The long trek of a journey took a retired teacher to a distant and novel job post, serving as an important force in propelling basic education. Retired teacher Wang Gangcheng, a professional in Engineering Geology from Jilin University, was familiar with geological surveying in the western regions. With his rich experience, the emotions he held in 2020 as he once again set out for Xinjiang were far different from the past.
That year, Wang Gangcheng stepped into the journey of life at 66 years old, along with many of his contemporaries who devoted themselves to the cause of education in the West, people from across the country with different backgrounds and experiences, together forming a force carrying the honorable title of “Silver Age Teachers” progressing towards the frontlines of education.
The term “Silver Age Teacher” was first proposed in 2018 when the Ministry of Education focused on improving the status of basic education, initiating a series of plans. By 2020, the Ministry of Education further expanded to the field of higher education, recruiting a large number of retired teachers to support Western education. By the year 2023, relevant departments further released the “National Silver Age Teacher Action Plan,” aiming to establish a complete service system for Silver Age Teachers, enhance their service capabilities, and construct a development pattern involving both government and societal participation, with an anticipated teacher force reaching 120,000.
With their rich experience and professional skills, these Silver Age Teachers not only provide support for the development of higher education in their localities, partaking in subject construction and academic guidance, but also experience a brand new life journey in the process. Wang Gangcheng became one of Jilin University’s first batch of Silver Age Teachers supporting counterpart universities – one being Tarim University. Tarim University is located in Arale City within the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, a dry area with frequent winds, scant rainfall, and regular sandstorms. Despite these challenging weather conditions for newcomers, Wang Gangcheng can adapt with ease, relying on his years of border surveying experience.
In his teaching position, however, he faced a team of young teachers lacking geological background and teaching experience. Wang Gangcheng observed that these young teachers, due to their shallow knowledge, often skip key content they consider unimportant in their teaching. Particularly, chapters on geological ages and geological actions in Engineering Geology were often overlooked. Wang Gangcheng insists that accurately mastering geological ages is crucial to solving engineering geological problems. Therefore, he immediately took measures, guiding young teachers in distinguishing between normal faults and reverse faults by setting targeted questions to improve their professional level.
Even though these young teachers could recite geological concepts quickly and proficiently, such as a normal fault being indicated by the descent of the hanging wall and the relative ascent of the footwall, and a reverse fault by the ascent of the hanging wall and relative descent of the footwall, they still faced challenges in judging whether layers were ascending or descending. Seeing this, Wang Gangcheng promptly provided solutions: “To accurately judge the type of faults, the key is based on the geological age. If the new strata has moved down, it is a normal fault, and if the old strata has moved up, it indicates a reverse fault.”
Wang Gangcheng realized that Engineering Geology was a fundamental course for several majors at Tarim University and urgently needed strengthening through reforms of the teaching syllabus. Thus, while imparting subject knowledge, he also dedicated himself to guiding the young teachers. Outside the classroom, he never missed any opportunity for geological practice teaching, often personally conducting field inspections to ensure the richness and practicality of the teaching content. Over three years, he led teachers and students deep into the field for training, personally teaching until he was hoarse.
Beyond the professor who is busy reshaping the geological discipline of the school, there is also a silver-haired teacher at Tarim University’s Medical College—Cui Li, who is busy with the new semester’s courses. Ever since she heard that the Medical College was in urgent need of experienced teachers, the retired Teacher Cui Li came to this northwestern desert institution from Jilin University, even though she wasn’t too accustomed to the local environment and dietary habits. However, her spirit was not dampened; instead, she devoted herself entirely to the teaching of clinical medicine and preventive medicine courses, as well as experimental teaching in subjects like “Histology and Embryology.” She also actively guides young teachers to grow, generously sharing her professional knowledge, whether in the application to improve teaching projects or in participating in academic competitions and entrepreneurship project guidance.
As a seasoned medical expert, Cui Li’s activities are not limited to the Medical College. She also devotes herself to improving the clinical teaching quality of local affiliated hospitals and actively shares her abundant clinical teaching experiences. In addition, she often participates in academic work like reviewing manuscripts for “Tarim University Journal.” In the evaluation activities both inside and outside the school, her diligent working figure is often seen.
About 4,300 kilometers away from Tarim University, in Tengchong, Yunnan, Yunnan University’s retired Professor Wang Yaohope has come to Dianxi University of Applied Technology to start his third year of volunteer teaching. Wang, with his rich volunteer teaching experience, knows the importance of “having the right attitude,” which he considers a crucial principle for silver-age teachers.
The preschool education major that Wang Yaohope is responsible for belongs to the Jewelry College of the Dianxi University of Applied Technology. Most teachers who travel with him tend to choose public courses or those they have extensive experience teaching, to reduce the burden of lesson preparation. Wang Yaohope understands this behavior because preparing entirely new courses indeed poses challenges for the elderly.
According to Wang Yaohope, the Ministry of Education has no rigid requirements on the teaching content for silver-age teachers, only stipulating that 64 class hours be completed each academic year, i.e., 32 class hours each semester. Despite this, he firmly believes that simply meeting the basic class hours is only a superficial interpretation of the plan and that teaching at a supporting school, with all conditions mature, may be over-idealistic.
The real purpose of silver-age teachers volunteering to teach is that the institutions lack educational resources, especially teaching forces, hence the need for senior teachers’ mentorship and guidance. Wang Yaohope frankly states, “We cannot ‘travel and enjoy ourselves’ because we are advanced in age when supporting institutions.” Considering the university’s orientation towards cultivating practical, high-skilled talents and the school’s unique situation and student base, Wang Yaohope customizes a curriculum that covers a range of preschool education theoretical courses.
