Sugar dissolved in water: ideological constructions and contestations of critical thinking in China’s education reform

This study investigates the ideological constructions and contestations of critical thinking (CT) within China’s quality-oriented education (QE) reform. Drawing on Bowe et al.’s policy trajectory theory and employing critical discourse analysis as an analytical lens, we analysed 69 official speeches and government reports in addition to nine interviews with academic experts who served as policy advisors. The study examines how CT has been framed and legitimised at the national policymaking level since the 1990s. Findings reveal three interrelated ideological sites: 1) official utilitarian discourses that prioritise economic development and political stability; 2) expert humanistic perspectives that emphasise learner-centred education; and 3) internal expert debates that expose tensions around cultural compatibility and hierarchical power dynamics within the education system. These ideological sites illuminate the divergences that complicate CT’s integration into QE policies and practices in China, and they reflect how actors, situated within specific institutional roles, engage in strategic interpretation by acting in accordance with their political and professional stance within the system. The study highlights the need to understand policymaking as a complex and negotiated process, even within relatively centralised political systems such as China.