Investment in preschool education is increasingly seen as a policy priority in middle and high-income countries due to the early benefits it provides children in their educational journeys. This article discusses the impact of recent increased investment in preschool education in China which has served as a correction to relative historical…

The expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs has generated increasing interest in establishing appropriate structural standards that can optimize child outcomes. To contribute to this discourse, this study aims to investigate the characteristics and influencing factors of classroom quality. Ninety-six classrooms (202…

"Research Findings:" This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Puhui early education services (PEES) policy in China from the triangulated perspectives of stakeholders using a developed and validated scale. First, applying a stratified cluster sampling method, the Puhui Early Education Services Policy Effectiveness Scale (PE)…

The objectives of this research were to: (1) Investigate the current problems in achieving balance in urban and rural basic education in Shaanxi Province, (2) Develop a strategy to improve this balance, and (3) Evaluate the adaptability, feasibility, effectiveness, and fairness of the proposed strategy. The study involved 175 teachers from urban…

Research Findings: Some rural preschools in southwestern China provide boarding services to children aged 3 to 6 years. It is critical to understand these young boarders' learning experiences and their associations with children's developmental outcomes. This study aimed to (1) describe children's daily learning experiences regarding the…

Research Findings: Provision for Learning (PFL) is a composite of indicators reflecting the structural quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) classrooms such as physical environment, materials, and daily schedule. This study explored profiles of PFL among 118 Chinese rural preschool classrooms based on Space and Furnishing (SF), Curriculum…

There is a growing emphasis on accountability in the management of preschool education across the world. It has become common practice in many countries to evaluate kindergartens to monitor and ensure their quality. The Chinese government has been implementing the policy of evaluating kindergartens for 30 years. It mainly involves assessing…

At the global level, prominent narratives about improving the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) promote the recruitment of men into the profession. However, comparing across different policy and practice settings demonstrates contrasting expressions and experiences of how men contribute to ECEC. This article presents findings…

Taking the text of the "Draft of the Preschool Education Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" released in September 2020 as the object of research, this article took a content analysis method and used the text analysis software of the ROST CM6.0 content mining system to analyze the text's keywords,…

Research Findings: Driven by the universal two-child policy, the childcare services in China have stepped into a new era after 3-decade of neglect. This national study investigated the accessibility, quality, and administration of childcare services for children under age 3, by establishing a triangulation of survey, interview, and classroom…

The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical discussion on teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Chinese contexts. Since 2010, the Chinese government has initiated a comprehensive education reform in ECE, with strategies for developing teacher leadership and promoting education quality. However, at the school level there…

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…

Delivery of English language programmes to children at younger ages is a remarkable phenomenon around the world. This research adopts a language-in-education framework to examine how kindergartens in China provide English teaching, and to identify what issues have arisen, in the context of the government ban on preschool English. Qualitative data…

Early childhood education (ECE) is not given as much attention as primary and secondary education in rural areas in China, and rural preschool teachers lack opportunities to receive high quality and appropriate pre-service and in-service professional training. This study focused on professional development (PD) opportunities available for…

During the 14th Five-Year Plan, preschool education in China will move toward the objectives of quality and balance, and the kindergarten teacher workforce must be formed with sufficient quantity, high quality, and balanced distribution. At present, the scale of China's current kindergarten teacher workforce still does not meet the standards for…