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In the global context, male participation in early childhood education is notably low, with only 3% of the workforce in mainland China comprising male professionals. This study delves into the intrinsic motivation of male kindergarten teachers, employing the framework of self-determination theory. Qualitative research, comprising face-to-face interviews with seven Chinese kindergarten teachers, aims to uncover the factors influencing their intrinsic motivation at work. By understanding their perspectives on intrinsic motivation, this research offers valuable insights to professionals in the field of early childhood education.

Aims: To determine the associations between COVID-19 school closures and school readiness skills for Chinese kindergarteners. Design: We utilized the natural experimental condition created by local COVID-19 outbreaks in 2022 (Study 1) to compare school readiness skills of children whose kindergartens were closed for 5 months (Group 1) with children whose kindergartens stayed open (Group 2). We further compared the school readiness skills of one pre-COVID-19 cohort (Cohort 2019) with one COVID-19 cohort (Cohort 2021) from a fifth kindergarten (Study 2). Samples: For Study 1, Group 1 included 445 children and Group 2 included 584 children aged 4-6 years. For Study 2, Cohort 2019 included 156 children and Cohort 2021 included 228 children aged 3-6 years. Measures: For both studies, survey data on four school readiness skills were collected from parents. Additionally, Study 1 collected parental locus of control data from parents. Results: Controlling for covariates, Study 1 revealed that Group 1 and Group 2 did not differ in terms of language and emergent literacy or approaches to learning. However, Group 1 scored lower than Group 2 on health and well-being and arts and imagination. Study 2 revealed that Cohort 2021 scored higher than Cohort 2019 on language and emergent literacy but lower on the other three skills. Conclusions: The associations of COVID-19 school closures with Chinese children's school readiness skills were not uniform, with a positive relation with language and emergent literacy and negative associations with health and well-being, approaches to learning, as well as arts and imagination.

We examined the relations between mothers' reading skills, home literacy environment (HLE), and children's emergent literacy skills and word reading and whether their relations vary across urban and rural contexts in China. Four hundred third-year kindergarten Chinese children (M[subscript age] = 74.50 ± 3.77 months) were recruited from Jining (N = 232) and the small towns of Luqiao and Mapo (N = 168). The children were assessed on emergent literacy skills (pinyin letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming [RAN], and vocabulary) and word reading. Their mothers were also assessed on reading skills and completed a questionnaire on HLE (direct teaching, shared book reading, and access to literacy resources [ALR]). Results of structural equation modeling showed that (a) mothers' reading skills correlated with shared book reading and ALR in both groups, (b) direct teaching predicted children's pinyin letter knowledge, and ALR predicted phonological awareness and vocabulary in both groups after controlling for mothers' reading skills and parents' education, and (c) mothers' reading skills had an indirect effect on children's word reading through vocabulary (in the urban group) or phonological awareness (in the rural group). Multigroup analyses further showed that the effect of direct teaching on RAN was stronger in the rural group. These findings suggest that HLE exerts its effect on children's emergent literacy skills and word reading across contexts, even after controlling for mothers' reading skills.

An overarching framework in the field of developmental psychology highlights the close linkage of cognition with emotion; however, the extent to which this framework supports the relationship between executive functions and emotion understanding in young children remains unclear. Hence, we employ a longitudinal tracking study to investigate the bidirectional relationship between emotion understanding and executive functions. A total of 112 children (M = 48.01 months, 68 boys) were recruited to perform tests at three time points within 2 years. Results from our cross-lagged model analysis indicated that early executive functions significantly predicted the development of emotion understanding at Time 2 and Time 3, while emotion understanding at Time 2 significantly predicted the subsequent development of executive functions in Time 3, controlling for age, gender, and family socioeconomic status (SES). Moreover, the latent change score model analysis further revealed the developmental trends and interrelations of executive functions and emotion understanding over time. Specifically, children with higher initial level of executive functions exhibited faster growth in emotion understanding over time, and then this improved emotion understanding predicted the changes in later executive functions. Overall, these findings elucidate significant developmental progressions for how emotion understanding and executive functions interact with each other during early childhood.

We examined the relation between home literacy environment (HLE), parents' reading skills, and children's emergent literacy skills (pinyin letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and reading (word reading and reading comprehension) in a sample of 168 Chinese children (M[subscript age] = 74.26 months) followed from kindergarten to Grade 1. Results of structural equation modeling showed that code-related HLE activities and access to literacy resources continued to predict children's emergent literacy skills after controlling for the effects of family's socioeconomic status and both parents' reading skills. Parents' reading skills also exerted a direct effect on children's reading comprehension. These findings suggest that HLE exerts a true environmental effect on children's reading skills that is not due to a genetic confound.

The present study investigated parental antecedents of children's learning interests in numeracy and literacy. Parents of 110 five- to six-year-old Chinese kindergarten children were recruited. One parent of each child completed the questionnaire on demographics, parental attitudes, home environment, home activity, parental involvement in school, and children's learning interests in numeracy and literacy. The results indicated that parents' attitudes could exert direct impacts on their children's learning interests in numeracy and literacy when demographic variables and parental practices were controlled for. Parents' attitudes toward their own learning were also indirectly correlated with their children's learning interests via their attitudes toward their children's learning. Moreover, parental practices explained the relationship between parental attitudes and children's learning interests, albeit slightly differently across literacy and numeracy. Home activity and parental involvement in school significantly mediated the relationship between parental attitudes and children's learning interests in numeracy, while in literacy, only home learning activity was a significant mediator. These findings have important implications for guiding parents in cultivating the kindergarten children's learning interests in numeracy and literacy.

