China’s Questions, World’s Answering; World’s Questions, China’s Answering | The 12th Shanghai Forum on Lifelong Education Successfully Held

How can lifelong education undertake the major historical mission of building a leading country in education? How to gather global lifelong education research strength and jointly promote the building of learning cities and education for sustainable development, so as to face global challenges and serve the building of a community with a shared future for mankind? A number of internationally renowned scholars from the United States, Germany, France, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand and Chinese experts joined hands to answer the questions of China and the world on the development of lifelong education at the 12th Shanghai Forum on Lifelong Education.

The 12th Shanghai Forum on Lifelong Education was held on September 20 at East China Normal University(ECNU). The forum included two keynote reports from the Ministry of Education and the Municipal Education Commission, andtheme reports from twelve overseas experts, six domestic first-line principals, and university scholars, attracting nearly 200 people from universities, government departments, and other related units to attend the forum on site.

Opening Ceremony

At the opening ceremony, speeches were delivered by Meng Zhongjie, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of ECNU and president of Shanghai Municipal Institute for Lifelong Education (SMILE), and Yuan Zhenguo, director of the Faculty of Education of ECNU. Li Yingli, deputy director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education, and Yan Pengtao, director of the Lifelong Education Division of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, attended the forum and gave keynote speeches. Li Jiacheng, executive vice president of SMILE, presided over the opening ceremony.

In the opening speech, Meng Zhongjie, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of ECNU and president of SMILE, pointed out that, as the first socialist normal university established after the founding of New China, ECNU has always been positively responding to the needs of the times and assuming important responsibilities in the field of lifelong education. In recent years, the university has made a lot of new progress by devoting itself to the practice of lifelong education and the building of learning society and learning city in Shanghai and the country as a whole with greater efforts to serve the needs for lifelong learning of all people. At present, the university has gradually built up a more comprehensive lifelong education personnel training system covering both academic and non-academic education from pre-school education, basic education, higher education to senior education, and from general education to vocational education and continuing education. Relying on the Teacher Development Institute (Open Education Institute), Shanghai Lifelong Education Teacher Training Base, the Training Center for Secondary School Principals of the Ministry of Education and other specialized institutions, it has formed a “pre-vocational to post-vocational” through-training mode, so as to better serve the professional growth and lifelong learning of all the teachers in Shanghai and the country as a whole.

Yuan Zhenguo, director of the Faculty of Education of ECNU, pointed out in his speech that future learners would not only be limited to young people on campus, but also adult groups of all ages in society would play an important role in lifelong learning. At the same time, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and various types of science and technology have provided unprecedented technical support for promoting lifelong education, removing many of the barriers in the past. He called on educators around the world to seize this historic opportunity to enhance the overall learning capacity and adaptability of society through lifelong learning.

Li Yingli, deputy director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education, delivered a keynote report entitled “Construction of Lifelong Education System in the Context ofBuilding a Leading Country in Education”, in which he particularly emphasized the important role of lifelong education in the process of building a leading country in education. Director Li reviewed the development history of lifelong education in China and the country's many practical achievements in vocational and adult education. Since 1993, when lifelong education was first proposed in the Outline for the Reform and Development of Education in China, the concept of lifelong education has gradually taken root in China, and a network of lifelong education with multiple levels and forms of articulation has now been formed.

Director Li pointed out that with the acceleration of global digital transformation, digital technology had created unprecedented opportunities for lifelong learning. By the end of 2023, the national smart education platform had more than 100 million registered users, greatly expanding the coverage of quality educational resources. At the same time, relying on National Open University and community learning centers, the infrastructure of lifelong education has covered the whole country, especially in elderly education and vocational skills training, which has achieved remarkable results. Finally, Director Li called on all sectors of society to work together to deepen the integration of lifelong education and vocational education, promote the popularization of digital learning, and ensure that every citizen can enjoy the right and opportunity of lifelong learning.

