Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Beijing: Migration, education, and policy in urban China

219 Pages·2014·0.81 MB·English

by  Myra Pong

Educating the Children of
Migrant Workers in Beijing
Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Beijing is a timely book that
addresses the gap in the provision of basic education to migrant children in
China. It examines the case of Beijing, with a focus on policy implementation at
the municipal and district levels and its impacts on migrant schools and their
students.
Rural migrant workers in the cities typically lack local h ukou (household regis-
tration) and face serious obstacles in accessing basic social services, including
schooling for their children. The educational situation of these children,
however, can vary both across and within localities, and, despite policies and
regulations from the central government, there have emerged broad and some-
times even extreme differences in the implementation of these policies at the
local levels.
This book uses evidence from qualitative interviews and the analysis of policy
documents and materials to provide readers with a rare glimpse into the local
politics surrounding migrant children’s education in China’s political center,
including the nature of and motives behind policy implementation at the munic-
ipal and district levels and the implications for the survival and development of
migrant schools in the city.
Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Beijing is a unique and in-depth
contribution to an important area and will appeal to scholars and students across
a range of disciplines, including China studies, migration studies, education,
social policy, and development studies, as well as to practitioners and policy-
makers working on migrant issues and social welfare provision in China.
Myra Pong earned her PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
at the University of Sussex and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Hong
Kong in 2014–15. She has Bachelors and Masters degrees in international rela-
tions and affairs from Brown University, the London School of Economics and
Political Science, and Peking University.
Critical Studies on Education and Society in China
Series Editor: Gerard A. Postiglione
China’s economic rise has been breathtaking and unprecedented. Yet educational
opportunities remain highly unequal. China has the essential ingredients to build
a great system of education, but educational governance needs an overhaul if
China is to realize its goal of dramatically boosting its technological output to
world-class levels. As more work by established Chinese and overseas scholars
becomes accessible in English to the larger global community, myths will be
removed and replaced by more accurate and sophisticated analyses of China’s
fascinatingly complex educational transformation. This series will provide highly
analytical examinations of key issues in China’s education system.
Books in the series include:
School Choice in China: A different tale?
Wu Xiaoxin
Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Beijing:
Migration, education, and policy in urban China
Myra Pong
Educating the Children
of Migrant Workers
in Beijing
Migration, education, and
policy in urban China
Myra Pong
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Myra Pong
The right of Myra Pong to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-78115-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77021-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Deer Park Productions
To my parents,
for giving me the opportunity to go on this journey
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Contents
List of tables and fi gures ix
Foreword by Sarah Cook xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 I ntroduction 1
2 Migrant children’s education in China’s cities and the
emergence of a new policy area 18
3 The growth and development of migrant schools
in Beijing 47
4 “ Under the same blue sky”? Central and Beijing
municipal policies on migrant children’s education 57
5 Decentralization and migrant children’s education in
Beijing: the signifi cance of district policy approaches 84
6 T he survival and development of migrant schools in
Beijing: impacts of the municipal and district policy
approaches 111
7 T he survival and development of migrant schools in
Beijing: the role of civil society 142
8 Implications for the future 169
A ppendices
A Interviewees 182
B Migrant families in the sample 186
C Non-governmental organizations in the sample 190
D Policy documents and legislation cited 193
Index 198
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Tables and fi gures
Tables
1.1 Number and type of migrant schools visited in the three
selected districts (2009–10) 8
3.1 A general overview of the migrant schools in the sample 50
3.2 Area and population of Beijing’s administrative divisions 52
4.1 General policy trends in migrant children’s education 59
4.2 Key central policies and legislation on migrant children’s education 61
4.3 Basic information on Wuhan, Xiamen, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
and Beijing (2008) 66
4.4 Estimated numbers of migrant children in Shanghai, Guangzhou,
and Beijing (2000) 67
4.5 Key Beijing municipal policies on migrant children’s education 71
5.1 The problem of implementation: views among interviewees 86
5.2 Roles of key departments within the district education
commissions 87
5.3 Roles of other key organs at the district and sub-district levels 88
5.4 Basic information on Beijing’s inner suburban districts 90
5.5 Number of migrant schools in Beijing by district/county 93
5.6 Offi cial estimates of the numbers of migrant children and
migrant schools in the selected districts 94
5.7 Shijingshan’s approach: views of principals in the sample 96
5.8 Fengtai’s approach: views of principals in the sample 99
5.9 Haidian’s approach: views of principals in the sample 105
6.1 Key problems of migrant schools in Beijing over time 113
6.2 Teachers’ salaries at migrant schools in the sample 115
6.3 Tuition fees at migrant schools in the sample 116
6.4 Incomes of families in the sample with children in migrant
schools 117
6.5 P roportion of teachers with certifi cation at migrant schools
in the sample 121
6.6 Number of relocations among migrant schools in the sample 123
7.1 NGOs in the sample and the districts where they work 151
7.2 Continued evidence of exclusion: views of principals, teachers,
and families in the sample 162