Enhancing the Ideological and Political Leading Force of University Teachers through the "Four Guides"

In September 2024, at the National Education Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping for the first time put forward the "ideological and political leading force" and placed it at the head of the "six forces" of a strong socialist education country with Chinese characteristics. The *Education Strong Country Construction Plan Outline (2024–2035)* again stressed the need to "accelerate the building of a strong socialist education country with Chinese characteristics that possesses a powerful ideological and political leading force, talent competitiveness, scientific and technological support, people's livelihood guarantee, social synergy, and international influence." Proposing and emphasizing the "ideological and political leading force" as the core marker of the political attribute of education aims to answer the fundamental question of "what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom to cultivate them." For teachers of ideological and political theory courses in universities, enhancing the ideological and political leading force is mainly manifested in the cultivation of students' character tempering, knowledge transmission, innovation stimulation, and dedication to the motherland. This is entirely consistent with General Secretary Xi Jinping's proposal that "the vast number of teachers should

2024年9月，习近平总书记在全国教育大会上首次提出“思政引领力”，并把它置于中国特色社会主义教育强国“六力”之首，《教育强国建设规划纲要（2024—2035年）》再次强调，要“加快建设具有强大思政引领力、人才竞争力、科技支撑力、民生保障力、社会协同力、国际影响力的中国特色社会主义教育强国”，提出并强调“思政引领力”作为教育政治属性的核心标志，旨在回答“培养什么人、怎样培养人、为谁培养人”的根本问题。对于高校思政课教师来说，提升思政引领力主要体现在对学生的品格锤炼、知识传授、创新激发以及奉献祖国等素质的培养上，这与习近平总书记提出的“广大教师要做学生锤炼品格的引路人，做学生学习知识的引路人，做学生创新思维的引路人，做学生奉献祖国的引路人”完全一致。“四个引路人”为新时代高校思政课教师提升思政引领力提供了根本遵循。

Guiding Students to Forge Their Character through Moral Demonstration and Value Guidance

以师德示范与价值 引领锤炼学生品格

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To cultivate builders and successors of socialism, we urgently need our teachers to both master professional knowledge and become 'masters of scripture,' and also cultivate moral conduct and become 'teachers of humanity.'" This requires that ideological and political course teachers in universities not only act as "masters of scripture," transmitting the Party's innovative theories to students, but also, taking moral demonstration as the foundation and value guidance as the main line, forge students' character. First, teachers should forge students' character through their own moral conduct. Ideological and political course teachers must not only impart textbook knowledge, but also shape students' character, conduct, and taste; they must not only make their words a model for scholars, but also make their actions a model for the world. For ideological and political course teachers, "if you want to cultivate students into a certain kind of person, you yourself should first become that kind of person." Teachers are mirrors of students' moral cultivation and "living textbooks" for the formation of students' character. Teachers should, through leading by example and aligning words with deeds, set benchmarks for students on key issues such as right and wrong, and righteousness versus gain, establishing themselves through virtue and teaching through virtue. Second, teachers should provide value guidance to students. The students faced by ideological and political course teachers are in a critical period of forming their worldview, outlook on life, and values. Teachers should use correct values and moral norms that meet social requirements to guide students' values, helping them fasten the "first button of life."[1]1 "Fasten the first button of life" is a metaphor used by Xi Jinping, meaning that young people must establish correct values from the very beginning of their lives, just as buttoning a shirt correctly starts with the first button. Third, teachers should cultivate students' awareness of norms. In ideological and political course teaching, teachers should educate and guide students to hold the bottom line in conducting themselves and doing things, consciously abide by laws and regulations, consciously practice moral norms, and consciously cultivate a sense of norms. "Let those who have faith preach faith." Ideological and political course teachers should adhere to the unity of "master of scripture" and "teacher of humanity," take "transmitting the Way" as their primary responsibility, and moreover, through moral demonstration, set a benchmark of character, rely on the courses they teach to innovatively construct a value coordinate system, guide students to establish a correct worldview, outlook on life, and values, and enable students to become new-era individuals who reassure the Party, are patriotic and dedicated, and bear the responsibility for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

