Research Findings: The impact of the newly launched "two-child policy" on young children's social development has not been empirically studied. This study examined the possible mediating and moderating factors in the relationship between parenting styles and social competence in Chinese preschoolers. A sample of only children…

Future work self is a promising concept to understand how young people view and plan their careers in the contemporary workplace. In this study, we attempt to investigate its impacts on two career-related outcomes, namely, perceived employability and career distress. Informed by social cognitive career theory, we also explore the mediating role of…

Science and Technology Innovation Communities (STICs) are student-led partnerships that bring together businesses, research centres, and university staff. They constitute an effective way of promoting student innovation ability. However, the students' position within the STICs organisation network may condition how their innovation ability is…

Research Findings: This study explores the variations in paternal play beliefs and the relation to young children's developmental outcomes in a sample of 163 Chinese fathers of 3-year-olds (M = 38.73 months, SD = 4.91) in Shenzhen, China. The fathers completed the Chinese Parent Play Beliefs Scale (CPPBS) to report their attitudes towards play and…

Research in developed countries has found that paternal involvement has positive and significant effects on early childhood development (ECD). Less is known, however, about the state of paternal involvement and its influence on ECD in rural China. Using data collected in Southern China that included 1,460 children aged 6-42 months and their…

Existing studies have explored parental play beliefs in the developed coastal cities in mainland China, leaving parents in developing areas unstudied. This study aimed to understand how these understudied parents view and engage in their children's play at home, using Bronfenbrenner's process--person--context--time (PPCT) model. Eight families…

Research Findings: This study aimed to explore parental satisfaction with Puhui early childhood education (ECE) service in China using evidence from a national validation study. The Parent Satisfaction with the Puhui Early Childhood Education Service Scale (PES) was developed and validated with 4,134 Chinese parents, who were sampled using a…

School-based curriculum development (SBCD) has been advocated to enhance the quality of early childhood education within the context of modernization and globalization. However, few studies have examined how the social change and globalization may shape the early childhood curriculum. This study examined SBCD in two Shenzhen kindergartens via…

Research Findings: A growing number of young children encounter group learning environment for the first time when entering preschool at age 3, yet their parents and teachers have no means to discern whether they are ready for this challenge. To address this uncertainty, this study developed and validated the Chinese Preschool Readiness Scale…

This research aims to explore the latent effect of elementary student engagement in a Spherical Video-based Virtual Reality (SVVR) environment for a school-based course on higher level competence development. Student engagement and higher level competence development were investigated using a valid sample of 324 students from five elementary…

Research Findings: The present study investigated the effects of a 12-week inquiry-based science and engineering (IBSE) program on preschoolers' science and engineering learning experiences. The treatment versus control condition was randomly assigned to four preschool classes, which included 122 preschoolers (M = 61.10 month, SD = 3.73).…

Many governments have launched the top-down early childhood curriculum (ECC) reforms to enhance the accountability of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. The present discourse analysis of latest ECC policies across four diverse but representative countries -- Australia, China, New Zealand, and Singapore -- aims to examine the…

Faculty is the key agent for internationalization. This interview-based study explored faculty views about the internationalization understanding, rationales, roles, engagement, and motivation in a research-centric, double-first class university in China. Faculty motivation was analyzed using the lens of the motivation systems theory (MST). The…

Research findings This study aimed to explore whether the fusion of constructivism and instructivism could be observed in the teaching dialogs during the Engineer Block Building (EBB) activities in Chinese kindergartens. Altogether 20 block building activities about the theme of architecture were videotaped and coded with the "Engineer Design…

School-based curriculum innovations have been widely implemented in Chinese kindergartens since the turn of the new millennium. However, in the absence of professional guidance, Chinese kindergartens have been forced to "ride a blind horse" when developing curriculum. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of and mechanisms…