Behind the scores: Rethinking Shanghai education through institutions, practices, and dialogues

Shanghai's students consistently excel in international assessments, drawing worldwide attention. This special collection of ECNU Review of Education brings together a range of empirical studies and international perspectives to unpack the evolving narrative of Shanghai education.

Shanghai has long captured global attention for its students’ outstanding performance in international assessments. Yet beyond the scores lies a richer, more complex story—how a city navigates the tensions between tradition and innovation, equity and excellence, local identity, and global engagement.

Institutions: Designing Systems for Opportunity and Governance

The institutional foundations of Shanghai’s education system are rooted in a dual commitment to quality and access. Several articles in this collection examine how educational policies shape student pathways and systemic equity.

For example, one study analyzes the design and evolution of Shanghai’s high school entrance examination system, revealing how governance tools, such as “quota allocation” and “diversified enrollment” mechanisms, aim to address stratification and promote mobility. Another paper investigates the dynamics of international curriculum implementation in local schools, highlighting how global models are localized through professional networks and bureaucratic adaptation.

These studies show that policy in Shanghai is not merely top-down—it is constantly negotiated at the intersection of governance logic, institutional structure, and educational culture.

Practices: Learning Beyond the Classroom

While policy sets the frame, practice brings it to life. This collection offers a close look at classrooms, homes, and communities where Shanghai education unfolds in everyday forms.

A study on science competitions reveals how extracurricular ecosystems—ranging from school-based clubs to district-level labs—construct a “meritocratic arena” that shapes students’ identities, aspirations, and future trajectories. In early childhood settings, researchers examine how teachers navigate tensions between inclusive ideals and hidden expectations of performance.

One paper turns to families during the COVID-19 lockdowns, documenting how parents, especially mothers, became co-educators and coordinators of learning. These snapshots of everyday educational labor illustrate the often-invisible scaffolding that sustains Shanghai’s achievements.

Together, the studies in this section illuminate how education is shaped not just by institutions but also by actors on the ground—teachers, students, and families—through subtle adaptations, embodied efforts, and moral choices.

Dialogues: Reflecting With and Beyond Shanghai

Rather than treating Shanghai as a model, this collection invites dialogue. Comparative and cross-cultural studies explore how educational meanings travel, transform, and reflect.

For instance, a study of youth in Shanghai and Hong Kong SAR reveals how adolescents in both cities navigate expectations around academic success, responsibility, and life planning—often within similar discursive frames, yet with distinct cultural logics. Another paper uses classroom video analysis to explore how “student-centeredness” is enacted in Shanghai classrooms, reframing familiar international terms through local pedagogical practices.

This collection also features reflections by international scholars who engage with Shanghai from diverse disciplinary and geographical perspectives. Their analyzes prompt deeper questions: How do we interpret educational “success”? Whose voices shape the global image of Shanghai? What kinds of comparative research foster mutual understanding rather than one-way transfer?

Conclusion: A City as Case, Not Template

This special collection presents Shanghai not as a prescriptive model, but as a rich case—a site where educational institutions, practices, and discourses intersect in dynamic and sometimes contradictory ways. Its value lies not in providing ready-made answers, but in opening new questions.