Youth Experience of Educational Transition in China

This book explores the lived experiences of urban young people as they navigate their educational transitions by tackling temporal orientations, futurity, social class, parenting, youth agency and emotional practices. Grounded in empirical data, this book contextualizes the educational transitions within the broader contexts of biography, temporality and family. Moving beyond conventional views that frame educational transitions as simple outcomes, this book repositions them as processes of negotiation involving young people, families and schools. By focusing on the social aspects of educational transition, this work reveals individuals’ engagement within educational and temporality norms, class hierarchies, family relationship environment that contribute to processes of educational biography construction. It underscores strategies, constraints, interdependence, emotions, challenges and vulnerabilities during young people’s navigation of education transitions. Aimed at researchers, educators and policymakers, this book provides insights into the intersections of temporality, education and family, illuminating the complexities and the reproduction of new and persistent inequalities of decision-making and trajectories orientation within educational system for contemporary young people.