| For a long time,China’s education reform has been difficult and education policy has been a hot topic of academic research.As an important policy in China’s education reform in recent years,the "double reduction" policy aims to reduce the academic burden of students in compulsory education and the financial burden of parents,improve the standard of school education and regulate out-of-school training.The policy has had a huge impact upon its release and has been widely discussed by all sectors of society,but its implementation in rural areas still faces many practical problems.This paper uses interviews and textual analysis to collect data and discuss the actual implementation of the "double reduction" policy in rural areas from the perspective of the "policy objectives" mentioned repeatedly by the interviewees,and finds that there are deviations in the implementation of the policy in rural schools.The implementation of the "double reduction" policy is facing difficulties.The implementation of the "double reduction" policy involves multiple actors,and policy network theory emphasises the interaction between different actors and the impact of their interests on policy implementation.With this theoretical perspective,this paper constructs a policy network for "double reduction" according to Rhodes’ theoretical model,analyses the actions and roles of the various actors within the policy network and the interactions between them,explores the practical dilemmas in the implementation of "double reduction" in rural areas and their causes,and draws conclusions from them the logic of education policy implementation.The study finds that the actors in the "double reduction" policy network do not have equal resources and power,and that communication paths exist between them but are not smooth,making it difficult for the real situation of policy implementation and feedback from the grassroots to reach the decision-making institutions,resulting in policies that are neither in line with the actual situation nor adjustable.The implementation of "double reduction" in rural areas faces difficulties such as a lack of resources,a lack of conformity to actual needs,and conflicts of interest with actors,which are caused both by the lack of two-way communication between the policy networks and by the actors’ consideration of their real interests.Finally,the policy implementation dilemma is addressed by suggesting corresponding implementation paths to provide new opportunities for thinking about the subsequent implementation of the "double reduction" policy,and to provide ideas for policy adjustment and better utilization of policy effects. |
