Ethical Tensions and Collaborative Governance in Inclusive Education: A Dynamic Equilibrium Model from China's Greater Bay Area

This study examines the ethical tensions in China’s inclusive education system, where policy-driven efforts to integrate students with special educational needs (SEN) into mainstream classrooms conflict with systemic challenges in balancing individual rights and collective interests. Despite national progress in SEN enrollment rates, regional disparities persist, Structural contradictions emerge from resource limitations. Ethical dilemmas between SEN students’ individualized support needs and the collective rights of typically developing peers. Grounded in Rawlsian justice theory, this research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative analysis of stakeholder interviews at a Greater Bay Area school with a three-dimensional theoretical framework (capability fairness, empathy theory, group dynamics) to address three objectives: demand coordination, leadership transformation, and collaborative governance. Findings reveal systemic issues, including resource allocation conflicts, teacher role dissonance, home-school trust deficits, and innovative strategies such as a dynamic “resource bank” and peer mentorship systems. The study proposes a tripartite governance model integrating institutional flexibility, cultural restructuring, and technological empowerment to reconcile educational equity with quality. Key contributions include operationalizing Sen’s capability approach into a dual-cycle evaluation matrix and shifting equity metrics from resource access to functional outcomes. Limitations include regional economic biases and stakeholder perspective gaps. Policy recommendations emphasize phased reforms: class-size regulations, regional resource-sharing platforms, and teacher training overhauls. Future research should expand to urban-rural comparisons and longitudinal evaluations to validate the proposed model’s adaptability and ethical implications in diverse contexts.