Western and Chinese development discourses: Education, growth and sustainability

Publication Date

2009

Journal or Book Title

International Journal of Educational Development

Abstract

This article examines Western and Chinese discourses of education, sustainable growth and development. Education is increasingly considered as a means to fuel economic growth, especially since the 1980s, when conservative economic values became predominant in Western development thought. Despite a discourse on sustainability favouring ecologically sound and equitable growth, education is increasingly economy-centred. Through analysis of China’s market-based socialism, its development path, and the expansion of its Africa cooperation, this article seeks to demonstrate that the China-proposed development and education models are very similar to the Western growth-based development paradigm, although the discourse is different.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2008.09.010

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