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Chinese Culture in Early Educational Environments

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Early Childhood Education in Chinese Societies

Abstract

Chinese culture in early educational environments is first examined through the core values of Confucian teaching of “learning to be human.” Authentic learning is defined as “cultivation of self in community.” Research on physical and pedagogical aspects of early educational environments in Chinese societies is considered next. Structural indicators of educational environment are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for quality. Arguably, a more important indicator is process quality embedded in implicit cultural beliefs and practices. Early childhood education (ECE) in different Chinese societies has undergone tremendous changes in the past 30 years, and reform initiatives based on Western assumptions that are at odds with traditional Chinese cultural beliefs and practices have been implemented. Tensions inherited in the process of contextualization surface in three aspects: (1) tension between Western and Chinese values, (2) tension of differential development between urban and rural areas, and (3) tension between the expectations of parents and educators. As a metaphor, Piagetian “decalage” can describe ECE development in different Chinese societies struggling with contextualization. Uneven development can be regarded as part of normal growth. Globalization process does not necessarily replace local practices; it may generate new forms in the parallel process of glocalization. As core Confucian values penetrate educational values across different Chinese societies, this chapter proposes that Confucian values may be the common thread in understanding the vision of early childhood education. It is necessary to balance the wisdom of local cultures and the latest research on child development and ECE pedagogy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The revised version of the Guide to Pre-primary Curriculum 2006 from Hong Kong (Curriculum Development Council, 2006) and the Curriculum Guidelines for ECEC passed in 2011 from Taiwan (Shing et al., 2015) were not published at the time of Wang et al.’s (2005) study.

  2. 2.

    In 2005, the Taiwan Ministry of Education invited Shing and her colleagues to conduct research for the revision of the curriculum guideline for preschool. The new Curriculum Guidelines for ECEC covers body movement and health, cognitive, language, social, emotional, and aesthetic domains. The Early Childhood Education and Care Act was passed in 2011 with the implementation of the Curriculum Guidelines for ECEC (Shing et al., 2015).

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Acknowledgment

The author is grateful to Dr. Betty Chan, Director of Yew Chung Education Foundation in Hong Kong, for her inspiration on early childhood education. Thanks also to Prof. Xiao Xiang-ning from Yew Wah Education Management in Shenzhen, Prof. Yan Chao-yun from Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu, Prof. Li Ji-mei from East China Normal University in Shanghai, and the delegates from the China-New Zealand Education Trust for the fruitful discussions on early childhood education.

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  1. Sophia Consulting, Mount Sophia, Queensland, Australia

    Grace Choy

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  1. Grace Choy
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  1. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Nirmala Rao

  2. Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Jing Zhou

  3. Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Jin Sun

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Choy, G. (2017). Chinese Culture in Early Educational Environments. In: Rao, N., Zhou, J., Sun, J. (eds) Early Childhood Education in Chinese Societies. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1004-4_3

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