城乡义务教育均衡发展研究

To address disparities in compulsory educational resource allocation and foster integrated urban-rural education, it is crucial to understand how resources respond to demographic shifts. This study examines current allocation patterns and their relationship to changes in the school-age population. The research utilizes data from the China Statistical Yearbook. Data analysis reveals that increasing urbanization has caused a significant decline in the rural school-age population, altering the demographic balance between areas. Regarding resources, while the overall quantity of teachers is sufficient, regional disparities persist. Similarly, while education funding exhibits steady growth, the urban-rural gap is widening. The size of the school-age population and economic conditions are the predominant factors influencing resource allocation. Despite improvements in physical infrastructure, structural inequities such as teacher shortages and funding gaps remain, necessitating targeted policy interventions to achieve true integration.

: The "Double Reduction" policy holds significant value for restoring balance in the education ecosystem and optimizing the educational ecosystem. However, examining compulsory education ecology under the lens of ecology reveals that the entrenched "robbing Peter to pay Paul" culture in student learning factors hinders innovative assignment design. The rapid fluctuations in the teacher ecosystem and the weakening of teacher "ecological resilience" affect teaching quality. The segregation of the "home-school-community" nurturing structure leads to a "collective absence" of family and social educational functions. The stable structure of the examination culture leads to a "two-way squeeze" between "intelligence education" and "grades." Ecological damage under the "middle-class trap" results in a "clear reduction but hidden increase" in students' extracurricular training burden, exacerbating the urban-rural curriculum and teaching "polarization." For the "Double Reduction" policy to be effective, it should focus on the "ecological balance perspective" and the "ecosystem perspective." This involves exploring "smart burden reduction" methods for student assignments, improving the mechanism for "double reduction" work for teachers, establishing a collaborative "home- school-community" education internet, returning to the original mission of moral education, enhancing the governance system for selecting and nurturing talent, and achieving "misplaced" high-quality development of urban and rural education. This will promote the education ecosystem from imbalance to balance and disorder to systematization, allowing students' learning to return to the essence of education.

The balanced development of education is a hot issue in today's society. Teacher resources are the most important factors affecting education equity. As the starting point of compulsory education, primary education plays a vital role in the growth and development of students. In recent years, China has carried out many positive explorations in narrowing the urban-rural gap in the allocation of teacher resources in primary schools, and has achieved many results. However, the uneven distribution of teacher resources for urban and rural compulsory education is still relatively obvious. In order to ensure the number of primary school teachers and promote the rational allocation of teacher resources for primary school, it is recommended to scientifically predict the needs of teachers according to the population, implement rural policy inclination, enhance teacher training, improve rural primary school infrastructure construction, improve the urban and rural primary school teacher exchange system, and stabilize rural primary school teachers. Keywords—primary school teachers; urban-rural differences; educational balance; number of teachers

This study analyzes urban and rural adolescents in the nine-year compulsory education stage in China, and combines Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction with the framework of new institutional economics, Amatia Sen’s theory of capacity deprivation, and China’s special urban-rural dual structure to explore the multiple effects of urban-rural differences on the social mobility of adolescents.

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With the rapid development of our country’s economy, education has gradually become the focus of social attention. The problem of unbalanced distribution of urban and rural educational resources has become increasingly prominent, urban educational resources are relatively rich, while rural educational resources are relatively scarce, and the balanced development of urban and rural compulsory education has become an urgent task. This paper mainly investigates and studies the distribution of urban and rural educational resources, discusses the unbalanced distribution of urban and rural educational resources and analyzes the reasons, and puts forward a series of corresponding solutions to promote the balanced development of urban and rural compulsory education.

In this paper, the characteristics and distribution of the spatial clustering diffusion characteristics and distribution of the spatial accumulation of rural areas are quantified by using the GIS space analysis method, the analysis method of the nuclear density estimation, the hotspot analysis, the spatial self-correlation, and the large number of the rural areas of Chongqing. Compared with the difference of the amount of the education facility in Chongqing, the difference between the amount of the education facility was compared, and the development gap of the education facility was assessed. The study showed that in 2023, the imbalance coefficient of the school of compulsory education in Chongqing was reduced from 0.3637 in 2013 to 0.02433 in 2023, and the primary school stage was reduced from 0.3582 to 0.1952. This paper shows that the imbalance coefficient of education resource layout in Chongqing is decreasing year by year, and the spatial equilibrium of resource space increases. This study provides the effective thinking and method for the adjustment of the education resource space layout structure in Chongqing, and provides the scientific decision basis for the calibration of the existing planning and the formulation of future planning.

As an important component of State financial expenditure, education expenditure is of great significance in upgrading national quality and promoting social equity. However, even though China has launched a series of policies to promote the balanced development of compulsory education, there is still a significant urban-rural gap in China’s compulsory education expenditure, which not only affects the development of rural education but also exacerbates the inequality between urban and rural areas. This paper analyses the current situation of the urban-rural gap in education expenditure, and concludes that the causes of the unequal situation are the difference in fiscal expenditure, the difference in education expenditure, the unequal allocation of resources, the difference in teacher strength, and the difference in the development of the economic level; it also puts forward the following countermeasures to improve the situation: improving the education infrastructure, perfecting the education policy and management system, and promoting the cooperation between home and school and the participation of the society; to provide references to the promotion of education fairness.

No abstract available

China's compulsory education policy plays a core role in promoting educational equity, but the uneven distribution of teachers between urban and rural areas has long restricted the balanced development of educational quality. This paper takes Sichuan Province as a typical sample to systematically analyze the influence mechanism of compulsory education policies on the allocation of urban and rural teacher resources and the intergenerational mobility effect it triggers. The research finds that there are structural contradictions in policy design in terms of teacher allocation, treatment guarantee, and mobility mechanism, which lead to significant differences in the quantity, quality and mobility of teachers between urban and rural areas. This, in turn, affects intergenerational income mobility and social class solidification through the distribution of educational opportunities. The research puts forward suggestions such as optimizing policy tools, improving the guarantee system, and establishing a dynamic monitoring mechanism, providing theoretical support for solving the problem of educational equity in urban and rural areas.

: In today's society, labor education has become a key link in shaping students' all-round development, and its importance is self-evident, which has attracted extensive attention from all walks of life. National government departments have also spared no effort in launching a series of policy documents aiming to promote the parallel development of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education, with special emphasis on the necessity of strengthening labor education. However, despite such policy support, the quality and effectiveness of school labor education remain unsatisfactory. On the one hand, the scarcity of internship bases for labor education makes students lack opportunities for practical operation; on the other hand, the shortage of professional teachers makes labor education lack effective guidance and implementation; furthermore, the cultural atmosphere of labor education has not yet been formed, resulting in a general lack of students' labor awareness. In the face of these problems, we must focus on the sharing and complementing of labor education resources in urban and rural compulsory schools. By optimizing the allocation of labor education resources in urban and rural areas, we can build a more balanced and efficient labor education system, which is of great practical significance and value for cultivating students' labor awareness, enhancing their labor skills and improving the quality of labor education.

In the history of humanity, China's educational progress has seen some of the greatest successes, particularly in the area of compulsory education. It has undergone the largest and most prolonged period of development, marking a significant milestone in the country's educational history. However, at the present stage, Between cities and villages, China's progress of compulsory schooling has been incredibly uneven.Cities have better resources and facilities than villages. The emphasis of China's educational growth has shifted to the distinction. This paper mainly concentrates on the issue of discrepancy between urban and rural compulsory education and analyzes it from two major aspects. The first one is three factors affecting the existence of differences in urban and rural areas. The second is to talk about from the practice and analyze how to reduce the disparity of education in urban and rural areas. This paper will use the CAS method of discussion to discuss, the research found that the disparity between urban and rural education is caused by multiple factors and related to China's own structure, which makes the development of compulsory education very difficult. This paper analyzes the present status of equity in urban and rural compulsory education, summarizes the various factors that exist in the development process of urban and rural education and gives reasonable suggestions through the final problem.

No abstract available

The rational allocation of educational resources is an essential link in education security. Based on the data of 2013-2014 academic year of China Education tracking survey, this paper uses the data envelopment analysis method to analyze the input-output efficiency of 70 schools in the sample from the perspective of input. The results show that the average value of input-output comprehensive efficiency of the sample is only 0.5825; The average value of input-output pure efficiency is only 0.6871; The average scale efficiency is 0.8370. The inefficiency of educational resource management plays a leading role, which indicates that the allocation of educational resources in the sample is unreasonable or wasteful. In order to avoid the shortage of education resources, this paper gives some suggestions from the aspects of controlling enrollment, unifying standards, training and allocating teachers, so as to achieve the goal of ensuring the balanced allocation of compulsory education resources.

Family education investment is an important mechanism that affects the stratification of urban and rural education in China. This article analyzes the urban-rural gap in China’s family education investment and focuses on comparing the two levels of family education expenditure and education participation. The study found that the total expenditure for children ‘s education in urban households during compulsory education is higher than that in rural households, and the gap between the two in terms of extra-school tutoring expenditure is even greater. In terms of family education participation, the education participation behavior of urban families among children of compulsory education stage is more frequent, and the counseling time is longer than that of rural families. Rural families’ care for their children’s life and learning is significantly weaker than urban families. The comparative study of urban and rural family education investment in this article is helpful to understand the formation of urban and rural education inequality, and to grasp the specific differences between urban and rural family children’s education investment in compulsory education stage.

This study aims to systematically evaluate the dynamic effects of rural–urban migration experiences during compulsory education on human capital accumulation in China from a life-course perspective, with a focus on both the short-term and long-term outcomes for migrant children and the spillover effects on left-behind children. From a life-course perspective, this study examines the nonlinear temporal effects of rural–urban migration experiences during compulsory education on the human capital accumulation of migrant children in China. Using a cohort of rural children recorded in the 2012 wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and their follow-up information in the 2020 wave, an endogenous switching model is constructed for empirical analysis. The results show that: (1) Rural–urban migration during compulsory schooling has a negative short-term impact on the human capital accumulation of migrant children, while its long-term effects remain positive. (2) Social integration difficulties, reflected in declines in self-efficacy and social trust, constitute the negative mechanism, although this influence weakens as migration duration increases. In contrast, improvements in public education quality, enhanced family educational processes such as increased parental time investment, and gains in non-cognitive abilities including higher self-educational expectations and better mental health serve as the positive mechanisms. (3) Rural migrant children cause negative spillover effects concerning the human capital accumulation of left-behind children because the outflow of students reduces the educational accessibility of left-behind children through distance effects and lowers the quality of rural primary and secondary schools through scale effects.

Rural education has always been a shortcoming in the development of education. As the basic part of rural education, rural compulsory education affects the modern development of education from the root. At present, the development of rural compulsory education in China mainly faces the dilemma of uneven distribution of urban and rural educational resources, low teaching quality, weak educational awareness, and class division of rural families, etc. The strategy of rural revitalization in the new era provides conditions to support and policy guarantee for the development of rural compulsory education, and it is necessary to improve the development of rural compulsory education in terms of integrated planning, realizing education integration, building high-quality teachers, reshaping educational values, joint operation of urban and rural schools, and manifesting rural cultural The development of compulsory education in rural areas should be improved in terms of integrated planning, integration of education, creation of high-quality teachers, reshaping of educational values, joint operation of urban and rural schools, and manifestation of rural culture.

