Title

A Qualitative Study Of The Current Transformation To Rural Village Early Childhood In China: Retrospect And Prospect

Keywords

China; Early childhood education and care (ECEC); Kindergarten; Preschool education; Rural

Abstract

By far, literature regarding Chinese early childhood education and care (ECEC) has primarily focused on Youeryuan in urban settings. Youeryuan is the everyday Chinese term used for ECEC programs serving children ages three to six, which does include the U.S. version of the kindergarten year. This paper will refer to Youeryuan rather than the Western definitions of preschool or kindergarten so as to maintain authenticity. Furthermore, this paper will focus on the history and development of rural Youeryuan based on a qualitative study of the government-owned, privately operated Youeryuan that represent the current reform initiatives in early childhood in China. Through teacher and administrator interviews, onsite observations using ECERS-R, and school documents, the lead author immersed herself in rural Youeryuan as part of a larger ethnographic study in China in the midst of economic and educational transformations. The findings of this study revealed themes related to increased government investment, improved school policies, the lack of instructional materials, curriculum and instruction issues, local government support for professional development, administrative support for instruction, and the need for mentoring for teachers. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Publication Title

International Journal of Educational Development

Volume

33

Issue

4

Number of Pages

316-324

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2012.04.006

Socpus ID

84876824559 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84876824559

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