A Review of Research Progress in the Implementation of

Geriatric Education Policies

Chenzhi Li

School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610000, China

Keywords: Gerontological Education, Policy Implementation, Problem Analysis.

Abstract: China has now entered a deeply aging society, and under the pressure of growing aging, geriatric education

in China has gradually become a major issue in social governance. Based on the implementation of geriatric

education policy, this paper analyzes China's geriatric education policy in terms of policy content, problems

and countermeasures using the literature research method. It points out that the current geriatric education

policy is characterized by one-sided curriculum content due to welfare orientation, multiple management due

to poorly defined division of authority and responsibility, resource supply due to insufficient venues and teams,

and insufficient participation of social forces due to economic pressures and legitimacy crises. The corre-

sponding countermeasures are given to solve the above problems. It provides a systematic review and refer-

ence for subsequent related research.

1 INTRODUCTION

China has entered an aging society for more than 20

years, the degree of aging has deepened with the

development, and in 2022, it will produce the first

negative growth in more than 60 years, and some

research predicts that the growth rate of China's aging

will peak in 2022-2036. Population aging will

become the basic national condition of China in the

long run, and some scholars even claim that the

demographic pressure has become a major pressure in

the governance of China's social problems (Qiao,

2024). To cope with the pressure of population aging,

the Chinese government has issued a series of

documents to alleviate the demographic pressure.

Among them, the Plan for the Development of

Elderly Education (2016-2020), the first policy

document on elderly education, shows that the

Chinese government has elevated elderly education to

the level of national will as one of the strategies for

positive aging. In the 1990s, the Chinese government

started to develop gerontological education at the

social level, but due to multiple administrations and

the increase in the elderly population, there has been

an imbalance between the supply of gerontological

education resources and the demand of the elderly

population for a long time (Ding, Chen, Xiang, He,

2019; Zhong, 2023). With the rise of network

governance, “grassroots” organizations, and other

third sectors in China, the Chinese government has

also noticed the role played by social forces in the

governance of social issues, which is highlighted in

policy documents, such as the Chinese government's

launching of the “National Medium and Long-Term

For example, the Chinese government has introduced

policies such as the “Outline of the National Medium-

and Long-Term Education Reform and Development

Plan (2010-2020)” and the “Development Plan for

Elderly Education (2016-2020),” which call for

paying full attention to and encouraging the

participation of social forces, such as communities

and enterprises, in China's supply system of resources

for geriatric education. However, many scholars have

pointed out that due to the low degree of resource

integration and insufficient financial support, the

current Chinese social forces do not have a strong

willingness to participate in the cause of supplying

resources and constructing the system of geriatric

education. (Wu, 2020; Zhou, 2021; Sun, Yao, Ye,

2022).

This paper mainly analyzes the problems in the

implementation of China's geriatric education policy

and puts forward countermeasure suggestions, using

the literature analysis method to carry out analysis in

the perspective of literature research, policy content,

policy problems and suggestions, mainly focusing on

the four levels of China's geriatric education policy:

curriculum content design, multiple management,

resource supply and social force participation, and

Li, C.

A Review of Research Progress in the Implementation of Geriatric Education Policies.

DOI: 10.5220/0013983700004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 299-304

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

299

giving corresponding policy suggestions for the

causes of the problems to provide relevant references

for the subsequent research.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In the existing literature, scholars mainly focus on

studying the current situation of geriatric education

policies and analyzing international geriatric

education experiences, while some scholars pay

attention to the design concept, policy content or

policy changes of geriatric education policies. In

terms of the current situation of geriatric education

policy, scholars mainly focus on three aspects of

research: policy objectives, supply of educational

resources, and division of power and responsibility.

In terms of policy objectives, Zhou Cuiping points out

that the current Chinese geriatric education policy

objective is to provide a curriculum system that

“focuses on joyful education” to the elderly

population (Zhou, 2021). Scholars such as Wu Jie,

and Sun Lixin (2020) reflect on the educational

objectives and believe that the value orientation of

geriatric education should be changed from “joyful

education”, ‘elderly service’ and ‘social welfare’ to

‘positive education’ and the development and

realization of the self-worth of the elderly. In terms of

studying the insufficient supply of educational

resources, Ding Qianmei (2019) believes that

geriatric education resources should be integrated.

