The Post-epidemic Era: Reflections on enhancing labour education for young children

Abstract

Since the new era, labour education has become a regular activity in kindergarten education activities, an important part of all kindergarten education activities, and has been the focus of academic circles. In particular, the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening Labour Education in Schools and Universities in the New Era, issued by the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2020, emphasized the necessity of carrying out labour education, which once again triggered a wave of concern about labour education from all walks of life in education[1]. However, since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020, kindergartens have had to conduct all their educational activities against the background of the normalisation of the epidemic. Because of the normalisation of the epidemic, many kindergartens only focus on the form of labour education without really grasping the correct way of labour education for young children and the connotation of labour for young children, which has led to the marginalisation, formalisation and utilitarianisation of labour education for young children; and the lack of opportunities, content and activities for labour education for young children under the conditions of the epidemic. This has led to a marginalisation, formalisation and utilitarianisation of early childhood labour education, and a lack of opportunities, content and activities for early childhood labour education in the context of the epidemic.