An investigation of satisfaction with public schools and policy satisfaction under China’s new policy of “Simultaneous enrollment of public and private schools” on compulsory education: A case study of Yueqing City

Abstract

This paper takes Yueqing City, which is located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province of China, as a case, representing the Yangtze River Delta, to examine the practical problems faced by the third-tier cities along the southeast coast after the implementation of China’s new compulsory education policy of “Simultaneous enrollment of public and private schools”. Based on 234 completed questionnaires and interviews with nine respondents, the results showed that: (1) The most important objective factor affecting people’s choice of schools was “Teacher resources and teaching level”. The urban and rural respondents both showed a positive attitude toward public primary schools. However, rural respondents showed a negative attitude towards public junior high schools, which was obviously different from the urban respondents. And, satisfaction with the new policy in rural areas was also far lower than in urban areas. It is the problem of unbalanced high-quality educational resources in junior high schools that leads to psychological imbalance. This requires the government’s long-term planning and efforts; (2) With respect to the degree of familiarity with policy, both urban and rural respondents showed a certain consistency. The highest proportion of choice was “Slightly familiar”. As for the channels from which to best gain understanding of the new policy, both urban and rural people’s first choice was “Parent exchange groups” and “Ask experienced friends”, but not “Government’s website and service hall”. This paper suggests that the government can utilize platforms such as TikTok and WeChat, and use colloquial language to strengthen the publicity of the new policy.