Children's preschool years are crucial for the development of computational thinking (CT) skills. However, debate continues regarding whether CT should be developed through plugged-in or unplugged activities. This study investigated the similarities and differences between plugged-in and unplugged activities with similar learning content and assessment methods for cultivating computational thinking (CT) in young children. Twenty-four young children (aged 5-6 years) from a kindergarten in Foshan, China, were randomly assigned to either the plugged-in or unplugged group to participate in a five-week study. In the plugged-in group, Dodobot was used in the classroom, while in the unplugged group, unplugged materials such as paper, pencil and tangram puzzles were used. Research results indicate that 1) both plugged-in and unplugged activities significantly improved the young children's CT skills after a short-term educational intervention, but there were no significant differences between the two groups; 2) the extent to which the plugged-in and unplugged activities promoted subdimensions of CT was different, with the plugged-in group demonstrating significant improvements in hardware, algorithm, and modularity and the unplugged group demonstrating significant improvements in terms of representation; 3) the children from both the plugged-in and unplugged groups showed high motivation; And 4) the children in both the plugged-in and unplugged groups showed cooperative behaviors. The frequency of cooperative behavior was more related to materials, and cooperation quality was more related to teacher guidance.

Background: Dialogic reading (DR) is an effective shared reading technique based on the prompts-evaluate-expand-repeat (PEER) sequence, which fosters children's language development. This study examines the effects of its elements by comparing shared reading with prompts with minimal feedback (PMF) and PEER. Methods: This study included 364 typically developing Chinese kindergarteners and used a randomised control trial design. The children and their parents were divided into three groups, namely, the PMF, PEER and control groups. The children were pre- and post-tested on their language skills and reading interest measures before and after the intervention. Results: Results showed that after a 12-week intervention, the children in the PMF group outperformed those in the control group in terms of receptive vocabulary, character reading and listening comprehension. Meanwhile, the children in the PEER group outperformed those in the PMF and control groups not only in terms of the above measures but also in their expressive vocabulary and reading interest. Conclusions: These results highlight the contribution of parents' questions and the additional benefits of their systematically corrective feedback on kindergarten children's language and reading interest development. This study supports the literature on cognitive engagement theory related to young children's individual language and reading interest development through interactive parent-child DR activities.

Supporting socio-economically disadvantaged students to improve their academic resilience is vital in promoting social mobility and halting intergenerational transmission of poverty. Based on the baseline data 2013-2014 from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) database, this paper examined the impact of preschool education experience on academic resilience of disadvantaged students using coarsened exact matching (CEM) and hierarchical logistic regression. Research findings show that disadvantaged children have less access to preschool education than their advantaged peers, with a kindergarten attendance rate lower than 70%; that preschool education can significantly improve children's cognitive ability and effectively predict academic resilience of disadvantaged students; and that preschool education is a better predictor of resilience of rural disadvantaged students than that of their urban counterparts. The government should reinforce subsidies for early childhood education that can serve as compensation for disadvantaged kids; and should further universalize preschool education to secure the opportunity of high-quality pre-primary school education for disadvantaged children.

With business relations and international travel on the rise between China and English-speaking countries, the need for English teachers in China has also increased. One method of teaching English in China occurs through summer English camps. The research presented here examines the teacher, camp coordinator, student, and parent experience with a three-week summer English camp for kindergarten through grade eight students hosted by an international school in China. The objective of the study is to describe the lived experiences from the perspective of the various partners to examine whether the curriculum adequately meets their needs, whether children are improving their English skills, and whether the teachers are sufficiently prepared for their experiences. Findings suggest that all participants indicate a high level of satisfaction with the summer camp, especially the importance of relationships in English language learning. Some of the expressed concerns lead to recommendations for improvements. In this study, the practice of the summer English camp is linked to the current English as an additional language research, making this research relevant to a broad international audience. Not only are summer English camps in high demand in China, but in other countries around the world as well.

Purpose: Chinese kindergarten teachers commonly held "loving and caring for young children" as a core professional ethic, but many reported fatigue and burnout because of this ethical practice. This study presents a unique account of how children's free play has helped transform teachers' professional ethics and increased their professional satisfaction. Design/Approach/Methods: Following a purposive sampling, we interviewed eight Chinese teachers who actively promoted children's free play. The analysis of the interview transcripts led to an in-depth interpretation of the teachers' experiences through a dialogue with various concepts and theories. Findings: A major finding was that children's free play facilitated the change in teachers' understandings of their professional ethics. Their observation and support of children's free play brought them the unprecedented joy of teaching, which helped them redefine loving and caring for children and gave rise to a new code of professional ethics. Originality/Value: This study was the first to assess the Chinese kindergarten teachers' ethics in the free play movement in China. It reveals, in the teachers' own words, how their growing commitment to supporting children's free play has transformed their beliefs and understandings of what a loving and caring teacher means.

