Session Information
WERA SES 02 B, World-Wide Perspectives on Management and Leadership in Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Purpose
Fuelled by forces of globalisation, China has gradually shifted from a centrally planned economy to the ‘socialist market economy’. Under the market economy, China has experienced unprecedented privatisation, urbanisation, and mass migration – all required by economic globalisation. Indeed, over the past 30 years, China has experienced an economic miracle, and a massive economic upsurge. In 2010, its economy became the second largest in the world after the United States in terms of gross domestic product. It is not clear, however, whether recent economic changes have brought the same ‘miracle’ to education in China. It is therefore the purpose of this study to investigate changes in education under China’s market economy.
Theoretical Framework
China’s economic growth has fueled and has been fueled by forces of globalisation (Davis & Wang, 2009). In particular, China’s market economy coincided with a new stage of globalisation when the integration of world economy required China’s cheap labour, abundant natural resources, and a gigantic consumer market. In this study, the conception of globalisation as a set of discourses that are consumed and reproduced as they are acted upon by particular actors in particular circumstances provides the theoretical framework for this investigation.
In the current literature on globalisation, the neglect of the social dimension is ‘rather glaring’ (Robertson & White, 2007). There is evidence suggesting that we are experiencing widening gaps between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in global society, devastating environmental problems, declining civic participation and community, and increasing mistrust and alienation among citizenries. Despite the claim that the Chinese enjoy more freedom than at any time in recent history, China is also facing unprecedented challenges, including rising unemployment, socio-economic disparity, corruption, environment degradation, and lack of social safety net. Another aspect which deserves our attention is the implications of globalisation for education. Under China’s market economy, education is undergoing processes of marketisation and privatisation in terms of orientation, provision, curriculum, and financing (Chan & Mok, 2001). In this process, efficiency, effectiveness and economy take priority over fairness, justice, and equality.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
References Chan, D., & Mok, K.H. (2001). Educational reforms and coping strategies under the tidal wave of marketization: A comparative study of Hong Kong and the mainland. Comparative Education, 37(1), 21-41. Davis, D., & Wang, F.( 2009). Poverty and wealth in postsocialist China: An overview. In D. Davis & W. Feng (Eds.), Creating wealth and poverty in postsocialist China (3-19). Stanford: Stanford University Press. Liang, Z., & Chen, Y.P. (2007). The educational consequences of migration for children in China. Social Science Research, 36(1), 28-47. Lu, Y. (2007). Educational status of temporary migrant children in China: Determinants and regional variations. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 16(1), 29-55. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Postiglione, G. A. (2002). Ethnic minority teacher education in Guizhou province. Chinese Education and Society, 35(3), 87–104. Robertson, R., & White, K.E. (2007). What is globalisation? In G. Ritzer (Ed.), The Blackwell companion to globalisation (pp. 54-66). Malden: Blackwell Publishing. UNESCO. (2010). EFA global monitoring report 2010: Reaching the marginalized. Parais: UNIESCO. Wang, J., & Li,Y. (2009). Research on the teaching quality of compulsory education in China's west rural schools. Frontiers of Education in China, 4(1), 66-93. Zhang, L. (2007). The key to promote educational equity is to imporve compulsory education qulaity in village. Jiangxi Educational Research, 1, 82-84.
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