This paper uses examples from research conducted in preschools in Japan, China, and the United States to illustrate the features and virtues of return interviews with informants with whom ethnographers have long research engagements. Return interviews and long research engagements are powerful research strategies that help the ethnographers ask…

The seven papers in this issue address a variety of challenges that parents in several different cultural places encounter as they do their best to ensure their children's safe, happy, and successful development from infancy through middle childhood: infant sleep, developmental agendas, temperament, preschools, academic success, and learning to be…

In this dossier the focus is mainly on the Mongolian language in education in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (hereafter: Inner Mongolia). The Khalkha dialect, which is a dialect of the Mongolian language, is written with its Cyrillic script in Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia, people write with Hudum, a vertical Mongolian script that is also…

In China, the Central People's Government (2010) recently promulgated the "Compendium for China's Mid- and Long-Term Education Development," which declared that 95% of Chinese children should receive at least one year of preschool education, while 75% of children should receive a three-year preschool education by 2020. Subsequently, The…

In the last decade, China began developing early intervention services for very young children with hearing loss, and their families. This article presents a broad description of some of these programs, including the national rehabilitation networks for speech and hearing training, increased attention on the development of professionals, the…

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) has a decades-old commitment to quality early childhood education. CED Trustees have always been in the forefront of the effort to promote early learning and development for all children. Over recent years, the case for investment in the early years of childhood has become stronger and more urgent.…

When "Preschool in Three Cultures" was published in 1989, it attracted great attention, as a result of the insights into the three cultures explored as well as the methodology that anchored the research. What made the book so intriguing to many scholars, regardless of their geographical areas of interest, however, was the unique…

Provides an overview of child care through description of (1) a nursery managed by a neighborhood group in charge of community affairs and intended for children under three and (2) a kindergarten run by a municipality for children between three and six and one-half. (RH)

Half the Sky, an international NGO, works in partnership with Chinese national and provincial governments inside state-run orphanages (welfare institutions). Through their infant nurture programs infants and toddlers in institutions begin to thrive through primary relationship-based care by trained community paraprofessionals. In preschool…

Since two thirds of the country's children reside in the countryside, improving child development services in rural areas is one of China's most pressing concerns. This report details the current situation of children in rural and urban China and identifies problems related to child development. The report also presents evidence of the effect of…

Children in a rural preschool in China were observed while they participated in group learning activities. Although many aspects of the preschool program did not meet standards used in developed countries, the ability of the teacher to plan and conduct large group activities was admirable, and the children displayed many positive behaviors. (BG)

When William Moore, a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, established the first special school in China in 1874, the country began her long and circuitous journey toward establishing formal educational services for individuals with special needs. Special education in China developed slowly on the infertile soil of continual wars, political instability,…

Describes how preschool education in China has changed since the Cultural Revolution, what values and attitudes young children are being socialized to believe, to what extent public childrearing follows the political shifts within China, and how the changes in preschool education have been manifested in teacher selection and training. (NEC)

Describes child care practices in Xian, China. Focuses on scheduling, cleanliness, curriculum, and student behavior in a day care center. (RJC)

Discusses preschool education in the People's Republic of China. Describes the developments that have occurred in the last 15 years, such as the effect of the 1 child policy and what parents now expect preschools to emphasize as a result of this policy. Discusses how the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky form the foundations for the preschool…