The objectives of this research were to: (1) investigate the current problems in achieving balance in urban and rural basic education in Shaanxi Province, (2) develop a strategy to improve this balance, and (3) evaluate the adaptability, feasibility, effectiveness, and fairness of the proposed strategy. The study involved 175 teachers from urban and rural schools across 10 prefecture-level cities, 10 middle-level school managers, and 5 senior education experts. Research instruments included questionnaires, structured interviews, and expert assessments, with data analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The findings indicate that urban education in Shaanxi Province is significantly more developed than rural education, with disparities in teacher performance, student quality, resource distribution, and funding. Many rural students migrate to urban schools, leaving behind a declining student population. To address these imbalances, the study proposes strategies such as strengthening teacher training, enhancing rural school quality, improving educational funding, and optimizing resource allocation. Expert evaluations confirmed that these strategies are highly adaptable and feasible for promoting balanced and sustainable urban-rural education development. These findings highlight the urgency of policy-driven educational reforms to bridge the urban-rural gap and ensure equitable learning opportunities in Shaanxi Province.

In China, allocating rural education resources effectively and enhancing educational quality are critical for the nation’s long-term growth and social cohesion. Education significantly contributes to the country’s overall development and the integration of urban and rural areas. Particularly, the progress of rural education is not only pivotal for the country’s future trajectory but also a key element in achieving balanced development between urban and rural regions. Therefore, ensuring a fair distribution of rural education resources and effectively raising the standard of education is a matter that demands the attention of all societal sectors. This research focuses on the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as the subject of study, delving deeply into the texts and data surrounding educational poverty alleviation policies within the region. The findings of the study show that, despite the government’s successful efforts to enhance the level of rural education through financial assistance and poverty reduction measures, the disparity between urban and rural education persists. Confronting challenges within the realm of educational poverty alleviation, the government needs to increase financial commitment to rural education, optimize the allocation of educational funds between urban and rural areas, elevate the quality of rural education, and ensure the effective and equitable execution of educational poverty alleviation policies.

Compulsory education as the most basic public goods, balanced supply between urban and rural areas is the basis of social equity and justice. However, the public education policy under the dual social structure of our country leads to the imbalance of the allocation of compulsory education resources, the obstacle of the financial system, the low focus of rural compulsory education, the lack of investment and the backward condition of teachers. To achieve balanced development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas, it is necessary to establish the policy idea of integrating urban and rural economic and social development, further improve the public financial system and transfer payment system of compulsory education, construct a new management system of compulsory education, and establish a system of exchange of teachers in urban and rural compulsory education. Keywords—Compulsory education, Unbalanced, Causes,

Under the back drop of a serious imbalance in the allocation of teachers between urban and rural schools, this study makes suggestions on now the gap between the two areas can be reduced. The flow of expert teachers from rural to urban schools is partly due to the great differences in the way in which the schools are managed. It is also associated with the failure of performance pay incentives in rural areas, the differences in quality of life and working conditions for rural teachers compared to urban ones. As a result, teachers move to urban areas to improve their wages and professional status. It is suggested that an education finance transfer payment is undertaken where the general transfer payment from central and provincial governments to counties help subsidize the salaries and living standards of rural teachers. Management of schools need to change from the local level to the provincial or national level. Keywords—Compulsory education; Teacher mobility; Transfer

With the methods of questionnaires and interviews, this paper propose the imlementation path of “urban-rural linkage” interdisciplinary art education in primary and secondary schools. On the basis of the core elements of the compulsory educaiton “Art Curriculum Standards”(2022), this paper structurally analyze the current situation of interdisciplinary art education in primary and secondary schools, such as experience foundation, teaching difficulty and teachers' and students' willingness. Both in urban and rural, it is necessary to integrate the strength of aesthetic education, to establish an interdisciplinary art education alliance, to implement the interdisciplinary art education cooperation mechanism with "urban-rural interaction", to expanding interdisciplinary art education teaching methods, to integrate local culture and to enhance interdisciplinary ethical awareness, and to explore the road of art education with Chinese Characteristics.These strategies can effectively meet the requirements of the core literacy of art curriculum standards and of the cultivation with interdisciplinary thinking and creative practice, promote the omplementation of comprehensive art education policies in urban and rural primary and secondary schools, and balance the use of uban and rural art education resources for interactive activities.

Educational equity means that students of diverse regional, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds have equal access to adequate educational resources and opportunities. Art education in China serves as a crucial medium for cultural transmission and fosters students' holistic development. However, at the compulsory school level, its accessibility and fairness are influenced by multiple factors. Based on an extensive literature review, this study identifies three key determinants: the urban-rural divide, socioeconomic factors, and policy and structural constraints. In terms of educational resources, urban schools have significantly more advantages over rural schools. Additionally, family income and cultural capital shape students’ access to art education, often favoring those from higher socio-economic backgrounds. At the policy level, the prioritization of exam-oriented education often marginalizes art education, reducing instructional time and funding allocation. While certain policies have expanded access to education, they have not effectively improved the quality and equity of art education in China.

Abstract This paper analyzes the current situation and constraints in the allocation of resources for compulsory education in urban and rural areas of Hebei Province. It establishes a system for assessing the balanced development of the quality of compulsory education. And on the basis of this system, the overall and inter-school high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education in Hebei Province is measured through the object-element analysis method. The allocation of educational resources in districts and counties of Hebei Province is optimized through the Pareto multi-objective optimization algorithm. It is known from the study that the investment in education in Hebei Province has been increasing, growing to 529,846,700,000 yuan in 2023, and the development level of education has been increasing, with similar conditions in urban and rural schooling. However, there are still problems such as an imbalance in the structure of academic subjects and excessive inter-school differences. There are also 27.3% of schools whose overall evaluation of education quality is lower than the average level of education quality. The optimization strategy for the allocation of educational resources in the compulsory education stage proposed in this paper is of great significance in promoting the progress of balanced development of education.

This research is a mixed-methods study that investigates the relationship between guarantee systems, regional dynamics, and educational equity in Shaanxi Province, focusing on the urban rural education gap. The primary objective is to identify factors contributing to educational disparities and evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies aimed at promoting balanced educational development. The methodology involved questionnaires with a sample size of 466 persons, including 160 educators, 80 parents, and 160 students. Participants were selected through stratified sampling to ensure representation from both urban and rural areas. Reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis are used to analyze the data. The results show that at the level of 0.01, regional dynamics has a positive impact on the education guarantee system (0.704), at the level of 0.01, the education guarantee system has a positive impact on the promotion of balanced development (0.672), and at the level of 0.01, regional dynamics has a positive impact on the promotion of balanced development (0.691). The research highlights the need for policymakers to enhance community involvement and tailor educational programs to the unique challenges faced by underdeveloped areas. By doing so, the study aims to contribute to improved educational equity and quality in Shaanxi Province, ensuring that all students have access to the resources and support necessary for their academic success.

Globally, education is often regarded as a basic human right. In order to guarantee this right, many countries have adopted various measures to ensure universal access to an inclusive and fair quality education, without leaving anyone behind. The UNICEF (2017) Convention on the Rights of the Child provides tenets of the child’s right to education, education should focus on the all-round development of children’s personalities and promote mutual understanding, tolerance, friendship, and peace by respecting their personal cultural backgrounds. The draft UNESCO Education 2030 Framework for Action (UNESCO 2015) involves ensuring an inclusive and fair basic education and providing lifelong learning opportunities for all (Webb et al., 2017). The implementation of compulsory education and the comprehensive development of a modern education system thus are importance to countries such as China. In fact, the implementation of the compulsory education policy in contemporary China is regarded as the main task of the government, which means that the “right to education” is a top priority (Chang, 2010). However, although various levels of governments are making significant efforts to promote the development of compulsory education in rural areas, there is still a major gap in terms of the quality and attainment within China education, especially along urban-rural divides. Children from impoverished backgrounds, typically rural areas, have a much higher risk of dropping out than their urban peers after completing elementary school. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to present the difficult situation rural women find themselves in concerning education. It proposes two research questions that 1) Does China’s nine-year compulsory education policy include initiatives to address gender inequalities, such as the higher rates of illiteracy amongst rural women and girls, and what evidence is available on the extent of the policy’s effectiveness in this regard? 2) How are issues of gender inequality experienced by rural women and girls in China in the context of the enactment of the nine-year compulsory education policy? Analysing the implementation of China’s nine-year compulsory education policy in rural area, whilst investigating the inequality that rural women suffer.

Educational inequality is one of the significant societal challenges currently facing China. In particular, the educational disparity between rural and urban areas constrains rural students' development and opportunities and negatively impacts overall socioeconomic progress. Through a comprehensive study, this article seeks to elucidate the definition of developmental imbalance, understand the underlying causes of such disparity, and delve deeper into the roots, effects, and solutions of educational inequality between rural and urban areas in China. It also explores the potential of online education (MOOCs) as a solution. This paper summarizes and highlights the educational inequality problems in urban education in terms of enrollment indicators and school funding support. Through data investigation and analysis, we can discover the causes of educational inequality in implementing compulsory education and the issue of academic immigration. People have also found innovative education models such as MOOCs can provide rural students with more educational opportunities and resources. However, challenges related to interactivity, personalized learning environments, and communication between learners and teachers must be addressed. The paper also acknowledges the need to tailor MOOC course design to meet students' needs and improve learning outcomes in different educational contexts.

Abstract: In the last decades, education in China has significantly developed and the majority of Chinese young generations are literate. While the exponential growth in urban adult literacy is a testament to the success of the compulsory education system, it is crucial to acknowledge that rural education has been left behind and marginalized in China. This research delves into the urgent issue of rural education inequality in China. The paper thoroughly investigates the current education problems in rural regions and proposes a solution by adjusting faculty distribution and implementing a national central platform for artificial intelligence classrooms (AIC). These measures aim to address the pressing concern, optimize funding usage, and mitigate inequality in education resources to prevent the urban-rural gap from widening. It is important to note that while implementing these proposals is yet to be completed, this paper provides a theoretical examination of the existing issues. Based on the findings, the study proposes a theoretical AIC model for making a social change of education.

This paper examines how Hukou type and years of education affected urban-rural divide in China after 2016. Using statistics from the 2016 China Family Panel Survey and the 2020 China Statistical Yearbook, five alternative dimensions of the relationship are identified: Age, gender, parents' years of education, regional education expenditure, and siblings. Assisted by regression models, the report compares the extent of each factor's influence on educational attainment with Hukou type. In addition, this paper builds on previous findings of similar work by considering some important macroeconomic changes after 2016, including the Hukou reform and the abolition of the one-child policy in 2016. The study concludes that educational participation in China was primarily dependent on the location (whether rural or urban) where individuals lived and participated in compulsory education. This indicates that the Hukou system entails a significant degree of discrimination and division. It is an institutional barrier to educational opportunities and resources for certain groups (i.e. rural Hukou holders).