National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a two-model system to address government mandates while still adhering to IB policies. A two-model system occurs when the two curricula are taught separately rather than in an integrated way. Our findings describe teachers' understanding of a two-model system, identify challenges for teachers in its implementation, and suggest improvements. Results are confined to a single context of an English department in China and cannot therefore be generalized. Our findings reveal an overall theme of separateness identifying structural and conceptual factors affecting the relationship between the two models. The article discusses new ideas for curriculum structures that might inform school decisions for similar IB schools and schools with integrated curricula.

This study examines the development of children's social skills during the crucial transition from kindergarten to grade school. It explores the long-term connection between parenting styles and children's social skills. This study conducted a three-year longitudinal survey involving 121 children and their parents. The results show that early authoritative parenting styles were significant positive associated with children's social skills in second grade, and early authoritarian parenting styles were significant negative associated with children's social skills in second grade. Child-parent relationship closeness and receptive language skills mediate the association between early parenting styles and second-grade children's social skills. We propose that improving the closeness of the child-parent relationship and enhancing children's receptive language skills could effectively enhance children's social skills. This provides theoretical support for intervention programmes aimed at improving children's social skills.

Research Findings: This study explored the relationship between family-work conflict and autonomy support among Chinese kindergarten teachers. Autonomous motivation and ego depletion were considered as the mediator and moderator, respectively. A total of 859 kindergarten teachers were recruited and surveyed online. The results showed that (1) Family-work conflict was negatively associated with autonomy support; (2) Autonomous motivation partially mediated the relationship between family-work conflict and autonomy support; (3) The relationship between family-work conflict and autonomous motivation was found to be moderated by ego depletion. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the contribution of resolving family-work conflict in improving kindergarten teachers' autonomy support. Effective policies should focus on enhancing autonomous motivation and mitigating the negative effects of ego depletion. These strategies are critical to fostering a supportive teaching environment that can benefit both teachers and young children.

Purpose: We examined whether the relations between home literacy environment (HLE), children's independent reading, and emergent literacy and reading skills are confounded by parents' reading skills (a genetic proxy). Method: One hundred eighty-nine Chinese children (M[subscript age] = 74.26 months, 40% female) were followed from kindergarten to Grade 2 and were assessed on emergent literacy skills (pinyin knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and word reading in kindergarten and on reading comprehension in Grade 2. Their parents (both mothers and fathers) were also assessed on reading (word reading and reading comprehension) and completed questionnaires on HLE (code-related activities, meaning-related activities, and access to literacy resources) in kindergarten and their children's independent reading in Grade 2. Results: Results of structural equation modeling showed that access to literacy resources was associated with children's vocabulary, and code-related activities indirectly predicted reading comprehension through pinyin knowledge after controlling for parents' reading skills. Parents' reading skills indirectly predicted children's reading comprehension through children's independent reading. Conclusion: Code-related activities and access to literacy resources may have a true effect on children's reading development over and above the effect of parents' reading skills as a proxy for genetic transmission. The children of parents with better reading skills may engage in more independent reading, which may be related to their better reading comprehension.

This study explores the relationship between parental attitudes toward outdoor activities and children's health-related quality of life, focusing on the mediation of outdoor activity time and nature connections. Data from 399 kindergarten children, supplemented by parental insights, were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Positive parental attitudes toward outdoor activities were found to predict enhanced physical functioning and kindergarten performance. Additionally, a positive correlation was observed for social functioning, while emotional functioning remained unaffected. Parental attitudes directly influenced physical functioning, with indirect effects on kindergarten performance mediated by outdoor time and nature connections. These findings highlight the importance of parental attitudes in promoting children's well-being and suggest potential strategies to enhance their health-related quality of life.

As technology-enhanced children's learning has gained wide attention, programmable robots have been gradually introduced in early childhood education. Hence, it would be valuable to understand how young children perceive robot programming learning. Draw-a-picture technique is an ideal method to elicit ideas, thoughts, and feelings for children with limited literacy, and epistemic network analysis (ENA) is a novel analytical method to analyze children's conceptions through the visualized network model. Therefore, this study employed a draw-a-picture technique and ENA to explore 189 5-6-year-old young children's conceptions of robot programming learning and probe whether their conceptions differ by gender and learning achievements. Results revealed that most children believed that with robot programming kits, they could engage in programming activities with peers in any location and held positive emotions and attitudes. In addition, young children's conceptions of robot programming learning differ notably by gender and learning achievements. Based on the current findings, several suggestions were proposed, which could set a reference for future robot programming teaching in early childhood education.

Coding ability has become an essential digital skill for young children. The graphical programming environment is valuable carrier for cultivating children's coding ability. The purpose of this study is to develop a coding ability test for children, to conduct a graphic coding intervention, and to further explore the impact of multiple factors on children's coding ability in ScratchJr intervention. First, the coding ability test for ScratchJr environment was developed based on Item Response Theory to measure kindergarten students' coding ability. The result showed that there are good reliability, content, and structural validity of the test question. Secondly, we conducted a 12-week ScratchJr coding activity teaching experiment on 162 kindergarten students. The analysis of the treated group and the control group showed that coding activity teaching can effectively improve the students' coding ability. Finally, this study analyzed the differences in children's coding ability in coding interest, and coding experience. The results showed that the coding ability was affected by coding experience and coding interest. More interestingly, it was found partial mediation effect among coding ability, coding experience and coding interest. Moreover, ScratchJr coding intervention can influence the direct effect of coding experience on coding ability by improving children's coding interest.

