Toward a Designated Pathway: Disabled Students' Ambivalent Educational Desire in China's National College Entrance Exam

Overview & Synopsis

A recent national policy in 2015 empowered disabled students to take the National College Entrance Exam with disability accommodation in China. The National College Entrance Exam is a standardized test that determines students' eligibility for admission into mainstream higher education institutions. Although this policy advancement was an important step toward inclusive higher education in China, it failed to benefit disabled students from special schools, as they have continued to pursue higher education within the special education system over the years. This study aims to understand the higher education pathways of students with visual and hearing disabilities from special schools in China, as well as how disability education policies shape higher education pathways. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted 24 in-depth interviews with disabled college students, teachers from special schools, and disability rights activists. Results of this study show that disabled students continue to find themselves trapped in a designated education pathway within the special education system. Because of an array of systematic disparities and institutional barriers in the special and mainstream education system, disabled students perceive the transition to the mainstream higher education system as being full of risks and uncertainty. In this process, the segregating and exclusionary practices of the special education system continue to confine the educational and employment opportunities of disabled students, reinforcing their marginality in higher education and the wider society.