Institutional and policy-related implications on quality education access in Shanghai: Middle-class locals, outsiders and foreigners compared

Abstract

This article examines China's national education system focusing on the city of Shanghai, in order to evaluate the school-related institutional constraints and opportunities of three major institutional categories: locals, Chinese outsiders and foreign expatriates. The study sheds light on the generated and perceived education-related inequality of each category and is aimed at stimulating reflection and discussion on a more inclusive education system. The empirical findings hereby presented are the result of qualitative research, which highlights a pattern in the educational evaluations of the different groups: the farther the geographical (and institutional) identity, the stronger the tendency to select private or international schools. This argument quite naturally spurs from institutional policies, which tend to favor locals as receivers of national education. The article is divided into three main sections: key educational policy elements for the city of Shanghai; institutional constraints and advantages for each of the aforementioned categories; school offer in Shanghai, as well as main research findings related to institutional frame, limitations, primary options and decisive factors related to the educational decisions of locals, outsiders and foreigners compared.