To examine the relationship between early number sense and later symbolic arithmetic competence and how they are connected in young Chinese children. The present study utilized a longitudinal sample of 115 Chinese children aged 3 to 6. Young children completed measures to assess number sense, visual spatial skills (in the fall of their second kindergarten year, K2), arithmetic competence (in the spring of their second kindergarten year, K3), working memory, verbal comprehension, and inhibitory control (in the fall of their first kindergarten year, K1). The results showed that number sense predicted arithmetic competence six months later. Meanwhile, visual spatial skills played a mediating role in this association, but it became non-significant when working memory, verbal comprehension, and inhibitory control were added as covariates. These longitudinal findings confirm the close association between number sense and arithmetic competence in young Chinese children.

Studies have demonstrated a significant correlation between the approximate number system (ANS) and early mathematical achievement. However, various explanations exist regarding the underlying cognitive mechanisms that underpin this association. The present study investigated whether the two hypotheses of inhibition control and visual form perception could explain the relationship between kindergarteners' ANS and mathematical achievements. In spring, data were collected from a sample of 180 kindergarteners (M[subscript age] = 5.77 years, SD = 0.59). A parallel mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the role of inhibition control and visual form perception in the link between ANS and math achievement. The results indicated an indirect effect of ANS on mathematical achievements through both inhibition control and visual form perception, with both mediators exhibiting a comparable magnitude. These findings highlight the significance of distinct cognitive abilities that can potentially enhance early mathematical advancement.

The fertility policy liberalization in China has meant that many firstborn children are stressed by a newborn sibling's arrival. This case study explores creative arts intervention as an innovative stress management approach to alleviate a Chinese girl's maladaptive reactions during her transition to siblinghood. A weekly 17-session tailored creative arts program used diverse art forms for self-exploration, emotion regulation, and family dynamics reconstruction in stages. The study employed an AB single-case design and utilized a mixed-methods approach for data collection. The results demonstrated that the child's maladjustment appeared closely tied to the cultural context of Chinese families. Creative arts intervention effectively improved the child's emotion regulation, family involvement, and social confidence as well as sibling warmth and managing jealousy. This case offers culturally situated insights to guide future child-centred, arts-based transition support research in Chinese families undergoing rapid structural shifts.

Our study examined young children's pre-academic and social skills in relation to parental locus of control and children's behaviours of ADHD. The participants were parents of 1,502 children from four Chinese kindergartens (M[subscript age] = 4.59, SD = 0.93; Girls: 51.40%). Data on six domains of children's pre-academic and social skills, parental external and internal locus of control, and children's inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were obtained with the Early Learning and Development for Children Aged 3 to 6 years, the Parental Locus of Control scale, and the ADHD Rating Scale-IV Preschool Home Version respectively. Hierarchical regression results showed that controlling for other variables, higher scores in parental external locus of control and child inattention behaviours significantly predicted lower scores in all six domains, while higher scores in internal locus of control and child hyperactivity/impulsivity behaviours predicted higher scores in all six domains (R[superscript 2] ranged from 18.0% to 47.0%). Noticeably, parental locus of control explained a smaller amount of the variance (1.0-5.0%) than behaviours of ADHD (5.0-11.0%) in the children's outcomes.

Although Chinese early childhood education policies have high expectations for kindergarten teachers' play pedagogy, teaching and play are still discussed as a bifurcation in Chinese kindergartens' daily practice. To support Chinese kindergarten teachers' development of play pedagogy, this study conducted an educational experiment (EE) framed by cultural-historical theory. The study was conducted in a public kindergarten located in the northeast of China. Two teachers and 34 children (4-5 years) were involved in the study. The data were collected using the methods of digital video observation, interviews, and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that EE creates a new social situation that can motivate teachers' development in ways of collaborative teaching. Moreover, the collective reflection and Conceptual PlayWorld (CPW) implementation within the EE amplified teachers' play pedagogy development. We argue that the EE works as a source of teachers' professional development (PD) and builds their identity as experts in creating playful learning environments in a Chinese cultural context.

Following the increasing impacts on the value of Western play-based pedagogy, early childhood (EC) teachers in China face developmental challenges related to understanding and implementing play-based mathematical education. The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese EC teachers' perspectives on play-based mathematics teaching. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews and lesson plans are collected from six EC teachers in a Chinese kindergarten. Hedegaard's model is applied to frame analysis for capturing EC teachers' views and practices from a holistic perspective. The findings show that all six EC teachers valued play as a pedagogical tool for teaching mathematics, while their pedagogical decisions in applying play to children's mathematics are determined by the various demands from society, parents and children. The multiple demands from different perspectives result in challenges for teachers in designing collective play. This study revealed that only when play activity caters to the possibility of satisfying those demands can teachers pedagogically implement play for children's mathematical learning. The insights emerging from this study might address the pragmatic challenges that teachers face by enhancing teachers' professional development to support the advance of culturally sensitive play-based mathematics teaching in China.

