Against the backdrop of the increasing disparities in urban and rural areas in China nowadays, this qualitative study explores trilingual education in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), with a focus on the Mongolian language programme. Through a field trip to five primary and secondary schools, interviews and class observations reveal…

This article argues that the focus within much normative education policy is with in-school effects which has sidelined the impact of structural and material factors in respect of the urban primary school. Educational reforms intended to improve schools are less likely to make much impact unless these contextualizing matters are directly…