On March 27, 2025, the Secretariat of the Central Education Work Leading Group and the Party Group of the Ministry of Education held a meeting in Beijing to deploy and advance the comprehensive pilot reform of the Three-Year Action Plan for Building a Strong Education Nation. This was to thoroughly implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the National Education Conference, focusing on the deep implementation of the "Outline of the Plan for Building a Strong Education Nation (2024–2035)" and the Three-Year Action Plan, deepen comprehensive education reform, and deploy the start of the comprehensive pilot reform for the Three-year Action Plan. Huai Jinpeng, Secretary of the Party Group and Minister of the Ministry of Education, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
The meeting was held in the form of an online video conference. Relevant departments from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the first batch of pilot units from the Ministry of Education, as well as representatives from various regions and schools, delivered speeches. Members of the Party Group of the Ministry of Education, representatives from relevant agencies of the central ministries, as well as heads of directly affiliated universities of the Ministry of Education and universities jointly built by the Ministry and provinces, attended the meeting.
Tan Zhemin, President of Nanjing University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, spoke as the only university representative, reporting on NJU’s initiatives in teacher education. In his report, Tan Zhemin introduced that Nanjing University always remembers President Xi Jinping's important instruction to "promote teacher education in high-level universities," and builds a new paradigm of education led by the spirit of educators and integrating teaching, research, and practice, based on the philosophy of "unity of teaching, learning, and practice" by Mr. Tao Xingzhi.
First, NJU focuses on reform and innovation in teacher education, exploring models for cultivating high-quality teachers. In 2019, the university took the lead in establishing the Tao Xingzhi Academy of Teacher Education among comprehensive universities, and in 2023, it was selected as one of the first batch of "National Excellence Program" pilot universities, focusing on training science teachers for primary and secondary schools by leveraging advantages in basic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Second, NJU focuses on the independent cultivation of innovative talents, reforming the teacher education major and curriculum. It has developed a "cross-disciplinary, cross-grade" composite teacher training feature. By integrating resources from the National Smart Education Public Service Platform, it has established the "Nanjing University Digital Classroom for Teacher Education" and built a "middle school-university" integrated education model, setting up practice bases in 50 high-quality middle schools, hiring 100 renowned teachers as mentors, and establishing a "three-mentor system" to promote the integration and mutual promotion of teaching and research. NJU collaborates with universities such as the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University to promote international exchanges in teacher education talents. Third, NJU focuses on the high-quality development of basic education, constructing a support service system for outstanding talents entering teaching. To meet the needs of high-quality development in basic education, NJU has built a support system for "pre-service training and post-service development" for teachers, training over 5,000 principals and teachers in the field of basic education. In cooperation with local governments, it has opened a "green channel" for students to enter teaching, sending a total of 101 master's graduates into the field of basic education.
Tan Zhemin pointed out that the next step for NJU is to focus on strengthening the foundation for cultivating innovative talents, accelerating the construction of a new system of teacher education courses driven by scientific research and integrating scientific education, promoting the integration of artificial intelligence into teacher education, cooperating with high-level normal universities inside and outside Jiangsu Province, supporting the professional development of graduates entering teaching, and guiding more outstanding students to engage in basic education, setting a demonstration and leading role for more high-level comprehensive universities to conduct teacher education.
Chen Yunsong, Deputy Chair of NJU CPC Council, Lu Xiancai, Vice President, leaders and representatives from relevant departments of NJU, as well as heads and representatives of the Institute of Education and Tao Xingzhi Academy of Teacher Education attended the meeting.
