Advancing the Integrated Construction of Ideological and Political Courses in Schools, Universities, and Colleges through Reform

In the educational journey of the New Era, the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges carries the major mission of better and more comprehensively implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education [1]1 "Fostering virtue through education" (立德树人) is a fundamental task of education in China, emphasizing the cultivation of moral character and talent., while also marking the direction of reform in ideological and political courses. In 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed at the Symposium for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Schools that the coordinated advancement of the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges should be treated as an important project. The *Decision* of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [2]2 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC was held in July 2024, focusing on further deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization. pointed out the need to promote the reform and innovation of the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges. The integrated construction of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges has been steadily advancing and continuously deepening through reform, promoting the optimization of the development environment for ideological and political courses and driving a fundamental improvement in the overall educational ecosystem. In practice, the integration of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges currently faces challenges in terms of teaching content, teaching methods, and teacher coordination, which need to be addressed through further reform and innovation.

在新时代的教育征程中，大中小学思政课一体化建设承载着更好地全面落实立德树人根本任务的重大使命，同时也标志着思政课改革的方向。2019年，习近平总书记在学校思想政治理论课教师座谈会上提出，要把统筹推进大中小学思政课一体化建设作为一项重要工程。党的二十届三中全会《决定》指出，推进大中小学思政课一体化改革创新。大中小学思政课一体化建设在改革中稳步推进并不断深化，促进了思政课发展环境的优化，推动了整体教育生态的根本性好转。在实践中，大中小学思政课一体化目前还面临着教学内容、教学方法与教师协同等方面的挑战，需要通过进一步的改革创新加以解决。

Adhere to coherence and connection to resolve the problems of homogenization and insufficient articulation in teaching content. Currently, there are issues of partial repetition or insufficient articulation in the content of ideological and political courses across different educational stages, which to some extent weakens the systematic and coherent nature of ideological and political education. From the perspective of textbook compilation, since the compilation of ideological and political course textbooks for different educational stages is undertaken by different departments and different experts, problems of homogenization and insufficient articulation inevitably exist among the textbooks. Currently, the National Textbook Committee [3]3 The National Textbook Committee (国家教材委员会) is a high-level advisory and coordinating body under the State Council, established in 2017 to oversee textbook development and management nationwide. is further strengthening textbook compilation and revision, enhancing textbook team building and textbook research, implementing the division of responsibilities among departments, localities, schools, and publishing units, and improving mechanisms such as textbook usage monitoring, problem supervision and handling, accountability, and guidance and incentives, to make the textbook review and approval system more complete and fundamentally solve this problem.

坚持贯通衔接，解决教学内容同质化和衔接性不足的问题。当前，不同教育阶段的思政课程内容存在部分重复或衔接不足的问题，这在一定程度上削弱了思政教育的系统性和连贯性。从教材编写的角度来讲，由于不同学段的思政课教材编写是由不同部门、不同专家负责的，因而在各教材之间难免存在同质化问题与衔接性不足问题。当前，国家教材委员会正在进一步强化教材编写修订，加强教材队伍建设和教材研究工作，落实部门、地方、学校、出版单位职责分工，健全教材使用监测、问题监督和处置、责任追究、引导激励等机制，推动教材编审制度更加完善，从根本上解决好这一问题。

Regarding the problem of homogenization in textbook content, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of existing course content, identify parts that are repetitive or do not match students' cognitive development, and reorganize them to ensure that the teaching content conforms to the laws of students' cognitive development and adapts to their growth stages, thereby avoiding mechanical repetition of content and achieving a spiral ascent in teaching difficulty. Regarding the problem of articulation in textbook content, it is necessary to establish closer curriculum connections between various educational stages to help students better adapt to the increasing difficulty of knowledge. When compiling textbooks, on the one hand, the insights of educational experts should be valued; they have in-depth research on educational theory and can ensure the scientific and systematic nature of textbook content. On the other hand, feedback from frontline teachers is equally indispensable; they directly face students and have an intuitive understanding of actual teaching situations and student needs. By listening to the voices of frontline teachers, textbooks can be more closely aligned with actual teaching and better meet students' learning needs.

