Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 ISSN 2576-3024 E-ISSN 2576-3032 https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n1p110 110 Published by IDEAS SPREAD Current Situation and Countermeasures of Education Support for Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families WULIJIJIRIGELA1 1 Mengyiling Art School, China Correspondence: WULIJIJIRIGELA, Mengyiling Art School, Hohhot, 010010, China. E-mail: jirigela88 gmail.com Received: January 22, 2025; Accepted: February 23, 2025; Published: February 26, 2025 Abstract This paper aims to analyze the current situation of education support for junior high school students in single- parent families in China, discuss the existing problems, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions. First of all, the current situation of education support for junior high school students in single-parent families is analyzed from the aspects of family education resource allocation, school education support, social care and policy support. Secondly, through the investigation and analysis, it is found that the junior high school students in single-parent families have obvious problems in the parent-child relationship, psychological status, academic performance and other aspects. In view of these problems, this paper proposes the following countermeasures: improve the policy system of family education support, increase the investment of family education, and carry out the family education training and guidance activities; optimize the school education support system, establish and improve the psychological counseling and counseling mechanism, enrich the diversified education activities; strengthen social care and policy support, encourage social organizations to participate, and the government to purchase services. Through the joint efforts of family, school and society, we will create a good growth environment for junior high school students from single-parent families and promote their all-round development. Keywords: single-parent family, junior high school students, education support, current situation analysis, countermeasures and suggestions 1. Introduction With the development of society and the change of family structure, the proportion of single-parent families in China is increasing year by year. Among them, the number of junior high school students from single-parent families has increased significantly. In this context, the education problems faced by junior high school students in single-parent families are more and more widely concerned by the society. Junior high school students in single- parent families often suffer from the imbalance of family education resources, lack of school support, significant psychological problems and academic challenges. If not solved in time, it will profoundly hinder their healthy growth and future prospects. This study aims to analyze and explore the current situation and existing problems of educational support for junior high school students in single-parent families, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions to provide reference for policy makers and educators. Through the in-depth study of the education problems of junior high school students in single-parent families, it will help us to better understand the educational needs of this special group, and provide a more fair and loving environment for their growth, so as to promote their all-round development. 2. Current Situation of Education Support for Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families 2.1 Uneven Distribution of Family Education Resources The uneven distribution of family education resources is one of the educational problems faced by junior high school students in single-parent families. In China, the lack of family education resources is widespread in single- parent families. The primary problem is the economic pressure, single-parent families often cannot afford their children's education expenses, resulting in the lack of family education resources. Secondly, the lack of educational knowledge and methods makes it difficult for single parents to effectively guide their children's studies, thus affecting the quality of education. Moreover, children from single-parent families also experience inequality in their access to educational resources, such as high school fees and after-school tutoring fees, which often make them hesitate. hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 111 Published by IDEAS SPREAD In order to improve this situation, the government and the society should increase the educational support for single-parent families. The government needs to improve policies to ensure the equitable education rights of children of single-parent families, including tuition cuts and grants. At the same time, the government and society should strengthen the education and training of parents in single-parent families to improve their educational ability and help their children's academic growth. In addition, volunteers and social organizations should be encouraged to actively provide more diversified educational assistance to children from single-parent families. 2.2 Insufficient School Education Support School education plays an important role in the education of junior high school students in single-parent families, but there is a shortage of school education support. First of all, the connection between family education and school education is not close enough. Because single-parent parents may be busy making a living, it is difficult to maintain effective communication with school teachers, resulting in the school is unable to timely understand the students' family situation, and thus unable to provide targeted educational support [1]. Secondly, the distribution of school education resources is uneven. In some schools, students from single-parent families may enjoy less educational resources, such as extracurricular activities, tutoring courses, etc. This puts them at a disadvantage in their academic and comprehensive quality, further aggravating the educational inequality. In addition, teachers' professional quality needs to be improved. Students from single-parent families may be faced with psychological and behavioral problems, which puts forward higher requirements for teachers' education and teaching ability and psychological counseling ability. However, at present, some teachers lack professional knowledge and experience when dealing with students from single-parent families, which makes it difficult to help these students effectively. In response of these problems, schools need to strengthen the connection between home and school, improve the file system of students from single-parent families, accurately grasp their family backgrounds and needs, and provide customized educational support. At the same time, we will ensure that educational resources are equally distributed and that students from single-parent families enjoy the same treatment. In addition, it is crucial to strengthen teacher training and improve their ability to deal with the problems of students from single-parent families. Through these measures, school education support will be optimized to better help junior high school students from single-parent families grow up healthily [2]. 