Migration and Educational Policymaking in China: A Critical Engagement with Policy Sociology and Bourdieu

By concentrating on the topic of school enrolment policy for rural-to-urban migrant children in China, this book analyses the unequal power relations and structural inequalities that can appear in the context of education.

The author complements current knowledge by applying theoretical resources of policy sociology, in particular the thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, into analysis of educational policymaking in the Chinese context. He takes a policy trajectory approach to trace the (unequal) power relations and structural inequalities invested and realised in the school enrolment policy. Rooted in rich qualitative data from five metropolises, he examines both external influences of politics, economy and public policy on educational policy agenda setting and discursive practices within the educational policy cycle, inherent in the post-2013 restrictive school enrolment policy. Structural constraints and agency in the local context are also explored, indicating that the intersectional effects of political, economic, and civic logic can result in differentiated modes of policy enactment.

The study will be of interest to scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners in helping address policymaking and social justice in education for migrants and other marginalised groups.

Hui Yu (PhD, IOE) is Associate Professor in the School of Education at South China Normal University, China. Dr Yu is an adjunct research fellow at South China Normal University (SCNU) Centre for Fundamental Education Governance and Innovation, and at Ministry of Education-SCNU Institute for Educational Law. His research interest is sociology of education with a focus on policy processes and social class equalities in the context of rural-to-urban migration in China.