This thesis aims to investigate the development of the Offsite National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in China by examining the context, the policy programming, the policy implementation, the impact, and the views of the stakeholders. This research employs a multiple case study approach in order to study the Offsite NCEE policy from multiple perspectives in real situations. Two provinces, one inbound province and one outbound province, were chosen as the two research contexts. Each province was the subject of an individual case study, but the study as a whole covered the two provinces. Interview, questionnaire survey, and documentary analysis were adopted as the main instruments for data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with government officers and migrant students, and group interviews were conducted with local students. The interviews aimed to encourage the participants construct their experience and express their views of the Offsite NCEE policy. The questionnaire survey was designed to explore students’ experiences and views. Documentary analysis was used to explore the themes and trends from the policy documents in an attempt to understand the intentions and motivations of the government. The findings suggest that the context for the NCEE policy concerns the regionally unequal opportunities for accessing higher education in the Chinese education system. The purpose of the Offsite NCEE policy is to solve the entrance examination problem for migrant children, and provide equal opportunity of accessing higher education for migrant children. The cultural value of harmony guides the policy makers to carefully balance the relationship between local residents and migrants. Meanwhile, the discretionary powers of local governments in the programming of Offsite NCEE policy provide opportunity for both the inbound and the outbound local governments to design their policy plans based on their self-interests. The findings of this study show that the Offsite NCEE policy is being selectively implemented. In the inbound province, it was found that the mismatch between educational demand and supply is a major variable in the implementation of Offsite NCEE policy. The local government set up school admission criteria to restrict the opportunity of migrant children to access schools. While in the outbound province, it was found that the funding allocation mode and exam-oriented educational system affected the decisions of schools and the local government in student transferring management. Schools and the local educational department make an attempt to intervene in student school transferring. Based on the views of stakeholders, the Offsite NCEE policy benefits the migrant children in the inbound province and left-behind children in the outbound province. However, the interests of local students in the inbound province might be threatened and the local government of the inbound province has to afford extra pressure to provide education for migrant children. The findings suggest that the central government should be more focused on the implementation of Offsite NCEE policy and take measures to improve the effectiveness of policy implementation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:731344 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Liu, Xianglu |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/94831/ |
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