news

yangcheng evening news omnimedia reporter cui wencan intern li junxi

following the lead of a kindergarten in guangzhou's huadu district to add middle-aged and elderly education, a childcare institution in guangzhou's haizhu district is also planning to set up an activity center for middle-aged and elderly people. yangcheng evening news reporters recently learned that at the shanda future international infant and child school in haizhu district, a transformation is fast-forwarding - since september, the institution has connected three rooms on the fourth floor of the building and converted it into a dance classroom of about 160 square meters; by october, it will become an activity venue for middle-aged and elderly people aged 50-65.

at present, guangzhou's early childhood education institutions have introduced middle-aged and elderly education only in a few cases, and more kindergartens facing operating pressure are still waiting and watching. can this transformation path be replicated by more kindergartens? will "one old and one young" receiving education on the same floor be a good choice for future childcare institutions and kindergartens to "save themselves"?

how does the track turn?

old and young people live together in the same building without interfering with each other

previously, huadu district yude kindergarten took the lead in introducing a social institution dedicated to the education of middle-aged and elderly people, which provided teachers, management and operation guidance. the kindergarten has assigned six faculty members to be responsible for the operation of the "university for the elderly" full-time, and renovated the fourth and fifth floors of the kindergarten building, freeing up nearly 1,000 square meters of space as classrooms, offering courses such as tea art, chess and cards, health preservation, beauty and dressing, calligraphy and painting, flower arrangement, and information technology. according to the kindergarten's plan, the initial target group of the "university for the elderly" is mainly the grandparents of the children in the kindergarten, with an age range of 45 to 65 years old. after sending their grandchildren to kindergarten, they go directly upstairs to attend classes; in the later stage, more people from the society will be attracted to enroll. the old and the young are in the same building, entering the kindergarten separately, without interfering with each other, and can send their children and study at the same time.

at present, near yangang in haizhu district, the shanda future international infant and child school (hereinafter referred to as the "infant and child school"), which has an independent building, is also planning to open an activity center for middle-aged and elderly people. the reporter learned from the interview that as early as last year, the investors of the infant and child school had set their sights on elderly education, but had not made up their minds. after the enrollment season in september this year, seeing that the enrollment situation was not satisfactory, they decided to add an activity center for middle-aged and elderly people in the school.

"we didn't have to worry about enrollment before, as everyone lined up to sign up. there were more than 300 children in this building before, but now there are less than 100. this enrollment situation has put pressure on our operations." zhong qiliang, head of the activity center, pointed to the four-story building in front of him and told reporters, "our total monthly expenditure on labor, rent, etc. is close to 500,000 yuan, and now we can barely break even. we hope to develop horizontally."

the guangzhi district, where the infant and child school is located, has a high degree of aging, but there are almost no activity centers specifically for the elderly. this gave the childcare institution the confidence to open up a new track.

"old people exercising in the square will be disturbed by wind and rain. if we have a good indoor venue, they can gradually transform from physical exercise to a higher spiritual level of interaction," said fan huiying, principal of the infant and child school.

can it turn?

industry insiders: education for middle-aged and elderly people is a slow business

even though the silver-age economy is a viable track, zhong qiliang believes that it is not an option suitable for all kindergartens and childcare institutions to try.

he said that the silver-age track is a long-term business that may take three to five years to pay back. for preschool education institutions that are already losing money, it cannot solve the imminent operating difficulties. in fact, most preschool education institutions are still waiting to see whether to transform into senior education.

what kind of early childhood education institution is suitable for senior education? xiao yue, co-founder of joyful ageless entertainment, believes that geographical location is the primary factor. for the convenience of middle-aged and elderly people, senior universities need to be set up in places with convenient transportation. in his actual visits, about 40% of kindergartens do not meet this condition. secondly, if the floors of kindergartens are too high, it will be inconvenient for the elderly to go up and down the stairs. in addition, kindergartens and senior universities serve two completely different groups of people. therefore, the movement lines of the two groups must be separated, and there need to be different entrances and different classrooms.

"principals and investors should know that the track of universities for middle-aged and elderly people is a slow business with 'long slope and thick snow', and they need to have enough patience. middle-aged and elderly people almost all pay for themselves, so serving them well can bring in a steady stream of business, but it takes time and sincere service to build trust." xiao yue said that in fact, kindergarten practitioners are indeed very suitable for serving middle-aged and elderly people, because middle-aged and elderly people tend to be more "wordy" and "detail-oriented", and practitioners need to be patient and meticulous. for early childhood education practitioners, it is a good choice to "change tracks but not industries."

how to turn longer term?

mixed-age coexistence, explorationlifelong education

looking around the world, elderly education in many countries and regions does not exist independently, but is integrated with primary schools, middle schools and universities. for example, in france, when the elderly participate in elderly education, they can directly enter some primary schools, middle schools and universities to study with students of different ages; japan is also exploring the so-called "expanded mixed-age school" model, which puts young children and the elderly in the same space for teaching, and also designs some courses that connect the two groups.

executive vice president of shanghai lifelong education research institute,east china normal universitydoctoral supervisor li jiacheng shared a case from his research with yangcheng evening news: a primary school in shanghai invited a chorus class from the senior citizens university to take a music class with the children. the front row was students, the back row was senior citizens, and the teacher was the primary school music teacher. the research found that the elderly liked this way of teaching very much.

in the past, the impression of senior education was that after the school recruited the elderly, it would arrange a fixed teacher to teach them in a fixed place. can the "mixed-age coexistence" model open up new ideas for senior education?

li jiacheng said that educational institutions should explore lifelong learning for all people under the guidance of a broad educational perspective. "whether it is 'self-help' or not, it is necessary to take the initiative to conduct innovative research." he mentioned that in addition to opening special classes for middle-aged and elderly people, they can also do an "expanded version of parent education", such as consciously entering the community through lectures, online courses, open activities, etc., so that teachers and students of kindergartens and primary and secondary schools can go to the community and do some support services. this is actually also doing education for the elderly; educational institutions can also cooperate with surrounding senior citizen universities to achieve personnel exchanges, sharing and linkage of courses and even management.

"when running senior education, we must pay attention to opening the door to the school and never set up barriers." xiong jun, president of guangzhou open university, believes that the elderly are actually as energetic as young people, and the energy they can inspire is beyond imagination. therefore, senior education can be combined with intergenerational education and sustainable development to create urban and rural lifelong education with international standards. at the same time, lifelong education also has a very strong local nature. "only multi-level and personalized lifelong education can be inclusive, fair, and promote social sustainable development."