Zhou Cuiping (2021) believes that social forces

should be actively encouraged to.

3 CONTENT OF THE POLICY ON

EDUCATION FOR THE

ELDERLY

3.1 Policy Objectives

Since the 1980s, the goals of China's geriatric

education policy have been progressively developed

and sublimated with the deepening of the

understanding of geriatric education. China's

gerontological education policy originated from the

work of old age and retirement treatment for retired

old cadres, mainly for the purpose of serving retired

old cadres and enriching their retirement life, with a

strong welfare orientation. In the 1990s, the

deepening of globalization and the United Nations'

focus on the issue of aging influenced the goals of

China's gerontological education policy, which was

no longer limited to retired cadres and turned its

attention to the protection of the rights and interests

of the entire elderly population of China in the field

of education, and to this end, the Chinese government

enacted the “Seven-year Development Outline of

China's Work on the Elderly (1994-2000)” and the

“Law of the People's Republic of China on the

Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly”.

To this end, the Chinese government has promulgated

the Seven-Year Development Programme for the

Elderly in China (1994-2000), the Law of the People's

Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and

Interests of the Elderly, and other legal and policy

documents, pointing out that the work of education

for the elderly should be centered on realizing the

right of the elderly to learn, safeguarding the right of

the elderly to receive an education, and continuously

improving their quality. After China entered an

ageing society in 2000, the Chinese Government

successively issued the Circular on Doing a Good Job

in Elderly Education, the Outline of the Eleventh

Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Elderly

Career in China (2006-2010), and other policies,

mainly aimed at improving the network of

gerontological education in a variety of schooling

modes, with senior citizens' universities as the main

focus, and vigorously promoting gerontological

education so that it is more accessible to the elderly.

The main purpose of these policies is to improve the

network of education for the elderly, mainly in the

form of universities for the elderly, and to vigorously

promote education for the elderly on a national scale.

Since the 1910s, as the national situation of aging

deepened and the Chinese government's awareness of

gerontological education increased, the Chinese

government, in an effort to further promote

gerontological education and at the same time

improve the quality of the gerontological education

supply system, has progressively issued the

Modernization of China's Education 2035, the

Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term

Plan for Educational Reform and Development

(2010-2020) and the Plan for the Development of

Elderly Education (2016-2020), incorporating elderly

education into the strategic level of lifelong learning

and national development. Among them, the Outline

of the National Medium- and Long-Term Education

Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) calls for

strengthening the development of continuing

education with a focus on strengthening human

resources capacity building , improving the

institutional mechanism for continuing education and

building a system for continuing education, and

constructing a lifelong education system. The Plan for

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the Development of Elderly Education (2016-2020)

calls for the formation of a pattern of elderly

education around five levels: institutional

mechanism, resource supply, development path,

support services and sustainability.

3.2 Policy Objects

Place China's gerontological education policy objects

change with the evolution of its policy objectives. In

the 1980s, policies aimed at serving retired cadres

mainly included retired cadres and relevant

departments involved in gerontological education,

and policy documents during this period were

ambiguous about the policy objects, giving only a

general plan without a clear definition; in the 1990s,

gerontological education policies were subject to

international influences, and the policy objects were

further defined. In the 1990s, the policy on education

for the elderly was influenced by the international

community, and the scope of the policy object was

further expanded, i.e., it was expanded to cover all

groups of elderly people on the basis of the previous

one, and universities for the elderly and radio and

television broadcasting were clearly defined as

important forms of education for the elderly, and at

the same time, the main departments responsible for

the education for the elderly were identified. After the

year 2000, the targets of the policy on education for

the elderly were basically defined, and the policy for

this period, while continuing the existing policy, also

emphasized the role of social forces in the policy that

could not be ignored. So far, the government

management and production of public services, social

acceptance of management, citizens benefit from the

policy object system is basically finalized.

