No abstract

This study aims to examine the views of 176 expert practitioners on the relevance and feasibility of applying the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS), which is developed based on the Chinese version of Harms, Clifford, and Cryer's (2005) world renowned Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-revised (ECERS-R). The CECERS measures the quality of Chinese kindergartens, in which teachers have traditionally utilised whole-group teaching as the main approach to curriculum planning and delivery as well as organisation of learning environment. What constitutes quality kindergarten practice in the Chinese contexts and tension between 'objective' quality and culturally-appropriate quality will be discussed. Using a five-point Likert Scale, reviewers rated and provided comments for: (1) the quality of the instrument overall; (2) the appropriateness of the major changes made in CECERS in comparison to the ECERS-R; and (3) feedback for each quality dimension. Results, organised by the predetermined survey questions, show that, overall, reviewers highly support CECERS as a much needed, valuable, quality measure. They also support all the suggested changes to make the instrument culturally relevant and contextually meaningful. Meanwhile, they offer helpful suggestions for future revisions and pose some issues and concerns about the applicability of the instrument to measure quality practice in rural areas of China which are worth debating.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the association between Chinese preschool children’s home numeracy experiences and their mathematical abilities. The parents of 515 4- to 5-year-old preschool children reported their frequency of participation in home numeracy activities, and the children were assessed on their math ability. The results revealed that the parents engaged in both formal and informal math activities at home. Family socioeconomic status showed significant positive correlations with number game and number application activities. Parental involvement in number skills activities positively predicted young children’s formal and informal math ability, while number application activities positively predicted young children’s informal math ability. These results suggest that parents should pay attention to both formal and informal activities in support of their children’s math learning at home.