Author(s)

Huafeng Zhang

Fafo Research Institute, Oslo, Norway.

This paper reviews the literature on migrant children’s educational attainment in Chinese urban cities. The review attempts to explore the central government’s policy of institutional segregation and the barriers established by local policy on the issue of migrant children’s access to education. Furthermore, the review examines the direct consequences of policies that limit migrant children’s school enrollment, thus affecting their educational and psychological performance and their social integration in urban areas. Lack of equal access to education for migrant children is also closely correlated with education inequality and poverty, which reinforce each other and form a trap for poor families. Finally, this paper endeavors to review the contribution of recent studies on migrant children’s education in urban cities, with a focus on quantitative data and methods applied by recent studies on the topic. At the same time, the review discusses the limitations of current studies and potential areas for future research.

Migrant Children, Educational Attainment, Education Inequality, Poverty, Quantitative Method

Zhang, H. (2016) Literature Review on Educational Attainment of Migrant Children in China. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 190-206. doi: 10.4236/jss.2016.47029.