Investment in preschool education is increasingly seen as a policy priority in middle and high-income countries due to the early benefits it provides children in their educational journeys. This article discusses the impact of recent increased investment in preschool education in China which has served as a correction to relative historical…

In major public health crises, online education can play an important role in guaranteeing the continuity of education. However, whether online education can promote educational equity has been questioned widely. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed severe challenges students face in online teaching. Based on Bourdieu's theory of cultural…

Global citizenship education (GCE) has been implemented in schools as an approach to address growing global issues and increase the internationalization of education. From critical discourse, however, the implementation of GCE seems to be thwarted by neoliberal practices that deepen societal inequality and gaps, and only benefit members of elite…

A recently introduced national policy in China, "Opinions on Promoting the Rotation of Principals and Teachers in Compulsory Education Schools within the County/District," mandates teacher mobility between urban and rural areas, thereby ensuring a more equitable distribution of human resources. This study investigated a key but…

The physical and educational exclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities from effective and relevant education is a persisting issue in Chinese schools. To move beyond 'lazy inclusivism' and support authentic change towards inclusive education, this paper explores the wisdom of Chinese educators and investigates how…

The digital divide is an important issue that has been addressed in the world for several decades. However, little attention has been paid to the special population that emerged in cities of developing countries: rural migrant workers. Previous studies have shown that family background is a potential determinant of digital inequality among…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors and issues within the policy context of education and the school inspection system which might affect education quality in China and examine stakeholder perceptions of inspection content and context in one city region in China. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods design was…

In 1998, the People's Republic of China implemented an education policy, the "School Consolidation Policy", which entailed merging small rural schools with larger ones. It has had a massive effect on rural people across China, and as a result of it, over 60% of schools in outlying areas have closed. The policy's implementation and…

China's Free Teacher Education Policy (FTEP) was initiated in 2007 in response to concerns about university tuition increases and teacher shortages in rural provinces. In this paper, the authors draw on interview data from eight FTEP graduates/teaching candidates and eight teacher educators from five FTEP universities to examine the extent to…

This paper investigates the implementation of education policy for migrant children in urban China. Historically, rural and urban residents in China were separated by the "hukou" system, and rural children were not allowed to attend urban schools. Since the relaxation of the "hukou" system in the early 1980s, large numbers of…

In recent years, the Chinese government has initiated a national plan to universalize quality kindergartens for all age-eligible Chinese children. Kindergarten is the main form of early childhood education and care (ECEC) service across China. However, the government faces two thorny issues on the journey toward realizing educational equity for…

The Chinese government has shifted the pattern of rural schooling over the past decade, replacing village schools with urban boarding schools. The stated goal is to improve school quality, while deploying resources more effectively. However, the new boarding schools fail to provide a safe, healthy environment or protect and enable students' human…

China is a huge country with a large population. Providing equitable and quality "e-education" or use of ICT (information and communications technologies) for teaching and learning in elementary and secondary schools across the country is a national priority. This article briefly sketches the context in China and the challenges relating…

The paper has compared the quality of compulsory education of rural schools in West China with the counties, cities, and provincial capitals, and find out that there is a big gap between the quality of West rural and urban compulsory education, the quality of some grades of the rural primary schools has not achieved the basic requirement of the…

By applying the multivariable method to elementary school data in one western province, this study shows that per-student budgetary nonpersonnel expenditure in the province is the most unequal index in terms of horizontal equity. In terms of vertical equity, the equity effect of the "poor county" designation by the central or provincial…