Pursuing quality in early childhood education with a government-regulated voucher: views of parents and service providers in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This paper critically examines parents’ and service providers’ reception of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS), which was designed to enhance the quality of early childhood education in Hong Kong. The PEVS was a universal voucher policy that was designed to harness market forces and increase direct governmental control of quality in a private education market wherein pre-academic training and competition are emphasized. This paper presents the results of a survey of 413 parents and 215 service providers. Findings indicated that despite the government’s efforts in promoting quality as ‘child-centeredness’ and the efforts of preschools in meeting the quality standards, parents remained relatively neutral about the policy's influence on preschool quality. However, all parents appreciated the financial benefits they accrued from the PEVS, and more socially-advantaged families allocated the additional disposable income on extra educational activities and programs for their children. Findings suggest the implementation of the PEVS in a fully private market might unexpectedly exacerbate inequity in educational opportunities. The enrolment size of the preschool was also found to be a determinant of respondents’ views of the PEVS. We argue the government’s idea of ‘joyful learning’ may be even harder to achieve with the current means of service governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Early Childhood Education
• preschool Voucher
• quality
• market
• Hong Kong

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. US$1 = HK$7.78.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessie Ming Sin Wong

Jessie Ming Sin Wong is Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education, School of Education and Languages, The Open University of Hong Kong. She conducts research on early childhood education policies. Her current research focuses on the professional identity development of early childhood educators in the face of educational reforms.

Nirmala Rao

Nirmala Rao is Serena H.C. Yang Professor in Early Childhood Development and Education and Chair Professor of Child Development and Education, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong.  She conducts research on early childhood development and education in Asian cultural contexts. This research has focused on the quality of early childhood education; early educational policy in the Asia-Pacific; and evaluation of early childhood programs.