University of Helsinki
Call for chapters
Chinese rural schooling: Good practices for successful social justice
Eds.: Yongjian Li (RUC, China), Fred Dervin (University of Helsinki, Finland) &
Shibao Guo (University of Calgary, Canada)
Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2017
Volume to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in the Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective (Eds. Dervin/Du)
The word rural can have different meanings in different contexts. In this volume, we are interested in rural schooling in Mainland China. In the Middle Kingdom, rural schooling can both refer to the educational experiences of migrant children in Chinese urban contexts and to those of children who live and study in Chinese rural areas. Migrant children (also referred to as ‘floating children’, Li, 1995) often follow the 282 million rural migrant workers employed in an urban workplace (2015, National Bureau of Statistics). Since 2001 rural migrant children have been allowed to attend urban public schools regardless of their household registration (Hukou, 户口). Although progress has been made in promoting access to public schools many migrant children attend private schools sponsored by local communities or private business institutions. While Chinese and national scientific literatures have concentrated on the case of these migrant children, fewer studies have been published on the experiences of children based in rural areas. It is important to note that many migrant workers leave their children behind. In 2010, more than 61 million children between birth and 17 years old were “left behind” (Chinese National Census).
This volume is interested in how these two kinds of rural schooling promote successful social justice for the children. The focus can be based on a macro-perspective (e.g. policy-level) and/or micro-level (e.g. students’, teachers’, principals’ perspectives, amongst others). According to Yang, Huang and Liu’s (2014) article “An analysis of education inequality in China”, a sharp decrease in education inequality has been witnessed in China thanks to e.g. the education expansion policy of the last decades. They note, however, that the rural-urban division is still deep in China esp. in terms of educational achievement.
Most publications on Chinese rural schooling tend to concentrate on negative aspects and to generalise somewhat about what it means to be either a student in a rural school or a migrant student in an urban context. In volume, we wish to examine what we call Good practises for successful social justice in rural schooling in China, and thus look at this multifaceted educational context from a more positive perspective. We believe that many schools around China are doing their best to ensure that rural children’s educational experiences give them a boost in life and for their future life.
To the editors, social justice refers to the explicit efforts made by school leaders, teachers, with the local community and beyond, to make sure that rural students are given opportunities to succeed at school and in their future lives. These efforts can include tackling the following issues (amongst others):
– Help students increase their level of participation in school and beyond
– Implement equality-equity measures in the school context
– Help students integrate in the school context and beyond by building up a sense of belonging and fighting against alienation, marginalization or disenfranchisement
– Fight against different forms of discrimination against rural students and pass onto them skills to counter-attack such wicked problems to empower them
– Reduce the number of dropouts
– Diminish gender differences in achievement
– Support rural students struggling with mental health issues.
Prospective authors can examine any of these aspects of social justice in Chinese rural schooling – or other aspects – by concentrating on how these have been implemented short-term or long-term in a specific school context (rural/migrants in urban contexts). More specifically authors could look into the following social justice strategies (amongst others): the implementation of special education needs; specific forms of pedagogical practices; the use of technology for social justice; the building of relationships between schools, parents (grandparents too in the case of children “left behind”) and students; pre- service or in-service training to help teachers work with rural children (work on teachers’ expectations and stereotypes, etc.).
Deadlines
Abstract of proposed chapter (300 words): 15 November 2017
Full chapters to be submitted: 15 April 2018
Authors are invited to submit a 300-word proposal (including a few lines about the author(s)) in English to the editors (404385534@qq.com, fred.dervin@helsinki.fi, guos@ucalgary.ca) – please no pdf!
The proposals should clearly explain the theoretical positioning and concerns of the proposed chapter, and include a short description of data (where applicable). A basic bibliography may also be added.
Prospective authors should note that only original and previously unpublished articles will be considered.
All article submissions of 5,500 to 8,000 words will be forwarded to 2 members of the volume scientific committee. Final decision regarding acceptance/revision/rejection will be based on the reviews received from the reviewers.