Yan Pengtao, director of the Lifelong Education Department of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, detailed Shanghai's latest progress and future plans in the field of lifelong education in his keynote speech. Director Yan pointed out that the building of Shanghai as a learning city was closely connected with lifelong education research, characterized by “scientific research leading and practical innovation”. Relying on the exploration of community education, elderly education and other fields, and integrating the digital transformation of lifelong education, Shanghai has formed an all-round lifelong education system, ranging from grassroots community to university assistance, and from offline practice to digital platform. At the same time, Shanghai also actively carries out international exchanges and cooperation in lifelong education, leads the program for sustainable developmenteducationof the Global Learning Cities Network, and has gained a series of internationally acclaimed scientific research achievements in the fields of sustainable development and climate change education, and its international influence continues to increase. At the end of the report, Director Yan also called on all parties to make joint efforts to promote the building of Shanghai as a learning city and support SMILE of ECNU in becoming a research institute with world influence, so as to realize the goal of building a leading country in education.

Special Reports - First Half

The forum entered the session of special reports, in which renowned scholars in the field of senior-level education from many foreign countries, such as the United States, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Thailand, France, etc., as well as domestic experts and practitioners from Shanghai, Beijing, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, etc., made an in-depth report focusing on the global situation and local situation of lifelong education respectively.

Prof. Wan Guofang, a well-known scholar from Loyola University Chicago, has long been concerned about the trends and challenges of lifelong learning for the elderly around the world. Prof. Wan pointed out that the irreversible trend of global aging would have extensive impacts on social development in the coming decades. She particularly emphasized the importance of education for the elderly around the globe and demonstrated successful paradigms of elderly education in different cultural contexts by analyzing cases from 11 countries.

Prof. Stuart McNaughton, professor of the School of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and chief education adviser of the government of New Zealand, delivered a special report. He emphasized that reading, as an educational activity, ran through the whole life course of a child, and that family practices also evolved with the development of a child's life. His report provided deep insights into how to optimize reading practices at home and at school.

Hajisuke Kubota, professor of the Faculty of Letters, Waseda University, Japan, pointed out that Japan was facing the world's most serious aging problem, and highlighted the concept of “Meaningful Employment”. This unique Japanese model encourages the elderly to find the meaning of life in age-appropriate work, which not only reduces the burden on social security but also promotes both individual independent learning and socio-economic development. The report provides practical suggestions for improving the life quality of the elderly in an aging society.

Prof. Kang Dae-jung from the Department of Education, Seoul National University, South Korea, delivered a report entitled “Research on Lifelong Learning and Lifelong Education in East Asia”. Prof. Kang particularly emphasized the importance of the concept of “Cité éducatif”, suggesting that education should not be limited to traditional time and space, but rather a holistic system covering all possibilities and potentials.

Through the Pasteur Quadrant Model, Prof. Shen Guanghui, vice president of Fujian Open University, proposed that the current lifelong education research was mostly practice-oriented, but the trend of future development is the deep integration of theory and practice, realizing the transition from “practice-oriented” to “theory-enhanced”. According to President Shen, it is remarkably important to promote the application value and theoretical innovation of lifelong education research by combining international vision with local practice.

Prof. Zhang Jixian, vice president of Zhejiang Open University, discussed the development direction and local innovation path of lifelong education in China in the context of building a leading country in education. He put a particular emphasis on the process of adapting lifelong education theory to the Chinese context and advocated exploring the development mode of lifelong education in line with China's national conditions through historical thinking and systematic thinking.

