Preschool Federations as a Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Early Childhood Education in China

Teaming a strong preschool with less-developed, rural, or newly established preschools is an effective strategy to promote quality. Since 2015, Shanghai has sought to improve preschool education quality through collaboration. Guided by the “3A2S” theoretical framework, this study evaluated the devel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-08, Vol.14 (16), p.9991
Main Authors: Fang, Junjun, Zhang, Jun, Bai, Yingxin, Li, Hui, Xie, Sha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
21st century
Analysis
Children
Collaboration
Curricula
Early childhood education
Education
Education reform
Evaluation
Federations
Management
Market economies
Parents
Preschool education
Private schools
Quality of education
Students
Surveys
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Teaching
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Summary:Teaming a strong preschool with less-developed, rural, or newly established preschools is an effective strategy to promote quality. Since 2015, Shanghai has sought to improve preschool education quality through collaboration. Guided by the “3A2S” theoretical framework, this study evaluated the development and effectiveness of preschool federations in the city using a mixed-methods approach. First, document analysis was conducted to depict features of preschool federations in Shanghai, which identified three main features. Next, a survey study including 702 stakeholders was conducted to assess the evaluations of preschool administrators, teachers, and parents of the effectiveness of preschool federations. Finally, an interview study including 15 stakeholders was conducted to triangulate the findings of the survey study. Results revealed that the stakeholders highly approbated the preschool federations, but parents’ evaluation was significantly lower than that of other stakeholders. Finally, the sustainability and affordability of the preschool federation policy are discussed herein. Implications for policy development and preschool management are also presented.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14169991