Education modernization in rural China

Exploring Temporality in Education Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID2928078
AuthorsHai Zhong (0000-0003-2166-2268, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume45
Issue4
Pages536-552
Publication date2024-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2024.2354324
OpenAlexW4397012826
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited55

Temporality is a relatively new conception in the field of education policy. Drawing upon historical sociology, this article aims to contribute to the field by deconstructing China’s policy discourse – education modernization. It traces the history of the discourse (1904–2012) to analyze how Chinese rurality is interwoven into the nation’s pursuit of modern country status. Two temporal threads are identified: the rural as a problem and the rural as a modernization plan. The article reveals how the threads forms a paradoxical position of the rural in China’s current modernization agenda: the problematized rural as a potential empowering force. The findings illuminate how the policy constructs a history narrative thereby constructing a unified destiny of the nation for the future, which entrusts education policy with moral significances. China’s case demonstrates how education policy inherits and utilizes historical and cultural assumptions as a governing technique, while being shaped and constrained by them

China · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Epistemology · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Temporality · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities · Philosophy · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics