This book critically examines the discourses and policy responses surrounding China's success in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), offering alternative approaches to engaging with Chinese education through a nuanced understanding of its experiences and intellectual traditions.China’s exceptional PISA performance has ignited a global conversation on 'learning from Chinese education,' yet this discourse often reflects the geopolitics of knowledge and remains entangled in Orientalist frameworks rooted in Western modernity. By drawing on decolonial theory, the book challenges these reductive representations and advocates for a deeper engagement with Chinese intellectual resources. It explores how such engagement can illuminate the complexities of Chinese education while fostering meaningful dialogues between China and other traditions. These dialogues aim to cultivate social-ecological relationality and interdependence through education, offering insights that extend beyond China’s borders.This volume is an essential resource for scholars and students in Chinese education studies, comparative and international education, decolonial studies, and the philosophy and culture of education.
Yun You is an Associate Professor at East China Normal University. Her research explores how Chinese intellectual resources and their dialogues with diverse onto-epistemic traditions may inspire modern education to nurture social and ecological relationality and interdependency for better shared futures.
1. Introduction: Chinese education as a new global model? 2. Representation: Making sense of China’s PISA success 3. Referencing: “What works” based on China’s PISA success 4. Revisiting: Chinese education beyond China’s PISA success 5. Conclusion: A decolonial (un)learning from Chinese education