2.3 Status Quo of Social Care and Policy Support Social care and policy support are crucial to the growth of junior high school students from single-parent families. At present, China has made some progress in this field. Government attaches great importance to the single-parent family junior high school education problem, not only formulated a series of policy documents, such as "opinions on strengthening the protection of minors", also introduced special funding policy for single-parent families, such as single-parent family children in college can obtain state subsidies, and can apply for low, rent breaks, etc., to ensure that the family minors get the necessary care and education security. These policy documents define the responsibilities and tasks of governments, departments and social organizations at all levels in the education of junior high school students from single-parent families, providing policy guarantee for junior high school students from single-parent families. Secondly, the care from all walks of life for single-parent family junior high school students is also strengthening. Many public welfare organizations, enterprises and institutions and caring people actively participate in the activities of caring for junior high school students in single-parent families, helping junior middle school students in single-parent families to solve their life, learning and psychological difficulties through financial support, psychological counseling, education and training [3]. However, although we have made initial achievements in caring for junior high school students from single-parent families, we still face many problems to be solved in the construction of social care system and policy support. For example, the relevant policy system is not perfect, and the policies in some regions; the social care force is scattered, and lacks effective organization and coordination; and the channels and resources for junior high school students from single parent families to receive education are still limited. In order to better care for and support the junior high school students in single-parent families, it is necessary to further improve the policy system and improve the policy implementation. At the same time, strengthen the construction and synergy of social organizations, to create a strong atmosphere for the whole society to participate in and care for junior high school students in single-parent families. In addition, it is necessary to actively expand the channels and resources for junior high school students from single-parent families to receive education, so as to ensure that they can enjoy educational opportunities equally and fairly and achieve all-round development. Only in this way can we really create a good environment for the growth of junior high school students in single-parent families. hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 112 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 3. Analysis of Education Problems for Junior High School Students in Single-Parent Families 3.1 Parent-Child Relationship Tension In single-parent families, the parent-child relationship often becomes strained due to changes in family structure. This tension is mainly manifested in the following aspects of [4]. First of all, due to the absence of one parent, the child may miss and rely on the other party, thus becoming resistant to the custodial parents. This emotion is easy to cause conflicts between children and custodial parents, thus weakening the quality and effectiveness of family education. Moreover, parents in single-parent families need to shoulder greater family responsibilities and pressure, which often leads them to the extreme in educating their children, either too strict or too doting. Strict education is easy to make children fear and depression, while doting makes children lack of self-discipline and sense of responsibility. Finally, children from single-parent families are more likely to suffer from discrimination and misunderstanding by their peers in school. This experience makes them feel lonely and helpless, and then have a strong resistance to school and family. This emotion may further affect their relationship with their parents. The tension of parent-child relationship in single-parent families is a complex problem, which needs to be analyzed and solved from multiple angles. This requires us to strengthen the education support for single-parent families, including providing psychological counseling services, conducting family education and training, and encouraging the participation of social organizations. Through these measures, we can help children from single-parent families to better adapt to family and school life, thus promoting their healthy growth [5]. 3.2 Outstanding Psychological Problems In the process of growth, single-parent students often face more psychological pressure and challenges due to the change of family structure. Due to the lack of father's care and guidance, some junior high school students in single-parent families may have emotional dependence, parent-child tension and other problems. In addition, social prejudice and discrimination against single-parent families may also lead to negative emotions such as low self- esteem and anxiety among these students. On the other hand, the psychological problems of junior high school students in single-parent families are often ignored. In the heavy task of school education, teachers often unconsciously focus on students' academic performance, but quietly ignore those mental health problems hidden behind the report card and urgently need to be cared for. In this case, these students may feel lonely, helpless, and even develop serious psychological problems such as depression. In order to solve the psychological problems of junior high school students in single-parent families, we need to start from many aspects. The first thing, parents should pay close attention to the children's psychological fluctuations, do their best to create a haven full of love and warmth for their children, so that they can thrive in care. Moreover, the school should start to build a set of perfect psychological counseling and counseling system, regularly hold mental health education activities, like a beacon, illuminate the inner confusion of these students, guide them to establish a positive self-cognition, forge a tough psychological defense line. In addition, the society should also eliminate prejudice and discrimination against single-parent families and provide more care and support for these students [6]. 