In order to further strengthen the construction of the "dual-qualified" teacher team for the Social Work major and enhance the comprehensive qualities of professional teachers in its nationwide education system, from 6 to 8 November 2024, the first session of intensive teaching and research activity of the "Collaborative Growth" Teacher Empowerment Project for the Social Work major in the School of Political Science and Law at the Open University of China (OUC) was held in Enshi City, Hubei Province.
Nearly 60 professional teachers within the system participated in the event.
This project is funded by the OUC Education Foundation in Beijing (hereinafter referred to as the "Foundation"). Zheng Jie, the secretary general of the Foundation, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. She introduced the purpose, mission, business scope and project achievements of the Foundation to the teachers in the system, and conveyed the grand vision of promoting the development of the Social Work major, enhancing teachers' capabilities and giving back to the society with professional services through funding this project.
The event included four sections: team building, special-topic training, special-topic lectures and study visits.
In the team building section, Sun Jiangtao, director of the Department of Social Work in the School of Political Science and Law at the headquarters, led teachers through an immersive team-building experience using professional methods. Through collective sharing, group interaction and achievement display, the teachers' team cohesion and professional identity were enhanced.
In the special-topic training section, Zhao Yanfei, an associate professor at the School of Agroforestry and Medicine and the leader of the Ministry of Education's ideological and political education demonstration project, systematically introduced methods for mining and producing resources for course-based ideological and political education, as well as teaching implementation methods for both online and offline courses. Backbone teachers from four branches respectively shared their experiences, practices, characteristics and highlights in practical teaching.
In the special-topic lecture section, Li Tao, director of the Beijing Collaborators Social Work Development Centre, shared his work experiences and touching stories from his service, introduced the trinitarian service system of service innovation, research advocacy and professional support, and the development goal of helping the disadvantaged groups grow from the recipients of assistance to the helpers. Sun Ying, a professor at the China Youth University for Political Studies, believes that social workers should start from accurately analysing community problems and residents' needs, and introduced the specific methods of promoting grassroots social governance in coordination with multiple forces such as community residents' committees, homeowners' committees, enterprises in the jurisdiction, and backbone residents and volunteers.
In the study visit section, the teachers visited the Mazhe Village Rural Revitalisation Demonstration Base to learn about the local practices of promoting rural revitalisation and common prosperity through tea industry cooperatives, and they fully felt the important role of social work in promoting grass roots social governance and supporting rural revitalisation.
The first session intensive teaching and research activity was highly praised by the participating teachers. The project team also issued completion certificates to the teachers who completed the teaching and research tasks.
By Huang Qiao, OUC