Twenty-Year Research on Out-of-School Education in China from a Sustainability Development Perspective

Abstract

By using Citespace, an information visualization software, this paper analyses the hot content and evolution trend of China’s out-of-school education research in the last twenty years. The results show that the research hot spots in this field include the value and status of out-of-school education, the planning and institutional setup, and the policy and governance of out-of-school education. The hot spots in the weakening trend are leisure education and Children’s Palace, while the research frontiers in the increasing trend are quality education, Youth Palace, and research travel. China’s out-of-school education research should further consolidate the theoretical foundation of out-of-school education, pay attention to the research on the influence of out-of-school education, use information technology to carry out out-of-school education and evaluation, pay attention to the combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative research of out-of-school research, and improve the research validity. Only when the research results are rich and scientific can we achieve the goal of sustainability.

1. Introduction

On the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 17 Sustainability Development Goals for Sustainable Development 2030 in its resolution 70/1, which defines, “By 2030, ensure that all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education and achieve relevant and effective learning outcomes”. The 19th session of the Commission for Communist Party Deepening Overall Reform Central Committee of China deliberated and adopted the Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Homework and After-School Training for Students in Compulsory Education in accordance with the spirit of sustainable development of the United Nations. Reducing students’ homework burden and out-of-school training burden (hereinafter referred to as “double reduction”) is an important measure to promote high-quality development and healthy growth of students on the education front. This is where education is truly sustainable. Under the background of “double reduction”, how to exert the advantages of out-of-school education in practice, differentiation, and individuation is crucial. How to form a new pattern of mutual support and complement this with school education is imminent.

Out-of-school education in China refers to the educational activities carried out by specialized out-of-school educational institutions for children from 6 years old to 18 years old [1], composed of Children’s Palace, Youth Palace, comprehensive practice activity base, special children service institutions, and out-of-school training institutions [2]. Good out-of-school education can fully reflect the requirements of the learning society and the information age and pay attention to the realization of people’s values and the development of people’s subjectivity [3]. After 20 years of research on out-of-school education in China, our country has made breakthroughs in both depth and breadth. However, although on-campus and out-of-school education has the same educational goals but different administrative departments, out-of-school education often has some problems, such as weak theoretical guidance and disorientation of practical research [4]. Therefore, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to sort out the research hotspots and research development threads of China’s out-of-school education in the last twenty years, to reflect on the existing problems and to promote our out-of-school education research, improve the quality of out-of-school education and give full play to its educational function in the basic education system, and how to achieve “double reduction”.

2. Research Design

2.1. Data Sources

The data used in this research comes from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). To make the research sample more scientific and representative, this research is named “out-of-school education” through advanced search, which is set in the scope of “Social Science II,” and the period is set from 2002 to 2021. To ensure the academic value and quality of the literature, CSSCI, SCI, and CSCD literature were refined and screened out, duplicate journals were subtracted, and finally, 309 pieces of literature were determined.

2.2. Research Methods

In this study, CiteSpace software is used to analyze the knowledge map of the selected literature; additionally, the secondary literature analysis is used to explore the hot topics of out-of-school education research and find the research difficulties. The development direction of the research is also reviewed.

3. The Hot Content of China’s Out-of-School Education Research

Keywords, as the core vocabulary of the literature, are a high summary of the research arguments and themes. Input 309 related literature data into CiteSpace software, set the time to 2002–2021, slice the time for one year, set the Node Type option to Key Word, and set other options as default options to obtain keyword collinear graph. As shown in Figure 1. There are 275 nodes and 500 connections in the above figure. There is a positive correlation between the size of nodes in the graph and the frequency of keyword occurrence. The larger the nodes, the higher the frequency of keyword occurrence. This related topic is a research hotspot.

At the same time, draw a table of high-frequency words for keywords of out-of-school education (

Table 1. Statistical Table of High-Frequency Keywords in Adolescent Out-of-School Education Research.