3.3 Academic Difficulties Junior high school students from single-parent families face many difficulties in their studies. First, because of the unstable family environment and the lack of parental or maternal educational guidance, these students may lack sufficient attention and guidance academically. Secondly, children from single-parent families often suffer dual pressure from family and society, which may lead to insufficient motivation and decline in grades. In addition, children from single-parent families may face financial difficulties and lack access to quality educational resources, such as after-school remedial classes or quality educational books, which also affect their academic performance. In addition, junior middle school students from single-parent families may face social difficulties, which may affect their learning. They may be discriminated against or excluded in school because of their family background, making them unable to fully participate in classroom discussions and social activities. This feeling of loneliness and rejection may further affect their learning motivation and academic achievement [7]. For these issues, we have the following suggestions. First, schools should establish a more complete tutoring mechanism to provide additional academic support for students from single-parent families. This includes offering free tutoring courses, as well as organizing dedicated academic mentoring activities. Secondly, schools should establish a psychological counseling mechanism to help students from single-parent families cope with psychological pressure and improve their learning motivation and self-confidence. In addition, all sectors of society should also pay attention to the education of children from single-parent families and provide them with hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 113 Published by IDEAS SPREAD more educational resources and economic support, such as educational public welfare activities organized by social organizations or scholarship programs provided by the government. 4. Countermeasures and Suggestions 4.1 Improve the Policies to Support Family Education 4.1.1 Increase the Investment for Family Education The increase of family education investment, combined with the support of school and society, is one of the important means to improve the education situation of junior middle school students from single-parent families. In China, the education of junior high school students in single-parent families has attracted wide attention from all walks of life. In order to improve this situation, the government and society should increase the investment in family education funds to ensure that junior high school students in single-parent families can obtain the same educational resources as other students [8]. First of all, the government should incorporate family education funds into the fiscal budget to ensure that the funds are used exclusively. The government should set up an education fund for single-parent families to support the education of junior high school students in single-parent families, and encourage enterprises, social organizations and individuals to donate actively, so as to jointly help the education and growth of junior high school students in single-parent families. Second, the increased funding for family education should be focused on improving the quality of education, such as raising teachers' salaries to attract and retain talent, improving school facilities to create a good learning environment, and developing special education programs for junior high school students from single-parent families to meet their unique needs. In addition, the government should also strengthen the supervision and management of the use of family education funds to ensure the efficiency of the use of funds. The government should establish a strict supervision mechanism for the use of family education funds, carry out regular audit and evaluation, and ensure the precise allocation of funds to maximize the benefits. In short, increasing the investment in family education is an important measure to improve the education situation of junior high school students in single-parent families. The government and society should share the responsibility to ensure that junior high school students from single-parent families can get a good education and lay a solid foundation for their life development. In China, the education of junior high school students in single-parent families has attracted wide attention from all walks of life. According to the latest survey report, children from single-parent families show withdrawn, introverted and capricious weaknesses in personality characteristics, psychology and emotions, and the education level of guardians is generally low, leading to these children facing many challenges in education. In order to improve this situation, the government and society should increase the investment in family education funds to ensure that junior high school students in single-parent families can obtain the same educational resources as other students [9]. 