Problems and Challenges Faced by Parents in Family Education

Under the "Double Reduction" Policy

Shubai Guo

North China Electric Power University (Baoding), Baoding, 071000, China

Keywords: The "Double Reduction" Policy, Family Education, Primary Education.

Abstract: Against the backdrop of the comprehensive implementation of the "Double Reduction" policy, the issue of

excessive burden on students in the compulsory education stage has received attention and improvement, and

the ecology of family education has also changed. This study focuses on the problems and challenges that

parents encounter in family education under the "Double Reduction" policy, which is of great significance. It

can not only assist parents in better fulfilling their educational responsibilities and promoting the all-round

development of children but also provide a basis for improving educational policies. Parents face difficulties

in transforming educational concepts, confusion in planning after-school time, confusion in choosing educa-

tional resources, and intensified educational anxiety. At the same time, when fulfilling family education re-

sponsibilities, some parents have improper methods. The conclusion of this study is that multi-party collabo-

ration is needed to help parents adapt to the "Double Reduction" policy, optimize family education, and ensure

the healthy growth of children.

1 INTRODUCTION

The "Double Reduction" policy was issued in July

2021. Its main content is to reduce the homework

burden of students in the compulsory education stage

and the burden of off-campus training. The aim is to

help parents reduce educational anxiety and adapt to

policy changes. After the implementation of the

"Double Reduction" policy, the role and mode of

family education have undergone significant changes.

Primary and secondary school students are in a

critical period of physical and mental development,

and parents play an irreplaceable role in their growth

process. The impact of the "Double Reduction"

policy on family education is reflected in the

transformation of educational concepts. The "Double

Reduction" policy prompts parents to re-examine the

essence of education, shift from simply pursuing

grades to focusing on the all-round development of

children, such as cultivating creativity, practical

ability, and good moral character. For example, in the

past, some parents only valued test scores. After the

"Double Reduction," they began to attach importance

to the improvement of children's literacy in art, sports,

and other aspects. At the same time, the educational

methods have also been adjusted. After the

implementation of the policy, off-campus tutoring is

restricted, and parents need to explore new

educational methods. From relying on off-campus

training to spending more time accompanying

children in learning and independently planning the

learning content. Some parents recognize the "Double

Reduction" and believe that children have more rest

time and can develop hobbies.

This study focuses on the problems and

challenges that parents face in family education under

the "Double Reduction" policy, pays attention to the

dilemmas that parents encounter in aspects such as

the update of educational concepts, the distribution of

educational resources, the adjustment of parent-child

relationships, and the recognition of educational

responsibilities, and aims to deeply analyze these

problems and provide theoretical support and

practical guidance for optimizing family education.

This article uses the literature research method to

comprehensively collect academic literature, research

reports, and policy interpretations at home and abroad

related to the "Double Reduction" policy, family

education, and psychological development. Through

the sorting and analysis of these materials, grasp the

achievements and deficiencies of existing research,

and provide a theoretical basis and research direction

for this study. Accurately identify various problems

and challenges encountered by parents in family

education under the "Double Reduction" policy, and

Guo, S.

Problems and Challenges Faced by Parents in Family Education Under the "Double Reduction" Policy.

DOI: 10.5220/0013983800004912

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 305-310

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

305

clarify the specific manifestations and impact scope

of the problems. Deeply analyze various factors such

as the connection problems in the process of policy

implementation, the influence of the social

competition environment, and the limitations of

parents' own educational concepts and abilities.

Based on the research results, put forward practical,

targeted, and operational suggestions to help parents

better adapt to the "Double Reduction" policy,

optimize family education strategies, and promote all-

round development in a healthy family environment.

The impact of the "Double Reduction" policy on

family education is reflected in the transformation of

educational concepts. The "Double Reduction" policy

prompts parents to re-examine the essence of

education, shift from simply pursuing grades to

focusing on the all-round development of children.

For example, in the past, some parents only valued

test scores. After the "Double Reduction," they began

to pay attention to the improvement of children's

literacy in art, sports, and other aspects. The article

will also mention the attitudes of primary school

students' parents towards the "Double Reduction"

policy. Some parents recognize the "Double

Reduction" and believe that children have more rest

time and can develop hobbies. But many parents are

worried that the "Double Reduction" will affect

children's competitiveness in entering higher grades.