"Research Findings:" Sustained attention is a fundamental cognitive function for young children's development. We investigated the effects of school-based audiovisual game training with parental involvement on sustained attention (SA) in 5-6-year-old Chinese children. Totally 75 children and their parents participated and were assigned into three groups. The School Practice Intervention (SPI) group and the Parental Involvement Intervention (PII) group underwent an eight-week audiovisual game training, while the No Intervention (NI) group participated in regular activities and received no intervention. We tested participants' visual and auditory sustained attention at four time points, i.e., pretest, middle test, posttest, and follow-up test. Results indicated that (1) children in PII and SPI groups had significantly greater visual and auditory sustained attention than the NI group in posttest and follow-up test; (2) the PII group showed better SA than the SPI group in posttest and follow-up test; (3) visual SA of experimental groups improved significantly since the middle test, while the improvement of auditory SA emerged since posttest. "Practice or Policy:" The play-based audiovisual training in a school setting effectively enhances SA for 5-6-year-olds, and parental involvement benefits the intervention. More efforts should be made to improve auditory sustained attention. The educational implications of these findings were discussed.

"Research Findings:" Playfulness is an important personality tendency with an important role in the well-being, mental health, and various other aspects of an individual's life. Previous studies have shown that the development of children's playfulness is related to parents' playfulness. However, limited research has been conducted on how parental playfulness influences children's playfulness. The present study used a mixed-methods design to examine the impact of parents' playfulness on their children's playfulness and explore the mechanism of the impacting process. Questionnaires were administered to participants, who comprised 360 parents of preschool children, to test the relationship between parental and children's playfulness and explore the roles of parenting styles and parent-child relationships as the quantitative element of the study. The qualitative element comprised semi-structured interviews with 10 parents selected from the quantitative part. The results suggest that there was significant positive correlation between parental and children's playfulness and democratic parenting and intimate parent-child relationships had a chain mediating effect on this relationship. Further, parents' attitudes toward playfulness, constraints on children's play, and parental support for children in play were also the factors that influence the relationship between parental and children's playfulness. "Practice or Policy:" These findings provide approaches of interventions aimed at cultivating a higher level of playfulness, and simultaneously promoting the overall development of children.

"Research Findings:" This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Puhui early education services (PEES) policy in China from the triangulated perspectives of stakeholders using a developed and validated scale. First, applying a stratified cluster sampling method, the Puhui Early Education Services Policy Effectiveness Scale (PE) was developed and validated with 85 principals, 909 kindergarten teachers, and 4,128 parents. Second, the psychometric properties indicated that the PE was a reliable and valid scale with three constructs: accessibility, affordability, and quality. Third, descriptive statistics found that Chinese stakeholders submitted a positive evaluation of the PEES policy effectiveness, with the construct of quality ranked the highest and that of affordability the lowest. Fourth, parents have fewer positive evaluations compared to principals and teachers, while stakeholders from Puhui private kindergartens have more positive evaluations compared to those from public kindergartens. Last, hierarchical regression analysis found that kindergarten type and rating were critical positive predictors after controlling for demographic and urbanicity factors. "Practice or Policy:" These findings indicate that it is necessary to understand parents' policy expectations and improve the financial distribution to ensure sustainable and high-quality development of the PEES.

The study investigated how parental belief and family socio economic status (SES) were related to the home literacy environment and to early literacy-related skills in a foreign language (English). Eighty-six Chinese children in kindergarten (Mage = 5 years 5 months, 44 girls) were assessed on English phonological awareness, English receptive vocabulary, English expressive vocabulary, Chinese receptive vocabulary, and nonverbal intelligence. Parents completed a questionnaire about family demographics, home literacy environment, and parental belief on the importance of early English literacy skills. Principal component analysis revealed three dimensions of home literacy environment: Formal Literacy Activity, Informal Language Exposure, and Passive Literacy Exposure. Results showed that parental belief and family SES were important predictors of home literacy environment, which further explained 44% of the variance in early English language and literacy skills. Parental belief indirectly predicted children's English receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary through Informal Language Exposure, and phonological awareness through Formal Literacy Activity. The results underpinned the importance of parents' involvement at home and the potential feasibility of interventions on parental beliefs in helping children develop early language and literacy skills in English as a foreign language.

This study addresses a gap in resilience interventions for rural preschoolers by validating a 14-week play-based picture-book reading program involving 80 Chinese preschoolers aged 4-5 years. Participants were randomly assigned to non-intervention (NI), play intervention (PI), picture-book reading intervention (PRI), or play-based picture-book reading intervention (PPRI) groups. Kindergarten teachers and parents reported children's resilience with the Chinese version of Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers at pretest, post-test, and follow-up. Results revealed that intervention groups (PI, PRI, PPRI) exhibited higher resilience gain scores than the NI group. Notably, the PPRI group demonstrated greater resilience gains compared to the PRI and PI groups. Furthermore, the intervention effects of the PPRI group were maintained for two months following the intervention. Those findings suggest that PPRI may be a valuable intervention for enhancing resilience in preschoolers, with potential applications in kindergarten classrooms.