4 THE PROBLEMS OF THE EL-

DERLY EDUCATION POLICY

4.1 One-Sided Curriculum Content

The value orientation of China's geriatric education

policy is limited by the social welfare perspective. In

the policy text, although there have been laws and

policy documents written to protect the rights and

interests of the elderly in education, so that it has risen

to the level of national will, however, in the

subsequent relevant documents do not specifically

state that the rights and interests of the elderly are

guaranteed, but more to improve the life of the

elderly, pay attention to their physical and mental

health as the value of the focus of the elderly

education policy, for example, in the Notice on the

Issuance of Elderly Education Development Plan

(2016-2020) issued by the General Office of the State

Council. For example, in the Circular of the General

Office of the State Council on the Issuance of the

Development Plan for Elderly Education (2016-

2020), it is stated that “education on ideology and

morality should be actively carried out to help the

elderly improve their quality of life and realize the

value of their lives”. In the implementation of the

policy, the curriculum design of geriatric education is

user-oriented, favoring “happy education”, and the

content of the curriculum is concentrated in the life

section, such as the use of smartphones, and the

recreation section, such as the teaching of singing,

and the design of the curriculum related to the

realization of value and personal growth, such as the

redevelopment of the work skills of the elderly, and

the reexploration of personal values are missing. The

design of courses on value realization and personal

growth, such as redevelopment of work skills and re-

exploration of personal values, is missing.

4.2 Multi-Tiered Management

The implementation of China's gerontological

education policy suffers from the drawbacks of

multiple administrations. Elderly education in China

is mainly provided by senior citizen universities,

community-based senior citizen education sites,

enterprise-run for-profit organizations, and senior

citizen education institutions set up by social forces,

which are managed by the Bureau for the Elderly, the

Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, and

other departments. Although it is emphasized in the

policy documents that the above departments have the

main responsibility in the implementation of the

gerontological education policy, the policy

documents do not provide a clear definition of the

respective responsibilities of each department (Wu,

2020). Due to the lack of a lead department, the policy

implementation department lacks vertical

coordination and planning, and thus lacks foresight in

strategic planning. The “compartmentalized” inter-

governmental relationship has led to a lack of

willingness to cooperate horizontally, resulting in a

lack of integration of resources, such as duplication

of resources. The lack of a clear definition of

departmental responsibilities in the policy documents

leads to ambiguity in the implementation of the

policy, and the overlapping of departmental functions

provides a reason for the relevant departments to pass

the buck to each other. Based on the field research on

A Review of Research Progress in the Implementation of Geriatric Education Policies

301

geriatric education in Sichuan, Ding Qianmei (2019)

pointed out the disadvantages of this kind of

management mode, such as shirking responsibilities,

lack of development strategy, low resource

integration and restricted budget.

4.3 Insufficient Supply of Resources

The implementation of China's gerontological

education policy is characterized by an insufficient

supply of resources. At present, there is an imbalance

between the demand for geriatric education and the

supply of resources for geriatric education, and it is

difficult for older people to enroll in courses offered

by universities for the elderly.

The main reason for this is the insufficient supply

of venues and teachers. At present, most of the elderly

education institutions lack suitable venues, and most

of the venues are converted on the basis of other

original buildings, such as office buildings, which are

not able to adapt well to the venues required by the

elderly education, and at the same time, the financial

pressure is also greater. In addition, due to population

density, the problem of venue supply is even more

serious in the city to carry out elderly education. At

the same time, in the construction of teachers, the

existing teachers have a low level of specialization,

and cannot respond well to the requirements of high-

quality courses in elderly education, which is also one

of the main reasons why the elderly education courses

have been stuck in “happy education” for a long time

and cannot be transformed. The supply of personnel

is also a major dilemma. Currently, the number of

full-time teachers in the gerontological education

faculty is small, and the recruitment of volunteers is

difficult because of compensation and other

problems.