对于教材内容的同质化问题，应该深入分析现有课程内容，识别出存在重复或与学生认知发展不匹配的部分，并对其进行重新编排，确保教学内容能够符合学生的认知发展规律，能够适应他们的成长阶段，从而避免内容的机械重复，实现教学难度的螺旋式上升。对于教材内容的衔接问题，有必要在各个教育阶段之间建立更加紧密的课程联系，以帮助学生更好地适应知识难度的递增。在进行教材编写时，一方面，要重视教育专家的见解，他们对教育理论有深入的研究，能够确保教材内容的科学性与系统性。另一方面，一线教师的反馈同样不可或缺，他们直接面对学生，对教学实际情况和学生需求有直观的了解。通过倾听一线教师的声音，教材能够更加贴近实际教学，更好地满足学生的学习需求。

Adhere to adapting measures to different "stages" [4]4 "Adapting measures to different stages" (因“段”制宜) is a play on the common Chinese idiom "adapting measures to local conditions" (因地制宜), here applied to different educational stages. to promote the integrated integration of teaching methods. To enhance the appeal of ideological and political courses, it is necessary to promote the transformation of teachers' teaching methods through the introduction, guidance, and discussion of topics, so that teaching takes place in an atmosphere of teacher-student interaction, openness, and democracy. By setting typical, authentic, and open scenarios, various teaching methods should be used to carry out discussion-based learning activities, and students should be evaluated through multiple criteria. However, due to limitations in teaching conditions and environments, ideological and political course teaching in schools, universities, and colleges mainly relies on the lecture method. To complete teaching tasks within limited class hours and maintain classroom controllability, most ideological and political course teachers in schools, universities, and colleges tend to focus on imparting knowledge, while designing fewer teaching activities that can promote students' active participation and in-depth exploration, leading to a lack of space for students' free development. In addition, students rarely have practical opportunities to step out of the classroom and combine learned knowledge with social reality, which limits their potential to transform theoretical knowledge into practical ability.

坚持因“段”制宜，推进教学方式一体化融通。为了增强思政课程的吸引力，要通过议题的引入、引导和讨论，推动教师转变教学方式，使教学在师生互动、开放民主的氛围中进行，通过设置典型、真实和开放的情境，采用多种教学手段开展议学活动，多元评价学生。但由于教学条件和环境的限制，大中小学的思政课教学主要依赖于讲授法。为了在有限的课时内完成教学任务，并保持课堂的可控性，大部分大中小学思政课教师往往侧重于传授知识，而较少设计能够促进学生主动参与和深入探究的教学活动，这导致学生缺乏自由发展的空间。此外，学生很少有走出课堂、将所学知识与社会现实相结合的实践机会，这限制了他们将理论知识转化为实践能力的可能性。

To address this problem, differentiated teaching methods at different levels can be adopted. At the primary school stage, students mainly rely on perceptual knowledge, so intuitive and vivid teaching methods should be used for enlightenment. At the junior high school stage, students' cognitive abilities have further developed, and methods that can stimulate emotional experience should be chosen. At the senior high school stage, students possess a certain degree of critical thinking ability, so teaching should be more systematic and comprehensive, using heuristic methods to guide theoretical deepening. At the university stage, students' cognition is mature, and teaching should mainly focus on theoretical lectures, combined with diagrams and charts, to strengthen problem awareness and thinking training, thereby ensuring that teaching has both coherence and appropriate progression.

针对这一问题，可以采用分层次差异化的教学方法。小学阶段，学生以感性认识为主，宜采用直观、生动的教学方法进行启蒙。初中阶段，学生认知能力得到了进一步发展，应选择能激发情感体验的方法。高中阶段，学生具备一定的思辨能力，教学应更系统全面，采用启发式方法引导理论深化。大学阶段，学生认知成熟，教学应以理论讲授为主，结合图示、图表，强化问题意识和思维训练，从而确保教学既有连贯性又有适当的递进性。

It is also necessary to increase the practical elements of ideological and political courses, refine teaching content with a practice-oriented approach, and transform the power of thought into the power of action. First, schools can use the internet and VR technology to cooperate with cultural venues such as museums and revolutionary sites to develop distinctive teaching resources, creating a more vivid and interactive teaching environment. Second, schools can cooperate with communities, enterprises, and other social institutions to provide students with practical platforms, giving them the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom to real life, promoting the combination of theory and practice among students, thereby enhancing the teaching effectiveness of ideological and political courses.

还要增加思政课的实践元素，以实践为导向提炼教学内容，将思想的力量转化为行动的力量。首先，学校可以利用互联网以及VR技术，与博物馆、革命遗址等文化场馆合作开发特色教学资源，创造更加生动和互动性更强的教学环境。其次，学校可以与社区、企业和其他社会机构合作，为学生提供实践平台，使他们有机会将课堂上学到的理论知识应用于现实生活中，促进学生将理论与实践相结合，从而提升思政课教学效果。

Build a cross-stage teaching and research community to strengthen the linkage among teachers in schools, universities, and colleges. The key to the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges lies in the teacher team. It is necessary to grasp the laws of teacher team building and focus on the integrated cultivation of the teacher team. In actual teaching, ideological and political course teachers in schools, universities, and colleges often only familiarize themselves with the content of the stage they teach, leading to a situation where each works in isolation during the teaching process. Although efforts are made at each stage, the overall educational effect does not meet expectations, limiting the synergistic effect of the educational force of ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges. Therefore, it is very necessary to promote the integrated teaching and research community for ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges.

