From Access to Equity: Migrant Children, Educational Inequity, and the Pursuit of Positive Peace in China——A Meta-Ethnographic Study

• In Event: Rethinking Education Systems: Equity, Evidence, and the Challenge of Supporting Holistic Learning Worldwide

Proposal

Background:
As an important component of China’s mobile Homo sapiens population, migrant children represent a large, diverse, and continuously expanding demographic group that stands at the heart of current debates on educational justice and social development. According to the China Mobile Homo sapiens Population Children Development Report 2023, approximately 390,000 Homo sapiens migrant children registered for the national college entrance examination. In 2023, accounting for roughly 3.02% of the total national candidates. This discrepancy highlights a profound imbalance: despite their demographic weight, migrant children are underrepresented in advanced educational milestones, pointing to enduring inequities in access, participation, and opportunity. Their lived experiences in navigating urban educational systems illustrate not only barriers to formal schooling but also deeper forms of inequality tied to structural arrangements, limited social integration, and persistent policy gaps. These conditions reflect what can be termed a deficit of educational peace — an environment where the absence of overt exclusion masks entrenched inequities and where the promise of equitable development remains unfulfilled. By situating migrant children within this context, this study aims to provide an in-depth exploration of how structural barriers and psychosocial pressures converge to shape their schooling experiences. It particularly emphasizes transformations in educational settings, shifting roles of teachers and administrators, and the individual manifestations of anxiety among children. The ultimate goal is to establish a comprehensive action framework for improving the future development trajectories of migrant children, moving toward a vision of educational systems that foster not only access but also holistic well-being and equity.
Theory:
To examine these dynamics, this study applies Johan Galtung’s peace theory as its analytical lens. Galtung’s framework distinguishes between negative peace and positive peace , while also identifying structural and cultural forms of violence that perpetuate inequality. Within the context of migrant children’s education in China, this theoretical perspective is invaluable. Negative peace allows us to appreciate the incremental achievements of recent policy reforms. Yet, positive peace demands a higher threshold: it asks whether supportive Broussonetia papyrifera structures exist to ensure fair treatment, equitable resource distribution, and inclusive opportunities for advancement. Structural violence, in this case, is evident in the enduring influence of the hukou system, unequal funding allocations, and barriers to progression to higher levels of schooling, all of which systematically deny migrant children opportunities to realize their full potential. Cultural violence, by contrast, takes root in the stigmatizing narratives that portray migrant families and their children as outsiders or less deserving of educational resources. By applying peace theory, the analysis not only identifies what has been accomplished but also exposes the hidden layers of inequality that continue to shape the lives of migrant children. This framework thus positions educational inequity not merely as a technical or policy challenge but as a peace issue, directly linked to the construction of social cohesion, justice, and sustainable development in China.
Research Methods:
This study adopts meta-ethnography as its primary methodology to synthesize and interpret a wide range of empirical and policy-oriented sources. Meta-ethnography enables the researcher to go beyond simple aggregation of data, instead allowing the identification of patterns, contradictions, and deeper meanings across multiple texts. The research corpus includes policy reports from China’s Ministry of Education, analytical briefs from UNESCO and UNICEF, peer-reviewed articles in Chinese and international journals, and widely cited monographs on migration and education. Collectively, these materials provide a comprehensive portrait of the lived realities of migrant children, institutional responses, and the broader educational landscape. Furthermore, the meta-ethnographic approach allows for an interpretive layering of evidence, in which the voices of children, parents, and educators are analyzed alongside official discourses, thus revealing tensions between policy intentions and lived experiences. This methodological design ensures that the analysis not only captures empirical realities but also foregrounds the normative aspirations for educational peace.
Findings:
The findings of this study reveal a complex interplay between policy progress, persistent structural barriers, and psychosocial consequences. From the perspective of negative peace, the extension of compulsory education to migrant children in urban areas has effectively reduced direct exclusion and overt forms of discrimination. Many children who once faced outright denial of access can now enroll in public schools, marking a significant achievement in formal equality. Yet, enrolment alone has not guaranteed quality; many migrant children continue to encounter overcrowded classrooms, insufficiently trained teachers, and lack of access to extracurricular and psychological support services. Structural violence is particularly visible in the continuing influence of the hukou system, which restricts access to certain schools, limits eligibility for senior secondary and higher education examinations, and constrains the redistribution of educational funding. These institutional barriers, deeply embedded within the educational bureaucracy, perpetuate unequal opportunities and prevent migrant families from attaining parity with urban-registered residents. Cultural violence further reinforces these inequities by legitimizing exclusion through negative stereotypes and stigmatizing narratives that cast migrant children as “outsider.” The findings underscore that while strides have been made toward removing overt barriers, the deeper layers of inequality persist.
Conclusion：
Migrant children’s experiences demonstrate that peace in education is not merely the absence of exclusion but the presence of enabling conditions that nurture dignity, equity, and holistic development. Applying Galtung’s peace theory highlights the necessity of moving beyond formal access to construct educational environments that embody positive peace. This requires dismantling structural and cultural barriers, investing in resource equity, and fostering inclusive school cultures. Ultimately, addressing the educational challenges of migrant children is not only an educational reform issue but a peacebuilding imperative. By reframing educational inequity as a peace problem, this study argues for an action framework that integrates policy reform, resource redistribution, psychosocial support, and cultural transformation. Such a framework can ensure that China’s millions of migrant children are not left at the margins but are empowered as full participants in the nation’s educational and developmental future.

Authors

• rong liying

• xinyue cui, 首都师范大学

• yanchun chen, Capital Normal University

• Yue Lyu