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Chinese education is controversial: it is not only lauded for Chinese students’ high test achievements but also criticized for curbing students’ deep learning and development into well-rounded individuals. In the current paper, we propose that self-determination theory (SDT) serves as a useful framework for anatomizing Chinese educational ecology, especially understanding the fundamental developmental costs behind Chinese students’ high test scores. In the first part, we provide an up-to-date overview of SDT, which proposes that a growth-oriented motivation fueled by basic psychological needs underlies human development; hence, the role of education is to provide environmental support for these needs. After reviewing research evidence, we conclude that SDT serves as a valid theoretical framework for analyzing Chinese education. In the second part, we apply the lens of SDT to better understand the motivational dynamics that prevail in Chinese education. In doing so, we first primarily focus on the distal institutional level, thereby examining in detail how the high-stakes testing system headed by Gaokao fails to support—and may even thwart—basic psychological needs; we also address counterarguments favoring Gaokao, such as heightened involvement and alignment. We then scrutinize the pros and cons at the proximal level of the student environment—i.e., teachers and parents. Finally, we discuss existing reform attempts, which seemingly have very limited effectiveness. We propose that awareness of the problem and more holistic change are needed to realize more effective and sustainable change in Chinese education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study addressed the question whether the relation between satisfaction of the psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy and well-being would be constrained by satisfaction of the need for safety. In Study 1, we investigated environmental safety in a sample of young adults ( N = 224) in South Africa, a country known for its low public safety. In Study 2, we focused on financial safety within a socio-economically deprived adult Chinese sample ( N = 357). Although safety satisfaction yielded a positive relation to well-being in both studies, satisfaction of the psychological needs contributed to well-being above and beyond safety satisfaction and its contribution was not dependent upon the level of safety satisfaction. Further, across both studies, individuals high in safety satisfaction desired less psychological need satisfaction. Supplementary analyses in Study 2 indicated that whereas financial safety yielded a positive relation to well-being, materialism yielded a negative association. Together, these results point to the important role of basic psychological need satisfaction beyond safety satisfaction in the prediction of well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated whether satisfaction and frustration of the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as identified within Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT; Deci and Ryan, Psychol Inquiry 11:227-268, ; Ryan and Deci, Psychol Inquiry 11:319-338, ), contributes to participants' well-being and ill-being, regardless of their cultural background and interpersonal differences in need strength, as indexed by either need valuation (i.e., the stated importance of the need to the person) or need desire (i.e., the desire to get a need met). In Study 1, involving late adolescents from Belgium and China (total N = 685; Mean age = 17 years), autonomy and competence satisfaction had unique associations with well-being and individual differences in need valuation did not moderate these associations. Study 2 involved participants from four culturally diverse nations (Belgium, China, USA, and Peru; total N = 1,051; Mean age = 20 years). Results provided evidence for the measurement equivalence of an adapted scale tapping into both need satisfaction and need frustration. Satisfaction of each of the three needs was found to contribute uniquely to the prediction of well-being, whereas frustration of each of the three needs contributed uniquely to the prediction of ill-being. Consistent with Study 1, the effects of need satisfaction and need frustration were found to be equivalent across the four countries and were not moderated by individual differences in the desire for need satisfaction. These findings underscore BPNT's universality claim, which states that the satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent essential nutrients for optimal functioning across cultures and across individual differences in need strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]