Rural Migrant Children’s Self-identity Dilemma and Citizenship Construction in the Schooling Process in Urban China

Previous studies about rural migrant children’s self-identity dilemma have scarcely investigated and theorised beyond the rural-urban dichotomy. This study provides a textured view of how socioeconomically disadvantaged rural migrant children in two urban primary schools in China constructed and negotiated their citizen identity. It discusses rural migrant children’s sense of differentiation as non-locals in Beijing society and the influence of the schooling process in building and reinforcing such sense of differentiation. Based on Veugelers' (2007) typology of citizenship in education, this study discovered, while cultivating students with self-disciplined behaviours and beliefs in serving social surroundings are considered as essential in both case schools, urban schooling present different attitudes and practices towards embracing the critical-democratic citizen concept into education.