习近平总书记指出：“培养社会主义建设者和接班人，迫切需要我们的教师既精通专业知识、做好‘经师’，又涵养德行、成为‘人师’。”这就要求高校思政课教师不仅要做“经师”，把党的创新理论传授给学生，更要以师德示范为根基，以价值引领为主线，锤炼学生品格。一是教师要以自己的师德锤炼学生品格。思政课教师不仅要传授书本知识，更要塑造学生品格、品行和品位；不仅要言为士则，更要行为世范。对思政课教师来说，“想把学生培养成什么样的人，自己首先就应该成为什么样的人”。教师是学生道德修养的镜子，是学生品格养成的“活教材”。教师应通过以身作则、言行一致的方式，在是非曲直、义利得失等关键问题上为学生树立标杆，以德立身、以德施教。二是教师要对学生进行价值引领。思政课教师所面对的学生，正处于世界观、人生观、价值观形成的关键时期。教师要用正确的价值观、符合社会要求的道德规范对学生进行价值引领，扣好“人生第一粒扣子”。三是教师要培养学生规范意识。在思政课教学中，教师要教育引导学生守住做人做事的底线，自觉遵守法律法规，自觉践行道德规范，自觉养成规范意识。“让有信仰的人讲信仰”，思政课教师要坚持“经师”和“人师”相统一，把“传道”作为首要责任，更要通过师德示范树立品格标杆，依托所教课程创新构建价值坐标系，引导学生树立正确的世界观、人生观、价值观，使学生成为让党放心、爱国奉献、担当民族复兴大任的时代新人。

Improving Students' Theoretical Attainment through Knowledge Transmission and Practical Experience

以知识传授与实践体验 提高学生理论素养

University ideological and political course teachers bear the historical mission of "educating people for the Party and cultivating talent for the country" and are key to implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education.[2]2 "Fostering virtue through education" (立德树人) is a fundamental task of education in China, emphasizing the cultivation of moral character as the primary goal of talent cultivation. First, teachers should cultivate students with solid knowledge. Solid knowledge is the essential skill for being a good teacher; to give students a bowl of water, a teacher must have a pool of water. Without deep learning and a solid foundation, one cannot teach students. Ideological and political course teachers should be tireless in learning and teaching, teach with the right method, adhere to the synchronous advancement of ideological and political course construction and the arming of the Party's innovative theories, and build a curriculum and textbook system with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its core content. Second, teachers should use effective teaching methods to enhance teaching effectiveness. Effective teaching methods are a key link in teaching success; if the teacher's ability is insufficient or the method is inappropriate, they cannot teach students well. Ideological and political courses should be taught with method, flexibly adopting thematic lecture methods, interactive teaching methods, heuristic teaching methods, flipped classroom teaching methods, etc., to enhance the teaching effectiveness of ideological and political courses. Third, ideological and political course teachers should guide students to engage with society. "A thousand words in the ideological and political classroom are not as good as sweating profusely on the grain-carrying trail."[3]3 "Grain-carrying trail" refers to the historical path used by the Red Army to carry grain during the Jinggangshan revolutionary base period, symbolizing practical, hands-on revolutionary education. Ideological and political course teachers should combine the "small classroom" of ideological and political education with the "big classroom" of society, guide students to integrate the theoretical knowledge learned in the ideological and political classroom with the vivid practice of Chinese-path modernization, use the world-renowned achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era as content support, and use fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture as the foundation of strength, creating "walking ideological and political courses," "ideological and political courses in venues," and "ideological and political courses in the fields."

高校思政课教师担负着“为党育人、为国育才”的历史使命，是落实立德树人根本任务的关键。一是教师要用扎实的学识培养学生。扎实的学识是当好教师的看家本领，要给学生一碗水，教师就要有一潭水。学养不深、根底不厚，教不了学生。思政课教师要学而不厌、诲人不倦，教而有道，坚持思政课建设与党的创新理论武装同步推进，构建以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为核心内容的课程教材体系。二是教师要用有效教学方法提升教学效果。有效教学方法是教学成功的关键环节，教师能力不强、方法不当，也教不好学生。思政课要教而有法，灵活采用专题讲授法、互动式教学法、启发式教学法、翻转式教学法等，提升思政课教学效果。三是思政课教师要引导学生走向社会。“思政课堂千言万语，不如挑粮小道上挥汗如雨。”思政课教师应把思政教育“小课堂”与社会“大课堂”结合起来，引导学生把思政课堂上学习到的理论知识与中国式现代化生动实践结合起来，以新时代中国特色社会主义取得的举世瞩目成就为内容支撑，以中华优秀传统文化、革命文化和社会主义先进文化为力量根基，打造“行走的思政课”“场馆里的思政课”“田间地头的思政课”。

Stimulating Students' Innovative Thinking through Heuristic Teaching and Methodological Innovation

