Balanced development of compulsory education: Cornerstone of education equity

Abstract

Balanced development of compulsory education is not only the cornerstone of education equity, but also the fundamental part for realizing a harmonious society. There have been several achievements in balancing the development of compulsory education in China, such as narrowing the gaps in compulsory education between rural, urban, and other areas. However, the development of compulsory education is still confronted with several issues, including the gaps between rural and urban schools, the gaps between teacher's situations in rural and urban area, higher drop-out rates of rural compulsory education than that of the national average level, etc. Based on the analysis of these issues and reasons, the suggestions for the policy-makers are as follows: (1) it must be further clarified that governments at all levels must take all responsibilities for the balanced development of compulsory education so as to integrate local authorities' input and the central government's subsidies; (2) the allocation mechanism of resources for compulsory education should be set up with "qualitative and fair growth" as its aim; (3) The quality standard for compulsory education based on the national curriculum standard should be worked out for playing the role of quality inspection in the fair development of compulsory education, and a relevant system of responsibility should also be established; (4) A national unified card for compulsory education should be adopted, which would help abolish extra fees for non-permanent-resident students receiving compulsory education in other places and (5) civilian-sponsored schools should be encouraged to offer compulsory education. 470 ZENG Tianshan, et al.

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Primary and Secondary Educational Resources for Relocated Children of Migrant Workers: The Case of Liaoning Province

“…In contrast to existing research from home and abroad, the present study provides the following contributions: (1) New research perspectives: the majority of past studies tended to analyze the overall spatial characteristics of primary and secondary schools from a macroperspective. Research on the spatial-temporal evolution and balance of schools from the perspective of RCMW under the Complexity background of new-type urbanization was limited [45][46][47].…”

Stakeholder perceptions on the role of school inspection standards in demonstrating education quality in China

“…These issues could be attributed to the lack of ready-made government guidelines for educational reform, a comprehensive evaluation standards system and appropriate methodological instruments (Peng et al , 2006). Moreover, there is no unified national school inspection standards system, but only a guideline, and this would be most likely to widen uneven levels of compulsory education quality (Zeng et al , 2007). Nowadays, promoting overall equity in education quality between rural and urban, and impoverished and affluent areas, has become the biggest challenge for China (Zhou, 2017).…”