Serial Number	Keyword	Frequency	Centrality	Serial Number	Keyword	Frequency	Centrality
1	Out-of-school education	77	1.03	6	Youth Palace	8	0.06
2	Out-of-school activities	20	0.11	7	Teenagers	7	0.02
3	Education for all-around development	15	0.09	8	School education	6	0.01
4	Middle and Primary School	12	0.17	9	Function	5	0.01
5	Children’s Palace	10	0.05	10	Study tour	5	0.04

). In out-of-school education research, the top five keyword frequencies are out-of-school education, out-of-school activities, quality education, primary and secondary schools, and Children’s Palace. In the analysis by Citespace, the node with centrality higher than 0.1 can be considered a critical node. Hence, the top 10 nodes shown in Table 1 are adequate for the secondary literature research. Combining Figure 1 and Table 1 to carry out the secondary literature analysis, the research on out-of-school education in the past 20 years are mainly focused on the following aspects.

3.1. Research on the Policy of Out-of-School Education

The establishment and development of out-of-school education are carried out with the support and guidance of the government. They are reflected in the out-of-school education policy, which to some extent, reflects the government’s choice on the value orientation of out-of-school education policy [5]. There are two hot spots in the research of out-of-school education policy; one is to sort out, analyze and interpret the changes in the policy, and the other is to explain the functions of the out-of-school education policy. The corresponding policies have promoted the development of out-of-school education in China to a certain extent. At the same time, there are still problems in out-of-school education, and new policies need to be introduced to coordinate and solve them [6]. Some researchers have pointed out that the tension between policy unity and implementation flexibility is the key to solving the dilemma [7]. From the perspective of social change, researchers have explored the changes in out-of-school education policies in the past 30 years of China’s reform and opening, and in a certain sense, showing the context and track of the macro development of out-of-school education since the 21st century [1]. The policy is the operable expression of values and the expression of “legal intention” [8]. It is believed that the function of research policy is to embed the policy into the governance of out-of-school education, which can bridge the gap between a physical resource, and social space in the current governance of out-of-school education, promote the linkage innovation of out-of-school education governance, coordinate and balance the interests, powers and responsibilities of multiple logical subjects, and promote the value-added efficiency of out-of-school education governance [9].

3.2. Research on the Setting of Out-of-School Educational Institutions

The institutional setup of out-of-school education is the premise and guarantee of out-of-school education. There are two main aspects to the research of institutional setup. One is the research on the establishment of out-of-school educational institutions, including whether, where, and how to set them [4]. This is a research topic with a long-time span. With every institutional change, it will lead to heated discussions involving the above issues [10]. Researchers divide the setting process of out-of-school educational institutions into the government-owned Children’s Palace for primary school kids built on the experience of the former Soviet Union for all kinds of after-school activities and tutorials, various thematic educational practice bases, out-of-school educational training for remedial cultural classes and out-of-school educational institutions serving special youth groups, that is, the process from Children’s Palace to “four in one” [11]. With the development of the Children’s Palace and the increasing age diversity of participants, the Children’s Palace turned into the Youth Palace services for all juveniles and youths from 6 years old to 18 years old. Second, out-of-school education is regarded as an organizational system, and the various institutional settings within the organization have also attracted people’s attention. Most studies put forward that the closed and single organizational structure of out-of-school education should be changed, its horizontal social, and organizational components should be increased, and the management ability and coordination ability of out-of-school education with multiple components should be improved from the perspective of institutional setup optimization [10]. It is found that the same educational goal cannot be achieved because “four-in-one” out-of-school education institutions are administrated by different administrative departments [9].

