The School I’d Like: A Study of Chinese Pupils’ Perspectives on Schooling and School Improvement

• In Event: Improving School Culture

Abstract

Recent efforts to study pupil voice and school improvement have provided strong evidence of the significance and value of listening to and respecting young people’s contribution in relation to school improvement. This study replicates the ‘School I’d Like’ competitions (Birkett, 2001; Blishen, 1969) in the UK, but in the Chinese context. The goal was to investigate student voice in state schools in China, in a manner appropriate to the Chinese context. Forty students in three schools were involved in the study. The findings indicate that Chinese and British students hold similar views of schooling, though the extent to which the two groups emphasize certain issues is different, and relates to cultural and socio-economic difference between the two countries.

Author

• Le Chen, The University of Western Ontario