Then, Li Jiacheng, Zhang Yong, Zhu Min and Ma Lihua, on behalf of SMILE, made a grand release of their achievements. In the field of education for sustainable development, the Institute officially released the Shanghai Education for Sustainable Development Community Action Plan (2024-2026) this year and promoted Shanghai to become an important coordinating city of the Global Learning Cities Network, sharing Shanghai's experience in innovation with the world. Focusing on the field of gerontological education, the Institute launched the “Gerontological Education Laboratory”, which integrates multidisciplinary strength and is dedicated to improving the physical and mental health, social participation and cultural adaptation of the elderly, as well as promoting the innovative development of gerontological education theories and practices. At present, the Institute has been carrying out the climate change education project, and the typical cases of Senior Universityin Shanghai Nanhui New Town, Senior University in Jing'an District and Mingqiang Primary Schoolin Qibao Town, which were submitted by the Institute, have been selected to be included in the database of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), and the database of UIL as the typical cases of climate change education carried out in 12 international cities.

Special Reports - Second Half

In the afternoon session, guests and participants maintained high enthusiasm, and experts from home and abroad presented an academic feast on lifelong education through online and offline participation.

Prof. Byung-Jan Yang from Kungju University, Korea, starting from the Korean discourse of “village education”, discussed the rooting of lifelong learning in local communities, and emphasized the educational coping strategies to deal with the theory of the extinction of the local and the hollowing out of the spirit.

Prof. Wu Feng from the School of Education of Peking University focused on the integration of digital intelligence technology and lifelong education, and analyzed the identification and educational intervention of online learning on the depression of the elderly.

Prof. Yasuhito Tama from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, discussed the central role of community learning centers (also known as “Kominkan”) in social education in Japan, focusing on the continuous changes of community lifelong education facilities in the context of Japan's aging populationand low fertility.

Researcher Shi Feng, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning and Education for Sustainable Development, Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences, shared the theory and practice of building Beijing into a sustainable learning city , focusing on the integration development of the Ecological Civilization Education Project and learning communities.

Prof. Witiya Pittungnapoo from Naresuan University, Thailand, analyzed the role of higher education institutions in Sukhothai region of Thailand in building a learning society and put forward the concept of promoting sustainable development through culture and creativity.

President Li Jiacheng of SMILE, together with Dr. Li Shuhan, a PhD student, introduced the research achievements of the Institute's recent study on the trends of global lifelong education reforms in 2024 and emphasized the importance of promoting the quality of the whole population and advancing the education of the elderly to cope with global aging.

Prof. Gao Liping, the outstanding representative of the authors of the conference papers from Shandong University of Architecture, discussed the path of lifelong learning for the elderly, suggesting that lifelong learning is a key means to achieve healthy aging, and made an in-depth analysis of the advantages and challenges of promoting lifelong learning for the elderly in China.

Summary Session

In the final summary session of the forum, Li Jiacheng, executive vice president of SMILE, pointed outthat against the background of globalization and sustainable development, topics such as green transformation and digitization are not only major issues for China, but also common challenges that countries around the world are dealing with. Through this forum, people can seenot onlythe answers of Chinese scholars but also the contributions from scholars around the world. This forum demonstrated the intertwined relationship between China and the world in solving these problems, and realized the complementarity between “China's questions” and “the world's questions”.

Finally, President Li emphasized that lifelong education researchers should not only explain the world, but also work to change the world. In the context of this era, lifelong education researchers should not only thoroughly understand and explain the educational environment and policy trends, but also actively promote transformations in practice, so as to truly contribute to the development of lifelong education in Chinaand the world as a whole.

The 12th Shanghai Forum on Lifelong Education focuses on lifelong learning and promotes global dialogue. Adhering to the concepts of “China's Questions, World's Answering” and “World's Questions, China's Answering”, it is committed to building a hub for dialogue between the world and China in the field of lifelong education, and promoting learning for all and international cooperation towards a broader future.

Through the in-depth discussion of this forum, SMILE will continue to play its leading role in the field of lifelong education, promote the dialogue and cooperation of lifelong education between China and the rest of the world, and contribute to the building of a learning society, so as to jointly respond to the new challenges of the global education development.

Contributed By: Shi Keyuan

Reviewed By: Zou Wen, Li Jiacheng