以启发式教学与方法革新 激发学生创新思维

To cultivate innovative talents, it is necessary to stimulate students' innovative thinking. First, carry out heuristic teaching. Traditional ideological and political classrooms often involve teachers transmitting knowledge unidirectionally to students, i.e., teachers lecture and students passively listen, treating students as passive receivers of knowledge. Current ideological and political course teachers more often adopt heuristic teaching, transforming the ideological and political classroom into a training ground for students' innovative thinking. For example, by setting open-ended topics such as "Decoding Social Phenomena," teachers guide students to use materialist dialectics to analyze hot events such as "From Wukong to Nezha: The 'Deification' Path of Mythological Figures" and "Why DeepSeek 'Blew Up' the Circle."[4]4 "Wukong" refers to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from the classic novel *Journey to the West*; "Nezha" is a mythological figure from Chinese folklore. "DeepSeek" is a Chinese AI company that gained widespread attention. Second, allow students "free expression." In traditional ideological and political classrooms, teacher lectures dominate, with a lack of teacher-student interaction; students score points by rote memorization of knowledge points, and students' innovative thinking is not cultivated. In current ideological and political classrooms, teachers should encourage students to explore problems, allowing students to "dare to think, dare to do, dare to speak." For example, in the thematic teaching of "common prosperity," teachers can create virtual decision-making scenarios, allowing students to fully express their views on the issue during the process of simulated policy formulation, thereby understanding the theoretical essence of common prosperity. This transformation of teaching methods turns knowledge learning into thinking training. Third, intelligent technology provides a new guarantee for methodological innovation in teaching. Using artificial intelligence and virtual simulation technology to recreate historical scenes, students "personally experience" key historical nodes through VR devices, deepening their understanding of the Party's innovative theories through situational immersion. Only when the ideological and political classroom is transformed into an incubator for thinking innovation can the Party's innovative theories truly be internalized in the mind and heart, thereby stimulating students' innovative thinking and innovative ability.

要培养创新人才，就要激发学生创新思维。一是开展启发式教学。传统思政课堂往往是教师把知识单向度传递给学生，即教师讲、学生被动听，把学生看成被动的知识接收器。当下的思政课教师更多采用启发式教学，把思政课堂改造为学生创新思维的训练场。如通过设置“社会现象解码”等开放性议题，引导学生运用唯物辩证法分析“从悟空到哪吒：神话人物的‘封神’之路”“DeepSeek何以‘火’出圈”等热点事件。二是允许学生“自由表达”。传统的思政课堂，以教师讲授为主，师生缺乏互动，学生靠死记知识点得分，学生创新思维得不到培养；当下的思政课堂，思政课教师应鼓励学生探究问题，让学生“敢想、敢做、敢说”，如在“共同富裕”专题教学中，教师可创设虚拟决策场景，让学生在模拟政策制定的过程中，充分表达对问题的看法，进而理解共同富裕的理论实质，这种教学方式的转变，使知识学习转化为思维训练。三是智能技术为教学方法革新提供了全新保障。利用人工智能、虚拟仿真技术重现历史场景，学生在VR设备中“亲历”历史关键节点，通过情境沉浸深化对党的创新理论认知。只有当思政课堂转化为思维创新的孵化场，党的创新理论才能真正实现入脑入心，从而激发学生的创新思维和创新能力。

Guiding Students to Dedicate Themselves to the Motherland through Patriotism and Missionary Forging

