Early Childhood Teachers’ Fertility Willingness under China’s ‘Third-Child’ Policy

Abstract

This study aimed to understand whether Chinese early childhood (EC) teachers are willing to give birth to children to embrace the new ‘third-child’ policy. Altogether, 1042 participants (44.7% teachers, 55.3% other parents) were sampled and surveyed online. The results indicated that: (1) the teachers demonstrated fertility willingness different from other parents, and a higher percentage of teachers believed that one child would suffice; (2) the teachers highly valued partner’s support (family), employers’ support (workplace), and societal support (society); (3) their fertility willingness was influenced by the public fertility system and service, economic status and health, family relationships, career development, and emotional needs; and (4) the modern parenting and fertility beliefs, spouses’ support, and the struggle between job and parenting commitments significantly predicted the EC teachers’ fertility willingness.

Special Issue: Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of Aging China

“…Contribution 3 investigated Chinese early childhood teachers' willingness to have more children under the three-child policy [11]. Compared to other professionals, this study showed that kindergarten teachers had a lower willingness to have an extra child.…”

Research on influencing factors of college teachers’ second child fertility intentions——Taking Jinan as an example

“…The factors affecting fertility intentions are very complex and have been the subject of a great deal of scholarly research [ 34 , 52 , 53 ]. Research indicates that at the micro level, fertility intentions are related to factors such as working conditions [ 54 ], economic conditions [ 34 , 52 , 55 ], housing conditions [ 53 ], gender role attitudes [ 56 , 57 ], and family support [ 58 ], while at the macro level, fertility intentions are related to family policy and fertility policy, among other factors. Some scholars argue that economic conditions have a substitutionary effect on fertility intentions, i.e., the better a couple’s economic conditions, the lower their fertility intentions [ 59 ].…”

“…Scholars have conducted many studies on the factors influencing the fertility intentions of the general population to have a second child [ 32 , 33 ]. To date, there have been few studies on the fertility intentions of specific groups of people, and only a small number of scholars have studied the fertility intentions of specific samples of people such as early childhood teachers [ 34 ], college students [ 35 ], and transient population [ 36 ]. The study of special groups in this paper is motivated by concerns about policy implications, improvements in policy design.…”