The Military-Wide First Training Course on Enhancing Political Cadres' Ability to Organize and Conduct Political Education Concludes
● Propaganda and education backbone personnel from units at the corps level and above participated in the training ● Explored and implemented a "five-in-one" teaching model
Reported by Liao Shikuan and Liu Jiali for PLA Daily: In the summer, the campus of the National Defense University's (国防大学) College of Political Science was lush with greenery as the military-wide first training course on enhancing political cadres' ability to organize and conduct political education (组教施教) successfully concluded. During the training, multiple propaganda and education backbone personnel from units at the corps level and above across the entire military gathered together to undergo one month of intensive tempering.
This training deeply studied and implemented Chairman Xi's important statements on ideological and political education, closely centered on the new situations and new tasks facing ideological and political education, and followed the overall approach of "studying theory, absorbing tradition, analyzing mechanisms, and drilling capabilities." It explored and implemented a "five-in-one" teaching model of "thematic instruction + problem-solving + experience exchange + situational experience + live-case practical training," helping trainees broaden their thinking on organizing and conducting education and comprehensively forging strong capabilities and qualities.
According to the relevant official in charge, this training covered instructional modules including guidance on theory and regulations, solving difficult problems in education management, mobilization and motivation empowerment, routine ideological work, and improving the effectiveness of education reform. During the training period, they organized a total of 13 thematic guidance sessions, 5 rounds of problem-solving efforts, 3 concentrated seminars, and 5 experience-sharing sessions, with rich and substantive content and tightly linked segments.
"We treated this training as an extended classroom for deepening political rectification (政治整训), threading the standard requirement of 'educators must first be educated, and those who forge the soul must first have their own soul forged' throughout the entire training." This official explained that the training explored the construction of a teaching content system deeply integrating "theory + tradition + mechanisms," maintaining throughout a commitment to aligning instruction with job positions, aligning practical operations with practice, and aligning outcomes with application, and working hard to resolve the key and difficult problems facing units in organizing and conducting education.
On the podium, expert professors imparted theoretical knowledge while propaganda and education backbone personnel from the troops shared practical insights; during discussions, trainees from various services and arms were mixed into groups to pool their wisdom and solve educational problems together… During instructional sessions, instructors not only vividly explained theoretical viewpoints and traced the historical context of their formation and development, but also closely combined the actual job situations and practical needs of trainees to impart operational skills, ensuring that trainees "know not only what, but also why." During seminars and exchanges, instructors focused on guiding trainees to find ideas, methods, and countermeasures grounded in policies and regulations, and to make genuine efforts and put in real work toward improving their capabilities.
During the training, the college carefully designed practical training segments to help trainees open up the chain of converting learning into application, and to temper and enhance their on-the-job capabilities through the mutual reinforcement of learning and application. One trainee said: "The training not only let us 'eat our fill,' but also helped us 'learn how to sow seeds.'"
"How do we strengthen the basic skills of knowing the situation, reasoning, counseling, and resolving difficulties?" "How can ideological and political education be made comprehensible, resonant, and moving for officers and soldiers?"… Faced with common questions raised by trainees, the college moved the training classroom into situational teaching halls and red-themed venues, organizing multiple distinctive immersive on-site teaching sessions.
At the Situational Teaching Hall of the Communist Manifesto (《共产党宣言》情境教学馆), trainees followed holographic imagery to trace the birth of this classic work, touching the power of truth at close range. At the Historical Situational Teaching Hall of Military Political Work (军队政治工作历史情境教学馆), instructors organized on-site teaching around the theme of "deeds speak louder than words; educators must first be educated," and trainees deepened their understanding of the "lifeline" role of political work through the blending of scene and sentiment. At a special organizational life session (组织生活会) held at the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, each trainee carefully examined and analyzed themselves, took stock of their gains and reflections, and underwent ideological tempering through "flushing red faces" and "breaking into a sweat."
