From “Spatial Outsiders” to “Urban Participants”: A Meta-Ethnographic Analysis of Educational Governance for Migrant Children in Population-Influx Cities

To understand how educational governance shapes the urban educational spaces of migrant children in China’s population-boom cities and how these children move from “spatial outsiders” to “urban participants,” this study conducts a meta-ethnographic synthesis of policy documents from 1992 to 2025. Drawing on Lefebvre’s theory of spatial production, it integrates spatial practice, representations of space, and representational spaces to examine policy conceptions of urban educational space, institutional boundaries of public services, and migrant children’s lived experiences. The findings show that policy reforms have transformed migrant children from temporary enrollees into legitimate beneficiaries of public education. However, admission requirements based on residence permits, social security, and points systems have created new conditional boundaries and social differentiation. Their everyday educational spaces remain concentrated in families, schools, and nearby communities, while unequal public resources, unstable parental employment, and limited peer interaction constrain urban participation and belonging. The study argues for reducing the weight of economic capital in admission criteria, expanding community-based educational resources, and strengthening after-school support for families engaged in new forms of employment.