Embedded Models of Development: Educational Changes in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

This chapter examines China’s educational development against the backdrop of the country’s economy between 1949 and 2000 to illustrate the importance of the social milieu in the emergence and execution of educational models. In the first period (1949–1976), the government introduced an educational program catering to the requirements of a socialist economy; in the second period (1976–2000) educational policies were modified to meet the needs of a free market economy. These different economic demands led to very different educational priorities and organizations in educational administration, curriculum, teaching methods and reward system. Tracing the introduction of these two polar opposite educational models in one country alert us to important role of the ever evolving ideational and structural context in the emergence and execution of an educational model, and the challenges facing the borrowing of a model from another country.