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…

This paper discusses whether practitioners' gender subjectivities influence pedagogies and practices in early years education and care (EYEC) settings and whether an increase of men's participation can improve gender diversity in EYEC. It draws on poststructuralist theories, understanding gender as the product/outcome of the social formation of…

This study examined the effectiveness of one province's Kindergarten Quality Rating System in differentiating quality levels using the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS). Results confirmed that, except for the difference between the Standard and Level-3 Kindergartens, the CECERS was successful in detecting the differences…

Play, as an educational concept, has entered many kindergartens in China; yet it has not become a core idea, or been prioritised in the teaching and learning process. An ongoing trans-provincial study started in 2008, using observation, interviews and document analyses. Based on findings from nine kindergartens in three provinces, this article…

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle-class families in each city. The 24…

This paper reports the findings of a pilot study which adopted an ethnographic approach to investigate the cultural features of the Chinese kindergarten curriculum by means of "semi-participant" observations, semi-structured interviews, daily conversations and open-ended questionnaires in two Chinese kindergartens. The paper first…

In this study, two samples of 4-year-old Chinese children were given two drawing tasks, one very familiar task and one novel and challenging task. The first sample was drawn from a nursery that taught art in a similar way to that widely used in the West, with an emphasis on individual expression. The second sample was from a nursery where drawing…