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Education and Information Technologies

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02-08-2021

Chinese Adolescents’ Struggle in Online Compulsory Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Foucauldian Perspective

Authors: Jindong Liu, Biying Wu, Jiayu Qu

Published in: Education and Information Technologies | Issue 2/2022

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Abstract

To tackle the debate surrounding the tension between knowledge and power in online education for adolescents and between freedom and control at large, this study examines how disciplinary power was exercised and resisted in a Chinese setting of online compulsory education during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Overall, 60 participants, including students (from Grade 7 to 12), their parents, and teachers joined in our focus groups or individual interviews in a secondary school in Xi’an, China. By following Foucault’s concepts of three techniques of disciplinary power: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement and examination, we identified four themes based on the data: (1) diminished discipline with the dissolving boundary, (2) reconfigured disciplinary power by teachers, (3) self-discipline as a vital skill, and (4) online compulsory education as a future trend. Interpretations from the Foucauldian perspective were presented, suggesting that most adolescents depend upon more external disciplines from schools and teachers, while only a few may achieve autonomy through self-discipline.

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Title: Chinese Adolescents’ Struggle in Online Compulsory Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Foucauldian Perspective
Authors: Jindong Liu
Biying Wu
Jiayu Qu
Publication date: 02-08-2021
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Education and Information Technologies / Issue 2/2022
Print ISSN: 1360-2357
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7608
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10688-9

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