Educational equity is one of the most important aspects to realize social equity. The long-standing urban-rural dual structure in our country makes the regional education development unbalanced, especially in the aspect of teachers. Under the background of “double reduction” policy, teacher rotation system is an effective means to realize educational equity in compulsory education stage. However, the teacher rotation system is faced with less attention to the willingness of teachers in rotation

: Rural education is a vital component of national education, with teachers being pivotal to its revitalization. Publicly funded targeted normal school students play a central role in promoting high-quality and balanced development of urban and rural compulsory education, continuously meeting the demand for high-quality education in rural areas. They are the backbone of rural revitalization and the foundational talent support for achieving a modernized form of Chinese education. Investigations reveal that current publicly funded targeted normal school students face challenges such as inadequacies in mastering professional knowledge and skills, weak teacher professional beliefs, and unclear personal career plans. To achieve the strategic goal of high-quality and balanced development of rural compulsory education, collaborative efforts are needed from teachers, schools, and the government. Universities can enhance talent cultivation programs, reinforce professional knowledge learning, provide specialized skills training, and conduct assessable transferable skills evaluations. Teachers can strengthen education on ideals and beliefs, foster local cultural connections, and instill professional ethics to imbue educational work with a sense of purpose. The government can ensure student resources, learning opportunities, and advancement platforms, thus providing a safety net.

: Promoting the balanced development of compulsory education is a strategic initiative to improve the quality of compulsory education development in China, and it is important to further promote the high-quality development of compulsory education in ethnic areas. Through the survey, we found that, with the support of China's education poverty alleviation policy, compulsory education in remote rural and pastoral areas of Sichuan Province has basically achieved balanced development after 10 years of rapid development, but there is still a considerable gap between high quality and balanced development, and the quality and level of balanced development of compulsory education still needs to be further improved compared with non-ethnic areas. Compared with non-ethnic areas, the quality and level of their balanced compulsory education development still need to be further improved. The main manifestations are insufficient endogenous motivation, difficulties in teacher construction, differences between urban and rural areas, lagging informationization, and lack of quality educational resources.

Equal rights to rent and purchase affects the supply of compulsory education resources. How to promote the balanced compulsory education resources supply in the context of equal rights to rent and purchase is currently a hot issue amongst government and society. To achieve such balance, conducting research in the context of equal rights to rent and purchase becomes crucial. However, existing research has yet to provide sufficient explanations for the differentiated paths for realizing the balanced compulsory education resources supply in practice. This study uses 31 cities in China as case samples and jointly applies fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and the ‘technology–organization–environment’ (TOE) framework. The findings are summarized as follows. Firstly, the balanced compulsory education resources supply in the context of equal rights to rent and purchase is affected by six key technological, organizational, and environmental factors. Namely, data co-construction and sharing, technological infrastructure, attention allocation, government information disclosure, policy support for equal rights to rent and purchase, and level of urban economic development. Secondly, the linkage matching of technological, organizational and environmental conditions forms diversified configurations that drive the balanced compulsory education resources supply in the context of equal rights to rent and purchase. These configurations include the ‘organization’ driving model, ‘technology–environment’ driving model, ‘technology–organization–environment’ driving model, and ‘technology-organization’ driving model. Finally, eastern, central and western China are driven by different configuration paths. Amongst them, eastern China has relatively good basic conditions at the technological, organizational and environmental levels. The combination of different conditions can drive the balanced compulsory education resources supply in a ‘different paths lead to the same destination’ manner. Although the development in central China is somewhat restricted, the radiation and impetus from eastern China, in combination with the different conditions in central China, can drive the balanced compulsory education resources supply. Western China shows no advantages at the technological, organizational and environmental levels. Faced with restrictions in organizational and environmental conditions, the government in western China should develop the necessary technological conditions to drive the balanced compulsory education resources supply.

The balanced development of compulsory education is an important measure to fully implement the equalization of basic education public services, promote education equity, and maintain social justice. Among the paths to the realization of balanced development of compulsory education, the most crucial is to ensure the balanced development of compulsory education resources, so it should attract high attention. The purpose of this paper is to construct a measurement model of the balanced development of compulsory education resources, to explore the key factors affecting the balanced development of compulsory education resources, and to find a scientific path for the balanced development of compulsory education resources. Based on this, this paper uses the method of hierarchical analysis to construct a measurement model of the balanced development of compulsory education resources, analyzes the measurement model of the balanced development of compulsory education resources in a certain region, and concludes that the main factors include school conditions, teacher quality, and education funding. Accordingly, this paper further proposes effective strategies for the balanced development of compulsory education resources from the aspects of increasing education funding, refining the assessment indicators of relevant staff, improving the personnel system of teachers, implementing the mobility policy of teachers, and strengthening the construction of basic resources. The research of this paper, on the one hand, can provide a guarantee for the development of balanced compulsory education resources in a certain region, and on the other hand, it can also provide certain references for the solution of the problem of balanced development of compulsory education resources in other regions with similar situations, and it has strong practical significance for the effective realization of balanced development of compulsory education.

In recent decades, the inequality in compulsory education finance in China has remained a widespread and serious problem. Based on a provincial-level dataset in the period of 1998–2008, this study analyzed the disparities of school funding in China, attempting to explore the important factors that may have contributed to the inequality. Using the methods of factor decomposition and regression-based decomposition of Gini coefficient, it showed that the inequality of school funding had not been reduced after recent governmental reforms. The level of economic development appeared to be highly associated with the inequality of expenditures for compulsory education. The empirical results of this analysis suggest that a sound system of intergovernmental fiscal transfers with built-in equalization features may need to be developed in China.

The study combs the achievements and existing problems of Chinese basic education development since the reform and opening up 40 years ago, and based on the theory of educational equity and equalization of public services, and compares the data released by the Ministry of Education in 2012 and 2021, it can be found that compulsory education the number of schools in the stage has been reduced, the enrollment and enrollment have increased to a certain extent, and the nine-year compulsory education consolidation rate has increased; the gross enrollment rate in high school has increased by 6.4%, full-time teachers have increased significantly, and the student-teacher ratio has been further optimized. This study found that the key issues of Chinese basic education are mainly in the aspects of education evaluation, teacher team construction, and digital empowerment education. Therefore, it is proposed to implement the evaluation content of basic education under the guidance of the "Overall Plan for Deepening Educational Evaluation Reform in the New Era"; Guided by the policy of public-funded normal students, improve the quality of teacher supply; take the digitalization of education as the guide, to accelerate the development of basic education and other policy recommendations, so as to promote the development of basic education in China.

The construction of teaching staff is the key to realize the equalization and modernization of compulsory education in ethnic areas, and is also the inevitable requirement of the development of ethnic basic education in the new era. To improve the quality of basic education, the construction of teachers is the key. Through the investigation of many primary schools in Sichuan minority areas, it is found that there are some problems in the construction of primary school teachers, such as unreasonable establishment standards, prominent structural contradictions, low overall quality and unstable team. Therefore, it is necessary to actively take measures to improve the overall quality of the construction of primary school teachers in ethnic minority areas, such as establishing a unified and reasonable teacher recruitment mechanism, carrying out pairing and Counterpart Assistance between urban and rural areas, promoting the cultivation of local talents, and improving the ability of

No abstract available

Against the backdrop of the Chinese government’s advocacy for establishing a collaborative mechanism between educational administrative law enforcement and educational supervision, this article examines the current state of these two domains. The study identifies several issues, including ambiguous responsibilities, mutual buck-passing, and a lack of coordination. The author argues that it is essential to clarify the concepts of educational administrative law enforcement and educational supervision at the compulsory education stage and to delineate the relationship between them. This clarity is crucial for constructing an effective collaborative mechanism for educational administrative law enforcement and supervision at the basic education stage.

In today's digital age, the application of artificial intelligence in education has gradually attracted widespread attention, which is of great significance, especially in improving the teaching quality of rural compulsory education. However, rural education still lags in the exploration and utilization of AI in education, facing many realistic plights. This essay analyzes the current application status of AI in rural compulsory education, exploring its practical paths, obstacles, and equity challenges in promoting teaching quality. It points out that AI could optimize rural compulsory education through digital resource sharing, classroom teaching mode transformation, and personalized learning feedback. But it is also confronted with problems such as poor compatibility of digital resources, insufficient adaptability of the teacher-student role, and incomplete personalized learning guarantee mechanisms. Based on this, this article proposes suggestions including strengthening the construction of digital infrastructure, enhancing the compatibility of AI education resources, developing the digital literacy of rural teachers and students, as well as improving AI monitoring and evaluation systems. Thereby, these could facilitate the high-quality development of rural compulsory education and contribute to the realization of educational equity.

The spatial allocation of compulsory education resources in rural townships faces significant challenges that affect educational equity, quality, and accessibility. China’s rapid urbanization and rural revitalization strategies have intensified demands for optimized educational resource distribution while existing allocation systems remain inadequate. This research aimed to: (1) identify and validate essential components of spatial allocation of compulsory education resources in Guangxi townships, (2) assess current and desired states of resource allocation across seven key components, and (3) develop a comprehensive optimization model based on educational equity principles and systematic resource management. A three-phase sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Phase 1 validated seven resource allocation components through expert consultation (n=5). Phase 2 assessed current and desired states using surveys with 438 stakeholders from township schools. Phase 3 developed and validated an optimization model incorporating systematic needs analysis, strategic allocation planning, and continuous productivity monitoring. Seven primary resource components were identified: Material Resources, Financial Resources, Human Resources, Policy Support and Management Systems, Curriculum Resources, Social and Community Resources, and Technological and Informational Resources. Significant gaps existed between current allocation levels (X̅=3.48, medium level) and desired allocation levels (X̅=4.55, very high level), with priority needs index ranging from 0.207 to 0.254 across all resource components. Expert validation confirmed very high model suitability (X̅=4.65) and feasibility (X̅=4.20). This study provides the first comprehensive framework for optimizing spatial allocation of compulsory education resources in Chinese rural townships. The developed model offers a systematic, evidence-based approach combining equity principles with practical implementation strategies, demonstrating high suitability and feasibility for policy implementation.

Based on the annual statistical report of education development in Zhejiang Province from 2019 to 2022, this study analyzes the balance of teacher resources, teaching facilities and information configuration of compulsory education in X City of Zhejiang Province by using the difference coefficient and Theil index. The research results show that the compulsory education in X City of Zhejiang Province has a good performance in the overall balance, but there are still obvious differences between counties in the structure of teacher education and the allocation of information resources. Therefore, it is suggested to alleviate the imbalance between teacher qualification and teacher structure through policy support; A series of measures, such as connecting educational resources, solving the imbalance of teaching instruments and teaching venues, are proposed to further promote the compulsory education in X City of Zhejiang Province to a higher level of high-quality and balanced development.

This study provides an overview of the “double reduction” policy promulgated in 2021, through which the Chinese government attempts to relieve the burden of excessive school homework and off-campus tutoring for students in compulsory education. This study draws on policy documents and relevant literature to interpret policy origins, core values, and major measures. The positive effects and challenges faced in implementing policies for the balanced and high-quality development of compulsory education were analyzed. Students’ academic burden is deeply rooted in Chinese historical and sociocultural contexts. The “double reduction” policy shows the Chinese government's strong aspiration to promote holistic education for students and pursue the universal provision of balanced, high-quality school education. Despite some positive effects at the implementation level, challenges remain unaddressed. To achieve a policy vision, it calls for a deep reflection on the high-stakes examination system and collective efforts from stakeholders within or outside the education system. This study helps elucidate the “double reduction” policy and compulsory education development in China.

: This study examined the development of compulsory education in Leshichong Central School in Yunnan Province. The purposes of the research were:1.)To study the factors affecting children's customs and compulsory education in Wenshan Leshichong School.2) To explore the views of parents of Leshchong School on compulsory education in China. According to Krejcie and Morgan's table, the population 1900 and the sample group was 320. The research tool was a questionnaire survey. This study was a quantitative study, using percentage, mean (x̄) and standard deviation (S.D.) for statistical analysis. The results showed that the Children - Related Customs of Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and Parents' Perceptions Towards China’s Compulsory Education were composed of three factors: (1) Parental involvement; (2) Parents' attitude; (3) Cultural factors and educational equity. Children's customs and parents' cognition of compulsory education in Wenshan Lesichong School are at a high level (X=4.07. S.D. =0.66). Parents have a positive attitude towards compulsory education. The compulsory education of ethnic minorities in China, and the student-teacher relationship will be investigated as the future research direction. The recommendation is that education equity should be strengthened to nurture and develop children in an all-round way. Limitations of the study are not generalized enough, and the results are not comprehensive.

Compulsory education stage nearby enrollment has been implemented in China for a long time. Since the reform and opening up, the state has promulgated a series of laws and regulations that clearly stipulate the basic principles of nearby enrollment in the compulsory education stage, which has played a great role in ensuring educational fairness. With the continuous development of society and economy, social competition is becoming increasingly fierce, people’s attention to education is also increasing, and more and more attention is paid to academic qualifications, and parents are more cautious when choosing educational resources for their children. However, for a long time, due to the uneven distribution of educational resources and the concept of hierarchy, the gap between schools has gradually widened, and the problem of nearby enrollment in the compulsory education stage has gradually emerged, especially in some rural areas. This paper makes an in-depth analysis of the outstanding problems embodied in the “nearby enrollment” in the compulsory education stage in China, and proposes corresponding solutions on the basis of studying and studying relevant theories and literatures, in order to provide reference for the balanced development of compulsory education in China.

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The allocation of public educational resources between urban and rural areas is one of the major topics in education research and is largely influenced by population shifts. Therefore, this study systematically reviews the burdens on urban educational resources, the impact on rural education, and the effects of two-way migration between urban and rural areas and illustrates the impact of population migration on urban-rural public educational resource allocation. To address these problems, this study proposes an optimization path that links population and resources with the utilization of big data. It also points out that it is necessary to promote the coordinated urban-rural development strategy, advance school consortium models, and drive the progress of rural schools by leveraging urban school resources. Government departments should increase fiscal transfer payments, gradually deepen the household registration reform, and ease restrictions on migrant children taking high school and college entrance exams in their places of residence. Aimed to promote education equality and improve education quality and effectiveness, this study proposes relevant suggestions.

Ensuring equitable access to resources in special needs education is a persistent global challenge, and one with acute significance in the Chinese context where urban–rural divides shape the provision of schooling. This study investigates how resources for life adaptation curricula—designed to cultivate everyday competencies for students with intellectual disabilities—are allocated and managed across schools in different regional settings. Drawing on the capability approach, the research conceptualises resource disparities not as unequal inputs alone but as constraints on students' substantive freedoms to achieve valued functionings' such as independent living and social participation. The study employs a qualitative case study design based on semi‐structured interviews with 11 participants (eight teachers and three school leaders) in two urban and one county‐level special school, supplemented by classroom photographs and documentary data. The findings reveal stark contrasts between well‐resourced urban schools, where simulated supermarkets and token economies enable students to practise transferable skills, and under‐resourced county schools, where teachers rely on improvised materials and parental contributions. Management practices were found to emphasise formal compliance with policy directives but provide limited substantive support, leaving teachers to shoulder the burden of improvisation. As a result, inequalities in resource allocation directly translate into unequal opportunities for capability development, constraining students' prospects for sustainable livelihoods. By situating these findings within the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), the study contributes to international debates on equity in inclusive education. It demonstrates the need for targeted funding mechanisms, structured professional development, and national curriculum standards to ensure that life adaptation curricula serve as pathways to substantive inclusion rather than symbolic compliance. In doing so, the paper highlights how micro‐level curricular practices reveal the structural barriers that must be addressed if special needs education is to advance more equitable and sustainable futures.

 This study focuses on the differences in the allocation of art education resources between urban and rural areas and their profound impact on students' artistic literacy and all-round development. The study found that urban schools are significantly superior to rural schools in the diversity and richness of art education resources, providing urban students with a wide range of art practice opportunities, thereby promoting the development of their artistic potential. In contrast, due to resource constraints, rural schools have limited opportunities for students in art learning and practice, which not only hinders the cultivation of their innovative thinking, but also affects the improvement of their aesthetic ability. In addition, unequal access to information technology has further exacerbated the imbalance of educational resources. Based on the above findings, this study proposes to optimize resource allocation and ensure fair distribution of educational resources through policy support and technological innovation to achieve the popularization of art education and improve the level of art education for rural students. These strategies are aimed at narrowing the gap in art education resources between urban and rural areas, promoting educational equity, and comprehensively improving students' artistic literacy and comprehensive quality.

In the process of global education modernization, the policy of key middle schools, as a local practice of concentrating resources to build demonstration schools, has played a role in elite training and regional education demonstration, but the problems of urban-rural/inter-school gap and unequal educational opportunities caused by excessive resource tilt have attracted widespread attention. From the perspective of educational equity, this paper systematically analyzes the historical positioning (early elite training, mid-term demonstration radiation, and later reform experiments), positive impact, and fairness challenges brought about by resource tilt (county financial imbalance, hollowing out of rural schools, and structural deprivation of educational opportunities). The study finds that the core contradiction of the key middle school system is that the policy is not dynamically adjusted with the demand for high-quality and balanced education, resulting in a disconnect between resource allocation and the goal of equity. Based on this, this paper proposes an optimization path to build an education equity monitoring and early warning system, design a gradient adjustment mechanism, and cultivate a collaborative development ecology, so as to provide a practical reference for the high-quality and balanced development of education.

This comprehensive study delves deeply into the relationship between the allocation of educational resources in urban and rural areas and educational equity. It takes the unbalanced distribution of educational resources between urban and rural regions as its starting point and employs quantitative analysis and field research methods to explore this complex relationship. The findings reveal that the uneven allocation of educational resources has a significant negative impact on educational equity, resulting in a substantial disparity between urban and rural students in terms of access to high-quality education. Policy attention deviation, an imperfect management mechanism, and insufficient investment in education are identified as the key reasons for this unbalanced allocation. Consequently, this study recommends that policymakers increase investment in rural education, reform the management mechanism, and optimize resource allocation to promote the realization of educational equity. The results of this research hold great significance for understanding the unequal distribution of urban and rural educational resources and providing valuable references for policymaking.

This study focuses on the impact of educational equity policies on the academic achievement gap between urban and rural students in basic education. The literature review method is used here to investigate the state of education and the academic achievement gap among urban-rural students. The literature review reveals that disparities in teacher quality, resource allocation, and policy implementation are central to the urban-rural achievement gap in China. Hence, it is recommended that the government take steps to establish a line of communication with parents, students, and community members. In addition, ensuring targeted expenditure for professional development and resources for rural teachers can boost rural education as well as the retention of teachers.

The persistent disparity in educational resources between urban and rural areas in western China remains a critical barrier to achieving educational equity. This study addresses the critical issue by developing an innovative optimization model. The model aims to allocate financial, human, and physical resources effectively to minimize the educational quality gap between these regions. Using information from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) and concentrating on Xinjiang as a representative instance, our design integrates budget constraints, minimum resource requirements, and a unique regional prioritization factor. The goal of the objective function is to reduce the squared disparity in educational quality between city and rural regions. It thinks about variables such as Teacher-Student Ratio (TSR), Per Capita Investment (PCI), and Teaching Equipment Perfection (TEP). Our searchings for show that strategic resource distribution can considerably lessen educational inequalities in between metropolitan and country setups, especially by focusing on underdeveloped rural regions. Sensitivity analysis shows that customizing the local prioritization specification makes it possible for versatile policy strategies, ranging from equitable distribution to plainly sustaining rural regions. This study presents a pragmatic structure for boosting resource allotment in education. It supplies vital understandings for policymakers aiming to promote an extra equitable educational environment in Western China.

Against the backdrop of educational equity becoming a national strategy, the issue of imbalanced allocation of sports resources in rural schools has emerged as a critical constraint on the physical health and holistic development of adolescents. Drawing on Rawls’ "Difference Principle" and Amartya Sen’s "capability equality" theory, this study constructs an analytical framework of "resource types—dimensions of imbalance—optimization paths." Through statistical data from the Ministry of Education, local case studies, and field research, it reveals the structural contradictions in the allocation of sports teaching staff, facilities, and funds in rural schools. Key findings include a full-time sports teacher allocation rate of less than 30% in rural areas, a per capita sports venue area 0.94 square meters smaller than urban areas, and sports funding accounting for less than 5% of total school budgets. Deep-seated causes include urban-rural dual system barriers, economic disparities, and the restrictive mindset of prioritizing academics over physical education. The study proposes four optimization strategies—policy-driven resource redistribution, innovative teacher training mechanisms, integration of regional culture with sports curricula, and digital resource sharing—to provide theoretical and practical insights for promoting balanced urban-rural sports education development.

Introduction: Educational resource inequality between urban and rural areas remains a critical issue in achieving educational equity. This study focuses on the disparities in access to technical resources and teacher-student ratios in schools across Eastern China, aiming to examine their causes and impacts on educational quality and social development. Methods: Using data collected from 32 junior high schools and 7 primary schools, this study employs a combination of field surveys and questionnaire analysis. Quantitative methods are applied to compare urban and rural schools in terms of technical equipment, internet access, intelligent teaching resources, and teacher-student ratios, and to assess their influence on education quality. Results: The findings reveal that urban schools demonstrate significant advantages in resource allocation, characterised by lower teacher-student ratios, higher teacher qualifications, and richer technical resources. In contrast, rural schools face substantial resource shortages, which exacerbate educational disparities and hinder equitable development. Grounded in human capital theory, this study highlights the critical role of equitable resource allocation in enhancing human capital accumulation, improving education quality, and fostering balanced social and economic development. The findings underscore the necessity of increasing resource allocation to rural schools and optimising urban-rural resource distribution. Future research should expand sample coverage and incorporate diverse regions and school types to further investigate the multifaceted causes of educational inequality and propose actionable solutions. Conclusion: Urban schools demonstrate significant advantages in the allocation of educational resources, while rural institutions face severe shortages in these fundamental provisions. Specifically, the unequal distribution of technological resources and disparities in student-teacher ratios constitute primary drivers exacerbating urban-rural educational inequality.

China has achieved remarkable economic expansion and progress over the past few decades, but the long-standing huge urban-rural education gap remains a bottleneck for the development of education in China, greatly affecting the progress of society as a whole. The education gap between urban and rural areas in China can be seen in several ways, including resource allocation, teacher forces, and student achievement. This essay focuses on the education inequality between urban and rural areas in China caused by inadequate policy implementation and a lack of high-quality teachers in rural areas. In response to these problems, the essay argues that China needs to adopt a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach, with policy reforms and increasing the number of quality teachers in rural areas as the main areas of endeavor. The essay highlights the urgent need for China to consider educational equality and narrow the urban-rural education gap in the rapid development of the economy.

With the in-depth development of globalisation, English, as an international common language, is of great importance to the reasonable allocation of its educational resources for the improvement of national educational equity and overall educational quality. However, there has long been a serious imbalance in the allocation of English education resources in China. In terms of resource allocation between urban and rural areas and different schools, differences in the number of teachers, teaching facilities, teaching materials and other aspects lead to gaps in the opportunities and quality of English education for students. This imbalance in resource allocation not only affects educational equity, but also limits students’ English learning outcomes. Therefore, this paper proposes an optimal allocation method of English educational resources based on multi-objective optimisation (MOO) and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). This method aims to maximise the utilisation rate of educational resources, narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and schools, and promote educational equity and efficient use of resources by optimising multiple objectives at the same time, such as teacher allocation, balanced use of teaching facilities and fair distribution of teaching materials resources. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a high degree of fit on two different datasets, reaching 94.58% and 96.87%, respectively, and the resource balance is greatly improved in the process of resource allocation. In addition, the algorithm has high operating efficiency under large-scale data, and the training time can be stabilised at 57.84 s when the sample size reaches 24,200. The experiment also shows that the application of this method in districts and counties significantly reduces the fluctuation of educational resources and optimises the allocation level of educational resources in each district and county. The research provides a new way to solve the problem of unfair distribution of educational resources, and shows a good application potential in the field of large-scale resource optimisation.

This research examines the intricate relationship between economic development and education resources in rural China. While China's rapid economic development has catalyzed significant improvements in the nation's overall educational landscape, this progress has not been evenly distributed across urban and rural areas, leading to widening educational disparities. The study explores the multifaceted nature of these disparities, characterized by disproportionate resource allocation, inferior school infrastructure in rural areas, and a widening digital divide. Despite rural areas housing a considerable portion of China's student population, these regions grapple with numerous challenges, including inadequate resource allocation, low teacher quality, poor school infrastructure, and limited access to digital technologies. The consequences are profound, hampering rural students' academic performance and limiting their opportunities for upward mobility. This paper underscores the critical need to address these disparities as part of China's broader efforts towards sustainable development and social equity. In doing so, it offers valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and development practitioners, illustrating on potential intervention areas to foster educational equity and promote inclusive growth in rural China.

This article systematically evaluates the implementation effectiveness and structural challenges of bilingual education policies for ethnic minorities in China from the perspective of educational equity. Research has found that policies have achieved significant results in expanding educational opportunities, but are constrained by urban-rural differences and the regional imbalance in resource allocation is prominent. The policy faces three core contradictions: the conflict between the goal of national integration needs and ethnic cultural autonomy, the adaptation dilemma between the "one size fits all" implementation model and linguistic ecological diversity, and the time lag effect between short-term performance evaluation and long-term cultural benefits. These contradictions reveal the tension between a unified policy framework and local specificity, reflecting the deep game between instrumental rationality and cultural values in educational governance. Future policy optimization requires the establishment of a flexible implementation mechanism, the improvement of a diversified evaluation system, and the enhancement of the sustainability of cultural heritage while ensuring the functionality of language tools.

This paper focuses on the opportunities and challenges brought by basic education urbanization to the construction of harmonious and beautiful villages. With the acceleration of urbanization, basic education resources are gradually concentrated in cities, which has a profound impact on the development of education in rural areas. Firstly, it analyzes the problems faced by rural education under the background of basic education urbanization, such as resource scarcity and uneven teaching quality. Then, it explores the potential challenges to the construction of harmonious and beautiful villages in terms of human resource development, social and cultural inheritance, and economic and social development. At the same time, it points out the new opportunities that basic education urbanization may bring to the construction of harmonious and beautiful villages, such as promoting the balanced allocation of educational resources through remote education and urban-rural educational cooperation, and using the advanced concepts and methods of urban education to promote educational reform and innovation in rural areas. It also puts forward targeted policy suggestions to balance urban and rural educational resources and promote the all-round development of the construction of harmonious and beautiful villages. 

High-quality and balanced elementary education is an important issue related to the construction of a strong socialist modernized education country and also meets the needs of the era for Chinese-style modernization. By sorting out the policy texts related to high-quality and balanced elementary education at the national level since the beginning of the new century, and analyzing how high-quality and balanced elementary education enters the policy agenda from the perspective of the Multiple Streams Theory, it is found that key indicators and focal events constitute the problem stream, providing a rational basis for policy suggestions; research results of experts and scholars, and explorations and practices at all levels of government constitute the policy stream, providing feasibility for the policy "broth"; national sentiment and governing philosophy constitute the political stream, promoting the sustainable development of the policy agenda. The concern of the new round of technological revolution for the quality of talent cultivation in elementary education has accelerated the interweaving of the three streams, opening the "policy window" for the high-quality and balanced development of elementary education in China, and the policy agenda for high-quality and balanced elementary education has been established.

The Outline of the National Medium - and Long Term Education Reform and Development Plan of China (2010-2020) points out that "balanced development is a strategic task of compulsory education". Under the overall framework of high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education in Sichuan Province, China, English teachers should take "subject ability as the foundation, information technology ability as the support, and educational sentiment as the essence", gradually forming an ability improvement path of trinity: "personal development, interscholastic cooperation, and policy response". By participating in mechanisms such as group education, remote education collaboration, and cross regional teaching and research, we aim to transform from a "teacher with single skill" to a "teacher as the role model with composite talents", ultimately serving the high-quality and balanced goal of "running every school well and teaching every student well" in Sichuan Province, China.

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The allocation of high-quality teachers significantly impacts educational equity and quality. Current strategies for achieving balanced teacher distribution primarily adopt two approaches: (1) structural optimization through reallocation of existing teachers, and (2) incremental expansion via investments to diversify teacher roles and instructional services. This study examines an innovative government-led teacher distribution model implemented in Beijing Middle School teachers’ Open Tutoring Program. In this program, high-quality teachers are reallocated to meet students’ personalized tutoring needs through online tutoring modes such as “one-to-one tutoring” via the internet. Longitudinal analysis shows that sustained participation in the program correlates with improved student academic performance and enhances teachers’ professional development. Compared to conventional methods, the Open Tutoring Program offers a more efficient and flexible mechanism for deploying expert instructors. However, challenges remain in achieving precise student–tutor matching. Furthermore, from an educational ecology perspective, the program exerts complex multilevel influences across micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystem levels. These findings provide valuable insights for scaling similar educational innovations and can serve as references for optimizing teacher distribution models in various educational contexts.

Talent revitalization is the basis of rural revitalization, so talent revitalization must pay attention to the compulsory education in rural areas. Compulsory education, as an important part of the national education program, promoting the balanced development of compulsory education is conducive to improving the quality of the population and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas. However, due to its location in remote mountainous areas, weak economic foundation and lack of high-quality education resources, there are obvious differences in educational investment, teaching staff and teaching quality in the balanced process of compulsory education in Liangshan Yi area and urban schools. Therefore, in order to improve the balanced development of compulsory education in Liangshan Yi area, it is necessary to start from the following aspects: first, to speed up the construction of regulations and improve the investment mechanism of educational funds; second, to optimize the teaching structure of teachers and smooth the learning and communication channels of teachers; and third, to strengthen the top-level design and promote the sharing of excellent educational resources.

The development of balanced, high-quality compulsory education is a national strategy of China. County-level education serves as the building block of its basic education. The nation’s realization of equitable compulsory education largely depends on its endeavors at the county level. The Chinese government has issued a series of educational policies to support developing balanced compulsory education in counties. This article focuses on studying governmental policies on this issue and examining them in detail according to their distinct purposes.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse the role that quantity and quality of education may play in the design of public policies. In our model, educated people enjoy a premium on their incomes, and education generates a positive externality for the society. Households live in two areas with different socio-economic characteristics. Altruistic parents choose both the amount and the quality of schooling they want for their children, ignoring the external effect. The latter is, instead, taken into account by the government, which is assumed to provide a composite education service that has a quantity as well as a quality dimension, and is financed mainly via taxes on the income of the parents. We investigate the effects on welfare of balanced-budget policy reforms aimed at introducing or raising i) school fees, and ii) vouchers meant to compensate the costs of attending high-quality schools. We show that, if the external effects are not considered, school fees improve private parental welfare while vouchers do not. Parental altruism is not enough to support high levels of quantity and quality of education. The consideration of social welfare, i.e. inclusive of the impact of the externality, somewhat mitigates the above results, by favouring lower (albeit positive) fees and allowing vouchers to increase social welfare under some circumstances.

Abstract As a new model integrating general and vocational education, comprehensive high schools represent a key pathway for addressing the developmental challenges faced by county-level secondary vocational schools and advancing the integration of academic and vocational education. This paper analyzes the definition and connotation of comprehensive high schools and examines the practical issues confronting county-level vocational schools in terms of resources, social recognition, and curriculum design. It argues for the significance of academic-vocational integration in promoting educational equity, talent cultivation, and social development, and proposes an implementation framework centered on comprehensive high schools. The study finds that through mechanisms such as curriculum integration, student record interoperability, and faculty sharing, comprehensive high schools can effectively break down barriers between academic and vocational tracks, promote balanced regional educational development, and provide high-quality talent support for building a skills-based society.  

Huge differences in education levels can lead to a Matthew Effect on regional economic growth, so China has introduced many policies to promote the balanced development of education levels in various regions. A large number of researchers have investigated and researched the education level of each province from various aspects, However, there is still a research gap in the study of the enrollment ratio of first tier universities as an indicator of the education level. Therefore, this paper investigates the influencing factors on the rate of one college entrance examination in 2020 by collecting data on the enrollment ratio of first tier universities in each province, education expenditure, GDP per capital, disposable income per capital, public library collection per capital, student-teacher ratio of general high schools, and urban/rural population ratio, and carrying out correlation analyses on the data. It was found that all the research variables, except education expenditure, had a highly significant effect on the enrollment ratio of first tier universities when they were used as a single variable. And when multiple linear regressions were conducted, education expenditure had a significant negative effect on the enrollment ratio of first tier universities.It is recommended that while allocating regional education spending rationally, we should actively deploy economic and urban-rural development policies to boost peoples disposable income, strengthen teachers in each region, and promote the balance of education resources in each region.

In the meeting of the Twentieth National Congress, the Party Central Committee fully affirmed the achievements of education in China, and put forward new questions and requirements on what kind of education strategy should be implemented and what kind of modernized talents should be cultivated and stocked at the node of time when China enters a new era and is located in the great change that has not been seen for a hundred years in the world. The article takes the practice ecology of primary and secondary school teachers' rotation as the basis for entry, combines the hot issues of the existing system, the definition and application of the law, and the contingent requirements under the policy, and tries to discuss how to ensure the development of high-quality education, and how to provide the support of a balanced and stable nurturing system to analyze the effect of the policy under the background of the policy of "double-decrease". It provides a hierarchical and diversified coordination mechanism for conflicts and enriches the study of the policy effect of using the rotation system of primary and secondary school teachers to ensure the steady improvement of teaching quality under the background of the "double-reducing" policy, and promotes the fair development of education in China.

