Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T22:07:24.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chinese and Australian Neoliberal Policy Responses to Risks in Social Service Purchasing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2023

Karen R. Fisher Open the ORCID record for Karen R. Fisher [Opens in a new window] ,
Natasha Cortis Open the ORCID record for Natasha Cortis [Opens in a new window] ,
Xiaoyuan Shang  and
Megan Blaxland
Karen R. Fisher*
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney
Natasha Cortis
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney
Xiaoyuan Shang
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney
Megan Blaxland
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney
*
Corresponding author: Karen R. Fisher; Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

China adopted neoliberal approaches to improve the supply of quality social services in the early 2000s. How did the Chinese government manage the financial and quality risks of increasing the provision via government purchasing and how did it differ from other countries? The article examines the policy trajectory of early childhood education and care in China and Australia on this question. Policy analysis of the effect of purchasing on the cost to government and quality of services shows how both countries used subsidy arrangements to engage non-profit and private providers to expand supply. When faced with market risks, they both tightened regulations, but China differed in the speed and strength of their response, restricting the proportion of private providers. The findings have implications for understanding the risks of relying on market forces in other social service sectors, and how policy can effectively respond.

Keywords

Mixed welfaregovernment purchasingmarket risksearly childhood educationChina
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority) (2019) NQS data Q2 2019, data as at 30 June 2019, https://www.aceqa.gov.au/nqf/snapshots. Google Scholar
ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority) (2021) “Shaping Our Future” A ten-year strategy to ensure a sustainable, high-quality children’s education and care workforce 2022–2031, https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/ShapingOurFutureChildrensEducationandCareNationalWorkforceStrategy-September2021.pdf [accessed 5.5.2022].Google Scholar
ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority) (2022) National Quality Framework Annual Performance Report 2021, ACECQA, Sydney.Google Scholar
Baxter, J., Bray, J., Carroll, M., Hand, K., Gray, M., Katz, I., Budinski, M., Rogers, C., Smart, J., Skattebol, J. and Blaxland, M. (2019) Child Care Package Evaluation: Early monitoring report. (Research Report). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Benish, A. and Levi-Faur, D. (2020) ‘The Expansion of Regulation in Welfare Governance’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 691,1, 17–29. doi: 10.1177/0002716220949230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bray, J., Baxter, J., Hand, K., Gray, M., Carroll, M., Webster, R., Phillips, B., Budinski, M., Warren, D., Katz, I. and Jones, A. (2021) Child Care Package Evaluation: Final Report (Research Report). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Brennan, D. (1998) The politics of Australian child care: Philanthropy to feminism and beyond (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, D. (2007) ‘The ABC of child care politics’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 42, 2, 213–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, D., Cass, B., Himmelweit, S. and Szebehely, M. (2012) ‘The marketisation of care: Rationales and consequences in Nordic and liberal care regimes’, Journal of European Social Policy, 22, 4, 377–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, D. and Cortis, N. (2021) ‘Community services, individualism and markets’, in McClelland, A; Smyth, P; Marston, G (ed.), Social Policy in Australia: Understanding for Action (4th Edition), Docklands Victoria: Oxford University Press, 310–29.Google Scholar
Brown, T. (2009) ‘As easy as ABC?: Learning to organize private child care workers’, Labor Studies Journal, 34, 2, 235–51. doi: 10.1177/0160449X08317225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Education, Jiangsu Province (2015) Opinions on the implementation of the second stage of Five-year Plan of Preschool Education https://www.sohu.com/a/251800397_100245542, [accessed 20.1.2022].Google Scholar
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council (1979) the Notice of Reissuing the National Working Conference of Early Childhood Education, https://www.faxin.cn/lib/Zyfl/ZylfSimple.aspx?gid=A187143&libid=010105, [accessed 23.6.2023].Google Scholar
Cleveland, G. and Krashinsky, M. (2005) The Quality Gap: A Study of Non-profit and Commercial Childcare Centres in Canada, Toronto, Child Care Resource and Research Unit.Google Scholar
