Classroom change, vocational training and the long argument over educational fairness.
The 48th WorldSkills Competition opened in Shanghai on Tuesday, with Xi Jinping sending a congratulatory letter on how technological change is reshaping vocational skills worldwide. China's delegation of 71 competitors, with an average age of 21, has already won 93 gold medals and topped the team rankings at four consecutive editions.
As AI enters the classroom, a university's value lies less in delivering knowledge than in cultivating the abilities machines cannot replace. One scholar argues universities should move from knowledge factories to shapers of ability.
At a national conference in Beijing, Xi Jinping instructed that the Party's education policy be fully carried out and virtue-fostering made the fundamental task, nurturing well-rounded students, as basic education shifts from expanding access to raising quality.
When explanation and marking can be partly handled by software, a teacher's value shifts toward judgement, motivation and relationships.
Extending the school day solved the pickup problem, but staffing and funding need arrangements that last.
While academic credentials remain the main gate to promotion, skills training struggles to show up in pay.