The Smart Education of China, a large education data platform for the aggregation and application of high-quality educational resources, is vital for China to stimulate the balanced development of education and to reduce students’ learning burden. This study focuses on the long-term mechanism of the Smart Education of China, adopting TOE framework and qualitative comparative analysis research method to investigate the technological conditions, environmental conditions, organizational conditions and content conditions of the Smart Education of China before summarizing four usage paths of the Smart Education of China. With regard for the existing issues, the study concludes that for the sake of a long-term mechanism the Smart Education of China needs to solve four problems, including unfinished construction, content-insufficient platform, popular but ineffective application, and substandard quality.

Group-based school running in basic education is an important strategy for promoting the high-quality and balanced development of education and advancing the construction of an educationally powerful country. Taking Hainan Province as an example, this paper systematically analyzes the practical dilemmas encountered in the practice of group-based school running, including imbalanced powers and responsibilities in resource coordination, lack of collaborative mechanisms coupled with insufficient endogenous motivation, and the dual absence of evaluation and incentive mechanisms. In response to these dilemmas, the paper proposes countermeasures such as strengthening resource coordination to achieve precise matching of powers and responsibilities, enhancing cultural synergy to stimulate endogenous motivation, and establishing scientific evaluation and incentive mechanisms. This study aims to provide theoretical references and practical insights for deepening the reform of group-based school running and promoting its transformation from "emphasizing establishment" to connotative development focusing on "practical effectiveness". It is expected that by building a collaborative and innovative "education community", the fundamental goal of empowering every school, every teacher, and every student will ultimately be achieved.

: The Educational equity is an important cornerstone of social equity. Based on the per capita education expenditure of rural ordinary junior high school and primary school students in 31 provinces, municipalities and districts in China from 2000 to 2021, this paper uses Dagum Gini coefficient method to calculate the per capita education expenditure of students in China. The study found that the Gini coefficient of per capita education expenditure for junior high school students in China showed an "S" fluctuating downward trend in the range of 0.245-0.324 over the years, and the per capita education expenditure of rural junior high school students was relatively fair on the whole. The Gini coefficient of per capita education expenditure for primary school students fluctuated between 0.223 and 0.315 over the years, and the education expenditure was relatively fair on the whole. Based on this, policy suggestions are put forward: further improve the reform of the public finance system, increase the guarantee of compulsory education funds in rural areas, and realize the high-quality development of rural compulsory education and rural revitalization at the same frequency and in the same direction; Promote the balanced development of compulsory education when optimizing the allocation of educational funds and resources; Pay attention to the balanced allocation of education funds in the region.

The implementation of the nutrition improvement plan for rural compulsory education students is an important policy measure for the state to promote educational equity and improve the nutritional status of students in poor areas. The audit of special funds for nutrition improvement program can test the implementation effect of the policy, and standardize the allocation, management and use of funds in education finance and other departments.Y Audit Bureau is the government agency in charge of auditing of Y Municipal People's Government. In September 2023, Y Audit Bureau led the audit of special funds for the nutrition improvement Plan for rural compulsory education students, focusing on policy implementation, fund distribution and use, food safety, etc., promoting the implementation of the nutrition improvement plan policy through audit supervision, and safeguarding the vital interests of rural compulsory education students. Taking Y Audit Bureau as an example, this paper summarizes and refines the key points of the audit work of the nutrition improvement plan, in order to provide reference for relevant auditors and management departments.

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The enrollment policy for compulsory education concerns the right of school-age children and adolescents to receive equal education, as well as the realization of educational equity. Based on the analytical framework of historical institutionalism, this paper examines the evolutionary logic of the enrollment policy for compulsory education. Since the founding of New China, China's enrollment policy for compulsory education has undergone four periods: efficiency priority, balancing efficiency and fairness, emphasizing fairness, and implementing fairness, reflecting a shift in policy value orientation from efficiency to fairness. Economic system reform, uneven regional development, and the concept of educational equity are the underlying structural factors influencing policy changes. Rational choices made by actors such as the government, schools, and parents have led to path dependence in policy changes. Reform and opening up, initial education reform, and comprehensive reform in the field of education have become three critical junctures in promoting policy changes. We should always adhere to educational equity as the policy value goal, seek to break through path dependence at critical junctures, and focus on the coordination of multiple subjects in the gradual development of policies, in order to better achieve educational equity.

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The root cause of the recent surge in school choice in Chinas compulsory education stage is the imbalance of educational resources. School choice is an objective expression of peoples demand for better schools and education for their children after the popularization of compulsory education. However, due to the limited educational resources in China, various methods have been adopted to achieve the goal. This paper explores the issue of educational equity from the perspective of school choice in compulsory education by starting from the surge in school choice and its current situation, using qualitative research to analyse the relationship between the advantages and disadvantages of school choice and educational equity, and finally exploring solutions to the problem of the surge in school choice, so as to provide some ideas for the development of educational equity. Conclusions can be drawn that, to solve the problem of school choice, it is necessary for multiple parties to work together in order to address both the symptoms and the root causes.

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This paper uses the China Family Panel Studies’ micro-level data and the ordered logit model to study intergenerational transmission of education and examines whether the nine-year compulsory schooling system affects equity in education. The results show that when parents have higher educational attainments, their children will have higher educational attainments. Full-sample results show that when the mother has higher education, the probability that her children have higher education increases by 7.97%, whereas for the sub-sample after the compulsory schooling policy carried out, the probability increases by 22.42%. We find that the compulsory schooling system strengthens intergenerational transmission of education in the level of higher education. An implication is that the compulsory schooling system may promote equity in compulsory education but does not promote equity in higher education.

Educational equity in rural areas has gained growing global attention, yet challenges such as uneven teacher distribution and structural disparities remain significant. This paper compares China’s Teacher Rotation System with Finland’s Non-differentiated Funding Mechanism to examine how differing governance models and socio-cultural contexts shape rural education strategies. China’s centralized approach allows for rapid implementation and targeted redistribution, addressing short-term gaps. In contrast, Finland’s decentralized model--emphasizing teacher trust, strong preparation, and equal funding--supports long-term equity and system resilience. China’s rural education reform could benefit from enhanced teacher professionalization, improved incentives, and equity-based funding frameworks. Drawing on both models, context-sensitive reforms can help build a more inclusive, sustainable, and high-quality rural education system aligned with 21st-century demands.

: Choosing a school, that is, choosing a school, means that parents give up the preferential policy of school-age children in compulsory education to go to school nearby free of charge in the region and voluntarily go to other schools. However, with the imbalance of China's economic development, the differences in education quality and educational resources among regions and universities in China have gradually emerged. Parents don't simply want to "learn", but want to "learn", so choosing a school has become a trend, and it is getting worse. Therefore, how to promote educational equity step by step is a very important issue.

: Educational equity is an essential foundation for social equity. The teacher exchange rotation policy is an essential strategy for promoting the balanced development of compulsory education, and it is a necessary way to revitalize education. The policy enables children in weak and rural schools to access quality educational resources. After implementing the teacher exchange rotation policy, teachers mobilized reasonably from school to school. They exchanged and cooperated with their peer teachers in the rotation schools, but the rotation was ineffective. The current teacher exchange rotation system faces many dilemmas that have yet to be resolved. Therefore, to achieve the balanced development of compulsory teaching services and promote the construction of the teaching force, it is necessary to implement effective solution strategies to realize the value and significance of teacher exchange and rotation.

Educational equity means that the subject of education is fair to every object of education and fair to educational evaluation in educational activities, regardless of their gender, race, birth background, life circumstances, family conditions, beauty and ugliness, etc., they can have the same opportunity to receive education and enjoy the right to receive education as others, and can reach a general social standard with their education and own efforts. As the capital of China, the development of primary and secondary education in Beijing has always attracted much attention. However, due to the imbalance of financial input and educational resources, there are some problems in the fairness of primary and secondary education in Beijing. Therefore, from the perspective of finance, it is of great significance to deeply study the educational equity of primary and secondary schools in Beijing.

Using data from the Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang (B-S-J-Z) region of the 2018 PISA database, this research examines the role of teacher enthusiasm (TE) in explaining the academic achievement gap between urban and rural students. The results indicate that the TE levels in rural schools are significantly lower than those in urban schools; and education production function estimations show that, on average, higher TE is still positively associated with better achievement among rural students. Quantile regression analyses further reveal that the beneficial impact of TE on achievement is strongest among high-achieving students and gradually weakens toward the lower end of the achievement distribution. Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition results indicate that differences in TE levels (endowment effects) explain a substantial portion of the overall urban–rural achievement gap. Decomposition across achievement percentiles reveals that the urban–rural gap attributable to TE level differences is most pronounced in the middle and upper percentiles but disappears in the lowest two deciles. In contrast, the portion of the achievement gap explained by differences in TE return (coefficient effects) consistently narrows as achievement scores increase.

: With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the education gap between urban and rural areas has gradually become apparent and has become a focus of social concern. This study aims to deeply explore the formation mechanisms and evolution of the urban-rural education gap in China, analyze its socioeconomic background and influencing factors, and propose effective policy measures to mitigate this issue. By systematically analyzing how urbanization processes, uneven economic development, and the household registration system affect the allocation of educational resources and educational opportunities, this paper reveals the social roots and economic motives behind the education gap. The study finds that the main factors contributing to the current education gap are the unequal distribution of resources, the limitations in teacher quality and mobility, and social and cultural differences. In the policy recommendations section, the research emphasizes the importance of increasing educational financial investment, improving teacher training and incentive mechanisms, and utilizing information technology to narrow the urban-rural education gap. This study aims to provide scientific evidence for policymakers and promote educational equity.

: The urban-rural education gap remains a critical issue in China's basic education reform. Unequal resource distribution, disparities in teacher quality, and insufficient educational infrastructure in rural areas severely affect students' development opportunities and educational equity. This paper analyzes the impact of the urban-rural education gap on China's basic education system through data analysis and international comparisons and offers policy recommendations for improvement.

The rapid economic and technological development in China induced by the "Reform and Opening Up" has posed significant challenges to education, highlighting the inequalities between urban and rural areas. This article delves into the significant educational inequalities between urban and rural areas in China, arising from disparities in facilities, teacher resources, and e-learning opportunities. The rural areas face significant educational challenges from the inequalities presented, as they cannot retain educational resources with high quality. Following, the article discusses the impact and poses improving suggestions for the education inequality problem from the students' aspect and society aspect. Then, it is shown that inequality causes mental health problems, poor learning performance, and hinders social-economic progress. The article suggests policy reforms and targeted programs to improve rural education, focusing on equitable resource distribution, teacher training, and mental health care. Bridging this gap is crucial for constructing a more equitable and inclusive educational landscape in China.