2 THE IMPACT OF THE POLICY

ON FAMILY EDUCATION

After the "Double Reduction," children have more

after-school time. Parents have more opportunities to

do outdoor sports, visit museums, and read books

with their children. The parent-child interaction mode

has become more diversified. Parents have complex

psychological reactions to the "Double Reduction"

policy. For the reduction of homework burden, the

dual motives of "parent care" and "children's

achievements" have triggered parents' complex and

contradictory psychology, affecting parents' choices

and behaviors. For off-campus training, parents who

have long relied on off-campus training as the main

battlefield and lack their own tutoring ability will tend

to resist the "Double Reduction" policy (Liu &

Cheng, 2023).

3 DIFFERENT ATTITUDES OF

PARENTS

3.1 Active Support

Parents deeply understand the significance of the

"Double Reduction" policy for the long-term

development of children. They hope to see children

liberated from heavy schoolwork and training and

have time to develop hobbies that were once put

aside.

3.2 Worried and Wait-and-See

Some parents have inner worries. They are used to

relying on off-campus tutoring classes to enhance

children's learning competitiveness and are worried

that children's academic performance will decline

after the "Double Reduction" and lose advantages in

entering higher grades. They reduce children's

training arrangements as required on the one hand,

and privately look for tutorial methods on the other

hand, being entangled in finding a balance between

complying with the policy and ensuring children's

academic performance. Although the "Double

Reduction" has eliminated the drawbacks of off-

campus training institutions to a certain extent, it has

not yet changed the value orientation of exam-

oriented education, and parents' educational anxiety

has not been fundamentally relieved. Stimulated by

the competitive parenting culture, parents have

abandoned the concept of scientific parenting and lost

their direction in the vortex of exam-oriented

education. Facing the pressure of entering higher

grades, although parents know that reducing the

burden is good for children, they are still full of

worries and anxiety (Liu & Dong, 2022).

4 PARENTS' EDUCATIONAL

ANXIETY

After the implementation of the "Double Reduction"

policy, while parents are adapting to the

transformation of the educational model, they are also

facing reflection on educational concepts and

parenting methods. Parents experience the dilemma

of cognitive anxiety and value choice, especially

when choosing between the two educational concepts

of "expecting children to become adults" and

"expecting children to become dragons". This

dilemma of value choice not only exists at the

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individual level but is also rooted in social structure

and cultural cognition (He & Guo, 2024).

4.1 Academic Performance Deep

4.1.1 Worry About the Effect of Classroom

Learning

After the "Double Reduction," off-campus tutoring

has been weakened, and parents are increasingly

focusing on children's learning situation in the school

classroom. Therefore, when some parents

communicate with their children about their learning

situation on a daily basis, they will ask about the

degree of mastery of knowledge points in each class.

If the child indicates that they do not understand,

parents will be very worried, worried that without

timely consolidation by off-campus tutoring classes,

these knowledge loopholes will become larger and

larger.

4.1.2 Continuous Anxiety toward the

Pressure of Entering Higher Grades

Despite the "Double Reduction" policy's commitment

to creating a fairer and more reasonable educational

ecology, it cannot be ignored that the pressure of the

high school entrance examination and the college

entrance examination on children and parents still

exists, making them habitually link children's

academic performance with future entering higher

grades. Even if a child's grades fluctuate slightly in an

ordinary quiz, parents will worry that it will affect the

final result of entering higher grades.

4.2 Arrangement of After-School Time

After the implementation of it, there is abundant after-

school time. Parents do not know whether to guide

children to read various beneficial books, encourage

them to participate in sports to enhance their physical

fitness, or participate in art training. Faced with a lot

of free time, parents are at a loss.

4.3 Transformation of Educational

Concepts

The policy calls on parents to pay more attention to

educational guidance within the family. Enhancing

parents' confidence in children's future diverse

development space is the key to reducing parents'

psychological burden and students' academic

pressure. When the benefits of excessive effort

decrease and children's diverse development space

becomes visible, and the social security system

gradually improves, parents will slowly put down the

heavy psychological burden associated with the

"separation of general education and vocational

education," respect children's own potential and

interests, and achieve "consistency between heart and

mouth." Only in this way can the vision that the

"Double Reduction" aims to achieve be truly realized

(Guan & Cheng, 2024).

5 RESPONSIBILITIES AND

DEFICIENCIES OF PARENTS

IN FAMILY EDUCATION

5.1 Difficulty in Transforming

Concepts

Although the policy has been implemented for some

time, some parents still find it difficult to break away

from the shackles of traditional educational concepts

and still habitually take grades as the only criterion

for measuring whether a child is excellent or not.