4.4 Insufficient Participation of Social

Forces

The implementation of China's geriatric education

policy is characterized by insufficient participation of

social forces. In the relevant policy documents issued

by the Chinese government, most of the main bodies

providing resources for elderly education are

government departments, and this single structure of

supplying educational resources has increased the

government's financial burden and management costs

in the field of elderly education. At the same time, the

public sector has the problem of low responsiveness

in the production of public services and products. M.

Tam's research shows that network governance and

social force participation play a significant role in

elderly education. The introduction of social

organizations, enterprises and other social forces to

participate in the provision of resources and services

for elderly education not only helps the government

to reduce the financial burden and management costs,

but also enhances the responsiveness to the needs of

citizens. Although it is mentioned in the Notice of the

General Office of the State Council on the Issuance

of the Development Plan for Elderly Education

(2016-2020) and other documents that social forces

should be encouraged to actively participate in the

construction of gerontological education, there are no

relevant documents or systems that provide clear

incentives. There are two dilemmas in the

implementation of the policy on the participation of

social forces in geriatric education. First, the course

pricing dilemma. At present, the pricing of senior

education programs in China is divided into two

categories: low price and high price. The low price is

represented by the government-founded universities

for the elderly, and behind the low-priced courses

there are government subsidies to support them, and

the more people participate in such low-priced

courses, the greater the pressure on financial

subsidies (Wu et al., 2021). At the same time,

compared with the government-founded universities

for the elderly, the social forces are at a disadvantage

in applying for subsidies, and it is even more difficult

to get financial subsidies sufficient to cover the

operating costs. High-priced courses, on the other

hand, are represented by for-profit organizations

established by enterprises, backed by high value-

added add-on products such as services. Such courses

can only reach an audience in economically

developed regions, and it is difficult to promote them

on a large scale across the country. Social forces have

neither the advantage of government subsidies nor

sufficient audience for high value-added courses, and

there is a dilemma in pricing the courses. In addition,

there is the dilemma of public recognition. Chinese

citizens currently do not have a high degree of

recognition for social organizations created by social

forces, and the existence of many “government-run”

associations undoubtedly puts social organizations at

a disadvantage in winning public recognition, leading

the public to prefer “government-run” associations to

social organizations when enrolling in senior citizens'

courses. The result is that the public prefers

“government-run” associations to social

organizations when enrolling in courses for the

elderly.

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5 SUGGESTIONS FOR ELDERLY

EDUCATION POLICY

5.1 Deepen the Content Based on

Existing Courses

To promote the development of personal values and

job skills training for the elderly as an outline, deepen

the content based on existing courses. Currently,

older people's participation in gerontological

education-related programs is mostly based on the

need to enrich and entertain their retirement life, and

gerontological education programs are limited in

content in response to this need. Seth Matthew

Fishman points out that the work-oriented and

leisure-oriented learning behaviors of older learners

can be transformed into each other. In conjunction

with the current motivation for older adults'

educational needs, a large-scale, systematic rollout of

curricula that focus on personal value development

and job skills training may result in low participation

among older adults. It is possible to build on existing

programs, and it is possible to dedicate a portion of

class time to personal value development or job skills

training on a time basis. It is also possible to infiltrate

the value development component into the existing

curriculum to guide and inspire participants to realize

their personal values. Further development can also

be made to the existing course content, for example,

the hand embroidery course can add a certain

business content to develop the trainees' work skills.

Such progressive improvement responds to public

demand on the one hand, and deepens the content of

the elderly education program on the other.

5.2 Enhancing Party Building

Leadership

Strengthen the role of party leadership in the

implementation of gerontological education policy

and give full play to the advantages of vertical

leadership. After the policy on education for the

elderly was expanded to cover all elderly people in

China, the implementation of the policy has long been

faced with multiple administrations due to ambiguous

definitions of authority and responsibility. The

“compartmentalized” nature of the policy has led to a

lack of willingness to cooperate at the horizontal

level. Wu Jie (2020) points out that the reason for the

rapid and stable development of senior universities in

the early years was the clear definition of

responsibilities of the Bureau of Older Persons'

Affairs for senior universities, which further clarifies

the necessity of the division of authority and

responsibility among sectors in the implementation of

policies on education for the elderly (Wu, 2020).

