Overview of the Major
Primary education is a crucial component of the teacher education system, falling under the category of education majors. The basic duration of study is four years, and upon graduation with satisfactory grades, students are awarded a Bachelor of Education degree. The major aims to cultivate education professionals with high theoretical attainment and practical abilities. It bears the responsibility of training advanced specialized talents for educational administration departments, schools at various levels, cultural and educational institutions, etc., in fields such as educational management, teaching research, cultural dissemination, and educational creativity. This major follows the spirit of documents like the "National Standards for the Quality of Education Teaching," "Professional Certification Standards for Primary Education," "Professional Standards for Primary School Teachers (Trial)," and "Professional Standards for Normal Students of Primary Education (Trial)." It is geared towards the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other regions in Guangdong, focusing on primary schools and related enterprises, institutions, and organizations. The major offers two main directions: primary school language education and primary school mathematics education, aiming to cultivate applied talents capable of handling subject teaching, educational management, and educational research.
Training Objectives
This major primarily targets Guangdong Province and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to cultivate individuals who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects. These individuals should possess homeland emotions, a healthy personality, an international perspective, craftsmanship spirit, and innovation ability. They should have firm and correct political convictions, excellent professional ethics, and a deep love for primary education. Graduates should master the basic theories and professional skills of primary education, possess comprehensive literacy in humanities, society, science, art, information, and educational digitization. They should also demonstrate a good sense of curriculum ideology and politics, solid educational teaching and research abilities. These individuals are expected to engage in subject teaching, class management, and educational support services in primary schools and related enterprises, institutions, and organizations.
Knowledge and Abilities
1. Professional ethics: Graduates should have a healthy physique, sound psychological quality, and deep homeland emotions. They should firmly establish the concept of national interest supremacy, implement the overall national security concept, hold firm and correct political convictions, excellent moral character, identify with the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and consciously practice and disseminate socialist core values. They should take it as their duty to cultivate people by establishing moral integrity, consider it their responsibility to implement the party and state's education policies, abide by education laws and regulations, adhere to teachers' professional ethics, love children, and focus on setting an example. They aspire to become good teachers with ideals, convictions, knowledge, and compassion, willing to contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
2. Educational sentiment: Graduates should understand the professional characteristics of primary school teachers, recognize the value and significance of primary education for students' development, comprehend that teachers are promoters of students' growth, and be willing to teach and passionate about education. They should possess a correct student and education perspective, care about, respect, understand, and treat students equally, work carefully and patiently, and strive to guide students in cultivating character, acquiring knowledge, thinking innovatively, and contributing to the motherland.
3. Subject literacy: Graduates should possess comprehensive literacy in humanities, society, science, art, information, and educational digitization, demonstrating good humanistic and scientific spirits. They should have systematic and solid basic knowledge of primary education, grasp the basic knowledge and principles of pupils' physical and mental development, and understand the development history of school education and contemporary trends in primary education. They should comprehend the significance and role of inclusive education, grasp the basic knowledge and relevant policies of learning in regular classes, and master the basic knowledge, fundamental principles, and essential skills of the main teaching subjects. Additionally, they should understand the basic knowledge, fundamental principles, and critical skills of the concurrent teaching subjects. Graduates should possess an interdisciplinary knowledge structure, comprehend the significance of subject integration in primary education, and understand the connection between the taught subject and other disciplines, as well as the connection with social practice and pupils' life practices.
4. Teaching ability: Graduates should possess basic professional skills for primary school teachers, including good writing, expression, and information technology application abilities such as educational digitization, and a certain artistic expression and teaching ability. They should be familiar with the curriculum standards of the main and concurrent teaching subjects, grasp effective subject teaching methods and strategies, and be able to design, implement, and evaluate teaching based on the subject curriculum standards, considering pupils' physical and mental development characteristics. This includes utilizing subject teaching knowledge and information technology such as digitization to create learner-centered learning situations, promoting students' learning and development. Graduates should possess a good sense of curriculum ideology and politics, be able to integrate ideological and political education resources in accordance with the characteristics of the teaching subject, reflecting the unity of teaching and educating. They should leverage the advantages of multi-subject integration and the value of holistic education in primary education practice. With rich teaching experience, strong teaching resource development abilities, certain curriculum integration abilities, and teaching research abilities, graduates can effectively utilize music, dance, art, and other artistic means to design, implement, and evaluate interdisciplinary and comprehensive teaching activities.
5. Class guidance ability: Graduates should embrace the concept of child-oriented and moral education as the priority, understand and grasp the principles and methods of primary school moral education, as well as the working laws and basic methods of class organization and construction. They should be proficient in class collective construction, class educational activity organization, student development guidance, comprehensive quality evaluation, communication and cooperation with parents and the community, and inclusive education for learning in regular classes. Graduates should be able to handle the responsibilities of a class teacher and a Young Pioneers team, participate in organizing and guiding primary school moral education and mental health activities, gain positive experiences, and possess the basic abilities to engage in class management, school moral education, and inclusive education for learning in regular classes.
6. Comprehensive education ability: Graduates should understand the laws of pupils' physical and mental development and habit formation, possess the awareness of promoting students' comprehensive and healthy development, and comprehend the connotations and methods of subject education and campus cultural education. They should be able to integrate education in subject teaching, class guidance, and other practical activities, organize thematic educational activities, Young Pioneers activities, and club activities. Additionally, graduates should participate in school cultural construction, creating an educational environment conducive to promoting students' comprehensive and healthy development.
