Educational Resource Allocation and Management of Life Adaptation Curricula: Addressing Regional Inequalities in Special Needs Education

ABSTRACT Ensuring equitable access to resources in special needs education is a persistent global challenge, and one with acute significance in the Chinese context where urban–rural divides shape the provision of schooling. This study investigates how resources for life adaptation curricula—designed to cultivate everyday competencies for students with intellectual disabilities—are allocated and managed across schools in different regional settings. Drawing on the capability approach, the research conceptualises resource disparities not as unequal inputs alone but as constraints on students' substantive freedoms to achieve valued functionings' such as independent living and social participation. The study employs a qualitative case study design based on semi‐structured interviews with 11 participants (eight teachers and three school leaders) in two urban and one county‐level special school, supplemented by classroom photographs and documentary data. The findings reveal stark contrasts between well‐resourced urban schools, where simulated supermarkets and token economies enable students to practise transferable skills, and under‐resourced county schools, where teachers rely on improvised materials and parental contributions. Management practices were found to emphasise formal compliance with policy directives but provide limited substantive support, leaving teachers to shoulder the burden of improvisation. As a result, inequalities in resource allocation directly translate into unequal opportunities for capability development, constraining students' prospects for sustainable livelihoods. By situating these findings within the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), the study contributes to international debates on equity in inclusive education. It demonstrates the need for targeted funding mechanisms, structured professional development, and national curriculum standards to ensure that life adaptation curricula serve as pathways to substantive inclusion rather than symbolic compliance. In doing so, the paper highlights how micro‐level curricular practices reveal the structural barriers that must be addressed if special needs education is to advance more equitable and sustainable futures.