The Second Forum of “Education for the Countryside” Series - Ruralizing Education: Toward a Sustainable Future

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Event Introduction

In 1926, the renowned Chinese educator Tao Xingzhi sharply criticized the direction of rural education in China: “China’s rural education has gone down the wrong path! It teaches people to flee the countryside for the cities, to eat without growing grain, to clothe themselves without growing cotton, to build houses without planting trees. It teaches people to envy luxury and disdain agricultural labor.” Unfortunately, nearly a hundred years later, rural education continues to be urban-oriented. It is alienated from the social and economic development of the countryside and runs counter to the trend of revitalization in rural areas. Rural education today faces urgent challenges. It must reorient its relationship with rural society, to better serve the sustainable development of the countryside.

To reverse the urban orientation and promote education to serve rural revitalization, Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), with the support of the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, launches the series of international forums on “Education for the Countryside”. The series of forums will be organized by HKU Faculty of Education in close collaboration with leading normal universities in mainland China. The Forum series aims to borrow international and domestic research and practices to chart new paths forward for rural education and rural communities.

In 2024, the Forum series was successfully inaugurated in collaboration with Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, Gansu. It called for a fundamental shift in the aims of rural education from social mobility to the cultivation of rural contributors for local development. Over 40 presentations were delivered both online and offline, attracting a nationwide audience of 592,000 via live streaming. For more details, please refer to the link: https://web.edu.hku.hk/news/edu-inaugural-forum-2024.

This year, the Second Forum, themed “Ruralizing Education: Toward a Sustainable Future”, will be co-organized by HKU Faculty of Education and Southwest University in Chongqing. This forum aims to promote transdisciplinary dialogues between rural educational workers and agrarian researchers to explore the answers to the fundamental questions: What should be the future of rural society? What transformations are required in education to bring society closer toward that future? The forum features keynote speeches, panel sessions, principal talks, and roundtable discussions. Researchers and practitioners in the fields of rural education and rural development worldwide are cordially invited to submit papers and join the event.

Forum Program

Call for Papers

Rural education researchers and practitioners interested in attending the forum are invited to fill out their personal information and submit an abstract of their paper, not exceeding 1,500 words (excluding references), or the full paper (if applicable), through the link:

https://www.wjx.top/vm/wWPcrit.aspx#

The content includes, but is not limited to:

• Curriculum innovations for rural sustainability
• Alternative teacher education or training for rural awareness
• Education and rural depopulation
• Education and rural identity
• Theoretical or policy study regarding rural education

Submission deadline: April 30, 2025

We will complete the review process as soon as possible and expect to notify the accepted speakers via email by May 15, 2025. Those who are not accepted will not be notified separately. Thank you for your understanding.

Conference Fees

This forum does not charge a registration fee. However, participants need to bear their transportation expenses to and from Chongqing, as well as accommodation and meal costs during the conference.

Forum Enquiry:

Dr SHI Tangsenyi

Email: [javascript protected email address]