4.1.2 Carry out Family Education, Training and Guidance Family education training and guidance are an important means to improve the education quality of junior high school students in single-parent families. In order to enable the parents of single-parent families to better perform the duties of family education, the government and relevant departments should actively carry out family education training and guidance work [10]. First of all, the government needs to increase financial support for family education training and guidance to ensure that family education has sufficient resources. Family education fund can be used for family education training, family education guidance and family education research and other aspects, so as to provide a strong economic guarantee for family education. Secondly, the government should strengthen the family education training and guide the construction of teachers. A group of experts and teachers who are familiar with family education theory and have rich practical experience are selected to form a family education training and guidance team to provide professional training and guidance for parents of single-parent families. Moreover, family education training and guidance should take diversified forms to meet the actual needs of all kinds of families. Family education lectures, family education seminars, family education training courses and other activities can be held to provide guidance and targeted training for parents. At the same time, the network platform can also be used to carry out online family education training and guidance, so that parents can learn flexibly study according to their own schedule. Family education training and guidance should fully cover key areas such as parent-child communication, family education strategies and mental health. Through training and guidance, we can help parents of single-parent families to improve their family education ability, establish a good family education environment, and lay a foundation for the healthy growth of their children [11]. Finally, the hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 114 Published by IDEAS SPREAD government, schools and the society should pay common attention to the education problems of junior high school students in single-parent families, and form a good atmosphere of collaborative education. With the help of family education training and guidance, the educational quality of parents should be improved, and the educational quality of junior middle school students in single-parent families should be enhanced to ensure their healthy growth in a fair and relaxed environment. 4.2 Optimization of the School Education Support System 4.2.1 Establish a Psychological Counseling and Counseling Mechanism In the optimization of school education support system, it is an important measure to establish psychological counseling and counseling mechanism. Due to the particularity of the family environment, junior high school students in single-parent families often face greater psychological pressure and need to get more care and support. Therefore, schools should establish and improve the psychological counseling and counseling mechanism to meet the psychological needs of this group. Schools should set up professional psychological counseling rooms to provide psychological counseling services for junior high school students from single-parent families. Psychological counseling room should be equipped with professional qualified psychological counselors, they can listen to students' inner troubles, provide psychological counseling, help them adjust their mentality, and face the challenges in life [12]. Secondly, schools should regularly carry out mental health education activities to improve students' psychological quality. By holding mental health lectures, psychological salons, psychological film appreciation and other activities, let the students understand the importance of mental health, learn the method of self-adjustment, and enhance the psychological resilience. In addition, schools should also establish a complete set of psychological crisis intervention mechanism. For the students with psychological problems, the school should find timely and intervene in time to avoid the deterioration of psychological problems. For students with severe psychological disorders, the school should communicate with their families and seek professional psychotherapy together to ensure their physical and mental health. 4.2.2 Carry out Diversified Educational Activities In the education support of junior high school students in single-parent families, the optimization of school education support system is an important aspect. The implementation of diversified education activities aims to help junior high school students from single-parent families overcome the difficulties of growth, comprehensively improve their comprehensive quality, and lay a solid foundation for their future road. First of all, schools can carry out mental health education according to the characteristics of junior high school students in single-parent families. With the help of psychological counseling and counseling, to resolve their inner contradictions and confusion, and then improve their psychological quality, enhance their psychological resilience. At the same time, mental health lectures and activities can also be held to improve the understanding of parents and students, and form a good atmosphere of paying attention to the mental health of junior high school students in single-parent families [13]. Secondly, schools should pay attention to the academic guidance of junior high school students in single-parent families. Due to the influence of the family environment, they may have some difficulties in learning. Schools can reasonably arrange tutoring courses to solve their problems encountered in the learning process and improve their academic performance. At the same time, we advocate excellent students and junior high school students in single-parent families to help, learn together and make progress hand in hand. In addition, the school should actively carry out a variety of extracurricular activities, so that junior high school students from single-parent families can fully show their talents and enhance teamwork and social skills. We can organize all kinds of interest groups, hold sports and sports competitions, speech competitions and other activities, to provide a platform for them to show themselves. At the same time, encourage them to participate in social practice activities, understand the society, exercise their ability. In addition, schools should strengthen the communication mechanism with parents, hold regular parents' meetings, deeply understand the family background of junior high school students in single-parent families, and provide professional family education guidance for parents, so as to build a harmonious environment for home-school co-education. At the same time, the school can also actively cooperate with all sectors of society to strive for social resources, and provide more development opportunities and space for junior high school students in single-parent families [14]. 4.3 Social Care and Policy Support were Strengthened 4.3.1 Participation of Social Organizations Social organizations play a vital role in supporting the education of junior high school students in single-parent families. First of all, social organizations can provide learning, life and psychological assistance to junior high hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 115 Published by IDEAS SPREAD school students from single-parent families by carrying out various public welfare activities. For example, some social organizations regularly recruit volunteers to provide one-to-one counseling for students from single-parent families to help them improve their studies, while some social organizations also hold psychological counseling activities to effectively relieve the psychological pressure of students from single-parent families. Secondly, social organizations can also improve the educational level and parenting ability of parents from single-parent families through training and lectures. For example, some social organizations invite education experts to provide parenting training for single-parent parents to understand how to better guide and cultivate their children, and some social organizations hold parent-child activities to promote communication and interaction between single-parent families and children [15]. In addition, social organizations can also raise the attention of the education of junior high school students from single-parent families through advocacy and publicity. For example, some social organizations actively use media and online platforms to extensively publish related reports and in-depth articles on the education of junior high school students from single-parent families, which has successfully attracted wide attention from the public. In addition, they also organized signature activities or launched peaceful protests, strongly calling on the government and all sectors of society to face up to and focus on solving the educational difficulties of junior high school students from single-parent families. 4.3.2 Government Purchase of Services Government purchase of services refers to the government's purchase of public services from social forces through public bidding, competitive negotiation and other procurement methods. This approach can effectively integrate social resources, improve the quality and efficiency of services, and reduce the pressure on the government to provide services directly. Government purchase of services plays a positive role in supporting the education of junior middle school students from single-parent families. First of all, the government purchase of services can spread the responsibility of educational support to social forces such as social organizations and volunteers to form a diversified educational support system. These social forces are often more targeted and flexible enough to better meet the educational needs of junior high school students from single-parent families. Secondly, the government purchase of services can promote the balanced distribution of educational resources. By purchasing services, the government can introduce high-quality education resources into the education of junior high school students in single-parent families to make up for the uneven distribution of family education resources. In addition, the government purchase of services can provide more educational options. By purchasing services, the government can provide diversified educational services for junior high school students from single-parent families, such as psychological counseling, career planning, interest training, etc., so as to help them achieve better results in their academic studies and life development. Government purchase of services has shown significant advantages in supporting the education of junior high school students from single-parent families. But to ensure the effective implementation of this policy, a sound regulatory system must be built to ensure the quality and efficiency of services. In addition, the content and standards of government purchase of services should also be set scientifically to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of services. 5. Conclusion In today's society, junior high school students in single-parent families are faced with many educational problems, such as uneven distribution of family education resources, insufficient support for school education and psychological problems. In order to improve this situation, our government, schools and society have made some efforts, but there are still many areas that need to be improved. The improvement of family education support policy is the key to solve the education problem of junior high school students in single-parent families. The government should increase the investment in family education to carry out family education training and guidance, help parents from single-parent families improve their educational ability, and create a better environment for their children to grow up. At the same time, the government should also encourage and support social organizations to participate in family education work, and provide professional family education guidance and support by purchasing services. As the main position of education, schools should optimize the education support system, pay attention to the psychological needs of students from single-parent families, establish psychological counseling and counseling mechanism, and provide them with timely psychological intervention and care. In addition, schools should also carry out diversified educational activities to encourage students from single-parent families to actively participate, improve their self-confidence and social skills, and help them better integrate into campus life. Social care and policy support are also important ways to improve the education status of junior high school students in single-parent families. The government, schools and all sectors of society should join hands to pay hssr.ideasspread.org Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 116 Published by IDEAS SPREAD attention to the growth of junior high school students in single-parent families, and give them practical help through organizing public welfare activities, granting grants and other ways. Through the joint efforts of the whole society, to create a caring and warm growing environment for junior high school students in single-parent families. Single-parent family education support status although there are some problems, but through the policy improvement, school optimization education support system and social care and policy support to strengthen efforts, we have reason to believe that this situation will be gradually improved, for the healthy growth of junior high school students provide powerful guarantee. References [1] Li, H. (2019). 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