The Development of Adult Education during China’s Reform Phases

As one of the E 91 states, representing more than 60% of the world’s population, China is committed to the goals of the UNESCO initiative ‘Education for All’ (EFA) (UNESCO 2000, p. 70). The goals of the initiative regarding adult education – essentially the reduction of adult illiteracy, the provision of access to basic and continuing education for all adults, and the decentralization of educational services – are also part of ‘China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development’ (Ministry of Education (MOE) 2010). This plan sets out strategic goals for the development of the education system in a nation that faces several challenges: a large population with significant economic, social, and educational discrepancies between rural and urban areas; extensive internal migration from rural to urban areas; and a rapid economic development for more than two decades. Accordingly, the underlying historical changes in China’s society have been characterized as a “transition from a populous nation to a nation with larger scale of human resource” (MOE 2010, p. 5). Ideologically the Plan is aligned with the idea of socialist modernization, which refers back to reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping after the Cultural Revolution. Specific goals focus on the expansion of educational attainment and the increase of the average educational level of the adult population, especially among the workforce. The government aims to increase the average length of primary and secondary educational of individuals who are entering the workforce from 12.4 to 13.5 years by 2020. Links between pre-job and on-the-job-education shall be intensified, in order to reach a benchmark of a 50% attendance rate in continuing education among the adult population. Especially the on-the-job-training is subject of the ambitious goal to increase the number of participants from 166 million in 2009 to 350 million by 2020. Therefore, beside schools, research institutes, and community organizations, enterprises are needed as essential elements of an open system for lifelong learning.