This paper reports significant findings from an exploratory investigation of factors influencing kindergarten teachers' perceptions of holistic early childhood education (HECE) following the release of a recent policy document relating to Early Childhood Education by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. A comprehensive four-page survey questionnaire was completed by 165 teachers, in 22 Kindergartens across three Districts in Hong Kong. The questionnaire sought responses on demographics (including spiritual well-being); six aspects of ECE detailed in the HKSAR document; teachers' expectations of HECE; and their perceptions of parental involvement in their young children's development. This study revealed that kindergarten teachers' spiritual well-being was a key demographic factor contributing to their expectations of holistic early childhood education. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected education and services geared toward young children and families, including early childhood music programs. While some programs were shut down, others were able to migrate to online formats and outdoor offerings (where allowed). Early childhood music programs are usually collective, with babies and young children often sharing and exploring common spaces, instruments, and props. These programs are also heavily based on singing, a behavior that is celebrated by early childhood specialists for its emotional expressiveness, communicative potential, and relevance for child development. Because the coronavirus can be transmitted via aerosol particles, singing became highly unsafe during the pandemic. Other challenges arose as early childhood music education programs were transferred into new formats, ranging from issues of logistics and access to technology to adherence to everchanging local and national policies, as well as cultural beliefs and behaviors. In this chapter, teachers, researchers, and program directors offer stories of adaptation and resilience in varied early childhood music programs in Kenya, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Brazil, South Korea, and the United States. Accounts are presented first, followed by their juxtaposition, to reveal common themes and implications for early childhood music education in the post-COVID era. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

This paper reports significant findings from an exploratory investigation of factors influencing kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of holistic early childhood education (HECE) following the release of a recent policy document relating to Early Childhood Education by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. A comprehensive four-page survey questionnaire was completed by 165 teachers, in 22 Kindergartens across three Districts in Hong Kong. The questionnaire sought responses on demographics (including spiritual well-being); six aspects of ECE detailed in the HKSAR document; teachers’ expectations of HECE; and their perceptions of parental involvement in their young children’s development. This study revealed that kindergarten teachers’ spiritual well-being was a key demographic factor contributing to their expectations of holistic early childhood education. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited.

Infants and toddlers (birth to age 3) learn what it means to be members of, and to belong to and be accepted by, their societies by adopting behaviors, attitudes, manners, and ways of thinking that are deeply rooted in what is valued in their culture. Infant and toddler teachers play a pivotal role as transmitters and maintainers of culture when they make decisions about the curriculum, engage in caregiving interactions, make pedagogical decisions, and use language. Cultural meanings ascribed to teachers’ practices in 1-year-old care in the United States and Hong Kong were examined using video data and transcripts of video-elicited focus group discussions. Three important areas in which cultural transmission differed between the United States and Hong Kong relate to: egalitarian versus hierarchical societal structure; individualism versus collectivism; and different goals for independence. Social learning theory and ecological systems theory framed this study and informed interpretation of results. Copyright © 2021 Taylor & Francis Inc.

The development of children’s fundamental motor skills (FMS) is shaped by the environment surrounding them. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the changes of children’s FMS after an intervention program differed between classes conducted in different schooling conditions. Participants were 295 preschool children (62 boys, 133 girls; M = 5.4 years; SD = 0.28) from eight preschools in Hong Kong. Children participated in an 8-week FMS program and their FMS were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2). A linear mixed model was used to analyze the association on the changes of FMS score between children in different schooling conditions: (1) teaching venue size (large or small); and (2) class size (large, medium, or small), while accounting for the clustering of participants within preschools. The changes of object control skills were significantly different between groups with different teaching venue size (p = 0.000) (small: 5.54 (SD = 5.84) vs. large: 2.46 (SD = 6.42)) and different class size (p = 0.000) (small: 8.12 (SD = 6.34) vs. medium: 2.92 (SD = 6.26) vs. large: 4.00 (SD = 5.79)). The findings have practical implications for the teaching of FMS in that the social and physical environment in preschools should be considered for the design of FMS intervention programs. Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The following study reflects and explores the dynamics of aesthetic experiences within drama improvisations. This arts-based research was carried out in Hong Kong with six Cantonese children who were aged 3-5 years. Data were collected from the video transcripts of five workshops and the researcher's own research journal. Two significant milieus were observed: switching in-between roles and intuitive creativity is not talkback. I argue that because each of these two milieus provide the foreground for the complex -- and at times contradictory -- nature of children's aesthetic experiences where Deleuzian power is at play, opportunities arise for both, challenging the traditional adult-child power relations, and in so doing, educators can be able to reconfigure and reconceptualise teaching goals and practices, both generally and specifically, within the context of early childhood education.
[Copyright of Journal of Early Childhood Research is the property of SAGE Publications.]

Hong Kong’s policy and curriculum guide advocates the development of creativity, and stresses the importance of child-centred and play-based practices in preschools. Effective pedagogical approaches for creativity reform should reflect a sociocultural perspective. This study aimed to compare the pedagogical effects of two teaching approaches, in a teacher-led, problem-solving activity. A case study research method was employed in a preschool setting. The Analysing Children’s Creative Thinking framework was used to document the creative thinking behaviours of two groups of six-year-old children in terms of exploration, involvement and enjoyment, and persistence. The results revealed that children in the teacher-guided approach exhibited more creative thinking behaviours than children in the hands-off approach. It was evident that Chinese children benefit when the level of choice is not overwhelming and learning occurs in a progressive way. The findings suggest that cultural and contextual appropriateness should be taken into consideration when promoting creativity in education. Copyright © 2018 Pedagogy, Culture & Society.

This paper examines issues of affordability and justice using the concept of “basic structure” as developed by Iris M. Young in order to produce a more nuanced account of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. We draw on the experiences of Hong Kong mothers of different socio-economic status who have participated in the voucher scheme. The scheme aims to provide affordable quality early education by giving parents a flat-rate voucher so as to assist them in enrolling their children in non-profit local kindergartens. We base our arguments on the central premise that socially just policy requires meticulous attention to the basic structure that determines distributive patterns. We go on to argue that the basic structure is governed by institutional assumptions, rules, and practices about class, gender, and markets. Our analysis references both quantitative and qualitative data of a three-phased mixed-method study with > 1400 mothers. The key findings reveal how mothers of different socio-economic backgrounds experienced the voucher scheme where power structures and relations are legitimized, thus contributing to the structural processes that reproduce constraints and injustice. Mothers' articulation regarding the policy recommendation of free early education adds insights into the constraints they experience and a notion of collective responsibility in supporting the education of young children.
[Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

The English and Chinese reading proficiency of 1376 Grade 4 students in 24 Hong Kong primary schools were assessed using measures developed for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Students' parents provided information about home reading activities (HRA) aimed at supporting their children's reading prior to them entering school ("early home reading activities", EHRA) and during Grade 4 ("home reading activities"). Results indicated that EHRA was a stronger predictor of reading performance in both Chinese and English than HRA. Moreover, 'typical' HRA such as reading books, telling stories and singing songs were found to be predictive of reading performance in both Chinese and English. In English, in addition, playing word games or character puzzles were also activities beneficial to reading performance. Together, these results provide evidence for the beneficial effects of traditional early childhood activities at home such as book reading, telling stories and singing songs for reading performance in later primary school in children's first as well as second language.
[© Australian Council for Educational Research 2017]