Towards an Autonomous Knowledge System: Current Misconceptions and Improvement Pathways in China's Educational Research

Since the 21st century, there have been remarkable achievements in the research on China's education, yet with potential misunderstandings and problems, such as the logical deduction of "mind is principle", the introduction of foreign research as "what is international is right", and the practical summary that is purely operational. These are closely related to the realistic background of the current education research, manifested as "a domestic-foreign intertwining", "a mix of pre-modern, modern and post-modern", and a research environment filled with materials but empty in spirit. At the same time, it is restricted by the development demand orientation of "rebuilding the spiritual roots, integrating ideas and actions, and forming a distinctive localized system". In order to carry out outstanding educational research and to tell well China's stories, we should properly handle the contradictions mentioned above, and take the following strategies of"returning to the origins to create, taking root and constructing, integrating China and the West, integrating theory and practice, and acting while reflecting".