3.3. Research on the Function of Out-of-School Education

The research on the function of out-of-school education focuses on two aspects. One is the theoretical research on the function of out-of-school education. Based on the concept of all-round education, out-of-school education aims to promote the physical and mental development of children and teenagers through teenagers’ practical activities. From the perspectives of students’ social literacy, scientific and technological literacy, humanistic literacy, psychological literacy, moral literacy, etc., researchers explore the functions of out-of-school education [12]. There are also researchers who sort out the development stages of out-of-school education to explore the functions of out-of-school education in different stages [13]. The research also holds that the functional orientation of out-of-school education is the primary problem that China’s out-of-school education faces, from extension development to connotation development. The second is the practical research on the function of out-of-school education, which mainly focuses on how students carry out activities in various situations so that teenagers can perceive the world outside of books, cultivate their aesthetic sentiments, and help them establish correct views on the world and improve their character.

3.4. Research on the Integration of Internal and External Education

As a supplement to school education, the research on the integration of internal and external education mainly focuses on the angle and content of integration, i.e., aspect. From the perspective of integration, out-of-school education is irreplaceable. The heterogeneous complementarity of in-school and out-of-school education can provide diversified developmental resources for the all-round development of teenagers. Out-of-school education has more room for development; thus, it is possible to promote the quality of the connection between inside and outside the school [14]. Some scholars have also suggested that to promote the effective connection between internal and external education from the perspective of different institutional environments, it is necessary to empower external education in the system and expect external education to contribute to the burden reduction of school education [15]. Education inside and outside the school plays an equally important role in student development, and each has its own advantages and limitations. In order for students to develop better, they need to complement each other and link up effectively, forming an effective joint force inside and outside the school [16]. The content of integration mainly includes science and technology, art, public welfare activities and other aspects, mostly concentrated on the operational level. The cooperation between out-of-school and on-campus education emphasizes the same goal and complementary functions. By establishing laws and regulations, integrating resources, improving mechanisms, and other linkage and long-term mechanisms, a relatively complete inclusive system can be built, and at the same time, the theoretical research of educational cooperation inside and outside the school can be deepened.

3.5. Research on the Practice of Out-of-School Education

There are two main points about the practice research of out-of-school education. First, the main content of practice, including the content, methods, and evaluation of out-of-school education practice. Second, the supporting conditions of out-of-school education practice include curriculum construction, teachers’ professional growth, place construction, and so on.

As for the practice content of out-of-school education, at present, the activities of out-of-school education mainly include science and technology, art, sports, and other interest group courses. Art content dominates, followed by science and technology and sports. Its practice content is characterized by life, modernization, and technology [17]. As for the practice methods of out-of-school education, we mainly use the methods of co-organization by multiple institutions, studying the law of out-of-school education, paying attention to the investigation and research of out-of-school education, and displaying the results of various teaching and research activities, to effectively form a new practice mode of out-of-school education, which aims to do research in learning and be innovative in practice. Furthermore, take the lead in giving full play to the positive role of out-of-school education in implementing quality education and shaping innovative talents.

Regarding the supporting conditions of out-of-school educational practice, the most concerned thing is the professional growth of teachers. With the development of quality-oriented education, the requirements for teachers are constantly improving, and the professional growth of out-of-school teachers should pay attention to their ability for independent scientific research, classroom teaching and their ability to use modern educational technology. As for the construction of out-of-school educational venues, relevant research also points out that it is necessary to highlight further the main role of the “activity center”, and the venue construction should be diversified, serialized and characteristic. Under the background of double reduction, out-of-school education is in a critical period of historical transformation, and there is an increasing need for high-quality out-of-school education courses that meet the needs of teenagers’ interests and meet the requirements of teenagers’ all-round development [18]. Therefore, there are many scholars in the literature sample who study the curriculum of extracurricular education for teenagers. Many researchers pay more attention to some common problems existing in the curriculum of out-of-school education and put forward the principles that should be followed in the implementation process according to the corresponding problems. At the same time, in the research and development of course content, some corresponding suggestions are put forward [19].

4. The Evolution Trend of China’s Youth Out-of-School Education Research

By highlighting the co-occurrence keywords, we can find the frontier hot spots of out-of-school education research and show the research evolution trend in this field. Using the “Burstiness” function in CiteSpace, we can get the burst knowledge map of hot spots in out-of-school education research (see

Table 2. Top 9 Keywords with the Strongest Citation bursts.

