Abstract:

The implementation of educational policy is a process of order negotiation among stakeholders. It is a cyclic process of organic combination of a series of chains such as conflict of interest, game interaction and balance of power. Colebatch’s two-dimensional policy framework provides a theoretical perspective for analyzing the policy redesigning of sharing financial responsibilities for education among migrant children. From the vertical dimension, the interaction and negotiation between the central government and local government, between the governments at all levels in the inflow area revolve around the division of power and financial power. From the horizontal dimension, the bargaining between families of migrant children and urban residents, between public schools and private schools also affects their choice of school to a certain extent. The order negotiation in the policy redesigning has the dual characteristics of compulsory and inducement change. The calculus approach gives birth to the spontaneity of individual pursuit of interests. The pluralism of negotiating subjects and the dominance of interest expression add to the complexity of conflicts. Therefore, the government uses the system-oriented thought to regulate individual behavior, promotes the transformation of “calculation” to “appropriate”, transforms conflicts into harmonious order negotiation, and ensures the realization of balance of power.

Key words: migrant children, educational finance, policy redesign, order negotiation, principal-agent theory, neo-institutionalism