Cortis, N., Blaxland, M. and Adamson, E. (2022) Quality and marketised care: The case of family day care, in Meagher, G., Stebbing, A. and Perche, D. (eds) Designing Social Service Markets: Risk, Regulation and Rent-Seeking, Canberra, ANU Press, 39–70. doi: 10.22459/DSSM.2022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortis, N., Blaxland, M. and Charlesworth, S. (2021) Challenges of work, family and care for Australia’s retail, online retail, warehousing and fast food workers, Sydney, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:77843/bin5df0551d-5d63-41be-993e-f098287c1b1c?view=true&xy=01 [accessed 5.5.2022].Google Scholar
Edin, K. and Pirog, M.A. (2014) ‘Special symposium on qualitative and mixed-methods for policy analysis. Journal of Policy Analysis Management, 33, 345–49. doi: 10.1002/pam.21756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jintao, H. (2007) “Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in all Respects: Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China” Oct. 15, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-10/25/content_6204663.htm [accessed 28.6.2023].Google Scholar
Li, H., Loyalka, P., Rozelle, S. and Wu, B. (2017) ‘Human capital and China’s future growth’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31, 1, 25–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liao, S., Zeng, Q. and Zhang, Y. (2015) ‘Research on the Chinese government purchase of public services: Operation mode, restraining factors and improving measures. Social Sciences, 4, 3, 53–60. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20150403.14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyu, P. (2008) ’A review of Policies on the Development of Early Childhood Education since the founding of the Peoples’ Republic of China’, Journal of China’s Youth University for Political Sciences, 2, 108–112.Google Scholar
Mahon, R., Anttonen, A., Bergqvist, C., Brennan, D. and Hobson, B. (2012). “Convergent Care Regimes? Childcare Arrangements in Australia, Canada, Finland and Sweden.” Journal of European Social Policy, 22(4), 419–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, R., Qu, Y. and Howell, J. (2021) ‘Government contracting services to social organisations in China: A review of research for future enquiry’, Social Policy and Society, 1–21. doi: 10.1017/S1474746421000622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meagher, G. and Cortis, N. (2009) ‘The political economy of for-profit paid care: theory and evidence’, in King, D. and Meagher, G. (ed.), Paid Care in Australia: Politics, Profits, Practices, Sydney, University of Sydney Press, pp. 13–42, http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/sup/9781920899295. Google Scholar
Ministry of Education (1983) oecoep Opinions on Promotion of Rural Early Childhood Education, https://wenku.baidu.com/view/800195c25fbfc77da269b1f0.html?_wkts_=1687485207861.Google Scholar
Ministry of Education (2020) The 2019 yearly National Statistic Gazette of the Educational Development, www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/202005/t20200520_456751.html [accessed 5.5.2022].Google Scholar
Nam, Y. (2020) ‘The divergent evolution of East Asian welfare states: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore’, Asian Politics and Policy, 12, 559–74. doi: 10.1111/aspp.12557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, K. and Hurley, P. (2021) Counting the cost to families: Assessing childcare affordability in Australia, Melbourne: Mitchell Institute, Victoria University.Google Scholar
Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2012) Encouraging Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Strategies to Tackle Challenges In Designing And Implementing Quality Regulations And Standards, Challenge 5; Managing Private Provision, https://www.oecd.org/education/school/49143900.pdf [accessed 5.5.2022].Google Scholar
Penn, H. (2011) Policy Rationales for Early Childhood Services. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy 5, 1–16. doi: 10.1007/2288-6729-5-1-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, O., Hjelmar, U. and Vrangbæk, K. (2018). ‘Is contracting out of public services still the great panacea? A systematic review of studies on economic and quality effects from 2000 to 2014’, Social Policy and Administration, 52, 1, 130–57. doi: 10.1111/spol.12297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prentice, S. (2005) ‘For-profit child care: Past, present and future’, Occasional Paper 21, Childcare Resource and Research Unit, University of Toronto. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491676.pdf [accessed 5.5.2022].Google Scholar
Press, F. and Hayes, A. (2000) OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Australian Background Report, Macquarie University, repot for the Commonwealth Government of Australia.Google Scholar
Shang, X. and Wang, X. (2018) Study Report on Child Development in China: 1978-2018, Beijing: Center for International Knowledge on Development, China.Google Scholar