7. Reflective learning: Graduates should possess a good sense of professional development and lifelong learning oriented towards the future, have good autonomous learning habits and self-management abilities, and be able to consciously learn and plan their career paths based on the needs of the times and educational development. They should actively participate in various learning activities, be good at reflection, and adapt to the continuous development of primary education. With a good sense of problem awareness and innovation, graduates should be able to draw on advanced international educational concepts, value cultural integration, analyze practical issues in education and teaching using critical thinking methods, conduct curriculum research and development such as course settings and teaching auxiliary materials, and have strong innovation, entrepreneurship, and educational support service abilities.
8. Communication and cooperation skills: Graduates should understand the role of the learning community, possess interdisciplinary understanding, learning, and communication skills, demonstrate good teamwork spirit, and be able to communicate and collaborate effectively in a professional work environment. They should adapt to multicultural teamwork, possess good social adaptability, communicate effectively with students, parents, and the community, gain positive experiences, and develop strong communication and cooperation skills.
Characteristics of the Primary Education Major
This major aligns with the industries in the Greater Bay Area, following the OBE (Outcome-Based Education) philosophy of "student-centeredness, output orientation, and continuous improvement." It constructs talent cultivation programs and curricula closely aligned with industrial demands, featuring collaborative training between government, schools, and enterprises.
Based on the educational reform and future development needs of primary schools in the Guangdong region, and adhering to documents such as the "National Standards for the Quality of Education Teaching," "Professional Certification Standards for Primary Education," and "Professional Standards for Normal Students of Primary Education (Trial)," this major offers two specialized directions: primary school language education and primary school mathematics education. It has established a professional talent cultivation program that integrates ability-based education, general and professional education, and professional quality and ability training. The major promotes the "3+1" talent cultivation mode reform of school-enterprise collaborative education, emphasizing the cultivation of students' artistic foundation and professional abilities. The goal is to cultivate compound talents who can handle the teaching of main subjects (primary school Chinese or mathematics) and concurrent subjects (primary school moral education or science courses), highlighting the characteristics of "deep classroom teaching mode" and "full-process and full-domain practice, multi-party collaboration" in talent cultivation, as well as the quality characteristics of "artistic foundation, main and concurrent multi-ability."
Core Courses of the Major
According to the "National Standards for the Quality of Education Teaching" and "Professional Certification Standards for Primary Education" issued by the Ministry of Education, combined with the spirit of documents such as "Professional Competency Standards for Normal Students of Primary Education" and "Professional Standards for Primary School Teachers," this major has identified 10 core courses. These include: Principles of Education, Primary Education, Child Development and Educational Psychology, Curriculum and Teaching Theory, Primary School Teaching Skills and Training, Primary School Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching, Primary School Chinese Curriculum and Teaching, Primary School Class Management, Comparative Primary Education, and Educational Research Methods.
Practical Teaching Links
On-campus concentrated practical teaching: In accordance with the spirit of documents such as the "Standards for the Certification of Primary Education Majors (Trial)" and the "Professional Competency Standards for Normal Students of Primary Education," this major offers two major on-campus concentrated practical teaching links: educational internships and educational research. Among them, educational internships include comprehensive internships (including Comprehensive Internship 1, 2, 3) and specialized internships (including Specialized Internship 1, 2, 3, 4).
Enterprise Practical Teaching Description: Enterprise practical teaching is an essential part of practical learning for students in this major. It includes projects such as online self-study extension module courses, professional ethics education, regional/industry/enterprise research (choose one of three), professional internships, graduation internships, and graduation theses.
Teaching Conditions
This major boasts comprehensive teaching conditions, with teaching facilities and venues that meet the needs of practical and training teaching.
1. Teaching facilities: Multimedia classrooms, campus networks, computers, social science statistical software SPSS, interactive whiteboards, activity rooms/meeting rooms, etc.
2. Shared training venues with other majors: Mandarin pronunciation training rooms, studios, digital piano training rooms, art training rooms, STEAM training rooms, picture book experience halls, and mathematical modeling training rooms.
3. Training venues under construction: Mainly includes microteaching skill training rooms. Additionally, five off-campus practical training bases have been developed.
Employment Prospects
Primary education is the foundation of national education, and primary school teachers are the core force in ensuring the quality of primary education. According to Guangdong Statistical Information Network, Guangdong Province has consistently ranked first in the country in terms of its resident population and birth rate for many years. By 2022, Guangdong was the only province with a birth rate exceeding 1 million for three consecutive years. With the overall goal of "building a strong province in education, striving to be an advanced area in education modernization, and creating a highland of education in the south," Guangdong Province has continuously promoted comprehensive reforms in the field of education, with its education volume ranking among the forefront nationwide and its education quality constantly improving. The development of population and education in Guangdong Province has put forward both quantitative and qualitative demands for professionals in primary education. Graduates of the primary education major enjoy broad employment prospects.
1. They can engage in subject teaching, educational management, and educational research in primary schools and related educational institutions.
2. They can undertake research and management work in organizations such as child education, child welfare, and child rights protection agencies.
3. They can take on roles such as editing, planning, event hosting, and related work in the educational support service industry.
4. They can pursue further studies in majors such as primary education and education, take civil service exams for relevant positions, or study abroad for further education.
Faculty Team
Currently, there are 17 full-time teachers, including 2 professors, 5 associate professors, and 4 doctors (including 1 candidate). Among them, 5 teachers have an international education background.
