Rigdrol, Rouzhuo (2021) Aspirations and Orientations to Educational Success: The Experience of Tibetan Students. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

Establishing what constitutes the quality of education has become a great interest and concern to Tibetan educators. Their schools are located in areas where the widespread promotion of a modern socialist education system by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been occurring for many decades. Many Tibetan educators and intellectuals cite a number of factors that they feel contribute to the view that the poor quality of education in Tibetan areas. These include the lack of qualified teachers, the lack of and inappropriate use of school resources, no considered statements about the appropriateness of the medium of language for teaching, and poor curriculum design with a focus on examinations dominating school planning and assessments. However, very few studies have been focused on providing empirical data about the quality of Tibetan education. This thesis created case studies of two schools to explore the ways in which quality is perceived in education by administrators, teachers and students, and how educational aspirations and views about success link to the schooling experience in the Mountain Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (pseudonym), in Qinghai Province, the People’s Republic of China. The ways in which Tibetan students, teachers and administrators perceive what constitutes quality, and how they regard education as a means to a success-oriented future (aspiration), are investigated in this project using data from individual and focus group interviews with administrators, teachers and students, classroom ethnographies in their schools and by reviewing of policy documents. Grounded theory was used as the main analytical tool to produce and finalise the findings of the research as themes which indicate elements of quality. What emerged from the iterative coding of the data revealed that the perception of quality education in these two schools was both similar and different based on the collective ideologies of each school. The case study of the state school, the Mountain Prefecture Public High School (pseudonym), predominantly focused quality on being able to interpret and implement their curriculum according to the standards of Chinese high schools. This meant that the result of Gaokao (University Entrance Examination) was considered as the primary, and indeed, the only, indicator of a good quality education. The Mountain Private Vocational High School (pseudonym) mainly valued and advocated moral education which was derived from the basis of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist education philosophy and system. The data also revealed that the state school, being a part of the formal national education system of the PRC, received greater financial and systematic support from all levels of the government. The data also acknowledged the vulnerability of the private school. Although it had an integrated Tibetan traditional learning curriculum with modern vocational content, the future of this school was not guaranteed due to the dual pressures of economic globalisation and the Chinese government’s campaign to reduce religious content in schools. In terms of the students’ aspirations for their work and ambitions after school, it was evident that the educational aspirations of students in the public school were influenced by the attractiveness of consistent government work in a system of job guarantees. They believed that there were attractive possibilities associated with obtaining positive Gaokao results. The best was the ability to attend university or a vocational high school and getting a good job as a result. Many students were convinced that they had an improved chance to find a decent government job after completing a university education. They indicated that a more practical vocational job might arise from graduating from a vocational college. The students noted that if they failed the Gaokao, their futures were more uncertain. The aspirations of the private school students were different. They aspired to the possibilities of self-employment and supporting their community. Their perspectives were probably influenced by the founder of the school whose stated aspirations for his students were that they should be honorable members of their community and should look for other optional jobs (self-employement) besides solely relying on government official jobs.

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