Introduction China’s rapid urbanization has exacerbated challenges in rural education, including resource disparities, shrinking student populations, and teacher shortages. Rural Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers face acute professional development barriers, directly impacting their well-being and students’ physical health. Methods This ethnographic study combines ecological and bioecological lenses to analyze rural HPE teachers’ professional development. Through three-stage sampling, 35 northeastern Chinese HPE teachers participated in semi-structured interviews and fieldwork. Data were thematically analyzed using an ecological-intersectional (E-I) framework across micro (individual), meso (interpersonal), exo (organizational), and macro (sociocultural) levels. Results Findings demonstrate ecological interdependencies: Urbanization policies and unequal resource distribution created structural barriers, while school sports culture and support networks mediated outcomes. Teachers’ professional autonomy and rural commitment emerged as key adaptive factors. Conclusion Multilevel interventions are proposed: macro policies (differentiated standards/resource compensation), organizational support (school leadership/home-school collaboration), and individual empowerment (autonomy/innovation training). This study advances the application of intersectional ecological theory in rural education contexts and offers actionable insights for equitable teacher policy development. It advances theoretical understanding of marginalized HPE teachers’ development while offering actionable policy insights with global relevance for underserved educational contexts.

The foundational role of education in propelling societal progress is twofold: it furnishes individuals with essential knowledge and competencies, while also significantly influencing social mobility patterns. Specifically, within the Chinese context, enduring differences between urban and rural areas have contributed to a segmented society, and uneven distribution of educational opportunities has further hindered the fluidity of upward social movement. This study investigates the influence of disparities in educational resources between urban and rural areas on social mobility within China. It analyses the excessive urban-rural resource gap and opportunity gap leading to the solidification of social classes. The study highlights how inequalities in education funding, teacher quality, and infrastructure impede rural students' development opportunities and lead to deep-rooted social stratification. Despite the Government’s efforts to address the disparities, challenges remain, and further reforms are needed to ensure equitable quality education and promote upward mobility of the rural population. They are further optimizing the distribution of educational resources, ensuring that rural areas enjoy the same educational opportunities as urban areas, and improving the remuneration of teachers, to attract more high-quality personnel to rural education. It is only through sustained efforts that the imbalance between urban and rural educational resources can be fundamentally alleviated, the solidification of social classes broken down, and the upward mobility of the rural population promoted, thus laying the foundation for the long-term development of society.

Abstract: The urban-rural education gap in China remains a significant social challenge despite substantial government reforms and investments in education. This paper explores the disparities in educational resources, opportunities, and outcomes for urban and rural youth, emphasizing the historical, economic, cultural, and institutional factors that contribute to this inequality. Through a theoretical analysis, this paper assess the distribution of educational resources, focusing on teacher quality, teaching facilities, and government investment. Additionally, we investigate the impact of the household registration system, uneven economic development, cultural differences, and social mobility on educational equity. The findings of this study highlight the critical barriers faced by rural students, including limited access to resources and substandard educational conditions. This study propose comprehensive reforms to address these disparities, emphasizing the need for targeted support mechanisms and the use of technology to enhance access to quality education. Future research should adopt mixed-method approaches to gain deeper insights into the complexities of the urban-rural education gap.

The Chinese governments promotion of the integration of urban and rural education is an important measure to solve the problem of urban-rural education imbalance in China. However, there are still some imbalanced issues. Therefore, this article first describes and analyzes the existing imbalances in the construction of educational integration through literature analysis, and then proposes suggestions to address these issues. According to research, there are issues in combining urban and rural education include the loss of students, uneven distribution of educational resources and funds, and gaps in teaching staff. In response to these issues, rural areas need to achieve local urbanization. The government should adhere to the principle of rural priority, evenly allocate education resources and increase investment in education funds. Additionally, government should innovate and improve the rural teacher team. The imbalance in education between urban and rural areas in China can only be resolved in this way, which will also help China better promote the integration of urban and rural education.

This paper examines teacher supply in China as part of a broader international study on teacher supply and retention. The key challenge in managing teacher supply in China is not a national “shortage” of teachers, but disparities in teacher distribution and quality. Rural areas struggle to attract and retain qualified teachers. This paper examines geographical disparities in teacher supply and the role of politics, culture and funding structures. Political and demographic factors, including universal education reforms and the one-child policy have influenced pupil and teacher numbers. As long as schools are able to meet the mandated class size requirements, large class sizes are not regarded as a shortage. How schools are funded can contribute to regional and provincial disparities in class sizes. At the primary and middle school, class sizes do not differ very much between rural and urban areas as schools are funded by local and central governments. Secondary schools in less developed provinces, on the other hand, experience larger class sizes, as they rely solely on local government funding. Despite some dissatisfaction with teachers’ pay, teaching remains a sought-after profession.  This can be attributed to the influence of Confucian values which emphasise respect for teachers and the importance of knowledge. The culture of respect for teachers and emphasis on discipline may also explain why large classes are tolerated. This case study highlights the importance of prestige and status of teaching in addressing teacher shortages. It also reminds us that the concept of “teacher shortages” is open to interpretation.

Abstract: As a key policy to promote the balanced distribution of educational resources and realise educational equity, the teacher rotation system aims to alleviate the disparity in the level of teachers between urban and rural areas and among schools through the rational allocation of teacher resources. With the perspective of better achieving educational equity, this paper systematically comprehends the implementation status and experience of the teacher rotation system at home and abroad through literature reading and analysis. It is found that although the teacher rotation system plays a significant role in promoting educational equity, there are still challenges in the implementation process, such as teachers' adaptation difficulties, schools' conflict of interest, and imperfect supporting measures. In response to these problems, this paper proposes optimisation paths, including providing policy support to help teachers adapt to the new environment, strengthening publicity to enhance public acceptance, and improving monitoring mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of policy implementation. The conclusion stresses that the effective implementation of the teacher rotation system requires the joint efforts of the government, schools, teachers and all sectors of the society, so as to promote the balanced development of education and achieve educational equity through the continuous optimisation of the system design and supporting measures.

This paper analyzes the current situation and deficiencies of sexual physiology and health education resources in rural primary schools in China. Due to traditional cultural concepts, uneven distribution of educational resources, and shortage of teaching staff, rural primary school students face many challenges in sexual physiology and health education. The article points out that the taboo concept of the Confucian culture towards sexual topics makes it difficult to carry out sex education in families and schools, and the shortage of teachers and insufficient teacher training further aggravate this problem. To improve the current situation, the article suggests strengthening teacher training, improving educational policies, and promoting the balanced development of educational resources between urban and rural areas, in order to enhance the health literacy and quality of life of rural students.

Amid changes in the size and structure of the school-age population, PE teacher allocation in basic education shows three supply–demand mismatches: quantity mismatch (localized shortages and redundancies driven by grade-level fluctuations), structural mismatch (rising demand for composite competencies but misaligned specialization and skills), and spatial mismatch (uneven distribution across regions, urban–rural areas, and schools). Using a linked “population–school–position” framework, the paper identifies three corresponding causes: quantity mismatch results from lagged demand forecasting and recruitment planning combined with long training cycles; structural mismatch arises from misalignment between preparation standards and competency-based job requirements and insufficient in-service upskilling; spatial mismatch is driven by weak county-level pooling, limited mobility incentives, and high redeployment costs. Accordingly, three adjustment strategies are proposed: a cohort-based rolling forecasting and early-warning system linked to establishment and hiring decisions; competency-oriented redesign of pre-service preparation and in-service training to strengthen cross-grade and multi-sport capacities; and county-level pooling with incentive-based mobility, supported by remuneration and career-development policies to improve attraction and retention in disadvantaged areas. The study offers actionable pathways to enhance anticipatory planning, precision, and equity in PE teacher allocation.

This study focuses on the implementation strategies for expanding high-quality education and enhancing educational quality in basic education, regarding it as a core path for building a powerful education nation. By analyzing policy support, popularization levels, and regional effectiveness, this study summarizes the achievements attained. Meanwhile, it points out challenges such as uneven allocation of educational resources, urban-rural gaps, difficulties in digital transformation, unfair distribution of high-quality resources, and predicaments in teacher team development. Furthermore, it proposes strategies including optimizing resource allocation, promoting urban-rural integration, advancing digitalization, balancing high-quality resources, and building a high-quality teacher team. These strategies aim to facilitate the dual improvement of educational equity and quality, thereby laying a foundation for the strategy of building a powerful education nation.

In order to achieve fairness in education and promote balanced distribution of educational resources, China has implemented the "county managed school recruitment" policy. As a new measure of the current reform of the teacher personnel system in compulsory education in China, the "county managed school recruitment" policy aims to achieve coordinated management and balanced allocation of urban and rural compulsory education teacher resources within the county. After two batches of reform trials and practical tests in 49 districts in 2015 and 2017, the policy reform of "county management, school recruitment" has achieved certain results. With the continuous promotion of the policy reform of "county management, school recruitment", the problem of unsatisfactory implementation results has gradually emerged. Among them, the transfer of teachers is considered a key link in this policy, as it directly affects the optimization and combination of teacher teams at the county level, and further relates to the work progress of each teacher. Although the policy of "county management and school recruitment" has improved the previous teacher management mode through legal framework and expanded the path of teacher mobility. However, there are still many obstacles to the equal development of compulsory education in China's basic education system. Therefore, this article systematically sorts out the problems in policy implementation by consulting relevant materials, and proposes improvement strategies for the existing problems, providing theoretical reference for improving the teacher mobility guarantee system and helping the "county managed school recruitment" policy achieve greater practical results.

China's educational inequality has long been a concern. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current situation of educational inequality in China and analyze its main manifestations. First of all, the education gap between urban and rural areas, regions and families is significant, with cities enjoying abundant resources and rural areas lacking quality teachers. Secondly, the uneven distribution of educational resources between regions leads to a development gap. Family finances also have a direct impact on students' access to quality education. Although the establishment of branch schools, teacher rotation and government subsidies can alleviate these problems to a certain extent, the existing research has a narrow scope of education inequality and has not deeply explored the multi-factor influencing mechanism. In the future, more data will need to be obtained, and further research will need to be conducted using more effective and diverse methods in an effort to achieve the ultimate goal of educational equity.

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The balanced development of county-level compulsory education is of vital significance for realizing quality and equity in education in China. This article expounded on the accomplishments China made in developing equitable compulsory education at the county level in terms of educational input, staffing, and educational quality. It also displayed the challenges and complications the country faces in this area, using facts and data from a number of counties as evidence.

This study focuses on the measurement of mathematical ability in the Chinese Compulsory Education Qualification Monitoring (CCEQM) framework using bifactor theory. First, we propose a full-information item bifactor (FIBF) model for the measurement of mathematical ability. Second, the performance of the FIBF model is empirically studied using a data set from three representative provinces were selected from CCEQM 2015–2017. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to demonstrate the accuracy of the model evaluation indices and parameter estimation methods used in the empirical study. The obtained results are as follows: (1) The results for the four used model selection indices (AIC, SABIC, HQ, BIC) consistently showed that the fit of the FIBF model is better than that of the UIRT; (2) All of the estimated general and domain-specific abilities of the FIBF model have reasonable interpretations; (3) The model evaluation indices and parameter estimation methods exhibit excellent accuracy, indicating that the application of the FIBF model is technically feasible in large-scale testing projects.

