CAER中国农村改革40周年专题之《中国农村教育改革40年：过去的成功和未来的挑战》
本期导读：
本文旨在阐释近四十年来中国农村教育的政策和趋势，并揭示农村教育体制面临的挑战。
四十年来农村教育发展趋势呈不断上升状态，在20世纪80年代，只有少部分农村儿童获得学前教育，到2014年，该比例已经超过了90%。义务教育最大的成就是完成小学六年教育并考上初中的学生人数增加。进入高中并最终毕业的人数也急剧上升。农村教育在规模扩大方面取得的成绩绝对是前所未有的，但挑战依然存在。作者认为，改革开放以来的40年是农村教育历史上发展最为迅速的时期，其中的原因与政府政策密不可分。作者还探讨了未来几年提高农村教育质量的政策重点。
本文第一次记录了中国在改革开放40年（1978 - 2018年）期间从幼儿园到高中建设的农村教育所取得成功的政策和经验。本文还基于前人以及自己的文献资料，对中国的性别问题、城市化、幼儿教育以及学生健康和营养等方面的成就和未来几年面临的挑战进行了详细分析。
Rural education across China’s 40 years of reform: past successes and future challenges
AiYue, Bin Tang, Yaojiang Shi, Jingjing Tang, Guanminjia Shang, Alexis Medina,Scott Rozelle (pp. 93 - 118)
Keywords:Trends, China, Achievements, Policies, Rural education, Shortcomings
Type: General review
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by China’s rural school system.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use secondary data on policies and trends over the past 40 years for preschool, primary/junior high school, and high school.
Findings
The trends over the past 40 years in all areas of rural schooling have been continually upward and strong. While only a low share of rural children attended preschool in the 1980s, by 2014 more than 90 percent of rural children were attending. The biggest achievement in compulsory education is that the rise in the number of primary students that finish grade 6 and matriculate to junior high school. There also was a steep rise of those going to and completing high school. While the successes in up scaling rural education are absolutely unprecedented, there are still challenges.
Research limitations/implications
This is descriptive analysis and there is not causal link established between policies and rural schooling outcomes.
Practical implications
The authors illustrate one of the most rapid rises of rural education in history and match the achievements up with the policy efforts of the government. The authors also explore policy priorities that will be needed in the coming years to raise the quality of schooling.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that documents both the policies and the empirical trends of the success that China has created in building rural education from preschool to high school during the first 40 years of reform (1978-2018). The paper also documents – drawing on the literature and the own research – the achievements and challenges that China still face in the coming years, including issues ofgender, urbanization, early childhood education and health and nutrition of students.
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