Keywords	Burst Rate	Begin	End	Citation Burst Trend in 2002–2021
Leisure education	1.76	2003	2006
Middle and Primary School	1.49	2003	2006
Children’s Palace	2.85	2006	2015
Out-of-school Activities	2.02	2006	2009
Shanghai	1.82	2006	2011
Quality Education	1.42	2014	2021
United States	2.08	2015	2018
Study Tour	1.35	2017	2021
Youth Palace	1.27	2020	2021

). Combined with Table 2, the historical curve of keywords with a high burst rate (more than 1.0) is investigated, which is one factor generated by the software CiteSpace to represent the heat of the hot spot. The period for each hot spot with a high-level burst rate is presented as the red line between 2002 and 2021, from which a gradual weakening trend and increasing trend of burst rate for each spot can be reflected. Studies on the declining trend include leisure education and Children’s Palace. “Leisure education”, as an important part of the research on out-of-school education, has attracted the wide attention of researchers. A related literature burst in 2003, and the number of the literature showed an upward trend, reaching the maximum in 2006, and then the number of literature began to decline. The research focus began to turn to Children’s Palace. The research on “Children’s Palace” was highlighted from 2006–2016.

The research in the increasing trend is quality education, research travel and Youth Palace. The burst rate of “quality education” is 1.42, which emerged in 2014, and the emergent time is from 2014 to 2020. The Ministry of Education issued “Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Comprehensively Deepening Curriculum Reform and Implementing the Fundamental Task of Cultivating Virtuous People”, which put forward quality cultivation as the education goal. Out-of-school education is more closely linked with the school and society, and as an important supplement to school education, out-of-school education has attracted much attention. Under the guidance of literacy, the Children’s Palace actively explores ways to cultivate literacy. In 2017, the study tour became a research hotspot. The characteristics of out-of-school education courses, such as openness, practicality, students’ subjectivity, and respect for students’ personality development, made it possible to complete the study tour that could not be completed by on-campus education. With the enrichment of the content of out-of-school education, the service objects of out-of-school education have expanded from primary school students to both ends, including middle school students and preschool children. Meanwhile, the title “Youth Palace” has appeared, and the corresponding research has been carried out.

5. Discussion and Prospect

5.1. Clarify the Concept of Out-of-School Education and Initially Construct the Theoretical Basis of Out-of-School Education Research

The connotation and extension of the concept of out-of-school education is the basis of out-of-school education research. Researchers have reached a certain consensus on the “what” and “what’s the role” of out-of-school education, and most agree with and can follow the explanation and definition of the connotation of out-of-school education. Therefore, future research needs to start from the core connotation of out-of-school education, extend around the value and function of out-of-school education, explore the academic context of out-of-school education research from multiple angles and directions, and build a theoretical framework of out-of-school education research. However, compared with the research on school education, out-of-school education is out of sync with the development of institutions and the formulation of corresponding policies and regulations, resulting in the lack of mutual recognition within the out-of-school educational institutions and the lack of hierarchical management outside [4]. The preliminary theoretical framework of out-of-school education research has been established, but it is not as detailed and rich as the framework of on-campus education research.

5.2. Pay Attention to the Characteristics of Out-of-School Education, and Explore the Influence and Relationship of Related Factors of Out-of-School Education

Starting from studying the organizational construction of out-of-school education, we pay attention to the internal and external crises of out-of-school education and jointly explore the correct out-of-school education mode from the aspects of out-of-school education content, methods, and evaluation, so as to show the characteristics of out-of-school education [18]. For the existing problems in out-of-school education, such as utilitarian tendency, difficulty in considering personality development, forced participation, and obstruction of independent choice, it is also necessary to stick to the student-oriented position of out-of-school education, starting from the policy, governance, system, and orientation of out-of-school education, manage the chaos of out-of-school education to eliminate its negative impact, and really give full play to the huge role of out-of-school education in talent cultivation, which brings opportunities to complement school education [20]. However, due to the influence of sampling objects, regions, time, quantity and other factors, there is no unified view on the related factors and influence relations that affect out-of-school education. Therefore, it is suggested to combine regional economic factors and other factors for exploration and development, compare and analyze the differences in out-of-school education between urban and rural areas, eastern, central and western areas, and further explore the influence relationship of out-of-school education-related factors [21].