Abstract This paper examines whether education can play a role in mitigating gender inequality in the process of sectoral reallocation of labour. We exploit the exogenous variations in educational attainment induced by the implementation of the 1986 Compulsory Education Law (CEL) in China. Using data from the 2018 wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and a cohort difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we find that the CEL narrowed the gender gap in education for rural residents, but it did not reduce gender inequality in labour market outcomes, such as wage labour participation and wage rate. Our analysis reveals that this persistent inequality in labour market outcomes can be attributed to gender differences in migration and occupational choices. Specifically, rural males exposed to the CEL were more likely to migrate outside local provinces and work in low-skilled manufacturing sectors, while rural females tended to stay within local counties and work in low-skilled service sectors. Furthermore, we provide evidence that their differential migration responses are driven by household labour divisions and social gender norms, rather than disparities in cognitive skills.

This paper investigates the influence of expanding free compulsory education on regional entrepreneurial activities, exploring both theoretical and empirical aspects. Our research comprises two main parts. Initially, we employ a novel economic geography model to theoretically assess the effect of extending free compulsory education on regional entrepreneurial endeavors, proposing four hypotheses for further examination. Subsequently, we empirically test these hypotheses using balanced panel data collected from 2528 districts and counties in China spanning from 2000 to 2021. The findings indicate that the expansion of free compulsory education indeed stimulates regional entrepreneurial activity. However, this policy’s impact is influenced by the local industrial structure and the knowledge level of residents. Notably, the effect becomes visible only after the third year of the policy’s enactment, and it demonstrates a certain spatial spillover. Our conclusions remain consistent even after accounting for various endogenous factors. Our research has the potential to offer invaluable countermeasures for other developing countries, enabling them to advance sustainable development by enhancing their obligations.

Rural compulsory education systems often operate under persistent resource constraints that intensify students exposure to academic setbacks and socio-emotional strain. This study analyzes a multimodal, four-term longitudinal dataset collected from 27 rural middle schools in western China (N=4,362), combining classroom observations, teacherstudent interaction logs, and fortnightly wellbeing surveys to uncover latent patterns of socio-emotional support and estimate their effects on learning resilience. Unsupervised sequence clustering and temporal network motif analysis recover three dominant trajectories, consistenthigh, fluctuating, and latentlow. A multilevel growth model with random intercepts and slopes, complemented by a gradient-boosted decision tree ensemble, explains a substantial share of variance in resilience growth and achievement rebounds. Consistenthigh scaffolding is associated with a 0.42 improvement in resilience after baseline adjustment, while latentlow support shows cumulative risk effects. Out-of-sample validation confirms stable predictive performance (median RMSE=0.37; cross-validated R=0.44), and robustness checks across alternative operationalizations (buoyancy scale vs. grade recovery slope) and sample restrictions support generalizability. The findings provide actionable levers for teacher professional development focused on maintaining support consistency and furnish a data-informed blueprint for monitoring socio-emotional climates in resource-limited schools.

We use the county-by-county rollout of the program and employ the difference-in-difference (DID) methodology to identify the effects of the implementation of the nutrition improvement program for rural compulsory education students on adolescent health. The results show that the nutrition improvement program reduces the frequency and probability of illness and improves the students' health status. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the children in western regions and children left behind have a greater marginal improvement. It finds that the nutrition improvement program for rural compulsory education students improves adolescent health through diversifying nutrition intake to alleviate malnutrition and developmental delay in impoverished areas. The program can promote adolescent health in impoverished areas, which has a role in improving regional health disparities and alleviating the intergenerational entrenchment of poverty.

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Educational policy evaluation is a factual and valuable judgment of the educational policy process and its effects, and educational policy evaluation criteria determine the direction and effects of educational policy evaluation. At present, there is a lack of research results on the evaluation of education policies based on OECD/DAC evaluation criteria in China, and the construction of theories on the evaluation of education policies is still weak. Most scholars are limited to analyzing basic education data released by the OECD or focusing on basic theoretical research on education policy evaluation. This study adopts qualitative research and collects data through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, consults experts in relevant educational institutions and other fields many times, takes into account China’s regional differences and the reality of educational development, and adopts the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria that are widely recognized in the international arena, in combination with the “Measures for Supervisory and Evaluation of Quality and Balanced Development of Compulsory Education in County Areas” of the Ministry of Education of China, and constructs a scientifically reasonable evaluation criteria system of the policy of balanced development of compulsory education in counties in China. The results show that five groups of people, including government officials, school teachers, students’ parents, experts, and social stakeholders, have a high degree of acceptance of the evaluation criteria and believe that the four criteria of effectiveness and relevance, coherence, and impact in the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria are the core criteria for evaluating China’s policy of balanced development of compulsory education (referred to as BDCE). The results of this study show that the evaluation criteria system is suitable for evaluating the BDCE policy in China, and provides a useful reference for the evaluation of the BDCE policy in China.

Previous research has linked the activities of the non-profit sector to desired aid outcomes in China, such as improved public-service quality. However, issues related to the role of non-profit organizations (NPOs) in compulsory education aid have received little attention. This study draws on Dennis Young's complementarity theory - one of the most prominent non-profit theories - in examining the necessity and feasibility of NPO aid to Chinese compulsory education. In addition, it undertakes exploratory research in order to test an integrated model. Based on both data collected in surveys and statistical data from 263 Chinese county-level jurisdictions in five provinces, this study concludes that NPO aid can positively influence compulsory education outcomes in mainland China. Its main contribution is to expand our understanding of NPOs and offer insights on how public managers can improve governance.

As China's per capita GDP index continues to rise, the disparity, especially the education gap between urban and rural development continuously widens, which has an adverse effect on the development of rural areas. Education in rural areas has emerged as a significant concern among the local population. The education difference between rural as well as urban regions can be attributed to various variables, with the often overlooked yet challenging-to-address influences of cultural and historical backgrounds playing a significant role. Consequently, by comparing various research data and literature in urban and rural areas of China, this paper analyzes the specific cultural and historical factors which may contribute to the urban-rural education divide and offers solutions. It is discovered that Confucian culture and the history of the Cultural Revolution are the primary causes of the disparity in education between China's urban and rural populations. At the same time, some historical policies of rural migrant workers may also cause the problem of left-behind children and hence have a negative effect on the disparity between rural and urban areas. China's economic policies, government propaganda, setting some boarding schools in cities, and certain poverty alleviation policies play a significant role in narrowing the education disparity between China's urban and rural populations. It also needs more supervision and long-term stability policies to ensure the future development of the education system in rural areas.

Educational equity is a crucial component of social fairness, and the urban-rural education disparity is a persistent socioeconomic issue that has garnered significant attention. This paper will conduct in-depth research and analysis from four aspects: the state, schools, communities, and families. It will explore the promoting role of national policies on educational achievements, analyze the role of teaching staff in students' development, and consider the influence of community environments and family atmospheres on students' growth based on existing literature and data. The research results show that the policy of allocating educational resources is biased towards urban areas, resulting in significant differences between urban and rural areas in terms of capital investment, teacher allocation standards, etc. Urban schools have abundant educational resources, can carry out diverse teaching activities, and provide multiple channels for continuing education. In contrast, rural schools are constrained by scarce resources, have a single curriculum, and find it difficult to promote quality education. At the same time, some rural families are limited by their economic conditions and educational concepts and provide relatively limited educational support for their children, further exacerbating the imbalance in urban and rural education development.

In recent years, society attaches more importance to rural education, exposing more rural education defects to people's vision, and the disequilibrium of development between countryside and city has become a hot topic. This paper takes Hunan Province as an example to study this unbalanced development. It starts with comparing the status in quo of citys and countrysides development and specifically compares the hardware facilities and teachers. It is learned that rural education lags far behind the city in these two aspects. It can also be seen from these small aspects, that although there are policies to help the countryside, rural education still lags behind the city. Further analysis is made of the four reasons that cause the disparity of their education level, namely, economy, cognitive level, registered permanent residence and faculty: the government invests less money in rural education, parents and students in rural areas have lower cognitive level and less information is obtained, registered permanent residence hurts rural students, and rural faculty is weak; Given these reasons for the backwardness of education in countryside, specific suggestions are given, hoping to provide some reference and value for the balance of urban and rural education.

The Chinese government has implemented several education reform policies in recent years, including the 'Double-Reduction' policy. This policy aims to reduce the academic burden on students and the excessive competition from out-of-school training organizations. However, the disparity between urban and rural education in China has been a highly controversial topic, and the implementation of the 'Double-Reduction' policy has brought about different impacts on students in different regions. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of the 'Double-Reduction' policy on different regions and populations, and explores the current challenges of China's education reform from four perspectives: academic pressures, educational resources, educational quality, and students' opportunities for future development. Achieving equity in education through the 'Double-Reduction' policy requires comprehensive consideration of the urban-rural education gap, and increased investment in and support for rural education resources while reducing the schoolwork burden on students. The implementation of the policy and the fulfilment of educational equity are ensured under a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

The educational system in China is characterized by a significant disparity in resources between urban and rural areas. This disparity is influenced by factors such as funding, infrastructure, teacher quality, and curriculum. As a result, students in rural areas face limited access to quality education, which negatively impacts their academic performance and can have psychological effects. Efforts to reduce this disparity include government initiatives, partnerships with NGOs and private organizations, mobile learning, and teacher training programs. However, challenges such as limited funding, cultural barriers, and geographical challenges hinder progress. It is crucial for stakeholders and policymakers to prioritize ongoing efforts to address this disparity, emphasizing community involvement, tailored interventions, collaboration, and continuous monitoring. By promoting social justice and equality in education, we can empower students and contribute to national development and socio-economic mobility.

English is the most widely used language in the world. With the development of globalization, China is paying more and more attention to English education. Nonetheless, there are some obstacles to the advancement of rural English education given the disparity between urban and rural education. This paper analyses the current state of English education in China from the standpoint of the disparities between urban and rural areas and discusses the persisting issues. Rural children have additional challenges and obstacles when learning English because of a lack of educational resources, an inadequate linguistic environment and teaching resources, and the negative impacts of familial circumstances. Thus, enhancing the English learning impact for rural students and improving rural English education and teaching circumstances have emerged as critical issues in the current development of rural education. To improve this situation, this paper proposes to narrow the gap between urban and rural English education, including determining rural economic security, providing a foundation for language education, and strengthening teacher training.

This paper uses macro-statistical data such as China Statistical Yearbook and China Education Statistical Yearbook to analyze basic education resources allocation from the perspective of educational investment and outcomes. The outcomes show that the narrowing of the gap between urban and rural students in per capita education investment is largely the result of rural students' self-selection through changing their household registration status, which cannot explain the promotion of fair allocation of educational resources between urban and rural areas. As can be seen from the indicators of educational outcomes, the competitiveness of rural students in obtaining higher-level educational opportunities is far lower than that of students in urban areas. The contradictions between urban and rural education resources allocation are concentrated in the secondary education period. Secondary education resources, especially the urban-rural disparity in the allocation of educational resources in senior high schools, have a significant impact on rural students' continuing education opportunities, and then affect the urban-rural disparity in higher education