The Quality Rating System of Chinese Preschool Education: Prospects and Challenges

Comparing cultural differences in two quality measures in Chinese kindergartens: the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised and the Kindergarten Quality Rating System

“…While such integration is worthy of praise, it inevitably warrants local governments to make corresponding changes to make MOE's curriculum reform align with the most high-stakes policy -KQRS. However, in the current KQRS, when gauging the quality of teaching, how Chinese pre-school teachers plan for and interact with children during free play and other routine activities is still weighted as less important than how they teach whole-group (Hu and Li 2012).…”

“…For example, the majority of states in the USA are using quality rating and improvement systems and/or tiered reimbursements to drive up quality, and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) (Harms, Clifford, and Cryer 2005) is the most widely adopted measure for quality in these states (Tout et al 2010). Chinese scholars (Dai and Liu 2003;Liu 2009;Hu and Li 2012) have repeatedly pointed out that existing rating systems are ineffective in driving up the quality of ECEC service, but previous literature has not identified, through empirical investigations, specific concepts of processual quality that warrant evaluation by these rating systems.…”

“…The Chinese contexts for understanding the quality of ECEC In China, a hybrid of cultural, political and western factors strongly influence the theory and practice of ECEC (Hu and Li 2012). Confucian values strongly influence Chinese culture, which teaches Chinese people to pay respect to teachers and adults and to value education.…”

What Knowledge and Skills Do Chinese Kindergarten Teachers Need in a Time of Reform: Director’s Perspectives

“…knowledge of the curriculum and many observed their practices in the kindergarten followed the content of government documents, especially the 2001 Preschool Curriculum Guidelines (youeryuan jiaoyu zhidao gangyao) which is considered the leading foundation document for ECE in China (Hu & Li, 2012). They used the terminology derived from this key document such as 'five content areas' and 'play' to explain how they organised their own curriculum.…”

“…In brief, while scholars accept that liberal beliefs relating to such issues as individualism have been incorporated into the curriculum, many features that are uniquely Chinese remain intact (Vong, 2008;Wong & Pang, 2002). Finally, researchers need to appreciate that China has moved towards a system of assessing quality early childhood teacher practices through the establishment of standards for teachers (Guo & Yong, 2013) and a rating system for preschools that is now becoming inclusive of the growing private sector (Hu & Li, 2012). Given the release of the curriculum and teacher standards documents there is a need to clarify and theorise what Chinese teachers need to know in order to deliver a high quality preschool program, what are the expectations of teachers in a rapidly changing China and how might tensions between preschool practitioners' curriculum beliefs and the educational philosophy espoused in the recently released policy documents be addressed.…”