"Political instructors are the vanguard in disseminating the Party's innovative theories and the main force in carrying out routine ideological work; they must possess strong abilities to organize and conduct education." The college's leadership explained that, in order to enhance trainees' ability to solve practical problems, this training invited expert professors from inside and outside the military as well as outstanding political instructors from across the entire military to deliver lectures, helping political cadres broaden their thinking and perspectives and master teaching methods. Trainees were encouraged to speak freely about solving common grassroots problems and to share fresh, firsthand experience from the front lines. "'Breaking the ice' in the way problems are solved requires that thinking break through first." One trainee stated that the lectures by expert professors provided new ideas for educational innovation and helped everyone break out of the fixed thinking of traditional education management.
As the training drew to a close, a full-process, full-element, live-case graduation assessment lasting three consecutive days commenced as scheduled. The assessment simulated the propaganda and education backdrop of a major mission, embedded 24 categories of complex scenarios, and authentically replicated various sudden and special situations. Trainees broke down service and branch boundaries and were mixed into groups, divided into three functional sub-groups for education planning, organizational implementation, and effectiveness verification. Through sub-group work, interactive questioning, and cross-evaluation, they completed within the allotted time such tasks as Party committee deliberation on education, education preparation, plan drafting, tracking and supervision, and quality and effectiveness assessment.
"Everyone is in training; every moment is inside a situation." Reflecting on their experience, one trainee said that this training comprehensively tempered their integrated capabilities of "managing education, organizing education, conducting education, and evaluating education" (抓教、组教、施教、评教). Together they refined more than 10 high-quality primary teaching plans and produced dozens of supporting practical operational results, providing reference for subsequent organizing and conducting of education.
This training adhered to the integrated development of education and training throughout, consistently gripping the capability orientation, emphasizing thinking training, reinforcing problem-driven approaches, and closely aligning with job needs. During the training preparation phase, we grounded ourselves in the new situations, new tasks, and new requirements of propaganda and education work, focused on the weak links in Party committee organs' organizing and conducting of education and the difficult, painful, and blocked points in grassroots education, and carefully designed the curriculum system on the basis of extensively soliciting opinions and suggestions from the troops, ensuring that topic settings closely matched needs and were practical and useful.
We constructed the teaching system against the backdrop of the troops' combat readiness tasks and the real-world problems of officers and soldiers, closely integrated training with practice, and relied on training subjects to carry out forward-looking, breakthrough, and original exploratory research, promoting the conversion of learning into application and producing a series of training results that are "ready to use as-is and doable by following along."
This training not only focused on consolidating trainees' theoretical foundations, but also worked hard to enhance their integrated capabilities of "managing education, organizing education, conducting education, and evaluating education." Through theoretical infusion, mutual learning and reference, and combat-realistic training, we hope to cultivate a group of "seed members" (种子队员) for organizing and conducting education who understand the rules, are skilled at overall coordination, and know how to operate.
When I first received notice to participate in the military-wide first training course on enhancing political cadres' ability to organize and conduct education, I had some concerns: would it still be the same "old routine" of reading documents and lecturing on theory, ending as always with "the suitcase carried in, the notebook closed on the way out, and everything handed back to the teacher two days later"?
After the course began, I found it was completely different. This training zeroed in on the difficult points of organizing and conducting education in the troops; the content was packed with substantive material, the methods were flexible and varied, and it had strong guidance, operability, and practical effectiveness. In particular, the training organization model of "everyone takes the podium to speak, everyone gets hands-on practice, and every day prompts reflection" effectively promoted the integration of knowledge and action and the conversion of learning into application, giving us an entirely new understanding of how to organize and conduct education, and truly achieving "coming with problems, leaving with gains."
The in-depth discussions with comrades from units across the various services and arms also benefited me greatly. Some comrades frankly admitted that in the past, when managing education they always thought it was enough to just follow the process through to the end, without close enough integration with actual combat requirements. This training's emphasis on live-case deduction helped us identify the methods and pathways for organizing education around combat readiness. Other comrades said that in the past they always suffered from "old methods no longer working, new methods not yet mastered." This training taught us many new immersive and interactive measures for organizing and conducting education, and we now have a practical "toolbox" for organizing and conducting education.
The end of training is also the starting point of practice. Returning to the unit, I will integrate what I have learned and gained into daily work, convert the training results into concrete actions guiding the unit in carrying out education, serve well as the "administrator" of plan management and control, the "dispatcher" of resource coordination, and the "quality inspector" of quality improvement and effectiveness enhancement, and strive to contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of ideological and political education.