The Northwest Family Education Research Center of Xi’an University is affiliated with the Teachers College of Xi’an University. Its predecessor, the Family Education Research Center, was established as a college-level research platform in October 2021. In June 2022, it was approved as a university-level research platform under the name Northwest Family Education Research Center. In August 2023, the Center was further approved as the provincial YouthResearch Innovation Team on Home-School Co-Education.
Rooted in Northwest China, serving Shaanxi, and extending its influence to the wider region, thecenter actively responds to the growing needs of family education, home-school-community collaboration, and high-quality development of basic education in the new era. In alignment with the key task of “developing home-school collaboration” in Xi’an’s Three-Year Action Plan for Basic Education, thecenter is committed to advancing theoretical research, policy consultation, practical guidance, and talent cultivation in the field of family education.
Guided by real-world problems, regional needs, and practice-oriented research, thecenter supports the development of teacher education programs, especially the Primary Education major. Courses such as Family Education and Family and Community Education have been incorporated into the talent cultivation system. On this basis, thecenter has built an interdisciplinary research team focusing on three major areas: family education policy research, adolescent cognitive development and family mediating factors, and governance of home-school co-education practices.
Thecenter aims to produce research outcomes with clear regional relevance in areas such as family education policy evaluation, family education guidance service systems, child and adolescent development support, and innovation in home-school-community collaboration mechanisms.
Thecenter currently has11researchers, includingtwoprofessor.All members hold doctoral degrees, with academic backgrounds in education, psychology, and sociology. Prof.Wang Yali serves as the director of thecenter. In addition, thecenter has established an external advisory team in collaboration with experts from several universities in Northwest China, bringing together regional academic resources to conduct research on family education with distinctive northwest characteristics.
Since its establishment, thecenter has made steady progress in high-level academic research, think-tank output, local education services, and collaborative research-based talent development. Its team members have received funding from projects including the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project of the Ministry of Education, the National Education Sciences Planning Project, and Xi’an Basic Education Research Projects.
Several research outcomes have been adopted by provincial-level departments. Looking ahead, thecenter will continue to focus on major theoretical and practical issues in family education and home-school-community collaboration, striving to become an important research platform that supports regional education governance, strengthens family education practice, and promotes the healthy development of children and adolescents.
