High-achieving learner identity in the everyday politics of examination in China: a critical narrative inquiry

How will high-achieving learners' identity be shaped by exam-oriented assessment? Through critical narrative inquiry, we explore how high-achieving students regulate their learning practices and negotiate their identity in China’s climate of exam-oriented assessment. Based on their narratives from autoethnographic writing and life history interviews, the paper reveals that the participants navigate their learner identities by struggling with being/becoming top students in exams. Drawing on theories of governmentality and performance-based identity, the study uncovers a nuanced dynamic between learner agency and institutional norms embedded in a competitive and selective educational context marked by testing, ranking, and streaming. The findings confirm the pervasive influence of audit culture in an educational system where learner identity is ubiquitously shaped by the quantification of performance. Nevertheless, the research also finds instances of resistance where students disidentify with the streaming system, revealing the pivotal role of self-directed reading in empowering students to critically engage with authentic learning and the cultivation of diverse identities. As critical narrative researchers, we argue for the need to redefine learning as an integral part of self-discovery in education for future citizens, embracing a more equitable, inclusive and collaborative approach to learning and working, rather than relying on crude numerical rankings.