中国教育私营化的机遇与挑战

Opportunities of and Challenges to Educational Privatization in China

中国各层次的民办学校正在大规模增长。本文正是要设定一种情景，从而更多地理解和引导这种现象。作者首先解释了在拥有广大公立教育系统的国家缘何出现私立学校。基于埃斯特尔．詹姆斯的划分，私立学校是对过度需求、差异需求以及非营利组织大量出现的响应。中国的特点是在公共教育资源短缺的地方存在过渡需求，特别是在中学阶段那些无法就业或是达不到中学教育和高等教育入学标准的学生中，差异需求也明显存在，民办精英学校的出见为学生在现有公立教育体系之外提供了另一种选择。其次，作者讨论了评价私立学校功能和运作的四个目标：自由选择权、效率、公平和社会凝聚力。再次，他提出三个政策性工具以使私立学校达到上述目标，即财政、法规和支持性服务。最后作者考察了中国民办教育中存在的一些问题，特别是公平问题。虽然中国在努力实现这些目标，但是对于民办学校的定位和监管法律依然含糊不清。今后需要澄清和完善这个民办教育的框架。

China is experiencing a large increase in private schools at all levels. The purpose of this article is to set a context for understanding and guiding this phenomenon. In the first part the author set out the explanations for the emergence of private schools in nations that sponsor extensive public educational systems. Drawing on the typology of Estelle James， private school enrollments can be a response to excess demand for school places；a differentiated demand for school places；and a large presence of non—profit organizations providing a subsidized supply. China is characterized by excess demand in regions where there is a shortage of places， particularly at the secondary level， and for students who want second—chance opportunities after being rejected or not meeting the standards for existing enrollment places in secondary and higher education. Differentiated demand is also evident in the emergence of ”elite” private schools as alternatives to existing public schools.
The author discusses four goals for evaluating the functions and performance of private schools：choice， efficiency， equity， and social cohesion. Third， he develop three policy tools for designing the roles or private schools in addressing these goals：finance， regulation， and support services. Finally， he examine some specific issues regarding privatization of education in China， with special attention to equity issues. Although China has begun to address many of these matters， there is still substantial ambiguity on the official status of private schools and the regulations that govern them. Future attention needs to be devoted to clarifying and refining this framework.