weekly class arrangement should be avoided. We should organize teaching classes of ideological and political theory courses in consideration of students’ professional background, actively promote middle class teaching with less than 100 students, vigorously advocate the teaching mode of middle class teaching and small class discussion, and gradually eliminate the phenomenon of large class size.
The document mentioned that Socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era, which put forward new and higher requirements for ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities to play the role of the main channel for educating people. In order to continue to fight the tough battle to improve the quality and level of ideological and political theory courses, we should persistently spread Marxist scientific theory, clearly explain the background, great significance, scientific system, spiritual essence and practical requirements of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the new era, comprehensively promote Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the new era into textbooks and students’ minds, lay a solid scientific ideological foundation for college students to grow into talents, guide them to establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values, and constantly improve their sense of acquisition of ideological and political theory courses.
The document puts forward the basic requirements of teaching work:
— — Clear guiding ideology. Hold high the great banner of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, take Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents, Scientific Outlook on Development and Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era as the guidance, comprehensively implement the Party’s educational policy, implement the fundamental task of educating people by virtue, put the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities in a more prominent position, pay more attention to strengthening and improving teaching management and improving teaching quality. Constantly improve the affinity and pertinence of ideological and political theory courses, comprehensively promote the supreme leader’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought in the new era into teaching materials and students’ minds, firmly establish the "four consciousnesses" and strengthen the "four self-confidences", cultivate qualified builders and reliable successors of Socialism with Chinese characteristics with all-round development in morality, intelligence, physique and beauty, and cultivate new people of the times who are responsible for national rejuvenation.
— — Adhere to the basic principles. Adhere to the correct political direction and strengthen the value-leading function of ideological and political theory courses; Adhere to the whole process management, running through all links of ideological and political theory before, during and after class; Adhere to standardization construction and constantly improve the teaching system of ideological and political theory courses; Insist on enhancing the sense of gain, and promote the teaching of ideological and political theory courses to be virtual and real, angular, affectionate and meaningful.
— — Strictly implement credits. Undergraduate course "Introduction to the Basic Principles of Marxism" (hereinafter referred to as "Principles") has 3 credits, "Introduction to the Theoretical System of Mao Zedong Thought and Socialism with Chinese characteristics" (hereinafter referred to as "Introduction") has 5 credits, "Outline of Modern History of China" (hereinafter referred to as "Outline") has 3 credits, "Ideological and Moral Cultivation and Legal Basis" (hereinafter referred to as "Basis") has 3 credits, and "Situation and Policy". College students have 4 credits for "Introduction", 3 credits for "Foundation" and 1 credit for "Situation and Policy".
The course of "Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory and Practice Research" for master students is 2 credits, and one course must be selected as an elective course from the course of "Introduction to Dialectics of Nature" and "Methodology of Marxism and Social Science", accounting for 1 credit. The course "Marxism and Contemporary in China" for doctoral students has 2 credits, and the course "Selected readings of Marx, Engels and Lenin’s classic works" can be offered at the same time (listed as a public elective course for doctoral students in the school). Encourage colleges and universities around the country to offer elective courses of ideological and political theory in light of the actual situation.
Set aside two credits from the existing credits of undergraduate ideological and political theory course and one credit from the existing credits of junior college ideological and political theory course to carry out practical teaching of this junior college ideological and political theory course. Students can get corresponding credits by participating in the practice teaching organized by teachers, or by submitting the application for practical results related to ideological and political theory courses. As an auxiliary means of ideological and political theory courses, online teaching should not occupy classroom teaching hours.
— — Reasonable arrangement of educational affairs. The courses of ideological and political theory should be connected in an orderly way. In principle, undergraduates should study "basic" courses and "outline" courses first, then "principle" courses and "introduction" courses; College students learn "basic" courses first, and then "introduction" courses; This junior college student is required to take the course "Situation and Policy" every semester. In principle, compulsory courses of ideological and political theory are not arranged in the evening and weekends. Teachers’ weekly class arrangement should be avoided. We should organize teaching classes of ideological and political theory courses in consideration of students’ professional background, actively promote middle class teaching with less than 100 students, vigorously advocate the teaching mode of middle class teaching and small class discussion, and gradually eliminate the phenomenon of large class size.
