Integrating Rule-of-Law Education into Ideological and Political Courses in Primary and Secondary Schools: Practical Difficulties and Optimization Pathways
Download PDF All ArticlesRule-of-law education is a core component of ideological and political education in primary and secondary schools. It is the key vehicle for cultivating young people's legal awareness, rule-based thinking and legal literacy, and a foundational project for advancing law-based governance and building a socialist country under the rule of law. As the principal arena in which schools carry out the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, ideological and political courses bear the functions of legal enlightenment, value guidance and behavioral regulation. Rule-of-law education in China's primary and secondary schools is currently delivered through the Morality and Rule of Law curriculum, and a regularized, systematized framework has gradually taken shape. In practice, however, its integration with ideological and political courses still faces real difficulties: deviations in how its purpose is understood, fragmented teaching content, insufficient professional capacity among teachers, monolithic teaching models, and the absence of a coordinated home-school-society mechanism. Rule-of-law education consequently remains largely a formality, struggling to be internalized in the mind and externalized in conduct. Grounded in the realities of classroom teaching, this paper examines the contemporary value of integrating rule-of-law education into the ideological and political classroom, analyses the salient problems in the current integration process and their causes, and proposes targeted optimization pathways that are scientific, regularized and life-oriented. It aims to provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for raising the quality of rule-of-law education in ideological and political courses and for cultivating young people who are law-abiding and virtuous.
法治教育是中小学思想政治教育的核心组成部分，是培育青少年法治意识、规则思维与法治素养的关键载体，更是全面推进依法治国、建设社会主义法治国家的基础性工程。思政课作为中小学落实立德树人根本任务的主阵地，承载着法治启蒙、价值引领、行为规范的重要育人功能。当前，我国中小学法治教育全面依托《道德与法治》课程开展教学，逐步构建起常态化、体系化的教育框架。但在教学实践中，法治教育与思政课融合仍存在认知定位偏差、教学内容碎片化、师资专业能力不足、教学模式单一、家校社协同育人机制缺失等现实困境，导致法治教育流于形式，难以实现内化于心、外化于行的育人效果。本文立足中小学思政课教学实际，系统梳理法治教育融入思政课堂的时代价值，深度剖析当前融合过程中的突出问题及成因，针对性提出科学化、常态化、生活化的优化路径，旨在为提升中小学法治思政教育质量、培育新时代守法崇德的青少年群体提供理论参考与实践借鉴。