以家国情怀与使命 淬炼引导学生奉献祖国

University ideological and political course teachers bear the heavy responsibility of cultivating a new generation capable of shouldering the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In the New Era, facing an educational environment of value diversity and technological iteration, especially the domestic and international situation of the “two overall situations” [5]5 The “two overall situations” (两个大局) refer to the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the overall situation of changes unseen in a century., ideological and political course teachers should take patriotic devotion as their spiritual core and mission tempering as their practical vehicle, guiding students to integrate personal ideals into the overall national development. First, cultivate students’ patriotic devotion. Ideological and political course teaching must break through the boundaries of time and space, constructing a three-dimensional cognitive coordinate system for patriotic devotion. Through digital resource repositories such as the “Centennial Party History Image Archive,” major themes are transformed into perceptible and knowable teaching cases, guiding students to integrate personal ideals into the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and cultivating a sense of responsibility for taking root at the grassroots and serving the country. For example, in ideological and political course teaching, embed the touching growth stories of “Two Bombs, One Satellite” [6]6 “Two Bombs, One Satellite” (两弹一星) refers to China’s successful development of the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and artificial satellite in the 1960s and 1970s, a major national defense and scientific achievement. founding fathers such as Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, and Sun Jiadong, enabling students to understand the spiritual code of serving the country through science. Second, strengthen mission responsibility. Through “walking ideological and political courses,” design practical activities such as “Rural Revitalization Field Surveys” and “Major National Equipment Exploration Actions,” using the vivid practice of Chinese-path modernization in the New Era to allow students to personally experience the historic achievements and historic transformations of socialism with Chinese characteristics, advancing the transformation of students’ patriotic devotion from emotional identification to conscious action. Third, digitally empower patriotic devotion education. Use big data technology to map students’ patriotic devotion profiles, develop a “Patriotic Devotion Competency Assessment System,” and through modules such as scenario simulation tests, social hotspots, and analysis of major events, dynamically track changes in students’ patriotic devotion cognition, thereby dynamically grasping the evolution of students’ patriotic devotion. Through curriculum reconstruction to activate historical memory, through practical teaching to deepen mission cognition, through role model guidance to strengthen value identification, and through digital empowerment to innovate educational forms, ultimately cultivate a new generation of builders and successors for the New Era who possess both international vision and patriotic devotion, who are both specialized in their fields and concerned with the world.

高校思政课教师肩负着培养民族复兴大任时代新人的重任。新时代面对价值多元、技术迭代的育人环境，特别是“两个大局”的内外形势，思政课教师应以家国情怀为精神内核，以使命淬炼为实践载体，引导学生把个人理想融入国家发展大局。一是厚植学生家国情怀。思政课教学要打破时空界限，构建家国情怀的立体认知坐标。通过“百年党史影像志”等数字资源库，把重大主题转化为可感可知的教学案例，引导学生将个人理想融入民族复兴伟业，培养扎根基层、服务国家的责任感。如在思政课教学中，嵌入钱学森、邓稼先、孙家栋等“两弹一星”元勋的成长感人事迹，让学生理解科学报国的精神密码。二是强化使命担当。通过“行走的思政课”，设计“乡村振兴田野调查”“大国重器探访行动”等实践活动，用新时代中国式现代化的生动实践，让学生亲身感受新时代中国特色社会主义历史性成就和历史性变革，推进学生家国情怀从情感认同向行动自觉转化。三是数字赋能家国情怀教育。利用大数据技术绘制学生家国情怀图谱，开发“家国情怀素养测评系统”，通过情景模拟测试、社会热点、重要事件解析等模块，动态追踪学生的家国情怀认知变化，从而动态掌握学生家国情怀演变情况。通过课程重构激活历史记忆，通过实践教学深化使命认知，通过榜样引领强化价值认同，通过数字赋能创新育人形态，最终培育出既有国际视野，又具家国情怀；既专精术业，又胸怀天下的新时代建设者和接班人。

In summary, the “Four Guides” do not exist in isolation but form an educational closed loop of “values—knowledge—methodology—patriotic devotion.” Among them, “tempering character” points to value shaping, emphasizing that ideological and political course teachers should teach with virtue; “learning knowledge” is based on professional competence, emphasizing that ideological and political course teachers should strengthen their educational abilities; “innovative thinking” focuses on methodological breakthroughs, emphasizing that ideological and political course teachers should cultivate critical thinking; “dedicating to the motherland” is grounded in patriotic devotion, emphasizing that ideological and political course teachers should promote the value elevation of students. University ideological and political course teachers adhere to the “Four Guides” as their fundamental principle, persistently working over the long term, will surely enhance the ideological and political guiding force, and thereby cultivate a new generation worthy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

总之，“四个引路人”并非孤立存在，而是一个“价值观—知识观—方法论—家国观”的育人闭环。其中，“锤炼品格”指向价值观塑造，强调思政课教师要以德施教；“学习知识”立足专业能力，强调思政课教师要夯实育人本领；“创新思维”聚焦方法论突破，强调思政课教师要培养批判性思维；“奉献祖国”落脚家国情怀，强调思政课教师要推动学生价值升华。高校思政课教师坚持以“四个引路人”为根本遵循，久久为功，必能提升思政引领力，进而培养堪当民族复兴重任的时代新人。

(This article is a phased result of the National Social Science Fund Major Bidding Project “Research on the Original Contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to Marxism” (22&ZD003))

（本文系国家社科基金重大招标项目“习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想对马克思主义的原创性贡献研究”（22&ZD003）阶段性成果）

(The author is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and Dean and Professor of the School of Marxism at Nanjing Normal University)

（作者系江苏省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特聘研究员，南京师范大学马克思主义学院院长、教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

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