ERIC Number: EJ1441010
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1061-1932
EISSN: N/A
The Inclusion Paradox: Why Inclusive Space Excludes Migrant Children, and Vice Versa
Fangsheng Zhu; Jiaming Xue
Chinese Education & Society, v57 n1-2 p121-140 2024
What characteristics of space predict exclusive policies? Intuitively, socioeconomically exclusive spaces - such as wealthy urban centers in China - would also be exclusive in welfare provision. Drawing from cross-district comparisons within a Chinese metropolis, we identify a counterintuitive pattern where the urban center had easier migrant school access policies than the urban fringe. This pattern has existed in both the 2010s and 2020s, surviving a major school admissions policy reform. We call this pattern the inclusion paradox. The inclusion paradox can be attributed to two causes: a compartmentalization of school access along urban district boundaries, and a tendency of fringe districts to carry more migrant population with less fiscal capacity. As a result of the inclusion paradox, migrant children were more likely excluded from school access precisely where they were more likely to live. The inclusion paradox implies that policy exclusion and spatial exclusion substitute each other, a pattern that brings migrant school access in China in conversation with unequal school access in other contexts.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Elementary Secondary Education, Urban Areas, Human Geography, Migrants, Access to Education, Inclusion, Socioeconomic Status, Parent Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes, Board of Education Policy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A