Although Chinese early childhood education policies have high expectations for kindergarten teachers' play pedagogy, teaching and play are still discussed as a bifurcation in Chinese kindergartens' daily practice. To support Chinese kindergarten teachers' development of play pedagogy, this study conducted an educational experiment (EE) framed by…

Research Findings: Comprehensive art education (CAE) can be an effective way to develop children's creativity development. However, little is known about how CAE is implemented in kindergarten classrooms in China. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of CAE activity implementation. To assess the effectiveness of CAE in terms…

Research Findings: Self-regulation is an important determinant of children's developmental outcomes, but little research has explored its different facets simultaneously. This study aims to explore a sample of Chinese children's behavioral, cognitive and emotional self-regulation characteristics by examining their gender and age differences,…

Engagement with nature is crucial for child development and kindergarten educators' pedagogical beliefs about nature play significantly affect children's access to and experiences of nature in kindergarten. This study examines the role of nature play in children's holistic development, engaging 12 Chinese kindergarten educators through in-depth…

An overarching framework in the field of developmental psychology highlights the close linkage of cognition with emotion; however, the extent to which this framework supports the relationship between executive functions and emotion understanding in young children remains unclear. Hence, we employ a longitudinal tracking study to investigate the…

The body is the very basis of children's self-growth and their understanding of the world. However, children's body experiences of growing up have rarely been studied. This paper uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to study the body experience of 35 kindergarten children aged 5-6 from Nanjing, China. We found that children's body…

Reform initiatives are common throughout the Chinese early years education sector. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of a folk pedagogy of change as a perspective on the systemic barriers to the development of practice which foregrounds some of the tensions within and across these barriers. Our analysis is based on three commissioned…

Teachers' perceptions of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) profoundly influence how children experience ICT-supported activities in kindergartens. In China, given that the adoption of ICT in educational settings has been part of national development goals, kindergarten teachers' perceptions of it deserve more in-depth…

Research Findings: This study explored the relationship between family-work conflict and autonomy support among Chinese kindergarten teachers. Autonomous motivation and ego depletion were considered as the mediator and moderator, respectively. A total of 859 kindergarten teachers were recruited and surveyed online. The results showed that (1)…

"Research Findings:" Playfulness is an important personality tendency with an important role in the well-being, mental health, and various other aspects of an individual's life. Previous studies have shown that the development of children's playfulness is related to parents' playfulness. However, limited research has been conducted on…

Group counselling can assist teachers in better adapting to society and enhancing personality growth. Psychological capital also plays an important role in teachers' professional development and career engagement. Nevertheless, the relationship between group counselling and the psychological capital development of kindergarten teachers is not…

Research Findings: This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of Puhui kindergartens (PhKs), an innovative type of kindergarten proposed by the Chinese government as part of a 2010 national policy for the development of universal early childhood education, from the perspective of parents. Altogether, 28,732 Chinese parents, randomly sampled…

In the global context, male participation in early childhood education is notably low, with only 3% of the workforce in mainland China comprising male professionals. This study delves into the intrinsic motivation of male kindergarten teachers, employing the framework of self-determination theory. Qualitative research, comprising face-to-face…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulties initiating and maintaining reciprocal conversations with others. In this study, we examined if an interdependent group contingency would improve reciprocal conversation of children with ASD when they were paired as conversational partners. We also assessed children's social…

This study provides an empirical investigation into the lives of kindergarten-aged left-behind children (LBC) who could not migrate with their parents in rural China. Two research questions are answered as follows: (1) What are the characteristics of the LBC in kindergarten and at home? and (2) How does family cultural capital influence the LBC's…