Measuring and assessing regional education inequalities in China under changing policy regimes

Xiang, L., Stillwell, J., Burns, L. and Heppenstall, A. (2020) Measuring and assessing regional education inequalities in China under changing policy regimes. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 13(1), pp. 91-112. (doi: 10.1007/s12061-019-09293-8)

Abstract

China’s uneven regional economic development and decentralisation of its education system have led to increasing regional education disparities. Here, we introduce a new multidimensional index, the Index of Regional Education Advantage (IREA), underpinned by Amartya Sen’s capability approach, to evaluate the effectiveness of policies targeted at reducing regional/provincial educational inequalities in China since 2005. The analysis of the distribution of IREA scores and the decomposition of the index reveals that education in north-eastern China is better than in the south-west part of the country, a pattern which lacks conformity with the eastern, middle and western macro-divisions adopted by Central Government as the basis of policy implementation. In addition, the education of migrant children and the low transfer rate into high schools are identified as key issues requiring Government attention.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: Chinese Scholarship Council and the University of Leeds.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Heppenstall, Professor Alison
• Authors: Xiang, L., Stillwell, J., Burns, L., and Heppenstall, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 1874-463X
• ISSN (Online): 1874-4621
• Published Online: 06 March 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2019
• First Published: First published in Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy 13: 91–112
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a creative commons licence