“Each year, I will offer at least two or three new specialized courses set up for the local actual needs,” Wang Yaohope expresses to the media. For the additional theoretical courses, there is a lack of uniform understanding among students and even teachers; therefore, Wang Yaohope organizes special lectures in his spare time to help them grasp the profound meaning.
He emphasizes that the school must maintain theoretical thinking in subjects and a foundation for applying theory, as well as an atmosphere for academic lectures and reports. He hopes his efforts will mobilize more teachers and impact more students.
In transforming the teaching concepts of teachers and students, Wang Yaoxi spent nearly a year. In order to pay more attention to textual exposition, he took the initiative to change the format of the graduation thesis from the practice-oriented “Graduation Design (Thesis)” to the theory-focused “Graduation Thesis (Design),” complying with the unified requirements of the Ministry of Education.
Besides teaching, Wang Yaoxi donated books and items worth more than 30,000 yuan to the school library to enrich its collection. Similarly, as an educational supervisor and the head of the teaching supervision group at the Jewelry Institute, he bears the responsibilities of educational supervision, application and acceptance of scientific research projects, review of teaching competitions, and mentoring young teachers.
In the undergraduate teaching evaluation conducted by the school, although some young teachers seemed somewhat overwhelmed, Wang Yaoxi believed that this is precisely where the value of silver-aged teachers lies: “Because they do not understand how to proceed or why, we silver-aged teachers should guide, lead, and practice.”
Wang Yaoxi, a professor who is about to celebrate his seventieth year of life, went to teach in Tengchong alone this semester. Despite his family’s concern about his health and their hopes for him to reconsider his plan, he insisted on his own view. Wang Yaoxi believes that the continuity of the teaching plan is crucial and should not be easily changed. This year, he undertakes the important task of guiding the defense of the first group of preschool education undergraduates’ graduation thesis and is committed to setting a high-quality benchmark for teaching. In addition, he will be taking on the course teaching work of freshmen and hopes to continue guiding these students until graduation, if his health permits.
Wang Yaoxi plans to conduct a survey of student learning situations in his teaching in order to understand the students’ knowledge base and learning level, and to design teaching accordingly. In his spare time, he engages in in-depth exchanges with students, helping economically disadvantaged students solve problems through financial aid, although not every student is able to repay the scholarship.
In the silver-aged teacher team at Tarim University, Wang Gangcheng and Cui Li are the members with deeper experience. Wang Gangcheng recalls that his family initially did not support his decision to teach, but in the end, they went to a different place together to take care of him. Over four years, the young teachers he led have gradually grown to be able to undertake teaching tasks independently, which has been gratifying to him.
Cui Li, the head of the silver-aged teacher team, is not only responsible for coordinating communication between the retired personnel department and the team members but is also responsible for ensuring the logistics support for the team members. Since silver-aged teachers are generally older, they face inconvenience when using medical insurance in different places. Cui Li mentioned an inspiring story about a silver-aged teacher having difficulty seeking medical treatment for pneumonia being resolved, highlighting the challenges the team faces in supporting work in the west.
In nearly four years, Jilin University has sent out 36 silver-aged teachers, some of whom have been teaching at Tarim University for several consecutive years. Su Baihui, the deputy director of the Retired Personnel Affairs Office at Jilin University, notes that the year-by-year increase in the number of silver-aged plan teachers is thanks to the school’s active promotion and support and service to the teachers.
“The greatest value of the silver-aged plan lies in tapping into the resource advantage of retired teachers, enabling them to continue to adhere to the original aspirations of education and to shine in places where the motherland needs them. These teachers not only contribute their strength to the growth of young teachers and teenagers but also fully demonstrate their exemplary leadership and mentorship, inspiring initiative, proactivity, and creativity.”
As a pilot project of China University of Petroleum (Beijing) Karamay Campus, the Silver Age Program has welcomed the joining of 148 retired teachers in just four years, among whom 46 teachers chose to continue serving after their contracts ended. Liu Jian, Vice President of China University of Petroleum (Beijing) and Party Secretary of the Karamay Campus, pointed out in an interview that the Silver Age Program has not only effectively alleviated the problem of teacher shortage but also improved education quality. Experienced teachers have imparted valuable knowledge and experience, at the same time, they have also driven the development of young teachers. The special courses, lectures, and student practice activities they have conducted have greatly broadened students’ horizons and stimulated their innovation and practical abilities.
In Western Yunnan University of Applied Technology, the changes brought by the Silver Age Program are also very apparent. This young university has many vibrant but less experienced doctoral and postgraduate teachers. The Silver Age teachers, with their rich teaching and management experience, not only guide young teachers to achieve academic success, apply for projects, and publish academic papers but also actively participate in local economic projects to help rejuvenate the countryside. Zhang Lei, Party Secretary of the School of Jewellery, mentioned that Mr. Wang Yaoxi, during his holidays, took time to understand the department’s needs in the hope of attracting more talent to the school, which highlights the significant influence of Silver Age teachers on school development.
Despite this, Zhang Lei also expressed that in order to make the Silver Age Program more effective, it is necessary to formulate some relevant policies and measures. For example, considering granting Silver Age teachers more rights to apply for local projects could be beneficial. Currently, since they are already retired and do not have an official employment relationship with the supporting universities, they face some difficulties when applying for local projects. Undoubtedly, the Silver Age Program is an active policy for the west and newly established schools, and it is hoped that more support will be forthcoming to attract more eligible, experienced retired teachers to join in the future.
“Zhang Lei said.”