Variations in Chinese parental perceptions of early childhood education quality

CITATION

Hu, B., Zhou, Y., and Li, K. (2017). Variations in Chinese parental perceptions of early childhood education quality. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 25(4), 519–540

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ABSTRACT
As consumers of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC),
Chinese parents play a crucial role in the ongoing process of
monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of ECEC in
China. This study used questionnaires to solicit parental feedback
on the importance of, and their quality ratings for, aspects of
ECEC. The researchers used a random and stratified sampling
procedure and selected 794 parents from 91 kindergartens
representing ECEC services at all levels, funding sources, and
locations to participate in the survey research. Results revealed
that Chinese parents rated each quality dimension of high
importance. Compared with trained observers’ ratings, parents
gave their children’s ECEC programmes significantly higher quality
ratings on every subscale. The differences between professional
and parental ratings were smaller in items related to aspects that
were easier to observe/monitor (e.g. space and furnishings) than
in items that were more difficult to observe/monitor (e.g.
guidance and interaction; language reasoning). Also, parental
income and level of education influenced how parents perceived
the quality of the ECEC programme that their child attended


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