Edited by Shinichi Aizawa, Mei Kagawa, and Jeremy Rappleye, High School for All in East Asia: Comparing Experiences

Abstract

East Asian countries have come to be globally known to top international assessments of education in recent years. This ambitious volume explores one key aspect of this “success”: the expansion of upper secondary education across East Asia. In this collection, sociologists of education based in East Asia draw on empirical data and policy analyses in attempts to make sense of the processes of universalization of upper secondary schooling against the backdrop of rapid economic development in the region. The authors set out to address the following four major questions: 1) How did East Asia achieve high school for all ? 2) Has educational expansion been a major source of strong economic growth? 3) How can we un-derstand these processes theoretically? 4) What is the future of high school for all likely to be, particularly as a result of the declining school population in the East Asia region? In ex-ploring these questions, the authors examine the shifting balance between public and private provision, and the changing relationships between academic and vocational institutions in their respective countries of focus.