— — Standardize the construction of teaching and research sections (groups). The teaching of ideological and political theory courses in this college should set up teaching and research sections (groups) according to the courses, and the teaching and research sections (groups) of ideological and political theory courses for graduate students can be set up according to the actual situation. All teachers in the secondary institutions of ideological and political theory teaching and research should make clear their teaching and research sections (groups) and undertake the corresponding teaching tasks of ideological and political theory courses. The teaching and research section (group) is responsible for the teaching management of this course. According to the teacher-student ratio of not less than 1:350, set up full-time ideological and political theory teachers, and provide sufficient teachers for each teaching and research section (group). Retired teachers of high-level ideological and political theory courses can be rehired to continue to undertake certain teaching work. Undergraduate colleges and universities should draw special funds according to the standard that the total number of students in school-based master’s degree programs is not lower than that in 20 yuan per year, while that in junior colleges is not lower than that in 15 yuan per year, and strengthen the academic exchange and practical training of teachers with the teaching and research section (group) as the unit. Part-time teachers and distinguished professor in ideological and political theory courses should be managed by the corresponding teaching and research sections (groups).
— — Unified implementation of collective lesson preparation, innovative collective lesson preparation form. The teaching and research section (group) should organize collective lesson preparation on a regular basis according to the latest textbook and syllabus of the ideological and political theory course of Marxist theoretical research and construction engineering, accurately grasp the basic spirit of the textbook, study and determine the teaching progress and content, and form a unified reference lesson plan. The secondary institutions of teaching and research of ideological and political theory courses should organize all staff to prepare lessons collectively on a regular basis, focus on discussing common problems in teaching, and promote the effective connection of various courses. It is necessary to organize teachers to concentrate on studying the major principles, policies and decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, and timely integrate the latest achievements of the party’s theoretical innovation into teaching, fully embodying the ideological and theoretical timeliness of the course. It is necessary to enrich the carrier of collective lesson preparation and enhance the effect of collective lesson preparation in various ways.
— — Innovate the form of collective lesson preparation. It is necessary to enrich the carrier of collective lesson preparation and enhance the effect of collective lesson preparation in various ways. It is necessary to organize new teachers to give lectures and strengthen teaching guidance for new teachers. It is necessary to organize backbone teachers to give demonstration classes and strengthen the guidance and drive for other teachers. It is necessary to organize teachers with rich teaching experience to give lectures and strengthen teachers’ grasp of the teaching rules of ideological and political theory courses. Teachers should be organized to listen to each other, and teachers of ideological and political theory courses should learn from each other. It is necessary to promote teachers of ideological and political theory courses to serve as counselors and class teachers part-time when conditions permit, fully understand the ideological and political situation of students, and improve the pertinence of lesson preparation. We should pay attention to the use of new media and new technologies to carry out collective lesson preparation and improve the effect of collective lesson preparation.
— — Serious classroom teaching discipline. It is necessary to ensure that teachers of ideological and political theory courses always adhere to the Marxist standpoint and method in classroom teaching, maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee with the supreme leader as the core in political stance, political direction, political principles and political road, and unswervingly safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and centralize and unify leadership. Further strengthen the management of classroom teaching order, ensure the attendance rate of students and provide guarantee for high-quality teaching. Further improve the identification and handling methods of teaching accidents and implement the requirements of classroom teaching discipline.
— — Scientific use of teaching methods. Teachers of ideological and political theory courses should be encouraged to actively explore effective teaching methods, consciously strengthen the theoretical interpretation of the party’s theoretical innovations, and strive to achieve advanced formula, exquisite craftsmanship and fashionable packaging in ideological and political theory courses. It is necessary to increase the promotion of excellent teaching methods and pay attention to the promotion of the surface with the experience of the point. The innovation of classroom teaching methods should insist on taking students as the main body and teachers as the leading factor, strengthen the interaction between students and teachers, and pay attention to mobilizing students’ enthusiasm and initiative. As an extension of classroom teaching, practical teaching focuses on helping students to consolidate classroom learning effect and deepen their understanding and mastery of key and difficult problems in teaching. It is necessary to formulate practical teaching syllabus, integrate practical teaching resources, expand practical teaching forms and pay attention to practical teaching effects. As a useful supplement to classroom teaching, online teaching focuses on guiding students to learn basic knowledge, basic theory and so on. It is necessary to deeply study the content design and function of online teaching, constantly innovate online teaching forms, and promote the organic integration of traditional teaching methods and modern information technology.
— — Improve and perfect the assessment methods. It is necessary to comprehensively assess students’ understanding and practical application of what they have learned in various ways, pay attention to examining students’ ability to analyze and solve problems by using Marxist standpoints and methods, and strive to comprehensively and objectively reflect students’ Marxist theoretical accomplishment and ideological and moral quality. Adhere to the closed-book unified examination, combined with open personalized assessment, and pay attention to process assessment. Closed-book unified examination requires collective proposition, constantly updating the question bank and improving the quality of proposition. Open personalized assessment should have strict organizational processes and clear and operable assessment and evaluation standards. It is necessary to reasonably distinguish the grades of students’ assessment, avoid the formality of assessment, and guide students to pay more attention to ideological and political theory courses. All courses must be studied first and then tested, and exams are not allowed to take the place of learning. Priority should be given to students who have achieved excellent results in ideological and political theory courses and activists who join the party to participate in party school study.
