China Educational Development Yearbook

The Blue Book of Education, as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this important English translation combining the Blue Books published in 2007 and 2008, the issues, developments, challenges, and crises in Chinese education are comprehensively discussed and critically analyzed.

The third volume of the English-language The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers.

The second volume of the English-language The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers. This is an edited translation of the 2009 volume of the Chinese-language Blue Book of Education.

The Blue Book of Education, as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this important English translation combining the Blue Books published in 2007 and 2008, the issues, developments, challenges, and crises in Chinese education are comprehensively discussed and critically analyzed.

The first volume of the English-language Chinese Research Perspectives on Educational Development (formerly The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers. This volume starts with an excellent overview of educational developments in 2010, which witnessed the formulation of the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long Term Educational Reform and Development 2010-2020. With the formulation of the Outline and the start of implementation in 2011, China saw progress by the government, at all levels, in prioritizing educational development. Scholars and practitioners discuss the significance of the Outline and its implications on the development and reform of pre-school education, basic education and higher education. In addition, this volume provides timely surveys and research on a variety of topics from government’s investment in education to the mental health of Elementary and Secondary school teachers and students. Chinese Research Perspectives on Educational Development, Volume 1 informs the Western readers of the current educational development in policy, practice, and research in China. Chinese Research Perspectives on Educational Development is a co-publication of Brill and Social Sciences Academic Press (China).

The first volume of the English-language Chinese Research Perspectives on Educational Development (formerly The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers.

In this book, the authors pursue quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches, conducting hundreds of large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews in 679 schools, 67 counties and 13 provinces throughout China. They also conducted longitudinal case studies in five municipalities and provinces to better reflect education reform and development in different education levels or sectors. The authors used national statistical data from the 1970s to 2013, as well as a wealth of first-hand documents and data from different levels of educational departments in schools, counties, municipals and provinces and “grass-roots” input from 253 teachers, principals, education administrators and students. The authors applied SEM, HLM, GCM, and many other statistic techniques and qualitative methods to analyse the data and materials in order to explore correlations between development and reform, internal and external factors in educational reforms, as well as strategies for resolving core issues. Their findings indicate that institutional reforms concerning financial investments, allocation of teaching resources, allocation of facilities, curricula design systems, and political, economic, social system reforms all contribute to the development of different levels and types of education in different modes and to different extents. Topics of particular interest include five case studies conducted in five different municipalities and provinces that showcase the nation’s education reform and development in a specific model and on the basis of substantial data. Further, milestone events regarding educational reform and development that have taken place in China since 2013 are examined. As a unique feature, the book also includes 353 diagrams and tables on the development and reform of education in China, offering extensive and up-to-date information on a part of the world that often remains difficult to access. The book provides an expansive and in-depth examination of the nation’s education reform and development, from its historical roots to the present, and combining official and “grass-roots” standpoints. It will help readers to understand why and how Chinese education could lead students to win in international comparisons like PISA while at the same time often being the target of scathing criticism, as well as how the nation is now working to provide a better education to serve the world’s largest population.