Example of private school: British Summerhill School. Founded in 1921, "Little Doudou by the Window" is the prototype of China Pakistan School Park.

Topic summary More>>

As a parent, will you choose to let your children receive "private school" education?
Dissatisfied with the uniform school education like assembly line, in recent years, more and more parents choose to lead their children to "escape" from school and educate their children at home. Due to the limited time and ability, and the needs of interpersonal communication during the growth of children, some parents are trying to gather children together to build an experimental field of ideal education. In recent years, more and more private school parents have formed alliances with each other across the country.
Which method is more suitable for children? What are the differences between the two education methods?
Can this new type of education, which has sprung up in China for less than 10 years, be grounded? Will it inevitably become another kind of small school?
What are the main problems of private school education?

The origin of "home schooling" More>>

"Home school" is called "homeschooling" in the United States and "home education" in some European countries. Today's home school is a family based education form with children as the educatees and parents as the main educators. Home school means "home based" rather than "school-based" education.
Home schooling can better meet students' personalized learning needs than school education. Different from family education in the traditional sense, family schools have a certain curriculum, pay attention to the comprehensive development of students' cognition, emotion and other aspects, advocate teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, pay attention to personalization and humanization, and carry out education according to each child's talent and ability.

Contemporary "Private School" PK School Education

The "private school" children who are having outdoor activities with their teachers

Classroom Scenarios of Ordinary Pupils

What do children learn at school?

Contemporary "private school": various courses arranged flexibly, focusing on playing and cultivating various abilities
"Private school" 1: self-study and tutorship in Chinese, English and other cultural courses in the morning, and various activities in the afternoon, such as biological observation and experiment, theater workshop, documentary discussion, computer and network classes, balcony planting, cake making, etc; "Private school" II: calligraphy, martial arts, field exploration, museum visits, weekend study tours in the countryside... "Private school" III: classical education, Chinese classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, English classics such as Shakespeare's masterpiece, etc.

Ordinary schools: standard textbooks for nine-year compulsory education, extracurricular activities, etc
Taking ordinary primary schools as an example, the curriculum of primary school students includes mathematics, Chinese, English, science, music, computer, sports, art, ideology and morality, calligraphy, human and natural society, countryside, labor, class meeting, integration, health, thinking, etc.

What is the teaching environment like?

Contemporary "private schools": generally located in rented residential areas or small courtyards, the appliances are mostly self reliant
A "private school": the classroom is "messy and lively": there are curtains, chairs, paper and pens, electric cookers, zithers and tea sets supported by everyone. The children measured the size of the room and carpeted it; Four bed plates have just been installed; Colored paper and brushes are scattered on the ground

Ordinary school: there are playground and teaching building on campus, and classroom mainly includes blackboard, desks and chairs
”The campus is shaded by green trees and the teaching buildings are well arranged. Once you enter the campus, you can see the library we often go in and out of; There is also a beautiful geographical biological park, which also includes the experimental building, the information building, the music room, the history room, the folk music room... "-- excerpted from the composition of a primary school student

What kind of teaching philosophy?

Contemporary "Private School": Happy Learning and Free Development
"Private school" 1: mutual aid teaching mode plus extracurricular practice, cultivate world citizens who love to ask questions, know how to explore, be rational, love life and have dreams; "Private school" II: Let students learn what they want to learn and do what they want to do before going to college. Between edification and self exploration, between freedom and self-discipline, happy learning.

General schools: all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor
Take the primary school as an example, it mainly cultivates the habit of self-conscious learning of primary school students, grasps primary knowledge of various subjects, learns some simple self-care ability, and sets up lofty ideals, so as to "comprehensively develop morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor".

What age group is suitable for children?

Contemporary "private schools": children of primary school age are the most common
The ideal "home school" can theoretically support the curriculum up to the university. However, in China, "private schools" are small in scale and unstable in structure. Children are mainly from six to seven to fifteen or six years old (basically corresponding to primary schools and junior high schools), which are directly constrained by parents' teaching ability and knowledge reserves.

Regular schools: from kindergarten to university, there are suitable class schedules
In theory, children aged 3 to 18 can enter suitable ordinary schools (from kindergarten to senior three).

Expert opinion: the important value of "private schools"

Yang Dongping, President of the 21st Century Education Research Institute The practice of "home schooling" in China is diversified in educational concepts, contents and methods, but it attaches importance to the value of family education, emphasizes love and respect for children, and implements individualized education based on each student. This practice conforms to the development trend of social structure differentiation and diversified educational needs, and is of great value for increasing the selectivity and richness of education, providing high-quality teaching, and meeting the educational needs of different groups.

Expert opinion: "private schools" have regulatory loopholes

Xiong Bingqi, Vice President of the 21st Century Education Research Institute At present, home schooling in the form of private schools and schools in China borrows the concept, but there is suspicion of "illegal schooling". If these private schools are not registered as schools or training institutions, there will be "legitimacy" problems in running schools, which will lead to regulatory loopholes in school running quality, school building safety, and the protection of the rights and interests of the educated, and also make themselves into serious living difficulties. At the same time, it is easy to cause social misunderstanding of the essence of "homeschooling".

Expert opinion: it is difficult to accomplish the heavy task of education by family alone

You Yongheng, Professor of School of Education Science, Sichuan Normal University : The children are still young, and they are also engaged in low level education. Parents may feel that they can "take the world as a whole" for their children's learning and growth. But education is complex after all, and it is difficult to complete the heavy task of education by family alone. Children should eventually integrate into the society, and isolated education that is separated from the "normal" social situation will gradually show its shortcomings. Of course, this is not absolute, but we should be fully prepared.

Expert opinion: the law should be revised to give the title of "private school"

Xiong Bingqi, Vice President of the 21st Century Education Research Institute China should initiate the revision of the Compulsory Education Law to allow students to receive family education beyond school education. Of course, this kind of home education must also be clearly defined. At the same time, parents' teaching qualifications, quality supervision of home schooling, etc. should be clearly defined to avoid the emergence of illegal school running and school-age children dropping out of school. The homeschooling without legislative guarantee is impossible to develop, and can only travel in the gray area, which is embarrassing.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Children Going to "Private School"

benefit : The children who are really at home are "relatively calm" and "more able to play, with content, creativity and strong concentration".
　　 Disadvantages The number of "private school" children is small, the partnership may not be stable, and the children's demands for companionship may not be met.

Six conditions are required to educate parents at home

If parents want to leave school to teach their children at home, or jointly open a "private school", they must meet at least six conditions:
1、 Have clear plans for children's growth;
2、 Good patience and emotional control ability;
3、 Professional background, with curriculum teaching ability;
4、 Good social skills;
5、 Can find fixed playmates for children;
6、 Ability to execute.
In addition, home schooling also means much higher investment in energy and money than ordinary schools.

Main Problems Faced by Contemporary "Private Schools"

Grassroots or professional

The former is more expensive, but easy to maintain characteristics; The latter can cause scale effect and reduce costs. The increase of children will bring about an increase in the workload, and it is inevitable that parents alone cannot complete all the work. If professional teachers or full-time personnel are to be recruited, the consequence is likely to be an inevitable shift to small schools.

Lack of school running qualification

Children are unable to obtain school status, or their school status is attached to a less popular public school. The state has not specifically explained the phenomenon of "home schooling". How children can obtain academic certificates at all levels, or how to apply for college, is a problem that needs to be solved in the future.

Long term development plan

All kinds of education models that parents agree on are difficult to be compatible: Xia Shan, Meng Shi, Sagu, Waldorf, Seed, Reading Scriptures... "Apart from paying special attention to education and being dissatisfied with traditional school education, parents can hardly find any other common ground" - which is also an important reason why the grassroots alliance is still able to maintain and will fall apart once it expands.

Some domestic "home schooling" alliances

Ririxin School In September 2006, it was jointly founded by four parents in Beijing Huilongguan Community. The curriculum is divided into humanities, science, art, sports and social practice, and the curriculum time is flexible. The school strives to practice the combination of western rational spirit and oriental perceptive wisdom to realize a kind of "truth" education.

Cangshan School : In 2010, it was founded by Chen Zhen, a parent in Cangshan, Dali. The school has various activity areas, and the children can arrange their daily life independently. The rules are formulated by the children and the teaching staff through the autonomous council. The school emulates the British Summer Mountain School to let children return to nature and have a happy childhood. At present, the school is traveling around the world.

June School : It was founded by Ye Wanhong, the parent, in Foshan, Guangzhou in August 2010. The extra language and math courses are determined according to the children's different learning progress, and the appreciation classes, science classes, and work classes are carried out at different ages. Continuing the educational philosophy of Sun Ruixue's educational institution of "love and freedom, rules and equality", let children become "complete people" in "complete growth".

Vegetable Superman Mother Education Symbiosis Community : Founded in Dali by Song Xiayan in 2011. Instead of running schools, we advocate melting education into a "water" lifestyle. Parents and children are deeply involved together. The funds and materials within the school are shared, and there is no fixed tuition. Parents can make profits for the community by providing labor, and the community also plans to create other ways to make profits.