— — Strengthen scientific research to support teaching. Teachers of ideological and political theory courses should be guided to carry out scientific research around the corresponding two disciplines, which belongs to the first-class discipline of Marxist theory, to form a scientific research direction closely related to the courses they teach, and to study in depth the key and difficult problems of course teaching and the reform and innovation of teaching methods. Teachers of ideological and political theory courses should be supported to regard research results as important teaching resources and organically integrate them into classroom teaching. It is necessary to further improve the evaluation mechanism of teachers’ scientific research in ideological and political theory courses, and take the transformation of scientific research achievements in teaching as an important evaluation index.
— — Improve the guidance system for lectures. Establish a three-level attendance system at school, province and Ministry. The party secretary and president of colleges and universities, the school leaders in charge of the construction of ideological and political theory courses and the teaching and scientific research work, listen to each compulsory course of ideological and political theory courses at least once per semester; Each member of the leading group of the second-level institutions for teaching and research of ideological and political theory courses should cover all the lecturers during a term of office. Provincial education departments should organize experts to give full coverage lectures to local colleges and universities every year, covering all ideological and political theory courses in general, and form a report on the classroom teaching of ideological and political theory courses in local colleges and universities. The Steering Committee of Ideological and Political Theory Course in Colleges and Universities of the Ministry of Education should organize experts to attend lectures at random, and develop and publish an annual report on the teaching situation of Ideological and Political Theory Course in colleges and universities nationwide.
— — Comprehensive evaluation of teaching quality. It is necessary to establish and improve the multi-evaluation mechanism, and comprehensively evaluate the teaching quality of teachers by using various methods such as teacher self-evaluation, student evaluation, peer evaluation, supervision evaluation and social evaluation. Reasonable use of the evaluation results of teachers’ teaching quality, increase the proportion of teaching and teaching research in the evaluation criteria of teachers’ professional titles, and link the evaluation results with performance appraisal and allowance distribution, so as to guide and encourage teachers of ideological and political theory courses to devote more time and energy to teaching. Based on the evaluation results, we can explore the establishment of the withdrawal mechanism for teachers of ideological and political theory courses.
— — Implement the main responsibility of colleges and universities. Party committee secretaries in colleges and universities should carry out the responsibility of being the first responsible person in the construction of ideological and political theory courses, and principals should take political and leadership responsibilities, further improve the teaching system of ideological and political theory courses, establish and improve the teaching supervision mechanism, and comprehensively improve the teaching quality of ideological and political theory courses for all ideological and political theory teachers and all ideological and political theory classes. Colleges and universities should establish a teaching management system of ideological and political theory courses led by secondary institutions of teaching and scientific research, with the cooperation of propaganda, educational administration, engineering, scientific research, finance, personnel and other departments, establish and improve the teaching management system, and promote all kinds of courses to go with ideological and political theory courses in the same direction to form a synergistic effect.
— — Strengthen local overall management. The education departments of local party committees should strengthen the overall management of the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in local universities, formulate policies and create conditions in light of the actual situation, eliminate the weak links in the teaching of ideological and political theory courses, and pay attention to improving the teaching quality of ideological and political theory courses as a whole. In principle, all localities should set up teaching steering committees for ideological and political theory courses in different courses, establish a system of collecting and answering hot and difficult questions regularly, and organize experts to give in-depth and precise guidance to ensure that teaching guidance runs through the whole teaching process and covers all teachers. It is necessary to sum up the teaching experience of ideological and political theory courses in local colleges and universities in time, publicize and popularize advanced models of teaching work, and create a good environment and atmosphere for strengthening and improving the teaching of ideological and political theory courses and improving the teaching quality.
— — Strengthen national macro guidance. The teaching steering committee of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities of the Ministry of Education should play a good role in consultation, judgment, supervision, evaluation, training, demonstration, guidance and guidance, organize experts to build a "national network collective lesson preparation platform for teachers of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities", develop and publish special teaching guides for various courses, strengthen research and answers to key and difficult problems in teaching, carry out teaching exhibition activities of excellent courses, and timely publish teaching suggestions for various courses. It is necessary to coordinate the theoretical training and practical training of teachers in ideological and political theory courses and increase the intensity of teachers’ social practice. It is necessary to supervise the teaching of ideological and political theory courses in a timely manner and promote all aspects to implement the responsibility of teaching management.