中国老年教育的现实需求和供给对策

Third-age education in China:measures to overcome supply shortages

2016年,国务院印发了我国第一部老年教育专项规划《中国老年教育发展规划(2016-2020)》(简称“《规划》”),明确提出“以扩大老年教育供给为重点”的总体要求。但目前我国老年教育供给离《规划》目标差距仍然较大。针对广受关注的老年大学“一座难求”现象,文章着重分析了当前我国老年教育的实际需求、供给现状和应对策略。文章认为,老年教育需求受参与群体的特点及其参与能力影响。随着我国老年教育从福利型转变为普惠型,参与群体范围扩大、年龄降低,老年教育需求向多元化发展。当前我国老年教育供给不足既有总量短缺的原因,更有结构失调的问题,主要表现为老年大学资源配置不均、老年大学教育内涵不足和社区老年文化教育薄弱。为有效扩大我国老年教育供给,文章提出完善法律法规体系、提高老年大学教育属性、丰富社区老年文化教育活动、科学规划老年教育内容、老年教育与终身教育体系衔接、理性发展远程教育和发展老年教育产业的政策建议。

China’s State Council issued the first third-age education plan(2016-2020)in 2016,with a focus on how to expand the provision of third-age education.Today,its supply has yet to meet the demand.Against this backdrop,this article analyzes the current state of demand and supply and discusses measures to expand supply capacity.In China,third-age education has been transformed from a welfare benefit into a universal benefit,resulting in a large but younger target population with a greater diversity of demands.However,the total supply is far from meeting the demand,a situation which is worsened by structural imbalance,that is,unbalanced allocation of third-age university resources,inadequate perception of third-age education,and under-developed community education for the elderly.Measures are proposed to tackle the supply shortages which range from strengthening legislation,highlighting the education attributes of third-age universities,enriching community cultural and educational events,designing suitable third-age education content,integrating third-age education into the lifelong education system,taking advantage of distance education,and developing the third-age education industry.