Promoting Equitable Quality of Early Childhood Education in Rural and Urban China: A Case Study of Rural-Urban Continuum Model

• Published in: Croatian Journal of Education - Hrvatski časopis za odgoj i obrazovanje
• Main Authors: Yang, Xiaoping, Shen, Aixiang, Han, Yumei, Cao, Dandan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Croatian; English
• Published: Faculty of teacher education 2018
• Subjects: educational partnership; equity; quality; rural and urban education disparity; simultaneous mixed methods; obrazovno partnerstvo; pravednost; kvaliteta; nejednakost u ruralnom i urbanom obrazovanju; istodobno kombinirane metode; sami
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/224086; https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/326879; https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/326834

Through the case of the rural-urban continuum model in China, this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of local government’s policy intervention in promoting equitable quality of early childhood education in rural and urban areas through multi-stakeholders’ voices. With simultaneous mixed method approach and self-developed instruments, the authors collected 891 valid parent questionnaires, 184 teacher questionnaires, 52 observational evaluation scales, and conducted interviews with 13 kindergarten principals and 6 administrators. The data were analysed by SPSS and NVIVO Plus. The findings show that a) rural and urban parents’ satisfaction levels had significant difference in terms of kindergartens’ cost and environment conditions; b) rural and urban teachers exhibited significant difference only when evaluating their professional attitudes and access to material support; c) researchers found no significant difference in quality of play activities and group teaching between rural and urban kindergarten classes, while significant difference was found in child care activities; d) principals perceived positively the effectiveness of the RUC model, yet had big concerns about teachers’ quality, and e) government intervention was proved to be a key factor enhancing equitable quality in rural and urban areas. Cilj ove studije je, putem slučaja trajnog modela ruralno-urbanog razvoja u Kini, glasovima više dionika provesti evaluaciju učinkovitosti intervencija lokalnih vlada na razini politika u promoviranje pravedne kvalitete predškolskog odgoja i obrazovanja u ruralnim i urbanim područjima. Primjenom pristupa istodobno kombiniranih metoda i instrumenata koje su istraživači sami razvili, autori su izradili 891 upitnik za roditelje, 184 upitnika za učitelje, 52 evaluacijska upitnika, te su proveli intervjue s 13 ravnatelja dječjih vrtića i 6 administratora. Podatke su analizirali s pomoću SPSS i NVIVO Plus. Rezultati pokazuju: a) da se razina zadovoljstva cijenom vrtića i uvjetima uvelike razlikuje između ruralnih i urbanih roditelja, b) da se ruralni i urbani učitelji uvelike razlikuju samo u evaluaciji svojih profesionalnih stavova i pristupa materijalnoj podršci, c) da istraživači nisu našli značajne razlike u kvaliteti aktivnosti igara i grupnom podučavanju između sati u ruralnim i urbanim vrtićima; značajne razlike su ustanovljene u aktivnostima skrbi za djecu, d) da ravnatelji učinkovitost modela RUC ocjenjuju pozitivno, no dosta ih se brine o kvaliteti učitelja, e) da su se vladine intervencije pokazale ključnim čimbenikom u povećanju pravedne kvalitete obrazovanja u ruralnim i urbanim područjima.