Based on the theory of holistic governance, Yue Jun

(2022) suggests the establishment of a “high-level

promotion” mechanism with the Communist Party of

China (CPC) as the core leader. Adopting the CPC-

led mechanism can fully integrate the roles of various

departments in the implementation of gerontological

education policies, and eliminate the problem of

defining departmental responsibilities in the complex

network of intergovernmental relations and

overlapping departmental responsibilities in the

process of policy implementation.

5.3 Developing Community Resources

Developing and tapping community resources. In

response to the problem of insufficient personnel

supply, communities are rich in human resources due

to their high-density populations. Relying on

communities, if community human resources can be

fully developed during the implementation of

gerontological education policies, the problem of

personnel supply can be effectively responded to. For

example, the community can set up incentives such as

volunteer points to encourage residents to participate

in volunteer services in senior universities. Retired

elderly people in the community can be both the

recipients of the elderly education policy, due to the

rich working experience and a variety of work

experience such as retired teachers, retired cadres, but

also can be volunteers and participants in the elderly

education policy. As for the issue of venue supply,

although the community does not have existing

teaching venues suitable for senior education, it can

still introduce educational institutions such as

universities for the elderly through programs such as

“Community Partners” to provide them with venue

support.

5.4 Enhance Legitimacy

Through the government's evaluation of excellence,

benign operation increases the legitimacy of citizens'

recognition of social forces. Citizens' lack of

legitimacy towards institutions such as universities

for the elderly established by social forces stems from

the lack of an “officia” identity. In order to encourage

the participation of social forces, although the

legitimacy crisis can be solved by directly assigning

the above institutions to government management,

this initiative not only faces the problem of which

department to assign the responsibility to, but also

A Review of Research Progress in the Implementation of Geriatric Education Policies

303

increases the management cost of the department, and

at the same time, some of the institutions are not

properly operated, which also undermines the

authority of the government. The government can

hold regular evaluations and award certificates to

senior education institutions run by social forces.

Recognition from the government encourages and

motivates the active participation of social forces on

the one hand, and strengthens competition among

social forces on the other hand, forcing them to

produce higher quality and more responsive elderly

education services and products. Most importantly,

the government's recognition can resolve the

legitimacy of social forces and enhance citizens'

recognition of their participation.

6 CONCLUSION

This paper reviews and analyzes the progress of the

implementation of gerontological education policies,

and analyzes and elaborates on the four existing

problems: one-sided curriculum, multiple

administrations, insufficient supply of resources, and

insufficient participation of social forces. The one-

sidedness of the curriculum mainly stems from the

response to the needs of leisure-oriented citizens,

while failing to design the curriculum in terms of the

personal value and work skills of the elderly. Multiple

management mainly stems from the policy's unclear

definition of the division of powers and

responsibilities among management bodies, which

makes each government administration do its own

thing. Insufficient supply of resources is mainly due

to the pressure of space and staff in the daily

management of educational institutions. Insufficient

participation of social forces is mainly due to the

financial pressure brought by the pricing of courses

and the identity crisis brought by the lack of

legitimacy. At the same time, the changes of policy

objectives and policy targets in the course of China's

gerontological education policy are elucidated, and

the main problems in the implementation of China's

gerontological education policy are summarized and

solutions are given, which provide references for the

subsequent research on gerontological education.

This paper takes the national perspective as the

research perspective to analyze the implementation of

gerontological education policy as a whole, and thus

omits the regional particularities and differences in

the implementation of gerontological education

policy in different places. Subsequent research can be

based on the policy practice in different regions to

conduct more geographically-specific research, and

to summarize and develop the experiences and

shortcomings of the implementation of

gerontological education policy in different regions.

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