The challenges and possibilities of cross-sector partnerships in migrant children education: lessons from educator-activists at the margins of Beijing

• In Event: Education at the Margins: Education for Social Equity for Children from Marginalized Communities in China

Proposal

Introduction:

This study aims to understand the collaboration between third-sector NGOs and migrant children schools and to situate their work within the larger context of educational inequality in contemporary China. Two key findings emerge through a three-month qualitative study involving participant observation across seven sites in Beijing, China, and interviews with 10 NGO volunteers at Weilan, a project aimed at providing reading materials for migrant children. First, cross-sector analysis shows that issues of trust and colliding social identities create personal challenges for NGO volunteers and migrant school teachers while different funding structures and educational goals pose structural challenges to this collaboration. Second, the study demonstrates how the rise of social media and digital platforms has created emerging digital spaces for NGOs, educators, and activists working in migrant children education where they can spread public awareness, fundraise, organize their operations, and mobilize larger sectors of society to contribute to migrant children education.

Methods:

It is useful to conduct qualitative research, and in particular, to step into migrant schools to work alongside educator-activists, in order to study the often deeply personal partnerships formed in the liminal spaces (Gonzales, 2014) that comprise migrant schools and China’s third-sector NGOs. The project began with research into and document analysis of prior work on educational inequality in China, government policies for migrant children education, and the history of third-sector NGOs working with migrant schools. This analysis included a review of the relevant academic literature and policy documents, as well as blogs, articles, social media posts, and interviews available on various outreach platforms operated by the Weilan Project. The second part of the research consisted of participant observation at seven libraries in migrant schools sponsored by the Weilan Project across Beijing over three months between May and July 2024 and in-depth interviews with 10 educator-activists about their work. I personally went through the Weilan Project’s training program to become certified as an official volunteer. Participant observation of training and volunteering and conversations with other educator-activists provided insight into the inner workings of the organization. Participants recruited for interviews were full-time employees at Weilan or part-time volunteers. I reached out to each participant in the capacity of a peer and colleague, sometimes via the social media platform WeChat (a platform used for both work and casual purposes in China). I recruited at least one participant from each library I visited for a total of 10 interviews. Participants had all worked at the Weilan Project for more than one year.

Findings:

Educators and activists from NGOs inevitably face issues of trust as outsiders coming into migrant communities and schools. Underlying tension in many interactions emerges as the result of colliding social identities between NGO volunteers (urban residency, advanced education, social elite) and migrant school teachers (migrants, lower educational attainment, working class). At a structural level, the different educational goals of NGOs and migrant schools create challenges for collaboration. Whereas NGOs have broader educational goals (e.g., Weilan aims to improve literacy and help children find joy in reading), migrant schools face the difficult realities of performing well on standardized testing and meeting government political education requirements. Unlike non-profit NGOs, migrant schools also have to balance incentives from private investors concerned with test scores and admissions numbers. My research employs a narrative inquiry approach to examine instances of these conflicts and how NGO volunteers and migrant school teachers and leadership work to resolve their differences, avoid conflict, and find common ground as educators and activists. While I do hope this research contributes theoretically to the study of social movements and cross-sector cooperation, a key purpose of this study is to empower the voices of educators and activists working in the field and to identify the successes and challenges in their practice.

The second key aspect of cross-sector analysis explored in this study is how the rise of social media and digital platforms has created emerging digital spaces for NGOs, educators, and activists working in migrant children education. Digital spaces allow migrant educators and activists to spread public awareness, raise funding, organize their operations, and mobilize larger ever larger sectors of society to contribute to migrant children education. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of embedded activism and counterpublics in Chinese civil society, the study illustrates how the rise of digital technology has been critical to the transformation of Chinese third-sector work in education, giving educators and activists platforms to retreat to, regroup, and stay connected amidst ongoing political pressure, censorship, and surveillance. Online chat groups and mini-apps within China’s WeChat facilitate the spread of existing strategies such as self-imposed censorship, depoliticization of political work, and avoiding open conflict with authorities (Yu, 2021). In the case of the Weilan project, a sophisticated digital system is used to organize, recruit, fund-raise, and spread awareness in the migrant children education space. Each library operated by Weilan hosts its own chatgroup and has semi-independent operations thanks to Weilan’s digital platform to recruit volunteers and solicit monthly donations. Weilan’s digital platform encourages reflections to be submitted by its volunteers after each shift and hosts regular discussion platforms, blog posts, interviews, and information panels, all occurring online. My research findings point to digital platforms facilitating reflection, exchange, and monitoring between educators and activists working in migrant children education. Moreover, the Weilan project specifically has a manual to teach new members how to effectively use social media and other online platforms to raise awareness for migrant children education. This includes a step-by-step guide on how to encourage friends and family to join the project as well as information on political sensitivities surrounding various topics. These new digital practices have allowed the Weilan project to overcome or alleviate the challenges it faces while working with migrant schools by spreading and standardizing the best practices. Overall, my research point towards the rapid spread of digital technologies and the maturation of their use by NGOs and activists working on migrant children education in China, with wider implications for re-negotiating the relationship between the state and society.

Author

• Zhe Meng, Swarthmore College