She, Y. (2018a) ‘No completion acceptance shall be conducted for unfinished community supporting kindergartens, and the institutions linking preschool to primary school will be incorporated into the governance for after-school training agencies - Running a kindergarten is not running an enterprise’, Economic Daily, 29/Nov./2018, http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_zt/moe_357/jyzt_2018n/2018_zt11/zt1811_sd/zt181110_mtgz/201811/t20181129_361867.html, [accessed 10.4.2020].Google Scholar
She, Y. (2018b) Study on Early Childhood Development, Beijing: Center for International Knowledge on Development.Google Scholar
She, Y. and Shan, D. (2019) Develop an Inclusive and Qualified Pre-school Education System, http://theory.people.com.cn/n1/2019/0412/c40531-31026787.html, [accessed 25.1.2022].Google Scholar
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (2018) Non-state Education Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China 2002, http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_zcfg/zcfg_jyfl/202204/t20220421_620261.html, [accessed 23.6.2023].Google Scholar
State Council (2010a) Several Opinions on Current Development of Preschool Education, GuoFa No.41, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2010-11/24/content_1752377.htm, [accessed 10.4.2020].Google Scholar
State Council (2010b). Outline of the National Middle to Long-term Educational Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020), http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2010-07/29/content_1667143.htm, [accessed 25.1.2022].Google Scholar
State Council (2018) Several Opinions on Deepening the Reform and Standard Development of Preschool Education (November 7, 2018) http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2018-11/15/content_5340776.htm [accessed 10.4.2020].Google Scholar
State Council (2019) Notice on Strengthening the Governance of Community Supporting Kindergartens in Urban Areas, http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2019-01/22/content_5360002.htm, [accessed 10.4.2020].Google Scholar
Stebbing, A. (2022), ‘Designing public subsidies for private markets: Rent-seeking, inequality and childcare policy’ in Meagher, G., Stebbing, A. and Perche, D. (eds) Designing Social Service Markets: Risk, Regulation and Rent-Seeking, Canberra, ANU Press, 301–330. doi: 10.22459/DSSM.2022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumsion, J. (2006) ‘The corporatization of Australian childcare: Towards an ethical audit and research agenda’, Journal of Early Childhood Research, 4, 2, 99–120. doi: 10.1177/1476718X06063531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumsion, J. (2012) ‘ABC learning and Australian early education and care: A retrospective ethical audit of a radical experiment,’ In: Lloyd, E. and Penn, H. (Eds.) Childcare markets local and global: Can they deliver an equitable service, Bristol: Policy Press, 209–25.Google Scholar
Wallace, C. (2020) Between state, market and family: Changing childcare policies in urban China and the implications for working mothers, International Sociology, 35, 3, 336–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, L., Li, M., Abbey, C. and Rozelle, S. (2018) ‘Human Capital and the Middle Income Trap: How Many of China’s Youth are Going to High School?’ The Developing Economies, 56, 2, 82–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, P. and Salamon, L. (2012) Research on Government Purchases Public Service – China and Global Experiences, Beijing: Peking University Press. Google Scholar
Whale Media (www.jingmeiti.com) (2019) Change to Private Kindergartens: Game between Capital and Conscience and between Profit and Inclusiveness, https://www.huxiu.com/article/290168.html, [accessed 10.4.2020].Google Scholar
Wu, K. (2011) Early Childhood Development and Education in China: Breaking the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty and Improving Future Competitiveness, World Bank Report No. 53746-CN, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/331181468024281783/pdf/537460Replacem11Grey0Cover010FINAL.pdf [accessed 23.06.2023].Google Scholar
Yue, A., Tang, B., Shi, Y., Tang, J., Shang, G., Medina, A. and Rozelle, S. (2018) ‘Rural education across China’s 40 years of reform: past successes and future challenges’, China Agricultural Economic Review, 10, 1, 93–118. doi: 10.1108/CAER-11-2017-0222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, T. (2019). How to Implement Governmental Purchase of Preschool Education Services, Ningxia Daily, July 24, 2019, http://www.cssn.cn/dq/nx/201907/t20190724_4938406.shtml, [accessed 10.5.2020].Google Scholar
Zhou, Y., Jiang, Y., Zheng, C. and Li, H. (2020) ‘Is puhui kindergarten a panacea for the ‘3A’ problems of early childhood education in China? Evidence from a national validation study’, Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105702. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar