This book includes 43 case studies showcasing the application of basic education informatization. It shares the experiences of 43 schools in the construction and application of educational informatization in various regions in China. It aims to promote the balanced development of education and expand the coverage of quality education resources.…

The concept of rurality is at the centre of complex geopolitical, geosocial and cultural debates and research which foregrounds the concept of rurality is scarce. This paper seeks alternative perspectives on rurality through a secondary analysis of international doctoral theses contained in the EThOS repository of the British Library, an online…

Globally, much of the criticism has been directed at the quality of university-based teacher education in preparing teachers for impoverished schools. Drawing on data from an incentive program of teacher education in China, the authors comparatively investigated the field experiences of pre-service teachers from contrasting setting (urban and…

This article uses a queer lens in an intersectional analysis of students' schooling experiences in rural China. I argue that a queer perspective has been largely neglected and issues related to sexuality have not been carefully investigated in Chinese educational contexts. Drawing on queer theory and an intersectional framework, I re-interpret one…

Faced with urban schools' reluctance to host student teachers on practicum because "student teachers disturb their teaching order," Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China, collaborated with four rural provinces to develop a University-Government-School (UGS) initiative for rural practicum placements. To understand the teachers'…

Traditional teacher education's supposed failure to prepare prospective teachers for classroom realities (the transfer problem) is a widely discussed topic in the teacher education literature. Previous studies have focused on causal relationships between teaching and such factors as pre-service teacher education programmes, contextual factors in…

Since September 2007, the Ministry of Education of China has been implementing a policy called "Free Normal Education" (FNE) for college students majoring in education in normal universities. The central goal for FNE is to promote quality of education by providing rural areas with high quality teachers who are bonded through their…

Despite the frequent criticisms directed toward them, in-service teacher training (INSET) programmes remain one of the most commonly used approaches for enhancing teachers' professional development. This article reports on a study that examined the effects of a part-time masters of education INSET programme based in Central China. The main source…

The learner's acceptance of e-learning systems has received extensive attention in prior studies, but how their experience of using e-learning systems impacts on their behavioural intention to reuse those systems has attracted limited research. As the applications of e-learning are still gaining momentum in developing countries, such as China,…

Most university students in China have their sights firmly set on future job and study opportunities in urban cities and abroad. However, a network of student volunteers felt compelled to join the cause of rural development and villager empowerment, reminiscent of efforts promoted forty years ago by Chairman Mao who sent "educated youth"…

The Three Assistances and One Alleviation Plan issued in 2006 is an expansion of the Western China Program issued in 2003. Voluntary services in agricultural, educational, and medical areas by college graduates are organized through the implementation of this policy. The plan aims to recruit 20,000 graduates per year and has provided more detailed…

This study is designed to address aspects of self-regulation and self-efficacy as they relate to critical issues in the design and evaluation of online learning programs. It begins with a discussion of the rapid growth of distance learning programs at all levels and across virtually all disciplines of educational programming. Much of this…

This paper reports some findings from a longitudinal study of a group of volunteers at an independent school in China. Founded by a committed group of volunteers, Springfield School has been self-sustaining and has provided junior high school education for the past eight years. The author describes the demographic and education background of the…

The second volume of the English-language The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers. An edited translation of the 2009 volume of the Chinese-language "Blue Book of…

Many have argued that, despite the meritocratic ideals of equal access and social mobility that underpin examination-governed education hierarchies, the rural majority are typically excluded or eliminated in the early stages of the competition. The scholastic nature of the uniform curricula, much of which has little relevance to rural life,…