Exploring the Pathway of the Equitable Development of Education in China--Based on a Comparative Perspective on the Lineage of Educational Equity Development in China and Japan

Abstract

Educational equity is an important manifestation of the country's pursuit and realization of equality in the field of education, and is an important goal of educational development.As the development of the times, the attention to the issue of educational equity has been deepened, equity in the starting point of education and equity in the process and equity in the result have been proposed one after another.At the same time, Japan's educational equity has continued to develop and improve in terms of educational rights, opportunities, and segment performance, which has implications for us to continue to deepen our understanding of educational equity and promote educational equity reform. The report of the 18th National Congress emphasizes the need to "vigorously promote equity in education" and "enable every child to become a useful person." [1]On December 27, 2015, the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of the Party included "education equity" in the Education Law.[2] Xi Jinping who is the General Secretary pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress that "priority should be given to the development of education, the development of quality education, the promotion of educational equity, the cultivation of socialist builders and successors with all-round the development of moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic qualities, and tries to enable each child to enjoy a fair and quality education."[3] In the global perspective, at the UN Summit in September 2000, there were 189 countries signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which states that governments and leaders place a high priority on education equity and "universal primary education, ensuring that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling."[4]This goal that related to educational equity was included in the Millennium Declaration. According to publicly available data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, etc.,Japan is ranked as one of the world's "most equitable" countries in terms of education. According to the World Economic Forum's “Global Social Mobility Index 2020”, its data shows that Japan is the first in Asia and the 15th in the world in terms of "education and employment equity."[5]The model for the development of educational equity in Japan provides inspiration for the continued development of educational equity in China, and is extremely important for China to continue the process of promoting educational equity..