On March 18, the Integrated Ideological and Political Education Training Event for Zhejiang Province’s universities, secondary, and primary schools grandly opened in Jinhua. Organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Education Department's Teaching Research Office, Jinhua Municipal Education Bureau, and Zhejiang Normal University’s School of Marxism, the event was co-hosted by the Jinhua Education Teaching Research Center and Zhejiang Normal University’s Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Ideological and Political Education Across Educational Stages, with support from Jinhua Foreign Language Experimental School. Centered on the theme “Focusing on Classroom Teaching Improvement to Enhance the Effectiveness of Moral Education,” the event featured classroom teaching demonstrations, expert commentary on instructional practices, and practical case-sharing sessions on integrated ideological and political education across educational stages. Over 400 participants, including scholars, frontline educators, and students from institutions across Zhejiang, attended the event, with nearly 15,000 joining online. Let’s revisit the highlights!
Four teacher representatives from Zhejiang Normal University’s School of Marxism, Zhejiang Yiwu High School, East China Normal University Huzhou Experimental Middle School, and Shengzhou Liantang Primary School delivered teaching demonstrations for ideological and political education courses, closely centering on the theme of “Strengthening the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation”.
Wei Dongqu from Shengzhou Liantang Primary School introduced his lesson with the interactive game “Lihe Xiaoxiaole” (Gift Box Matching), using visual aids such as the “Ethnic Groups Distribution Map of China” and “Ancient Tea-Horse Road” diagrams. Through Q&A interactions and collaborative discussions, he guided students in self-directed exploration to understand the diversity and distribution patterns of the Chinese nation, the historical logic of interethnic communication and cooperation, and the collective responsibility of all ethnic groups in safeguarding national unity. “The popular square-dance anthem The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style blends Mongolian long-tunes and Yi folk rhythms, transcending ethnic and regional boundaries,” Wei remarked. He organized a “Case-Sharing Session on Ethnic Exchanges and Integration”, where students presented group projects to highlight real-world examples of ethnic interactions in their daily lives.
Chen Xueyun from East China Normal University Huzhou Experimental Middle School anchored her teaching demonstration in a Xinhua News Agency feature titled “Legend of the Oath Stone for Ethnic Unity.” Employing strategies like “issue-guided learning” and “multi-dimensional mutual evaluation,” she structured her lesson around three core themes: how traditional Chinese virtues are forged, why inheriting these virtues remains essential, and ways to practice them in contemporary society. Using tools like “Discussion Learning Sheets” and a group peer-assessment system, Chen fostered critical dialogue to deepen students’ grasp of traditional Chinese virtues and ethnic solidarity. She challenged students to brainstorm strategies for preserving these ethical traditions amid modern challenges, emphasizing youth’s pivotal role in advancing national unity and cultural rejuvenation.
Hong Zhiheng from Zhejiang Yiwu High School divided his class into three interactive modules: “Exploring Ethnic Unity,” “Sharing Aid-Xinjiang Stories,” and “Producing Mini-Documentaries.” These activities showcased Jinhua’s paired assistance program in Xinjiang, using task-driven methods to help students internalize principles of ethnic equality, unity, and shared prosperity while highlighting Xinjiang’s transformation and development. Guided by the framework of “consolidating ethnic relations,” “upholding governance strategies for Xinjiang,” and “improving institutional frameworks,” the class employed policy document analysis and comparative case studies to explore “how to comprehensively advance ethnic unity.” Students analyzed real-world examples, connecting local aid projects to national policies to understand China’s efforts in fostering ethnic solidarity.
Liu Yu from Zhejiang Normal University’s School of Marxism delivered a lecture titled “Pluralism and Unity: The Essential Characteristics of the Chinese National Community.” He systematically traced the historical origins and developmental stages of the Chinese national community, comparing Chinese and Western civilizations to reveal how Chinese civilization evolved “from division to integration” and embodied the stability of 'grand unity' . From political, economic, cultural, and social dimensions, Liu dissected the structural features of China’s pluralistic yet unified national community. By exploring the dialectical interplay of national modernization, Party-mass integration, and communist ideals in shaping civilization, he proposed theoretical pathways for building modern Chinese civilization. The session, marked by rigorous logic and layered progression, seamlessly integrated knowledge transmission, value guidance, and academic innovation, offering profound insights into both history and contemporary practice.
Expert representatives from the Wenzhou Institute of Educational Research, Ningbo Siyanqi Middle School, Taizhou Institute of Educational Research, and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University’s School of Marxism provided collective feedback on the teaching demonstrations.
Jin Zheyi from Wenzhou Institute of Educational Research evaluated the lessons through the lens of curriculum logic for integrated ideological and political education across educational stages, focusing on goal-setting, content structuring, implementation strategies, and evaluation design. He emphasized systematic thinking to align objectives with specific educational stages; integrative thinking to optimize cross-disciplinary content; progressive thinking to innovate methods matching cognitive growth; and reverse thinking to co-design evaluations fostering mutual improvement. Evaluations, he stressed, should prioritize competency orientation, promote learning through assessment, integrate performance-based metrics, and involve multi-stakeholder feedback.
Chen Jiajing from Ningbo No.7 Middle School Group - Siyanqi Middle School, when addressing the grand narrative theme of “forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation”, the four teachers demonstrated remarkable consistency in adopting a micro-perspective approach. They ingeniously embedded the awareness of Chinese national community consciousness within intricately stitched details, constructing their pedagogical foundations through tangible cultural symbols that transformed abstract concepts into palpable cultural identifiers.By cultivating awareness through geographical exploration, transmitting values via practical engagements, broadening perspectives through intellectual discourse, and grounding understanding in academic principles, the consciousness of community is ultimately crystallized into an inheritable cultural code that transcends boundaries. Overall, the four educators not only captured the essential “unity in diversity” characteristic of the Chinese national community, but also authentically manifested this pluralistic unity in their instructional architectures.