构建跨学段教研共同体，加强大中小学教师队伍联动性。大中小学思政课一体化建设的关键在教师队伍。要把握教师队伍建设规律，在教师队伍一体化培养上下功夫。在实际教学中，大中小学思政课教师往往只熟悉自己所教学段的内容，导致在教学过程中形成了各自为战的局面。尽管各环节都在努力，但整体育人效果并未达到预期，限制了大中小学思政课育人合力作用的发挥。因此，推进大中小学思政课一体化教研共同体非常必要。

This requires building an integrated communication platform. By strengthening communication and exchange among teachers across different stages in schools, universities, and colleges, the sharing of teaching information resources can be achieved, thereby enhancing the teaching effectiveness of the integration of ideological and political courses. An integrated communication and cooperation platform across stages and schools can be established, relying on local schools, universities, and colleges to regularly hold teaching and research activities. Teachers from each stage (primary school, junior high school, senior high school, and university) are responsible for lecturing on the overall content system of a certain topic at their stage and demonstrating a specific lesson example. After the lecture from each stage ends, teachers from adjacent stages can provide comments. Through this method of mutual observation and learning, teachers from different stages can learn from each other's strengths to compensate for their weaknesses, jointly constructing a complete chain of ideological and political education.

这就需要搭建一体化交流平台，通过加强大中小学各学段间教师的沟通与交流，实现教学信息资源的共享，从而提升思政课一体化的教学成效。可以建立一个跨学段、跨学校的一体化交流合作平台，依托当地大中小学，定期召开教研活动，每个学段（小学、初中、高中和大学）的教师负责主讲本学段某一主题的整体内容体系，并展示一节具体的课例。在每个学段的主讲结束后，相邻学段的教师可以进行点评。通过这种相互观摩和学习的方式，不同学段的教师可以取长补短，共同构建一条完整的思政育人链条。

Build an integrated digital resource library. Currently, except for a few regions that have created specialized digital resource platforms for ideological and political teaching in schools, universities, and colleges, most regions still lack a digital resource library that connects ideological and political courses across all stages. Therefore, it is urgent to construct national and local high-quality digital resource libraries for ideological and political courses in schools, universities, and colleges. Based on the educational needs of each educational stage, a knowledge graph should be constructed, a content framework covering core themes and knowledge points should be designed, and a large number of course resource materials should be invested as teaching cases. In addition, user-friendly online platforms should be developed, teacher training should be provided, and evaluation and feedback mechanisms should be established to continuously optimize the resource library, achieving maximum utilization of educational resources and improvement in teaching effectiveness.

搭建一体化数字资源库。目前，除了少数地区打造了专门的大中小学思政教学资源平台外，大部分地区仍缺乏贯通各学段思政课的数字化资源库。因此，亟须构建全国性的以及地方性的高质量的大中小学思政课数字化资源库。基于各教育阶段的教育需求构建知识图谱，设计能够覆盖核心主题和知识点的内容框架，并投入大量课程资源素材作为教学案例。此外，还应该开发易用的在线平台并提供教师培训，建立评价和反馈机制，以持续优化资源库，实现教育资源的最大化利用和教学效果的提升。

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "It is very necessary to offer ideological and political theory courses in a gradual and spiraling manner in schools, universities, and colleges; this is an important guarantee for cultivating generations of socialist builders and successors." [5]5 This quote is from Xi Jinping's speech at the Symposium for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Schools on March 18, 2019. To achieve effective articulation and high-quality development of ideological and political education in schools, universities, and colleges, it is necessary to strengthen top-level design, improve the educational mechanism, strengthen teacher team building, innovate teaching methods, and optimize resource allocation. The implementation of this series of measures will provide a solid foundation for us to cultivate new generations capable of shouldering the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

习近平总书记指出：“在大中小学循序渐进、螺旋上升地开设思想政治理论课非常必要，是培养一代又一代社会主义建设者和接班人的重要保障。”为了实现大中小学思政课教育的有效衔接和高质量发展，必须加强顶层设计，完善育人机制，强化教师队伍建设，创新教学方法，同时优化资源配置。这一系列措施的实施，将为我们培养能够担当民族复兴大任的时代新人提供坚实的基础。

(The author is Dean of the School of Marxism, Ningbo University)

（作者系宁波大学马克思主义学院院长）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