Teaching is an emotionally demanding profession, and teachers' ability to manage their emotions appears to be linked to their occupational well-being. Kindergarten teachers experience intense and frequent emotional interactions in their daily work; however, studies on kindergarten teachers' emotional labor are still rare. Because social relationships are essential for understanding emotional labor, the current study explored how three types of social relationships influenced teachers' emotional labor strategies and their occupational well-being. Research Findings: Through an investigation of 1,342 kindergarten teachers in China, the results showed that teacher-child relationship, trust in colleagues and trust in parents had different impacts on teachers' emotional labor and dimensions of occupational well-being (job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion). Surface acting and the natural expression of felt emotions had opposite influences on teachers' occupational well-being, and they both played mediating roles between social relationships and occupational well-being factors. Practice or Policy: The study highlighted the importance of teachers' different interpersonal relationships, surface acting and the expression of naturally felt emotion in kindergarten contexts.

Research Findings: This study extends the understanding of the sibling effect on children's theory of mind (ToM) among Chinese preschoolers by adopting an ecological perspective. The participants were 225 Chinese preschoolers, comprising 100 children with siblings (M[subscript age] = 4.54 years, SD = 1.11, 55 boys) and 125 children without siblings (M[subscript age] = 4.52 years, SD = 0.99, 60 boys). We assessed children's ToM through a child measurement task, and peer interaction time on the weekend and parenting style (i.e. authoritarian and authoritative parenting style) through parent reports. This study revealed that the role of siblings in children's development of ToM did not have a main effect among Chinese preschoolers, regardless of their birth order or siblings' ages. However, when considering the influence of parents and peers in addition to siblings, the sibling effect is only noticeable for children with low interaction levels with their peers. Practice or Policy: In conclusion, this study demonstrates that in China, child-aged siblings positively influence the ToM development in children who have limited interactions with peers. These findings underscore the value of siblings as a developmental resource and offer parents critical insights into fostering ToM, especially under the two-child policy.

Research Findings: The present study focused on the affective quality of dyadic relationships between teachers and young children in China and the Netherlands. We examined whether there were cross-cultural differences in teachers' and children's relationship perceptions, as well as the degree to which teachers and children agreed on their relationship perceptions. The Dutch sample included 234 kindergartners and first-graders (47.7% girls; M[subscript age] = 5.82 years) and 35 teachers. The Chinese sample consisted of 190 kindergartners (50.5% girls; M[subscript age] = 5.60 years) and 19 teachers. Both teachers and children reported about their mutual relationships. Multiple group analyses showed that, unexpectedly, Chinese children experienced lower warmth and higher conflict with teachers than Dutch children. In contrast, teachers from China and the Netherlands did not differ in the degree of closeness and conflict they experienced in their relationships with young children. In both countries, teachers and children had significant agreement on conflict but lacked agreement on closeness. Practice or Policy: Thus, it seems important to include child perceptions in cross-cultural comparisons of early teacher-child relationships as well.

Recognising children as active and competent citizens holds promise for early childhood research and pedagogies worldwide. Researchers in China have not previously explored young children's citizenship in detail. The project that is the focus of this article sought to address this research gap. Moss' critical approach and Chen's "Asia as Method" were employed as the tools for theoretical analysis. This article draws from the first author's doctoral study and explores data gathered from interviews with kindergarten teachers in selected Chinese kindergartens. The findings reveal the teachers' expanding conceptions of child citizens and offer insight into the syncretism of Western and Chinese discourses in early childhood care and education. Finally, the value of intercultural reflexivity is considered.

Research Findings: With individuals' increased access to information and communication technologies (ICT) in many places around the world, the definition of the digital divide has become more complicated than referring to differences in accessing technologies. As early childhood education (ECE) may impact children's life-long learning and development, digital divides may cause differences in how individual children experience technology-related learning across settings and are therefore important for investigation. This qualitative study explores teachers' practices of implementation of ICT in three kindergartens in China. Individual interviews and classroom observations were adopted to collect data. In light of concepts of the educational technology divide and glocalisation, this study locates participants' ICT implementation practices in the local and global literature for an in-depth analysis. The study found that the educational technology divide does exist in teachers' practices of ICT implementation, which may result in children's different learning experiences. Additionally, this study found a hybrid of Chinese educational tradition and newly advocated educational ideas in participants' practices of ICT implementation. Practice or Policy: The implications of the study are discussed to help accelerate the curriculum reforms in China's ECE context in this digital era.

Educational reform in China has brought about many Western educational approaches for teachers to consider as part of their pedagogy. An example of this is the theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory). This paper presents how a theory grounded in a Western context is locally reconceptualised by kindergarten teachers who grew up in a different context. A qualitative case study was selected to investigate seven kindergarten teachers' understandings of MI theory in China. Three methods were employed to gather data; semi-structured interviews, field observations and documentation. Evidence from the three sources were analysed using a thematic approach. This paper reports contextual factors that had an influence on the teachers' understandings of MI theory and thus its implementation, and argues that the introduction of new educational theories or approaches should be grounded in the local context in which the teaching will be embedded.

In China, accompanying parents are a special group supporting inclusive preschool education for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although they lack professional knowledge and skills in children's education, they are required to accompany their children full-time to provide necessary and unique assistance. The present study aims to explore the experiences of accompanying parents of children with ASD in the context of Chinese inclusive preschool education. Semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with 14 accompanying parents from an inclusive kindergarten. Results showed that the accompanying parents have transitioned across three roles -- from "caregivers" to "educators" to "right defenders." Each role transition resulted from their interaction with different elements in the environment and was aimed at increasing beneficial resources. Therefore, future policies and projects should improve the socioecological conditions of accompanying parents to promote inclusive preschool education in China.

Teachers' perceptions of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) profoundly influence how children experience ICT-supported activities in kindergartens. In China, given that the adoption of ICT in educational settings has been part of national development goals, kindergarten teachers' perceptions of it deserve more in-depth investigations. This qualitative research study discusses how 15 teachers from three kindergartens in China perceived the use of ICT in their teaching. Drawing on individual interviews and document analysis, the study found participants used various ICT devices for different purposes. Participants were generally positive about the value of ICT in accomplishing "teaching" tasks. The researcher developed three themes in relation to ICT use based on thematic analysis: ICT as a useful presenting tool; as a documentation and communication tool; and as a classroom-management tool. Further analysis identified participants' complicated conceptualisation of teaching, mechanical use of ICT, and simplistic understanding of ICT-supported teaching and learning. The ecological theory supported data analysis by illustrating the interrelated factors shaping teacher perceptions. By unpacking and problematising those perceptions, this study has implications for future practice and policymaking.

Teacher professional standards are a mechanism to safeguard quality teaching. In the context of Chinese early childhood education (ECE), this study developed a scale for self-assessing teacher competence against professional standards. The study adopted a three-phase design. In Phase 1, in accordance with Professional Standards for Kindergarten Teachers of China, a 60-item questionnaire was generated. In Phase 2, with a homogeneous convenience sample of 323 kindergartens teachers, the pretested 60-item questionnaire was subjected to rounds of exploratory factor analysis, which resulted in a 34-item scale. In Phase 3, with a sample of 1030 kindergartens teachers, confirmatory factor analysis was performed, which confirmed three measurement models including professional knowledge (8 items), professional practice (18 items), and professional disposition (8 items). The study exemplified how professional standards could be used as a tool for teacher self-assessment in ECE in a formalised manner.

This study aims to document the implementation of sign bilingualism and co-enrollment education in a kindergarten in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, to identify the major characteristics of the programme, and to report findings of children's language in terms of vocabulary and surveys on the views and attitudes of the stakeholders of the programme, including deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) as well as hearing children and teachers. The results indicate that (a) both deaf and hearing teachers enjoy working in the Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrollment (SLCO) class and believe it is beneficial for their professional development; (b) parents of both DHH children and hearing children are happy to send their children to the SLCO class; (c) the teachers and parents agree that the SLCO programme is helpful for the overall development of not only the DHH children but also the hearing children. They believe that such an environment benefits the children's language and communication skills and the development of self-confidence and social cognition; (d) both the teachers and parents believe that the DHH children and their hearing peers get along well with each other in the SLCO class and also enjoy learning sign language. Furthermore, they all agree that the SLCO programme is promising and should be continued in the current school and implemented in more schools.

In early childhood education in China, kindergarten teachers are facing a period of reform and development in which advanced technologies should be integrated into traditional education. This research aims to identify Chinese kindergarten teachers' opinions on using advanced technologies in their classrooms. The effects of four variables (age of teachers, teaching years, educational backgrounds, economic status of the kindergartens) on kindergarten teachers' opinions on advanced technologies were analyzed. To serve these purposes, 563 in-service kindergarten teachers in China filled out a questionnaire. This study found that 90.2% of Chinese kindergartens were equipped with advanced technologies and 71.3% of Chinese kindergarten teachers had positive attitudes toward the use of advanced technologies in their classrooms. While computers are the most common technology mentioned, robots (14%) and drones (11%) are also listed as instructional materials of the kindergartens. Based on the results, this study found that most Chinese kindergarten teachers held positive attitudes toward advanced technologies. The findings emphasize that teachers with less than three years of experience are more convinced that advanced technologies have a positive impact on children. In addition, teachers in public kindergartens believed that advanced technologies are more beneficial to children's development than in private kindergartens.

This paper reports a study that used a quantitative method to explore literacy planning in Chinese kindergartener families as well as the influences of socioeconomic status (SES) on it. The conceptual framework of family language policy (FLP), which consists of three components--language ideology, language management, and language practice, was adopted to examine literacy planning. The SES factors investigated included mother's education, mother's occupation, father's education, father's occupation, and household income. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of 664 kindergartener families from 10 kindergartens in a Chinese city. Descriptive statistics revealed reasonable language ideology and practice but relatively weak language management in Chinese kindergartener families. Structural equation modelling corroborated the relationships between language ideology, language management, and language practice hypothesised in the FLP theory. It also indicated that only mother's education significantly predicted the literacy planning of a family. Implications for early intervention for children's language development were discussed.

