The ‘Double-Reduction’ Education Policy in China: Three Prevailing Narratives

ABSTRACT

In July 2021 the Chinese Government unexpectedly released what has become known colloquially as the ‘Double-Reduction’ policy. The policy decreed the reduction of homework pressure on students and greater control of private tutorial companies. In this paper, we set out to understand why the Chinese central government launched the ‘Double-Reduction’ policy in mid−2021 by using narratives to analyse the three most circulated explanations for the policy and its timing. We use data from a range of formal and informal policy texts. The three narratives, including one policy narrative dominant in the official discourse and two alternative ones, constructed the causal stories about the policy’s rationale from multiple perspectives. The combination of multiple perspectives and a narrative approach helps reveal the policy event’s complexity and lays a foundation for researchers interested in tracking the development trajectory of this new policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy
• China
• narratives
• education
• double reduction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge the funding support of the Research Grant Council (RGC) of Hong Kong through the General Research Fund (No. 1860552).

Notes on contributors

Haiyan Qian

Haiyan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership and Director of The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at Education University of Hong Kong. Her main area of interest has been around school leadership in China and the influence of the social and cultural context on schooling across Chinese societies.

Allan Walker

Allan is Adjunct Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership and Co-director of The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at Education University of Hong Kong. Allan’s research interests include the impact of culture on educational leadership and school organisation, school leadership in South East Asia, particularly China, leadership development, leading international schools and values and educational leadership.

Shuangye Chen

Shuangye is Professor in Institute of Curriculum and Instruction and Associate Dean of Faculty of Education at East China Normal University. Her research interests include education policy and leadership, knowledge creation in schools and universities, and theorizing new educational phenomena in the Chinese contexts.