Ji Min from Taizhou Institute of Educational Research highlighted the need to structure ideological education as a spiraling and interconnected journey tailored to different educational stages. Primary school lessons focus on awakening moral curiosity through sensory experiences and emotional engagement, while middle school classes prioritize value cultivation through interactive activities that solidify ideological foundations. High school instruction advances to critical issue exploration and integrates theory with practice to strengthen political literacy. She proposed a three-dimensional framework for competency development, emphasizing ethical values, analytical thinking, and civic engagement. Additionally, she advocated for collaborative educational ecosystems that align curriculum content, teaching methods, and assessment systems across stages. Key priorities include fostering vertical coherence through grade-appropriate cognitive scaffolding, promoting horizontal synergy via practice-oriented learning communities, and redesigning evaluations to connect knowledge with real-world application. Her analysis underscores the importance of balancing continuity, innovation, and relevance in ideological education reforms, empowering students to internalize values and actively contribute to societal progress.
Xiao Xianglong from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University’s School of Marxism shared reflections on the teaching demonstrations, emphasizing two insights and one vision. First, problem-chain pedagogy exemplifies university-level ideological and political education by prioritizing theoretical depth, breadth, rigor, and complexity, offering a compelling exploration of the historical, theoretical, and practical logic behind the Chinese national community. This approach ensures theoretical concepts resonate deeply and persuasively with students. Second, as a showcase of flagship integrated courses, the demonstrations highlight the responsibility of university-level education to align with pedagogical principles, expanding knowledge depth, nurturing multifaceted competencies, and guiding value formation to holistically support student growth. Such efforts lay a robust foundation for cultivating new-era talents with profound national identity, strong social responsibility, and global vision. Finally, Xiao stressed the imperative for ideological and political educators to remain true to their mission, leveraging professional expertise and innovative design to deliver courses that are profoundly insightful, thoroughly engaging, and practically relevant, thereby fulfilling their role in shaping ethically grounded and socially conscious individuals.
Quzhou Experimental School Education Group, Hangzhou No. 13 Middle School Education Group, Zhejiang Tongxiang No. 1 High School, and Zhejiang Normal University’s School of Marxism shared practical insights on advancing integrated ideological and political education across educational stages.
Mao Fangfang from Quzhou Experimental School Education Group introduced a pedagogical model focused on activating deep learning capacity, enhancing curriculum innovation, and advancing vertical development. This approach cultivates a collaborative teaching-research community through rigorous analysis of curriculum standards, targeted teacher training, and thematic research initiatives. Curriculum innovation is achieved by systematically organizing teaching materials, designing specialized courses, and creating interactive activities to enrich instructional practices. Vertical development prioritizes critical issues via cross-disciplinary lesson comparisons, diverse interpretations of shared content, and structured roundtable discussions. Outcomes include measurable improvements in educational effectiveness, innovative collaborative frameworks, and the establishment of a distinguished educational brand. Future goals emphasize harmonizing teaching objectives, structuring content with progressive complexity, refining pedagogical strategies, and optimizing assessment systems to achieve seamless integration of educational elements.
Chen Sicheng from Hangzhou No. 13 Middle School Education Group outlined strategies for cohesive curriculum design, highlighting holistic goal alignment to bridge stage-specific and comprehensive objectives, content structuring that balances broad conceptual frameworks with standards-aligned resources, implementation coherence to ensure adaptability and continuity across educational phases, and evaluation synergy aligning targeted assessments with shared outcomes. Challenges include identifying cognitive anchors for smooth interdisciplinary transitions, reconciling tensions between overarching themes and focused instructional entry points, harmonizing progressive skill development with stage-specific pedagogical needs, and developing unified assessment frameworks applicable across educational stages.
Wang Yaobin from Zhejiang Tongxiang No. 1 High School distilled the core principles of integrated ideological and political education across educational stages into three dimensions: coherence in values, pedagogical adaptability, and resource integration. The coherence in values underscores the necessity for systemic alignment in ideological education to mirror the continuity of student development. Pedagogical adaptability calls for tailored teaching strategies that unify content, context, tasks, and assessments while emphasizing stage-specific goals, core competency cultivation, and assessment-driven teaching improvement. Resource integration highlights the need to synthesize curricular, cultural, and societal resources, enabling deep collaboration and synergistic utilization of educational assets.
Zheng Haixiang from Zhejiang Normal University’s School of Marxism emphasized that advancing integrated ideological and political education requires a problem-oriented approach, addressing challenges such as misaligned teacher competencies and instructional demands, outdated theoretical research coupled with repetitive or disconnected practices, and fragmented collaboration and resource-sharing mechanisms. To unify efforts, he proposed a threefold pathway: organizational integration through resource consolidation, fostering cross-campus and community educational alliances via project-based tasks, blending routine lesson planning with targeted training, and leveraging digital platforms; faculty cohesion through collaborative cultivation, establishing shared training hubs and collective preparation systems to enhance teacher capabilities; and teaching-research synergy via expanded platforms, including interdisciplinary seminars, classroom practice frameworks, and research-driven competitions. This holistic strategy aims to bridge gaps between theory and practice, strengthen institutional collaboration, and cultivate a dynamic ecosystem for ideological education innovation.