CfP: ‘Resilience of Chinese children, parents, and educators’ for International Journal of Disability, Development and Education (IJDDE)

1. Title of the Special Issue

Resilience of Chinese children, parents, and educators: A powerful response to “lazy inclusivism”

2. Name of Special Issue Editor and Affiliation

Guanglun Michael Mu (m.mu@qut.edu.au), Queensland University of Technology

3. Introductory Statement

Three decades after the advent of “Learning in Regular Classroom” (LRC), various strategies have emerged to do “inclusion” in China. At the national level, the State Council (2010, 2019) has stressed the importance of inclusive education. At policy level, Ministry of Education (2018, 2019) has consistently included LRC as one of its annual key work objectives. At school level, students with special needs have become increasingly visible in regular classrooms (Mu, Hu, & Wang, 2017). Parallel to these developments is the strident criticism of the structural absence of system support to LRC (Wang et al., 2015). Behind the commitment to, and the criticism of, LRC is the logic of “lazy inclusivism” where seemingly hard-working legislation, regulation, and education paradoxically engage in much tokenistic inclusive practice that barely introduces transformational change.

In response to the paradox of “lazy inclusivism”, the Special Issue aims to produce knowledge about the ordinary and extraordinary wisdom of Chinese children, parents, and educators emerging from the context of inclusive education full of attractions and distractions. When faced with visible adverse conditions and invisible structural constraints, some may play the game of tokenism and become “lazy”; others, however, may strategically refuse to play the game, demonstrating resilience to symbolic violence of “lazy inclusivism”. Questions remain in terms of who become “lazy”, why and how; and who awaken from the epistemic slumber of “laziness”, why and how. To address these enigmatic questions, articles to be included in the Special Issue will collectively explore pathways to resilience that purposefully not perfunctorily transforms inclusive education into an enabling and welcoming pedagogical space for the betterment of children with diverse needs in China.

4. Paper Information

The Special Issue aims to put together seven articles, including an introductory article and a concluding article by the Special Issue Editor, and five empirical articles written by key researchers with expertise in Chinese inclusive/special education. Details regarding the authors and the topics of each empirical article are be confirmed.

5. Concluding Article

Author: Guanglun Michael Mu, Queensland University of Technology

The concluding article will engage in a critical analysis of the issues raised by the five empirical articles, connect these issues to the global debates around the concept and praxis of inclusion, and propose a tentative agenda for research and policy for Chinese inclusive education, which may also be of reference to inclusive education elsewhere.

6. Working Timeline

December 2019: Call for EOIs

January 2020: Editor’s response to EOIs

February 2020: Deadline for submission of proposal that includes a concise title, a 250-word abstract, and six keywords maximum

March 2020: Editor’s response to proposal

September 2020: Deadline for submission of full paper, 7000 words maximum including title, abstract, keywords, main text, footnotes and endnotes, tables and figures, references, acknowledgements, and appendices

October 2020: Completion of internal review by editor

December 2021: Deadline for submission of revised paper with a response to editor’s review

March 2021: Deadline for submission for external blind review

Expected publication date: End of 2021

7. Reference

Ministry of Education, P. R. C. (2018). 教育部2018年工作要点[2018 key work objectives of the Ministry of Education]. Beijing: Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education, P. R. C. (2019). 教育部2019年工作要点[2019 key work objectives of the Ministry of Education]. Beijing: Ministry of Education.

Mu, G. M., Hu, Y., & Wang, Y. (2017). Building resilience of students with disabilities in China: The role of inclusive education teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 125-134. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.004

State Council, P. R. C. (2010). 国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)[State guidelines for medium- and long-term education reform and development plan (2010-2020)]. Beijing: State Council.

State Council, P. R. C. (2019). 中国教育现代化2035[Modernisation of Chinese education 2035]. Beijing: State Council.

Wang, Y., Mu, G. M., Wang, Z., Deng, M., Cheng, L., & Wang, H. (2015). Multidimensional classroom support to inclusive education teachers in Beijing, China. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 62(6), 644-659. doi:10.1080/1034912X.2015.1077937