Exit and voice: A case study of the effect of the policy of rotating teachers and principals on the decision of parents to engage in school choice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since it emerged in the mid-1980s, the school choice phenomenon in China has been the target of severe criticism from all levels of government and the general public. The current nationwide movement of rotating teachers and principals (RTP) is a new attempt to control and eventually eliminate the practice of school choice. Using data from interviews with two education officials and 42 parents, together with relevant government documents, this study applies Hirschman’s concept of exit and voice to explore how parents express their dissatisfaction (voice) and exercise (or not) their choice behaviour (exit) in reaction to the government’s strategic use of RTP. Findings from this study suggest that RTP and related efforts have had an impact on reshaping parents’ perception of the schools and has greatly reduced the parents’ school choice behaviour, which is more obvious among second- and third-tier schools than among first-tier schools, indicating that parental desire to send their children to these topmost schools remains strong. Some level of school choice can be expected to exist for the foreseeable future, given China’s current exam-driven educational system and the advantages that first-tier schools enjoy, which will maintain and possibly widen the gap between themselves and lower ranked schools.