By She Yu, Research Department of Social Development, DRC & Zhang Wei, Institute of Curriculum and Instruction at East China Normal University

Research Report, No.149, 2021 (Total 6214) 2021-6-8

Abstract: The off-campus training chaos caused by reducing students’ burden inside school and increasing students’ burden outside school is a social issue that needs to be thrashed out by the joint efforts of all social sectors and relevant departments. Since the launch of reform and opening up, the off-campus training in China has roughly undergone a development phase from school to market, from discipline tutoring at school to after-class training, from offline to online education based on integration and digital transformation, and from individual cases to common ones. The governance of off-campus training does not mean to remove those training institutions from the market, but to guide their development in a standardized, orderly and healthy mode. It is not just aimed at passing the examination, or simply duplicating the school education system. Its goal is to return to the original aspiration of education, and truly become a beneficial supplement to school education and help offer education services to students in a differentiated and personalized manner. In the short run, we need to focus on solving the problem of non-standard operation of the off-campus training market. In the long run, we need to include all the off-campus teaching lessons into class teaching at school, effectively reduce the burden on primary and secondary school students, and constantly enhance the parents’ sense of satisfaction with education reform.

Keywords: off-campus training, shadow education, development, policy options