Exploring the Quality of Early Childhood Education in China: Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

Abstract

The following article introduces an exploratory study that was designed to measure the quality of early childhood education within its ever changing sociocultural context utilizing the Early Childhood Learning Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) in 40 classrooms in Beijing, China. Implications for early childhood teacher education, including the education of children with exceptional needs are addressed along with recommendations for future research.

The development of Chinese early childhood education is following a distinctive trend of integrating Western educational philosophy into national curriculum guidance for classroom practices. This integration process encountered many challenges due to strong influences by unique Chinese cultural and economic characteristics and requires investigation in terms of what constitutes a high quality early childhood program in mainland China. Research on the global quality of early childhood education to help international scholars and practitioners understand philosophical change in classroom applications in China is scarce. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to present an exploratory study conducted in public kindergarten classrooms using the Chinese version of Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales-Revised and provide implications for teacher education.

Introduction to the Early Education System in China

The population in China exceeds 1.3 billion people representing 56 national tribes from 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 municipalities (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2006). Beijing, as the capital city and municipality, has over 13 million people, which is more than the number found in New York City. In order to reduce the overwhelming population density China has enforced a one-child-per-family policy throughout the nation since 1978. Being an only child, a Chinese child faces great parental expectations regarding academic achievement starting in the early years. The limited years of compulsory education provided by the Chinese government apply to children from Grades 1 to 9 in both urban and rural areas. Prior to first grade, children usually attend early childhood programs called kindergartens, which are full-day programs serving children ages 3 to 6. Facilities for children before age 3 are considered nursery schools. Traditionally, children under 3 are more likely to stay home with grandparents. In this article we focus on kindergarten programs and the corresponding early childhood teacher education programs.

Public Versus Private Kindergartens

Kindergartens in China can be divided into two categories: private and public based on funding sources. Public kindergarten means the government—whether at the federal, province, city, or local town level—has full ownership of the school. There are generally three types of public kindergartens: (1) department of education related, (2) state organization or corporation related, and (3) local town or county related (Pang, Liu, & Hu, 2008). More than half of the Chinese people reside in rural areas where there might be public kindergarten classes administered by the primary schools to prepare children for first grade (Zhao & Hu, 2008). However, these programs run for only one year. According to the Department of Education and Planning of the Ministry of Education (2006), since the 1980s, 58% of early childhood education in rural areas has been implemented through these types of kindergarten classes. This is an alarming statistic considering it means that the majority of children receive only one year of early childhood education.

Private kindergartens, on the other hand, do not receive government funding and are not obligated to participate in quality rating programs. There are private schools in developed areas and some of them are also called international schools. For example, there has been an increase in the number of Montessori schools in China in the last decade. Meanwhile a large number of private family-care programs exists in the villages. These village family cares usually are poorly equipped with furniture, materials, and teachers. They receive no government support (Zhao & Hu, 2008), but staff try to enroll as many children as possible. Consequently the quality of these programs is unacceptably low. The Department of Education (DOE) is working toward the goal of improving quality early childhood education in rural areas through the establishment of more public village kindergartens that serve children ages 3 to 6 (Zhao & Hu).

Measuring the Quality of Kindergartens in China

The DOE monitors the quality of all types of public kindergartens in China through mandatory assessment periodically. First, there are national legal requirements that apply to all kindergartens seeking a licensure. When qualified, settings can apply for a level and category rating according to standards set by each province. Based on national laws and regulations, each state proposes a definite and detailed document that lists performance indicators for each level and category of quality. These performance indicators range from structural qualities (facility furnishing requirement, teacher–child ratio, teacher qualifications, etc.) to process qualities (curriculum, student–teacher interaction, etc.). Based on total scores from several observers, the kindergarten will receive a final rate for level and/or category of quality. For example, in Beijing the top quality kindergarten rated by the DOE is called “city's model kindergarten”, below that is “city's level one category one kindergarten”, and then “level one category two”, “level two category one”, “level two category two”, “level three category one”, and “level three category three.” There are a total of three levels and three categories. Unlike the ECERS-R, these performance standards are used exclusively for program evaluations instead of concurrent research purposes. Pang, Liu, and Hu (2008) developed a research instrument based on the Kindergarten Curriculum Guide to explore the relationship between program quality, cost, and effectiveness. Their preliminary results indicated similar general findings in the U.S. in terms of the relationship between structural and process quality. In order to further understand the field of early childhood and its quality rating system in China, it is beneficial to measure the global program quality using an internationally well-researched instrument such as the ECERS-R. Prior to that, it is crucial to consider the following influences of cultural beliefs, foreign influence, and educational policies.

Cultural Beliefs

Historically, culture always plays a critical role in each country's educational beliefs and practices. One of the most far-reaching impacts on the Chinese culture is Confucius's teaching on how one should value opportunities for education. A Chinese family, no matter if it is poor or rich, always places education as a top priority. Every parent wishes his or her child to grow up to be successful and it is believed that academic achievement is the only path to reach that goal. As mentioned above, the compulsory education system in China only serves children from Grades 1 to 9, which means that each child has to compete in order to get admission to one of the limited number of high schools. The biggest and most intensive competition that measures academic achievement is the highly competitive college entrance examination. Pressure caused by such academic competition makes parents anxious about academic achievements as soon as their children reach preschool age. As a result of this, Chinese parents are more in favor of drilling the memorization of many verses of songs and poems, and obedience toward the elderly rather than creativity or learning through play (Zhu & Zhang, 2008). Unaware of the benefits of developmentally appropriate curriculum and child-oriented education theory, many parents request kindergartens to focus on academic subjects like mathematics and reading. On the other hand, Chinese early childhood teachers—who are encouraged by the national curriculum guidelines to implement age-appropriate and individually appropriate activities—struggle in daily practices since they are more accustomed to a direct instructional method of teaching (Zhu & Zhang).

Another influence that conflicts with child-oriented educational theory is Chairman Mao's philosophy. In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, China was under the leadership of Chairman Mao, who mandated a curriculum of socialism from the elementary grades to the universities and expected “all children would perform at high levels and in similar ways” (Deng, Poon-Mcbrayer, & Farnsworth, 2001, p. 290). The concept of individualism was not acceptable even in early childhood education. Therefore, individual differences in curricula, teaching, and learning activities were not taken into consideration. The cultural revolutionary war which took place from 1966 to 1976 had adversely affected the development of early childhood education and many preschools were closed during that time (Shi, 1999b). The enactment of Reform and Open-up Policy which took place in China in 1978 has benefited the development of early childhood education tremendously as Western philosophies began to be gradually introduced and implemented.

Foreign Influence

An English Presbyterian opened the very first nursery school in 1898 in Xiamen, the southern part of China (Tang & Kou, 2003). When P.R. China was founded in 1949, Russian theories and practices in early childhood education started to be systematically taught and extensively implemented all over China. In fact, one can still observe Russian-style architecture in some kindergartens in Beijing. When China reopened her door to the world in 1979, Western philosophies started to make the strongest influence in Chinese early childhood education and early childhood teacher education. Influential philosophies written by Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky are becoming popular and widely introduced among early childhood education practitioners in contemporary China. Curriculum approaches such as High Scope, Integrated Theme-based Curriculum, Project Approach, Reggio Emilia, and Montessori are being widely integrated into both public and private kindergartens (Zhu & Zhang, 2008). According to Li and Li's work (2003), some trials of implanting Reggio Emilia and Montessori curriculum have proven to be unsuccessful in the Chinese sociocultural context (as cited in Zhu & Zhang). Jiang and Deng (2008) argue that Chinese early childhood education programs lack the “China taste” and more emphasis should be paid on how to resolve practical problems in the kindergartens within domestic sociocultural contexts before adopting foreign philosophies and curricula. Educational anthropologist Tobin advocates for yet more cautions about the integration of the Western approaches into Chinese culture (as cited in Zhu & Zhang).

Educational Policies

There are two legal documents that have major impact on program quality in the Chinese early childhood education arena and are currently affecting early childhood teacher education. First, the Kindergarten Work Regulations and Procedures was issued by the National Education Committee of the People's Republic of China in 1989 as an effort to promote and measure curriculum reform in Early Childhood Education (Zhu & Zhang, 2008). It emphasizes the following aspects: (1) child-initiated activities, (2) individual differences, (3) the importance of play, (4) an integrated curriculum, and (5) the process of activities (Zhu & Zhang). This child-oriented curriculum indeed encourages individualism, such as building a democratic relationship between teachers and children that conflicts with traditional Chinese cultural practices of obeying the elderly and authorities. Practitioners expressed frustrations in implementing the regulation due to a lack of practical guidelines. Parents also challenged the child-oriented curriculum as they paid more respect to collectivism and subject-based curriculum.

In order to address growing concerns for the gap between theory and practice, the Ministry of Education issued the latest document of Guidelines for Kindergarten Education (trial version) (Ministry of Education in People's Republic of China, 2001). This national curriculum guideline reinforces the importance of early childhood education and describes goals and content in early childhood education in five subject areas: health, science, social, language, and art. The trial guideline relates well to the Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) guidelines advocated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) as they both value age and individual appropriateness in curricula and provide teachers with guidelines regarding the appropriate practices in daily teaching. Each kindergarten in China regardless of its level, category, and funding sources, must follow the aforementioned federal regulations and the national curriculum guide to maintain quality standards and licenses. In terms of quality rating, each state's rating system might be slightly different but they all reflect the policies found in the Guidelines for Kindergarten Education (trial version). These educational policies also indicate that the DOE is trying to develop the early childhood education system better by infusing Western philosophies into Chinese educational theory and practices. As a result, the concept of DAP is being valued and used as a criterion in program quality rating.

Introduction to Early Childhood Teacher Education in China

The history of early childhood teacher education in China can be traced back to 1889 when the first course to train nursery teachers was offered at a women's middle school in the city of Suzhou in southern China (Tang & Kou, 2003). The first school to prepare nursery school teachers in Shanghai was founded by American missionaries in 1892 (Tang & Kou). In addition to teaching basic concepts of child care, Christian faith was also part of the curriculum. After China was defeated during the Jiawu War that took place between Qing China (1644–1912) and Japan fighting over control of Korea in 1895, the government was determined to start learning from foreign countries (The Jiawu War, 2007). Japan, as a neighboring country with a language that is similar to Chinese, became a model for China in many aspects including early childhood education. Soon, Japanese women were frequently hired as teachers in the nurseries and kindergartens as well as in the teacher preparation schools across China (Tang & Kou). The foreign influence on Chinese early childhood teacher preparation continued when Chairman Mao came into power in 1949. Russia also became the role model for China in all aspects including education. Russian experts in early childhood education were soon invited to China as educational consultants (Shi, 1999a). They traveled to many cities and provided on-site consultations in numerous kindergartens. In addition, they provided training seminars at Beijing Normal University.

In 1952, the Teachers' School Regulations (trial version) was issued and it stated the importance and role of early childhood teacher education (Shi, 1999b). At that time the highest level of training available for early childhood education was provided through teachers' schools. They were also called intermediate-level programs because they were designed mainly to recruit qualified junior middle school graduates and provide them with a 3-year-long professional training at a time when the majority of kindergarten teachers received degrees from primary-level programs, which are equivalent to middle schools (Shi, 1999b). The amount of training these teachers receive from primary-level programs to become kindergarten teachers varied from city to town and village based on economic conditions.

The Teachers' School Regulations also recommended that teachers' schools should develop primary schools (Grades1–6) and kindergartens to model effective practices and also to provide student teachers with essential field experiences (Shi, 1999b). The DOE continuously made efforts to improve the qualifications and quality of kindergarten teachers in China through both preservice and in-service training. In 1961, the national conference on teacher education was hosted by the DOE. It also defined the focus of early childhood teacher preparation programs such as: politics, language arts, mathematics, and early childhood education (Shi, 1999b). Gradually the main avenue of early childhood teacher preparation shifted from primary programs to intermediate programs. In 1962, only 3% of early childhood teachers graduated from primary-level teachers' schools as compared to 62% in 1958 (Shi, 1999b).

Early childhood teacher preparation at the 3-year college or 4-year university level started to grow during the open and reform period (since 1978). In 1987, early childhood education majors were offered at 22 colleges and universities (Shi, 2000). Sixty-eight intermediate-level teachers' schools were preparing 37,795 preservice kindergarten teachers in 1992 (Shi, 2000). Four years later, there were a total of 9,620,000 kindergarten teachers in China and 58.8% of them had degrees from either intermediate-level teachers' schools or equivalent levels. In addition, 12.6% of these teachers passed competency tests and obtained professional certification from the DOE while 5.3% earned degrees from normal universities (Shi, 2000). However, the main goal of early childhood teacher education at the normal university level at that time was to prepare teacher educators for intermediate-level teachers' school.

The growing field of early childhood teacher education has had a positive impact on Chinese kindergarten program quality and child outcomes. Recently, the Chinese government has also started to place a great emphasis on establishing inclusive settings for children. In order to meet this goal and ensure that Chinese kindergartens can become internationally competitive in quality, as well as positively influence early childhood teacher education, a comprehensive study of current early childhood practices is paramount. Based on a special call by the Chinese government, the following study was undertaken to help begin this innovative progress within the Chinese sociocultural context.

Exploring the Quality of Early Learning Environments in China

Participants

Eighteen top-level public kindergartens geographically representing the Beijing regions were chosen by the DOE to initiate the pilot implementation of inclusive services for this study. The first author was invited to conduct research to improve the quality of service for children with disabilities in Beijing during the summer of 2008. Unfortunately, due to the breakout of the hand, mouth, and foot disease among kindergartens in China, some of those 18 schools were closed and some were prohibited to be visited as mandated by local school authorities. Thus, the original plan of randomly selecting 100 classrooms from the 18 schools was abandoned. The first author then conducted the study in 40 classrooms representing 7 kindergartens.

The sizes of the kindergarten settings varied from 200 to 750 students, totaling 2,370 students. The 40 classroom teachers had an average of 12 years of teaching experience in kindergartens and 75% of them had an associate degree from a 3-year college or a bachelor's degree from a 4-year university in early childhood education. The remaining 20% obtained degrees from intermediate-level teachers' schools or equivalent trainings.

Instruments

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) was used to study program quality in all classrooms. The ECERS-R is one of the most widely used observational instruments to measure the general quality of early childhood programs serving children between the ages of 2 and 6 years (Buysse, Wesley, Bryant, & Gardner, 1999; Mathers, Linskey, Seddon, & Sylva, 2007). Revised in 1998, the newest version of ECERS-R includes additional indicators to measure program quality in inclusive settings (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005). The ECERS-R has seven subscales addressing seven areas of quality dimension: (a) space and furnishing, (b) personal care routine, (c) language-reasoning, d) activities, (e) interaction, (f) program structure, and (g) parents and staff. A 7-point scale indicating the following: 1 (inadequate), 3 (minimal), 5 (good), and 7 (excellent) is applied to measure each item. All subscales except the last one (parents and staff) were used in this study since it applies more to the kindergarten's practices in relation to program quality.

The ECERS-R has been used in many national large-scale studies to measure program quality (Burchinal, Howes, & Kontos, 2002; Buysse et al., 1999; Early et al., 2006; Lambert, Abbott-Shim, & McCarty, 2002; La Paro, Sexton, & Snyder, 1998; Phillips, Mekos, Scarr, McCartney, & Abbott-Shim, 2000) and effectiveness of professional development (Campbell & Milbourne, 2005; Fukkink & Lont, 2007; Mathers et al., 2007). Many countries like Canada, England, Finland, Hungary, Greece, and Germany are using this instrument widely for purposes of research and program improvement. According to Tietze, Bairrao, Palacios, Wetzel. (1996), the validity and reliability of the instrument is not influenced by cultures.

In the past years, ECERS-R was introduced in many Asian countries including Japan and Singapore. Chen (2005) conducted exploratory use of ECERS-R in Taiwan and found the scale to be culturally relevant except for two items (17 and 37), which can be chosen as N/A items. As a result, Guo-Li and Cheng (2006) translated the instrument into Chinese and published it in Taiwan. To this day, however, no exploratory use of ECERS-R has been conducted in mainland China, which shares a lot of similarities culturally with Taiwan yet presents differences in educational policies and economic status.

Data Collection

The first author attended ECERS-R training by the creator of this instrument at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. During the 2-day field observations her score reached an interrater reliability of .85 and above with the ECERS-R trainer. The first author then trained three Chinese research assistants who had master's degrees in psychology, education, or equivalent experiences on ECERS-R ratings. The training consisted of 2 days of lectures and 2 days of field testing until all research assistants reached an interrater reliability of at least .85 with the first author. The three research assistants were involved in rating 16 classrooms while the first author rated the other 24 classrooms. All assessment was completed in May and June of 2008.

Each classroom was observed individually for approximately 3 to 4 hours. This observation was followed by a brief interview with the teacher. For the purpose of data analysis, a total average score from the ECERS-R rating and average scores from six subscales were used. Descriptive statistics such as mean and mode are reported for each item.

Results

The total average score of the 40 kindergarten classrooms observed is 4.32 out of 7.0. The total averages for each subscale are: space and furnishing (3.75), personal care routines (5.1), language-reasoning (4.66), activities (3.29), interactions (5.6), and program structure (3.55). Cronbach's alpha of .81 indicates a moderate reliability. The following section describes detailed results for each item.

According to Table 1, the majority of classrooms received a score of 4 for indoor space because none of them had wheelchair accessible bathrooms. It is understandable since most kindergartens in China have never enrolled children with disabilities; consequently wheelchair accessible doors, bathrooms, and stairs, have never been taken into consideration when designing early care facilities. Most classrooms have sufficient space, even though they all have large class sizes (e.g., 25 for 3-year-olds, 30 for 4-year-olds, and 35 for 5-year-olds). In fact, many classrooms have two rooms where one is a classroom and the other is called a bedroom that can also be used for play centers as well as nap time. In comparison to schools in the United States, furniture for care, play, and learning is much less diverse in style and quantity. For example, sand/water tables, wood benches, or a complete set of furniture for dramatic plays are rarely observed in any room. Furnishings for relaxation and comfort (e.g., beanbags, cushions, or stuffed animals) are also absent. A lot of times children sit in the block area reading or chatting instead of playing with blocks because the floor is covered with plastic pads unlike other parts of the floor, which are mostly wood or tile.

Table 1 Space and furnishing

Item	Indoor space	Furniture for care, play and learning	Furniture for relaxation and comfort	Room arrangement for play	Space for Privacy	Child-related display	Space for gross motor play	Gross motor equipment
Mode	4	6	1	6	1	4	2	3
Mean	3.7	4.87	3.25	4.62	2.07	5	2.73	3.78

Use of the learning center approach in arranging classrooms is being widely implemented in China. However, teachers seem to lack deep understanding of the fundamental principles that apply to classroom arrangements. For instance, active areas like block and dramatic play are placed right next to quiet areas such as areas designated for reading. Centers are not clearly defined through arrangement of furniture. In some classrooms, centers are arranged along four sides of the classroom wall while all the desks and chairs are in the middle of the room for the purpose of group teaching. As a result, children were often doing the same activity (e.g., art or manipulative) in different areas during free time. Classroom materials are neatly displayed in appropriately labeled shelves. Most teachers reported that they did not have extra materials in the storage room, which means they did not periodically change materials to maintain children's interest level throughout the year. Space for privacy was a new concept to most teachers and they did not seem to realize the importance of allowing children to learn self-regulation skills. It was impressive to see child-related displays, amazing art works by children, in a variety of forms and media as they were displayed at children's eye level reflecting individual differences.

Many playgrounds are covered entirely with plastic padding to increase safety. However, the depth of padding under climbing equipment was far from the ECERS-R standards. Playground flooring lacks creativity and diversity of choices for different types of activities. Gross motor equipment also lacks diversity to stimulate multilevels of skills, for instance, bikes with and without pedals.

Based on findings as presented in Table 2, teachers are good at making parents feel welcome at the kindergarten and communicate effectively with them. A common characteristic across school during lunch and snack time is that all children are discouraged from interacting with one another. During rest time, children's beds are designed in such a way that they are connected with one another. This also caused classrooms to score low on the item. All toilets and sinks, however, are child-sized. Due to the high number of children, every classroom has squat toilets (a type of toilet that does not have seating) instead of regular toilets so it does not need to be cleaned frequently. In many classrooms for 2- to 3-year-olds, training potties are used on a regular basis. This does pose a health concern, even though staff pay great attention to health and safety practices by employing a separate assistant who is responsible for routine care like cleaning tables before and after lunch, toilets, and monitoring hand washing.

Table 2 Personal care routines

Item	Greeting/departing	Meals/snacks	Nap/rest	Toileting/diapering	Health practices	Safety practices
Mode	7	6	4	7	7	7
Mean	5.3	5.02	3.3	5.68	6.98	4.3

According to findings presented in Table 3, in the area of books and pictures there is much room for improvement. First of all, more time is needed for free reading. Second, the number of books, the types of books, and additional materials that enhance reading (e.g., story board, picture cards) need to be increased significantly. Most classrooms have no science or nature books, books about different races, abilities, and cultures, and books containing factual information. Generally, there is no connection between the books on display and the classroom themes to enhance children's learning and understanding. Further, reading areas need rugs and cushions to attract children for pleasure reading. More materials are needed to encourage children to communicate (e.g., puppets, dress-up clothes) throughout centers. For instance, there are not enough materials in the dramatic play area for 2 to 3 children to play on one theme. In terms of promoting children's reasoning skills, teachers stress teaching basic concepts and logical relations during group instruction periods. However, teachers did not take full advantage of seizing incidental teaching opportunities to foster higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. Teachers' informal use of language in the classroom showed more use of language for behavior management than for exchanging information. A few teachers used criticism frequently in unnecessary situations, although interactions between teachers and children were generally positive.

Table 3 Language-reasoning

Item	Books and pictures	Encouraging children to communicate	Using languageto develop reasoning skills	Informal use of language
Mode	4	4	4	7
Mean	3.9	4.7	4.8	5.23

Based on findings presented in Table 4, none of the classes received a score of 7 on any activity items due to ineligibility to meet requirements for “substantial amount of time.” Most classrooms have free time of 1 hour to 90 minutes in a 9-hour-long day program. This is considered to be standard throughout public kindergartens in China and it is far less than what ECERS-R considers to be a substantial amount of time (2 hours and 30 minutes for a 9-hour-long day program). Less time spent on free time means more time on group instruction and routine cares.

Table 4 Activities

Item	Fine motor	Art	Music/movement	Blocks	Sand/water	Dramatic play	Nature/science	Math	Use of TV, video, and/or computer	Promoting individual differences
Mode	4	4	2	4	1	4	3	4	N/A	1
Mean	4.18	4.18	3.7	3.93	1.47	2.9	3.2	3.65	4.47	1.25

Materials for fine motor skills and art are adequate across classrooms. Chinese kindergartens, especially those with top-level qualities, place a strong emphasis on fostering children's appreciation for art and developing talents in this area. Each school provides extracurricular activities in playing musical instruments, art, gymnastics, dance, etc. Children's work are displayed everywhere on campus as if having a continual art exhibit. Every morning, children are lined up by their age groups to perform unifying group exercises or dances following the teachers' lead, which one would be unlikely to see in Western countries. It is a unique music and movement activity and well deserves extra points in the rating. Almost every classroom has an expensive piano even though musical instruments for children to play with might have been insufficient. This relates to the fact that Chinese early childhood teachers are required to pass competency tests in areas of dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments to be certified teachers. These skills are critical for teachers to find jobs. They are great assets for any teacher to acquire in order to enhance children's involvement, appreciation, and understanding. However, overemphasizing training on these skills and deemphasizing developmentally appropriate methods can have a negative impact on meeting children's needs. The lowest scored item is that of accepting diversity. Though China has 56 national tribes, none of their culture or traditions were reflected in the classrooms. Ironically, all dolls used in dramatic play have blue eyes and blond hair. When the first author questioned teachers why they did not use Chinese dolls, they seemed to believe that all dolls were supposed to be that way. Seldom do teachers use books and pictures to enhance children's dramatic play.

Science is another weak area in light of materials and activities. Collections of natural objects lack variety; they tend to be items such as goldfish, turtles, and green onions across all classrooms. The number of books, materials, and toys related to science is less than sufficient. Few activities engaged children. Commonly, no science-related books are displayed in the science center. Similarly, mathematic teaching can be strengthened through integrating it into activities throughout centers and routine activities more frequently.

According to data presented in Table 5, both teacher–child interaction and interactions among children are generally positive. Teachers have great rapport with children, however, they are perceived by children more commonly as the authority rather than as their friend, helper, or playmate. Teachers are well trained in encouraging active participation in gross motor activities to enhance children's play as well as in supervising such a large class at the same time. Teachers' ability to keep a balance between a child's independent discovery and teacher-directed learning needs more practice (e.g., learning how to teach problem-solving skills by allowing children to make mistakes and allowing children to see the problem themselves before being corrected or given the right answers). What appears to be exceptional is that children in China are well trained to sit in their chairs quietly for a much longer period of time than you would expect children to do in the United States. Children also quickly learn to read the teacher's facial expressions for cues. They are also good at following directions, probably appearing a little bit too obedient for such a young age. This represents another debatable issue of cultural context versus developmentally appropriate practices.

Table 5 Interaction

Item	Supervision of gross motoractivities	General supervision of children	Discipline	Staff–child interactions	Interactionsamong children
Mode	6	7	7	7	7
Mean	5.03	5.5	5.33	5.95	6.2

Based on data shown in Table 6, schedules across kindergartens show flexibility and reasonable planning. Again, materials for free play lack quantity, variety, and frequency in updating. There is far less than a substantial amount of free time offered to children and insufficient opportunities for them to make choices independently. Provisions for children with disabilities are the most problematic area for kindergartens throughout China. The preschools the first author visited happened to be pilot schools in the Beijing region to initiate inclusive practices. Many issues and concerns these school share are lack of knowledge and skills in (1) assessing children with special needs, (2) determining their educational needs, (3) developing individualized education plans, (4) dealing with problem behaviors, and (5) promoting language development among children who demonstrate significant delays in this area.

Table 6 Program Structure

Item	Schedule	Free play	Group time	Provisions for children with disabilities
Mode	2	3	4	N/A
Mean	2.48	3.575	4.33	3.82

Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Education

The research targeting the quality of kindergarten programs as measured by the ECERS-R resulted in a number of implications for teacher education. As indicated above, early childhood inclusion is in its infancy in China. The critical shortage of qualified professionals to work with children with disabilities is disturbing (Liu & Zeng, 2007). Early childhood teachers tend to hold negative attitudes toward inclusion when they lack knowledge and skills in working with this population (Cheuk & Hatch, 2007). Evidently, much assistance and investment is needed from the government to support the education of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. For such progress, it is also necessary for current early childhood teacher education programs to provide additional coursework on the education of children with disabilities (e.g., curriculum modification and positive behavior supprot), and integrate such information throughout the already existing coursework.

Specific Implications as They Relate to the Six Subscales of the ECERS-R

Space and furnishing and personal care routines

Data from subscale “Space and Furnishing” provides additional information about the need to support children with special needs in an inclusive setting. Teachers need to be familiar with fundamental principles of (1) classroom arrangement in order to set up a learning environment that is developmentally appropriate for all children, including inviting, well-planned learning centers; (2) making adaptations of the furniture and learning materials so children with disabilities can participate at a maximum level; (3) providing softness and privacy in the classroom to promote self-regulation skills of young children; and (4) increasing the levels of skills stimulated by gross motor equipment to meet children's diverse learning needs. Similarly, data from the subscale “Personal Care Routine” warrant attention regarding additional aspects of teacher preparation programs including (1) encouraging social interactions during lunch and snack times, and (2) using beds that can be conveniently moved and stored together.

Language-reasoning

According to the assessment results, teacher preparation programs need to address the importance of children's literature on child development. More specifically, each teacher should be aware of how to (1) select children's books to integrate them into thematic teaching; (2) use visual aids, puppets, and other learning materials to encourage communication at already existing centers; and (3) utilize spontaneous teachable moments during the day. In addition, each teacher should learn a variety of ways to foster reasoning skills not only during group instruction time but also during free play time. The majority of teachers' usage of language in the classroom should be geared toward information exchange, scaffolding, and social interactions rather than lecturing. In addition, if teachers found themselves constantly managing behaviors or criticizing children, they should stop, reflect, and focus on how they could use language to contribute to the positive development of children.

Activities

Data relating to the area of “Activities” have a number of specific implications for teacher education. First, teachers should be taught the basic principles of how to select, display, utilize, and rotate a variety of materials for each learning center in order to actively engage children throughout the school year. Subject areas should be integrated rather than taught separately. Teachers also need to practice how to offer children more choices regarding the types of materials to play with and when/how in the classroom. It is especially important during free time that the learning centers are arranged in a way that each of them is inviting to children. In addition, teachers must gain the sense of individual and cultural variety including diverse national tribes, social status, gender, and abilities in the classroom. Once teachers are able to embrace diversity, they are able to show respect for it through activities and materials throughout the day. Furthermore, emphasis should be placed on developmentally appropriate activities during preservice coursework and field experiences. Skills such as dancing, singing, drama, and playing instruments are great choices for part of a creative curriculum course that can potentially enhance children's learning. Teachers, however, should not be obligated to pass competency tests in these areas in order for graduation. Similarly, having an expensive piano in each classroom seems to be unnecessary when basic materials for children's play are insufficient.

Interactions and program structure

Assessment results of “Interactions” and “Program Structure” suggest that Chinese teachers have been accustomed to direct and didactic instruction in their grade schools and teacher preparation programs before Western philosophies were introduced. Therefore, teachers need to experience more developmentally appropriate preservice and in-service learning models as well, so they will be able to keep a balance between the children's independent discovery and teacher-directed learning. As a result of more developmentally appropriate training, teachers could be perceived less as authority figures by children. For instance, teachers can show respect for children by listening to them more attentively and talking to them at their eye level to diminish their role as the authority. Perhaps, teachers will also be more comfortable with having children engage in much longer periods of free play and less time sitting at their desks. Further, provision for children with disabilities must be addressed at the teacher preparation programs. Teachers ought to be equipped with knowledge and skills to work with this population in inclusive settings. Offering courses in disability categories such as developmental delays, and resources on effective strategies to work with special needs children will be a great start.

Conclusions and Recommendation

This exploratory study provided many insights about the quality of early childhood programs in public kindergarten settings in Beijing, China and how early childhood teacher education programs might be improved based on the data. It was the first study that implemented ECERS-R in China and had the opportunity to add a Chinese perspective to the international knowledge base regarding early childhood program quality. In general, the total average score of 4.32 out of 7.00 on the ECERS-R suggests that the quality of early childhood learning environments among top-level public schools in Beijing is close to good. This result is similar to Chen's finding in Taiwan (1998) where kindergarten classrooms were used in the exploratory examinations. Chen also confirmed that without any revisions needed, the ECERS-R is relevant for use in Taiwan.

This study presents some limitations. Participants of this study represent top-level quality preschools in Beijing, China; therefore the results cannot be generalized to other cities, especially those less developed. Second, participating schools were all public kindergartens at the federal or city level; therefore results cannot be generalized to private kindergartens. Lastly, the plan of using random sampling procedures out of the 18 schools was abandoned due to the breakout of a contagious disease called “hand, foot, and mouth,” and therefore caution must be taken when explaining quality of learning environments among similar types of kindergartens in Beijing. Though these limitations exist, the structure of kindergarten classes is fairly unified throughout China. Therefore, the results suggest a good representation of strengths and weaknesses in terms of early childhood learning environment in the Chinese sociocultural contexts.

Results from this study illustrate the current state of and challenges for early childhood teacher preparation. There are many amazing qualities of Chinese kindergarten teachers as they demonstrate eagerness to learn, enthusiasm, compassion, and a strong work ethic in fairly large-sized classes. Their on-the-job ethics and commitment to help each child reach his or her potential is worthy of praise. Yet, they struggle in daily practices in terms of implementing developmentally appropriate activities due to lack of experiences and practical tools. Results from this study are evidence of their struggles. These challenges also concern early childhood pre- and in-service teacher preparation program faculty. One of the most urgent steps needed is to start infusing knowledge and skills to work with children with disabilities into teacher preparation coursework through developmentally appropriate practices immediately. In a speech to the 17th National Congress of Communist Party, President Hu emphasized that more attention should be paid to early childhood education special education (Hu Jintao's Report at 17th Party Congress, 2007). This statement is encouraging considering that the goal of the Chinese government is to improve the quality of early childhood education (including early childhood teacher education) and prepare all children for global citizenship. Based on this study, it is further recommended that continuous efforts are needed to provide both pre- and in-service training on how to build an inclusive supportive learning environment for all children. Measuring the effectiveness of such training on child outcome and program quality (both in the urban and rural areas) should be the direction of future research.

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by an international Fellowship Award provided by the American Association of University Women (AAUM). Special thanks to Dr. Thelma Harms, Debby Cryer, and Dr. Cross for their support regarding the first author's ECERS-R training.