5.3. With the Implantation of Information Technology, the Research of New Content of Out-of-School Education Is Triggered

Out-of-school education is an educational system that is composed of the internal and external multidimensional environment of the educational system [22]. Teachers and students are directly oriented to activities. Government, family, society, enterprises, and other external factors undertake different educational responsibilities and obligations. Among the existing research on out-of-school education, there is little research on out-of-school education under the background of informatization. The research failed to make a comprehensive and scientific analysis of the changed and changing new contents of out-of-school education, thus affecting the continuous analysis of out-of-school education. Under the background of informatization, information technologies such as AI and big data analysis have promoted the digitalization and intelligence of out-of-school education. In terms of the CiteSpace analysis adopted, the results are affected by choice of literature data and the period analyzed. In addition, the determination of key nodes is based on the researcher’s comprehensive understanding of the topic. Hence, the analysis can only be done assuming that the researcher is not new to the research topic. The change of teaching mode also leads to the change of teaching viewpoint and teaching mode of out-of-school education and puts forward more stringent requirements for teachers’ IT application abilities [23]. Therefore, the present situation of teachers is also worthy of further study.

The evaluation of education is also a key link to whether the implementation of out-of-school education is effective or not. Without reliable and effective evaluation tools, out-of-school education will lose its original potential. At present, there are still some problems and corresponding improvements needed in the evaluation of out-of-school education. How to formulate an evaluation index of out-of-school education that is widely recognized, localized, and operable by the academic circles under the background of “double reduction”, what kind of evaluation tools and methods to use to effectively measure the effectiveness of out-of-school education and diagnose the problems of current out-of-school education are all important issues worth discussing in the future.

5.4. Strengthen the Scientific Nature of Educational Research Inside and Outside Schools and Improve the Credibility of Research Results

The fundamental purpose of the connection and complementation of education inside and outside the school is to provide diversified development resources for the all-round development of teenagers through the heterogeneous complementation of education inside and outside the school [14]. At present, the cooperation between out-of-school education and on-campus education has also built a relatively complete system. At the same time, it has deepened the theoretical research of on-campus and out-of-school education cooperation. However, there are many theoretical studies on the connection between out-of-school education and on-campus education, but there is a lack of research on practical application, and there is a lack of experimental support. Although many studies put forward the integration of education from inside and outside the school, the basis, path, and validity of the integration have not been elaborated on in detail. Among the research methods, experimental educational methods such as investigation and interview are rarely involved.

In the practice of integration of in-school and out-of-school education, out-of-school education is designed with reference to on-campus courses and excessively pursued “textbook-based” and “unification” in the curriculum setting, which led to the loss of their unique flexibility and practicality in the process of integration and failed to give full play to the real value of out-of-school education [14]. It is suggested that under the background of “double reduction”, attention should be paid to the effective combination point, integration path, and integration measures of the education inside and outside the school, and the integration effect should be scientifically evaluated to give full play to the special uniqueness of education outside the school. On the basis of fully understanding each other’s characteristics, advantages, and needs, carefully analyze students’ needs so as to improve the credibility of the research results [24].

6. Conclusions

To sum up, out-of-school education is important to achieving high-quality education development. Only by consolidating the theoretical framework of extramural education research can factors affecting extramural education be sorted out according to the characteristics of different regions in the country. The background of information technology, artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and other information technologies promotes the digitization and intellectualization of out-of-school education and improves the scientific research methods of out-of-school education. To achieve sustainable education development, in-school and out-of-school education should be developed closely and continuously.