The exploration of educational opportunity and social mobility in rural China

• In Event: PechaKucha session III

Group Submission Type: Pecha Kucha

Proposal

Formal education is considered the primary pathway for social mobility in both developed and aspiring societies (Jia & Ericson, 2016).Moreover, educational equalityis the key toachieving economic growth and social cohesion (Duru-Bellat, 2012). Schools inevitably play important roles inachieving social justice,increasing social mobility and bridgingthe socioeconomic gaps in society. However, scholarsarguethat more education doesnot always resultin more social mobility(Duru-Bellat, 2012).Social disparities in access to education and the imbalanced quality of schools often lead to larger socioeconomic gaps when students complete or leave school. In China, the educational achievement gap between rural and urban students remains deep in areas of educational resources, school funding, teacher quality, etc. (Yang, Huang, & Liu, 2014). More than 60% of students in rural China drop out before high school and only 5% of rural students attend college (Project Partner, 2018). Theinequalitiesin educational opportunitiesamong rural and urban residents creates intergenerational poverty and institutional barriers to social mobility (Lei & Shen, 2015). The paper aims to explore the relationship between access to educational opportunities and social mobility in rural China. The following research questions are utilized to investigate the above-mentioned problem:1. Whatare the educational experiences of the students in a rural village in central China?2.What is the relationship between educational opportunity and social mobility for rural students in China?

Methodology:To address the above-mentioned research questions, aqualitativegrounded theory approachis adopted. The cohort who graduated from 5thgrade in 2000 atDawang Elementary School, located in a rural village in Henan Province, China, will be chosen to participate in the study. The project intendsto present the cohort’s families’ education background, their educational experiences, career pathsand their current socioeconomic status in terms ofannual income and number of work days and paid-leave days every year. The cohort of 2000 was chosen because of the dramatic number of students who dropped out of school at various stages. Among the 48 students who finished 5thgradein 2000, 20 of them finished junior high school, 7 out of the 20 graduated fromsenior high school, and one out of the seven went to a four-year university. Data collection methods include acombination of in-depthinterviews with the cohort and their parents, and document analysis on relevant educational policies and school curriculum. ContributionsThe findings on how access to educational opportunity transforms or does not transform to upward social mobility for rural residents in China, wouldprovide insight on the systematic reasons of the alarmingly high dropout rate, the large rural and urban achievement gap and the impact of class and socioeconomic status on one’seducational experiences. Results of the study will provide implications for policymakers and school practitioners when calling for educational reform, implementing policies to bridge the educational inequality gap between rural and urban areas, and ensuringan effectiveand sufficientlearning environment for all students.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Presenter

• Min Wang, Florida State University