Some parents think that those activities such as art

and sports are a waste of time and it is better to do a

few more exercises. They ignore the improvement of

children's comprehensive quality, which is not

conducive to children's long-term physical and

mental health and development.

5.2 Lack of Effective Companionship

Under the "Double Reduction" policy, children have

more after-school time. However, many parents, due

to busy work and other reasons, cannot spare enough

time to accompany their children. Some parents, even

when at home, are busy with their own affairs, letting

children play by themselves or watch TV to pass the

time, lacking real parent-child communication and

interaction. Some parents, although accompanying

their children, are only formally accompanying them,

such as sitting beside the child and playing with their

mobile phones, and the child still cannot feel the care

and attention from the parents.

5.3 Improper Guidance Methods

In terms of cultivating children's autonomous

learning ability, many parents lack scientific and

effective guidance methods. As the age increases, the

autonomy of learning ability should gradually

increase. Parents should grasp the degree of guiding

their children, let go when it is time to let go, and

Problems and Challenges Faced by Parents in Family Education Under the "Double Reduction" Policy

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provide effective guidance to children at the

appropriate time to effectively improve students'

learning ability (Wu, 2024). When children encounter

difficulties in learning, parents may not have enough

patience, do not inspire children correctly but instead

accuse children of not working hard enough or

directly complete the tasks for children. In the usual

process of family education, they blindly focus on

knowledge education and ignore comprehensive

education in other aspects, especially the

psychological upbringing of children. This is a

common problem in current family education. Parents

attach more importance to "intellectual education"

than "moral education," attach more importance to

"grades" than "abilities," and overly rely on school

education, so family education fails to achieve the

expected effect. There is no absolute relationship

between parents' educational ability and their

educational attainment. The key is to guide children

to develop good study and living habits. Therefore,

the key to family education is to improve parents'

educational ability (Chen &Wang, 2022).

5.4 Neglect of Home-School

Communication

The implementation of the "Double Reduction"

policy requires the joint cooperation of families and

schools. However, some parents do not fully

recognize the importance of home-school

communication. They rarely take the initiative to

contact teachers to understand children's learning and

living situations at school and do not feedback

children's performance and problems at home to

teachers, resulting in a lack of synergy between

families and schools in educating children and the

inability to form an effective educational joint force.

In the process of carrying out family education,

parents should cooperate with schools and create a

happy learning atmosphere for children at home. For

example, after children come home, parents should

not just ask what they have learned today, how many

points they have scored, and whether they have done

their homework, etc. Instead, they should

communicate more with children, such as what they

have gained in class today, etc., and understand

children in the process of chatting (Peng, Yu & Li,

2022).

5.5 Limitations of One's Own Quality

Under the background of the "Double Reduction,"

parents are required to guide children to explore and

learn in various aspects. Many parents, due to their

own lack of corresponding knowledge reserves and

skills, find it difficult to give children professional

guidance and help. If parents' own ideological

concepts are not correct and their psychological

adjustment ability is poor, it is also difficult to

provide accurate and effective guidance for children,

unable to meet the higher-level needs of children's

growth process and restricting the full play of the role

of family education.

6 SUGGESTIONS

Parents are the core members of the family, and

family education is also an important part of national

education. Every family is an independent

educational scene, and every family should have a

clear goal construction based on its actual situation.

Parents need to establish a correct educational

concept, practice socialist core values, focus on

cultivating good habits, urge children to form a sense

of self-discipline, attach importance to the role of

examples, teach by words and deeds, create a

democratic family atmosphere, and use parents'

efforts and teachers' professional support to generate

a "magnetic field effect" of school and social

collaborative education, avoiding the phenomenon of

"raising but not teaching," and escorting the

implementation of the "Double Reduction" policy

and the sustainable development of family education

(Zhang, 2022).

