Abstract
The success of China’s productivity and growth over the last three decades is attributable in part to its commitment to building a robust education system, which included the implementation of a nine-year compulsory education system and later a massive higher education structure. However, early childhood education or pre-primary education did not feature in this plan and in fact, relegated by policymakers to a much lower position. In rural, poor, remote and western areas in China, attention given to pre-primary education is far worse and has long been stagnant.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In mainland China, preschools have a different name “you er yuan” (幼儿园), which literally means “kindergarten” in Chinese, usually refers to full-day programs serving 3–6 year-old children with a focus on education and care. Children are generally grouped by age in kindergarten. Government regulations in 1981 recommended three groupings: juniors (3-year-olds), middle (4-year-olds) and seniors (5-year-olds). Class size increases with age, usually ranging from 20 to 40 children. Each group typically has two teachers and a nurse. Large, affluent centers often have one or more on-site doctors to care for sick or injured children. They also provide other health-related services, such as performing health screenings, giving immunizations and planning nutritious meals.
References
Bureau of Labour Statistics, U.S. Department of Labour. (2014). Occupational outlook handbook. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/home.htm.
China Daily (2016, March 18). Left-behind children subject of new census. Retrieved January 16, 2016 from: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china//2016-03/28/content_24129610.htm.
Dumas, C., & Lefranc, A. (2010). Early schooling and later outcomes: Evidence from preschool extension in France. Thema Working Paper No. 2010-07(Université de Cergy Pontoise, France). Retrieved August 6, 2011, from http://client.norc.org/jole/soleweb/11056.pdf.
Heckman, J. J., Moon, S. H., Pinto, R., Savelyev, P. A., & Yavitz, A. Q. (2009). A reanalysis of the high/scope perry preschool program. Unpublished manuscript, University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Chicago, USA. Retrieved June 24, 2011, from http://jenni.uchicago.edu/perry_reanalysis/general-090424-1808.pdf.
International Labour Office (2012). Right beginnings: Early childhood education and educators. Report for discussion at the Global Dialogue Forum on Conditions of Personnel in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_dialogue/@sector/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_171717.pdf.
Li, M., Deng, F., & Liu, L. (2015). How to advance the initial training system for chinese kindergarten teachers in a new era. In L. Huo, S. B. Neuman, & A. Nanakida (Eds.), Early childhood education in three cultures (pp. 127–142). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Litjens, I., & Taguma, M. (2010). Literature overview for the 7th meeting of the OECD network on early childhood education and care. Paris: OECD.
Ministry of Education. (2011). Curriculum Standards for Teacher Education (trail) {教师教育课程标准(试行)}. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A10/s6991/201110/t20111008_145604.html.
Ministry of Education. (2012). Professional Standards for Kindergarten Teachers (trail) {幼儿园教师专业标准 (试行)}. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s6991/201212/xxgk_145603.html.
Ministry of Education. (2013). Standards for Staff-to-child Ratios in Kindergartens (trail) {幼儿园员教职工配备标准 (试行)}. Retrieved January 23, 2013, from http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-01/23/content_2318295.htm.
Ministry of Education. (2014a). Present the data: The outcomes of Three-Year Action Plan. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://xueqian.eol.cn/luntan_11105/20140227/t20140227_1079021.shtml.
Ministry of Education. (2015a). Professional Standards for Kindergarten Directors (trail) {幼儿园园长专业标准 (试行)}. Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7148/201501/t20150112_189307.html.
Ministry of Education. (2015b). Number of Educational Personnel in Kindergarten (幼儿园教职工数). Retrieved May 30, 2015 from Ministry of Education Website: http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s8493/201412/181623.html.
Ministry of Education. (2015c). National Statistics for Education Development (教育统计数据). Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s8492/index.html.
Ministry of Education. (2015d). National Statistics for Education Development 2014 (2014年全国教育事业发展统计公报). Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201507/t20150730_196698.html.
Ministry of Education. (2015e). Mid-term Assessment for the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020): A report for pre-primary education (《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要》中期评估:学前教育专题评估报告). Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/moe_2069/xwfbh_2015n/xwfb_151124/151124_sfcl/201511/t20151124_220650.html.
Ministry of Education. (2015f). An Assessment Report for the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) (《教育规划纲要》贯彻落实情况总体评估报告). Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/moe_1946/fj_2015/201512/W020151210290778670238.pdf.
Ministry of Education, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance (2014b, November 3). Opinions on Implementing the Second-round Three-year Action Plan for Pre-primary Education (关于实施第二期学前教育三年行动计划的意见).Retrieved from http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3327/201411/178318.html.
Ministry of Education & Ministry of Finance. (2010, June 30). National Teacher Training Program for Primary and Secondary Schools (教育部财政部关于实施“中小学教师国家级培训计划”的通知). Retrieved from the Website of the central government of the People’s Republic of China: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2010-06/30/content_1642031.htm.
Melhuish, E. C. (2011). Preschool matters. Science, 333(6040), 299–300.
National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2015). National data. Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C01.
National Teacher Certificate Examination. (2015). (跨越新考纲,成就教师路). Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://www.ntce.com/zt/2year/.
OECD. (2015). Starting strong IV: Monitoring quality in early childhood education and care. Paris: OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/9789264233515-en.
OECD, European Union, UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2015). ISCED 2011 operational manual: guidelines for classifying national education programmes and related qualifications. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264228368-en. Creative Commons Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.
OECD. (2014). Education at a glance 2014: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2014-en.
OECD. (2012).Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.
OECD. (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming social background—equity in learning opportunities and outcomes (volume II). Paris: OECD. Retrieved February 05, 2011, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264091504-en.
Reynolds, A. J., Temple, J. A., Ou, Suh-Ruu, Arteaga, I. A., & White, B. A. B. (2011). School-based early childhood education and age-28 well-being: Effects by timing, dosage, and subgroups. Science, 333(6040), 360–364.
State Council. (2010, November 24). State Council’s Opinions on Current Development of Pre-primary Education (国务院关于当前发展学前教育的若干意见). Retrieved from http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2010-11/24/content_1752377.htm.
State Council. (2010, July 29). Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) {国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要 (2010–2020年)}. Retrieved from http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2010-07/29/content_1667143.htm.
United Nations. (2000, September 18). United Nations Millennium Declaration, General Assembly resolution A/RES/55/2. United Nations, New York.
Wang, G., & Zhang, L. (2012). How many births would we have estimation of potential policy fertility. Sociological Studies, 244(5), 119–140. (王广州,张丽萍.到底能生多少孩子——中国人的政策生育潜力估计.社会学研究 (2012) 5(244), 119–140).
World Bank. (2011). Early childhood development and education in China: Breaking the cycle of poverty and improving future competitiveness (Rep. No. 53746-CN). Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank.
Zhu, X., & Han, X. (2006). Reconstruction of the teacher education system in China. International Education Journal, 7(1), 66–73.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, M., Liu, L., Fan, X. (2017). Is China Pre-primary Teacher Workforce Ready for a Big Jump in Enrolment?. In: Li, M., Fox, J., Grieshaber, S. (eds) Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2205-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2207-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)