Modes and Trajectories of Shadow Education in Denmark and China: Fieldwork Reflections by a Comparativist

Purpose In the domain of shadow education (private supplementary tutoring), Denmark and China may be placed at opposite ends of a spectrum. Denmark has a recently emerged, small, and high-cost sector that mostly serves low achievers, while China has a more industrialized sector with a long history and economies of scale. The paper juxtaposes the two to shed light on each. Design/Approach/Methods The article is a personal narrative of the author's research experiences. She grew up and had initial education in China before moving to the Nordic realm for 2 years. This provided a set of initial lenses, which were subsequently deployed in research partnership from her current base in China with colleagues in Denmark. Findings The juxtaposition raises questions that might otherwise not have been asked and provides insights that might otherwise not have been gained. Danish families hesitate to use shadow education for advantages in the egalitarian society, in contrast to Chinese patterns that stress competition and achievement. These facets have implications for the modes of shadow education and even the names of tutorial companies. Originality/Value The paper has a methodological value in addition to its substantive insights on the trajectories of shadow education in the two countries.

The Rise of Private Tutoring in Denmark: An Entrepreneur's Perspectives and Experiences

Purpose This article sheds light on the emergence of private tutoring in Denmark. Written from the perspective of a tutoring entrepreneur, it discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by a fledgling tutoring company in present-day Danish society. Design/Approach/Methods The article is a personal narrative of the author's experience with establishing the first major Danish tutoring company. Findings The enthusiastic response by parents to the services offered by the author's company shows that there has long existed a hitherto unmet need for private tutoring in Denmark. However, the author also argues that the political turmoil surrounding the 2013 Danish school reform made parents increasingly sceptical that mainstream schools could effectively address the needs of their children. It thereby prepared the ground for launching a private tutoring concept. Originality/Value It is only in the last decade that private tutoring has emerged in Denmark. The article provides a unique insider's perspective on this largely unexplored development.

Inclusive Education in Wales: Interpreting Discourses of Values and Practice Using Critical Policy Analysis

Purpose This paper provides a detailed analysis of inclusive education policies in the context of major system reform in Wales, United Kingdom. Wales is currently undergoing the most significant changes to its education system since political devolution from the U.K. Government in 1999. Key to these changes is the new Curriculum for Wales and the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) regulations; alongside these and wider system-level reforms there is ambition to create an inclusive education system in Wales. This paper explores how inclusion is articulated and communicated within the key policy and guidance documents, using two continuums—“practice” and “values”—to map and interpret these documents. Design/Approach/Methods This paper uses critical policy analysis to make sense of these various inclusive education policy reforms in Wales. Findings The analysis reveals that despite a foregrounded commitment to inclusion there is disparity both within and between the policy and guidance documents. Originality/Value The paper highlights the lack of coherence of key messages articulated through education policy documentation in Wales, providing insight into the emerging national education system reforms, as well as developing an approach for evaluating inclusive education systems in other jurisdictions.

China’s Preschool Education Toward 2035: Views of Key Policy Experts

Purpose: 2020 is the concluding year of the basic preschool education popularization policy in China and marks the beginning of China’s Education Modernization 2035. This study focuses on the top-level design and the prospect of the development plan of China’s preschool education toward 2035. Design/Approach/Methods: The research method adopted is expert interview. We interviewed 11 experts, including policymakers, educational administrators, scholars, and practitioners in the education. Findings: To develop China’s preschool education, we need to integrate macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level contents: focusing on public welfare as the development concept, furthering the reform of the educational system and mechanism, making quality improvement the plan’s key goal, and forming a new preschool education development mode with Chinese characteristics. Originality/Value: This study hopes to clarify the focus to have an impact on China’s preschool education toward 2035. It also aims to provide suggestions about preschool education development for other countries.

Chinese Traditional Culture Education: Implementing the Child’s Position and Perspective in the Elementary School Textbook Morality and Law

Purpose: Failure to clarify the position of children in Chinese culture is a significant issue faced by Chinese traditional culture education (CTCE). Indeed, moral education needs to establish child’s perspective and position in Chinese society and incorporate these into the curricula on the excellent Chinese traditional culture. This study explores how the elementary school textbook, Morality and Law, has approached CTCE. Design/Approach/Methods: First, this article analyzes practical difficulties in CTCE: omission child’s position. Second, this article explores the child's position needed by CTCE based on Rousseau, Montessori and Dewey’s contemporary views on children. At last, this article explores the strategy of how to implement the child’s position in CTCE based on morality and law. Findings: In respect to CTCE, Morality and Law positions children in various ways. In terms of its educational goal, the textbook is intended to improve children’s cultural education and appreciation. While the textbook’s editors mainly select positive content, negative content is also included. Always taking the child into consideration, the textbook incorporates systemized knowledge into children’s own lives, particularly insofar as the teaching strategy uses events or experiences in which children are interested. Originality/Value: Following the reform of China’s curriculum at the start of the 21st century, moral education textbooks were developed on the basis of the child’s position but remained weak in terms of traditional culture education. The approach adopted in Morality and Law and illustrated in this study bridges the gap between children and traditional culture, improves the effectiveness of CTCE, and provides other countries with insight based on China’s experiences in cultural education.

Organizing and Reconstructing Children’s Experiences: Compiling National Civic Textbooks in China

Purpose: The key to successful textbook compilation lies in incorporating children’s experiences and facilitating their growth. This study examines the process of textbook compilation. Design/Approach/Methods: This study criticizes the traditional compiling approach of excessive lecturing and reasoning. It further elaborates the theoretical and institutional background for the traditional approach. Involving retrospective narratives, researchers reflect on how new textbook compilation tends to connect with children’s experience. Findings: Researchers have explored several approaches to organizing and reconstructing children’s experiences in preparing textbooks, including using “an experience” to awaken children’s experiences, using the expression of experience to reconstruct children’s experience, and transforming children’s “experiences” ( jing yan) into lived experiences ( ti yan). Another approach involves facilitating the connection and interaction between children’s experiences and those of others in order to bridge personal experience and sociocultural values. However, this can only be achieved by ensuring that textbooks reflect and are part of children’s lives. The successful incorporation of children’s experiences into textbook compilation lays the foundation for children to identify with textbooks and internalize textbook values. Originality/Value: Bridging the gap between children’s experience and textbooks constitutes the primary theoretical and practical issue in textbook compilation and education.

Shadow Education Policy in Korea During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This study systematically reviews Korea’s shadow education policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for shadow education policy development in the future. Design/Approach/Methods: In terms of approach, this policy review analyzes selected documents using the analytical framework of shadow education policies. Selected documents comprise recently revised decrees, policies, and regulations issued by the Korean Ministry of Education, as well as policy notices issued by the Korea Association of Hagwon. Data are supplemented by triangulation with news media content. Findings: This study identifies tutoring policies at the legal level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government debate regarding shadow education largely centers on the closing of tutoring organizations and ensuring that online tuition fees adhere to government regulation. In respect to the expansion of the government-led shadow education partnership, the government’s increasing role in education has served to restrict the shadow education market. Originality/Value: The Korean government has adjusted its shadow education policies in response to COVID-19, altering its legal and economic status. An examination of Korea’s recent shadow education policies suggests future trends in the revision and development of shadow education in the country.