6.1 Adjust Educational Concepts

Keep a correct attitude and let go of anxiety. The huge

pressure in today's society has shifted children's

starting line downward. Children have fallen into a

comparison loop since birth. Some parents attach

more importance to intelligence than morality and

ability in education and even try to help seedlings

grow, making family education more and more

utilitarian. The implementation of the "Double

Reduction" policy can reverse the "theater effect"

problem caused by family education to a certain

extent. Children are not containers or carriers to

satisfy parents' desires and imaginations. Therefore,

in terms of educational psychology, parents should

keep a correct attitude and let go of anxiety. First of

all, parents should reduce their utilitarianism,

overcome the psychology of comparison, adjust their

mentality, accept children's ordinariness, and follow

the law of children's development. At the same time,

children are not commodities and cannot be

"compared to three." Parents should give children

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objective evaluations. When parents evaluate

children, they should state facts rather than express

opinions (Kong, Yan, & Zhu, 2022). It is suggested

to establish the concept of all-round development and

realize that children's growth depends not only on

grades but also on morality, interests, physical and

mental health, and other aspects. Children should be

encouraged to participate in community volunteer

services to cultivate a sense of responsibility and love,

and support children to develop hobbies such as

painting and music to improve aesthetic ability.

Respect individual differences and do not blindly

compare with others.

6.2 Optimize Educational Methods

Cultivate autonomous learning ability, guide children

to make learning plans, and arrange time reasonably.

Finish homework, review and preview at a fixed time

every day, cultivate the ability to think and solve

problems independently. When encountering

difficulties, try to think by yourself first and then seek

help. The implementation of the "Double Reduction"

policy is to truly liberate students' nature. Parents

should be good at "delegating power" and give the

right to choose talents to children as much as possible

to return education to its essence. Therefore, family

education should also respect the laws of education,

actively collaborate with the main position of school

education, cultivate children's good living and study

habits, allow students' diverse choices of talents, and

better serve children's growth and talent development

(Sun & Jin, 2022). Parents should first form a correct

educational concept, create a good educational

atmosphere of love, morality, and freedom and

democracy, make education highlight the personality

characteristics of the family, and at the same time

cooperate and support school education in terms of

educational goals and educational methods to deepen

and consolidate the educational effect (Guan & Lyu,

2023).

6.3 Reasonably Plan After-School Time

Balance academic studies and interests, ensure the

consolidation of knowledge while arranging time for

developing hobbies. Conduct family activities and

organize family games to enhance family cohesion.

6.4 Alleviate Educational Anxiety

View competition correctly, understand that a child's

growth is a long-term process, and temporary grades

do not represent the future. Focus more on progress

and growth, and do not overly worry about

competition for entering higher grades.

7 CONCLUSION

Under the "Double Reduction" policy, parents are

faced with many problems and challenges. On one

hand, they need to readjust their expectations for

children's academic performance and educational

investment concepts, bid farewell to the model of

over-reliance on off-campus training, and explore

appropriate family tutoring methods. On the other

hand, they should pay more attention to the

cultivation of children's comprehensive quality,

spend more time and energy planning after-school life

and guiding the development of interests. At the same

time, parents themselves also face the challenge of

how to improve their educational literacy and

collaborate better with schools in educating children.

The research results provide clear guidance for

parents, helping them understand the new

requirements of family education under the "Double

Reduction" policy, understand the root causes of the

problems they face, master scientific educational

methods, alleviate educational anxiety, realize the

transformation of educational concepts from exam-

oriented to all-round development, optimize

educational methods, reasonably plan children's after-

school time, improve the quality of family education,

and promote children's physical and mental health

and all-round growth.

Schools can, understand the confusion and needs

of parents after the "Double Reduction", thereby

carrying out family education guidance work more

targeted, strengthening home-school communication

and cooperation, forming an educational joint force,

and jointly creating a good educational environment

for students. At the same time, the research results can

also provide a reference for schools to further

optimize the content and form of after-school services

to better meet the diverse development needs of

students. Moreover, it helps policy makers

comprehensively understand the implementation

effect and existing problems of the "Double

Reduction" policy at the family education level,

provide a basis for improving relevant supporting

policies, make policies more in line with actual

educational needs, promote the benign development

of the educational ecology, and ensure the

achievement of the goals of the "Double Reduction"

policy.

The research is limited by time, population and

research methods. The coverage of some regions and

Problems and Challenges Faced by Parents in Family Education Under the "Double Reduction" Policy

309

special family situations is not comprehensive

enough, and it may not be able to present all the

problems faced by parents in detail. At the same time,

the "Double Reduction" policy is in the stage of

dynamic development and improvement, and some

research conclusions may have limitations in

timeliness. Follow-up research can further expand the

scope, pay in-depth attention to the problems and

needs faced by special families and parents in

different regions, carry out long-term tracking

research to obtain more timely and comprehensive

data. At the same time, strengthen forward-looking

research on new trends and new problems of family

education under the "Double Reduction" policy to

provide more forward-looking and operational

guidance for educational practice.

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