Understanding and Enacting Education Policy Reform: A Grounded Theory Study of Chinese Educators’ Responses to the Double Reduction Policy
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This study theorizes how Chinese junior high school leaders and teachers understand and enact the Double Reduction Policy (DRP). Using procedural grounded theory, interviews with 24 educators (12 leaders, 12 teachers) from four public junior high schools across Eastern (e.g., Jiangsu) and Southern (e.g., Guangdong) China, the analysis identifies a recursive loop comprising policy understanding, enactment routines, stakeholder impacts, and experiential feedback. This study contributes to policy enactment theory by identifying stakeholder impact as a mediating mechanism that recalibrates educators’ understanding through experiential feedback. The model also specifies a boundary condition: under high-stakes selection, mixed or asymmetric payoffs are likely even when school-level enactment is coherent. Cross-national parallels (Japan, Korea, Singapore) underscore the roles of stakeholder signals and evaluation/selection alignment. Practical implications highlight transparent homework policies, high-quality after-school options, and teacher professional development focused on task design and home–school communication.
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