{"title":"The impact of China's “Double Reduction” policy on primary school students' subjective well-being and academic achievement","authors":"Jinyan Zhou , Aiai Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103321","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China's \"Double Reduction\" policy, launched in 2021, seeks to reduce academic pressure on students in compulsory schooling. Using a two-wave logitudinal survey data (Sep 2021 to Jun 2023) from 1402 fourth- to fifth-grade students in a Beijing district and applying a first-difference approach with Lasso control for causal estimation, this study examines how three key policy initiatives —reducing homework, regulating private training institutions, and requiring schools to provide after-school services—impact students' subjective well-being and academic achievement. Our estimations find that reducing homework time and providing school-based after-school services improve students’ subjective well-being without compromising their academic performance. In contrast, while regulating private tutoring institutions increases subjective well-being, it decreases academic achievement among low-SES students. This research highlights the complex, and potentially inequitable consequences arising from the \"Double Reduction\" policy, emphasizing the critical trade-off for future policy adjustments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103321"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Educational Development","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059325001191","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
China's "Double Reduction" policy, launched in 2021, seeks to reduce academic pressure on students in compulsory schooling. Using a two-wave logitudinal survey data (Sep 2021 to Jun 2023) from 1402 fourth- to fifth-grade students in a Beijing district and applying a first-difference approach with Lasso control for causal estimation, this study examines how three key policy initiatives —reducing homework, regulating private training institutions, and requiring schools to provide after-school services—impact students' subjective well-being and academic achievement. Our estimations find that reducing homework time and providing school-based after-school services improve students’ subjective well-being without compromising their academic performance. In contrast, while regulating private tutoring institutions increases subjective well-being, it decreases academic achievement among low-SES students. This research highlights the complex, and potentially inequitable consequences arising from the "Double Reduction" policy, emphasizing the critical trade-off for future policy adjustments.
期刊介绍:
The purpose of the International Journal of Educational Development is to foster critical debate about the role that education plays in development. IJED seeks both to develop new theoretical insights into the education-development relationship and new understandings of the extent and nature of educational change in diverse settings. It stresses the importance of understanding the interplay of local, national, regional and global contexts and dynamics in shaping education and development. Orthodox notions of development as being about growth, industrialisation or poverty reduction are increasingly questioned. There are competing accounts that stress the human dimensions of development.