Improving Teacher Development in Rural China: A Case of “Rural Teacher Support Plan”

Abstract

Since 2015, both the educational policymakers and practitioners in China passionately have sought to raise the educational quality, especially in Chinese rural schools. Series of significant and instructive reforms were designed to boost educational quality comes from China, where in 2015 the central government enacted an overwhelming educational policy to reform rural teacher development. China’s politics on reforming rural teacher development differ from similar reforms elsewhere in Asia countries due to the strong role of centralized top-down power representatives, various types of policy formation pathways and the final consulted settlement with the national and local teacher committees. This study also emphasizes the discussion on the complicated roles of distributive education politics and policy networks in contemporary Chinese education system.