To explore the chain mediating effect of teacher-child conflict and sleeping disorders between work intensification on vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers, 847 kindergarten teachers in China were investigated using the Work Intensification Scale, Teacher-Child Relationship Scale (TCRS), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) and Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI). Data were analyzed by JASP 0.14.1 and structural equation model was built through Mplus8.3. It showed that there were significant differences in vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers in areas, age and education level. Work intensification, teacher--child conflict and sleeping disorders were positively correlated with vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers after controlling for demographic variables such as the nature of the kindergarten, geographic areas, gender, age and education level of the teachers. In the multiple mediation model, work intensification could directly predict vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers significantly through the mediating role of sleeping disorders but not teacher-child conflict. Moreover, teacher-child conflict and sleeping disorders had a chain mediating effect between work intensification and vocal fatigue of kindergarten teachers. So the government and education authorities should reduce the workload of kindergarten teachers, vocal training should be included in the curriculum of preschool education in universities, and it's necessary to strengthen the pre-service and post-service kindergarten teachers' training about voice using so as to improve the health care awareness. Teachers should develop communication skills to create effective interactions between teachers and children, and good environment should be created by mindful training to improve sleeping.

Research Findings: This study explored the mathematical belief profiles of Chinese early childhood teachers and examined the associations with teacher characteristics. A total of 391 teachers completed the "Early Childhood Teacher Mathematical Belief Scale," of which 36 teachers were interviewed to provide further information. The latent profile analysis identified three distinct mathematical belief profiles: (1) Constructivist profile, (2) Mixed high constructivist and traditional profile, and (3) Mixed low constructivist and traditional profile. Teachers with "bianzhi," more than 15 years of teaching experience, and having received professional development in early math were more likely to adopt a Constructivist profile. Practice or Policy: The results showed there are intra-cultural variations in Chinese teachers' beliefs about early math teaching and learning. This study highlights the need for early childhood teacher educators and policymakers to consider how to help teachers find an appropriate balance between western pedagogies and Chinese traditions.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the efficacy of Sandplay Therapy (SPT) in reducing children's kindergarten entrance anxiety in an effort to provide front-line preschool teachers with insights and strategies for addressing the emotional distress of children in their first days of nursery school. As a case study, the application of SPT to a 3-year-old boy who struggled with his transition into kindergarten was cited. The differences in his emotions and behaviors before and after six sessions of SPT were evaluated, revealing that the intervention through SPT significantly decreased his anxiety level while increasing his willingness to attend nursery school and that he finally developed a sound adaptation to the school, according to the comments of the observers. Findings showed that SPT could help kids feel less nervous about starting kindergarten and adjust better to new situations.

There is a rich body of studies on the implementation problems of curricular changes comprising more student-centred methodologies in English as a foreign language education around the world. Focusing on these global-wide studies within the context of the Ecological System Theory, this meta-synthesis aims to identify the common factors that hinder the curricular change implementation and to reveal the final synthesis that will lead to effective curricular change adoption. Hence, 10 studies from seven country settings (Türkiye, Japan, Colombia, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh) were included in the sample of the study. The analyses uncovered similar factors such as teachers' qualifications at the micro-level, lack of support and infrastructure at the meso-level, and lack of guidance or misalignment between curricular change and high-stakes testing policy at the macro-level for blocking the implementation. The synthesis indicated weaknesses between the systems from macro to micro, which resulted in the lack of interactions, as well as the coordination needed for the curricular change adoption. When they are improved, the connection between the systems will be built and all the needed contexts will be structured for the adoption. Consequently, the implications for the interaction improvement are provided. [This article includes an extended summary in Turkish.]

Early childhood STEM education (EC-STEM) is drawing increasing attention worldwide. Administrators are often regarded as "learning architects" in early childhood settings, and play a critical role in facilitating EC-STEM. However, little is known about how administrators perceive EC-STEM and create opportunities for providing STEM learning experiences for children. With an aim to elevate early childhood leaders' voice and highlight the intricacy of their involvement in EC-STEM, the present study analyzes and interprets data from interviews with 15 directors in China's kindergartens through the perspective of early childhood curriculum leadership. The findings of the study demonstrate that early childhood leaders generally have positive attitudes towards and strong beliefs in STEM, and are very likely to implement STEM in favorable conditions. The results identify a number of factors, such as institution's vision and goals, teacher competencies, critical resources including curricula, space, and material, and early childhood policy and curriculum structure, which are most relevant to the incorporation and implementation of STEM in early childhood settings.

Technology integration refers to the process of innovation diffusion, from understanding technology knowledge to achieving a high level quality of technology usage. To address the gap in research regarding the critical factors that influence K-12 teachers' practice of technology integration at the initial stage of a massive government-led training programme in rural areas, this study sought to explore the comprehensive effects of teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and beliefs on their technology integration. Participants included 267 in-service K-12 teachers from four pilot schools in a remote rural area in north-western China. We found that: (a) T-related knowledge positively predicted the teachers' technology integration quality and quantity, while T-unrelated knowledge negatively influenced technology integration quality and quantity; (b) the positive valence of teachers' beliefs (PVTBs) was positively related to technology integration quality, the negative valence of teachers' beliefs was negatively related to technology integration quantity; (c) the PVTBs impacted the quality and quantity of technology integration through T-related knowledge; and (d) gender significantly moderated the impact of positive beliefs and T-related knowledge on technology integration. This study suggests that improving K-12 teachers' technology integration in rural areas requires prioritizing professional development programmes that improve teachers' beliefs in the initial stage of technology diffusion.