Childcare centers are increasingly recognized as education agents, and school-based parent activities are part of home-school partnerships. Based on a survey of 265 parents, this study examined: (1) What made school-based parent activities useful? (2) What factors facilitated or inhibited parents’ participation? (3) What topics interested parents the most? Results showed that both structured activities (e.g., training workshops) and unstructured activities (e.g., parent-child tours) could meet parents’ needs. Parents were more likely to participate in activities that they perceived useful and allowed them to cope with the restrictions imposed by their work and family demands. Parents were most interested in activities that taught them how to deal with their children’s emotions. Finally, parents’ interests and participation varied by demographics. Copyright © 2022 AERA.

Over the past decades, growing attention has been paid to how the home and school environment contributes to early mathematical development. Nevertheless, many studies focused on the nature and frequency of the learning activities. The potential influences of parent-child and teacher-child relationships are still underexplored. In view that parents and teachers play vital roles in early language development, and language and mathematical skills are interrelated, we investigated: (1) whether different aspects of parent-child and teacher-child relationships were related to very young children’s mathematical abilities; and (2) whether these relations, if any, were mediated by children’s receptive vocabulary. To achieve our study aims, 124 children were recruited from pre-nursery classes in Hong Kong and were administered vocabulary and mathematical tests. Their parents and class teachers also completed a questionnaire relating to their relationships with the children. Results of path analysis showed that after controlling for children’s age, parent-child closeness, parent-child conflict and teacher-child closeness were associated with children’s mathematical abilities through their receptive vocabulary. There were also direct links from parent-child closeness and teacher-child closeness to children’s mathematical abilities. Teacher-child conflict was neither correlated with children’s receptive vocabulary nor mathematical abilities. Our findings suggest that it is important to provide support to parents and teachers on how to build up close and affectionate relationships with very young children. In particular, they should be coached on how to have quality verbal interactions with children, as it may benefit not only children’s early language development, but also their early mathematical development. Copyright © 2021 HKERA-APERA International Conference.

In recent years, the Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to enhancing early childhood care and education (ECCE) provision for local children aged 0 to 2. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the quality of ECCE provision for infants and toddlers in centre-based settings in Hong Kong; its impact on child outcomes also remains understudied. In the present study, we examined the structural and process qualities of ECCE settings for infants and toddlers in Hong Kong, and determined whether the qualities of ECCE provision were associated with young children’s language-communicative development. Two trained researchers visited 8 childcare centres in Hong Kong and used the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale to assess the qualities of the centre provisions. We also administered the Chinese Communicative Development Inventory to capture the young children’s language-communicative skills. Our results dovetail international findings that process quality is a more important factor affecting child developmental outcome, thus calling for staff training and measures supporting an environment conducive to quality practitioner-child interaction. Copyright © 2021 HKERA-APERA International Conference.

Teachers play a crucial role in promoting motor development in early childhood. A series of focus-group discussions was conducted with kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong to co-design movement activities. This paper reports the process and implications to teachers’ professional development. Copyright © 2021 International Review of Finance Ltd.

This study examined the dynamic association between teacher–child relationship quality and Chinese toddlers' developmental functioning. The participants, located in Hong Kong, consisted of 82 Chinese toddlers and their teachers. With a two-wave longitudinal design, teachers rated the children's developmental functioning and their own relationships with each child. The results showed that the relations between teacher-child relationships and developmental functioning differed across aspects of child development. Specifically, teacher–child relationship quality predicted and was predicted by toddlers' comprehension and personal-social skills; teacher-child relationship quality predicted but was not predicted by motor and self-help skills; finally, expressive language skills predicted but were not predicted by teacher-child relationship quality. Follow-up analyses suggested that the observed relations operated similarly for boys and girls, but differently between younger and older age groups. We conclude by discussing the study's limitations and offering suggestions for promoting developmentally appropriate childcare experience for toddlers. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper explored the challenges to the infant care profession in Hong Kong creches, with an aim to contribute to the existing early childhood care literature for reference and comparison elsewhere. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 55 childcare workers and 12 supervisors, followed by interviews with some selected participants to examine the education, experience, training, working conditions and staff-child ratios of the practitioners in creches, and their perceptions towards the profession. The findings identified the areas for enhancing the education level and training of the practitioners to improve the quality of infant care. The results also indicated the problems of low salaries, unpleasant working conditions and inadequate staff-child ratio in the profession, discouraging high-calibre candidates from entering the field. This paper discussed the implications of the findings and offered some recommendations to raise the status of the infant care profession and the attractiveness of the job for prospective practitioners.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge.]

This study examines the quality of Hong Kong centre-based childcare services with the aim of identifying areas for further improvement. With the use of the Chinese version of the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R), the quality of the classrooms in nine non-profit centres located in different districts of Hong Kong was systematically assessed. The findings revealed the global quality of the childcare centres in Hong Kong and indicated the relative strengths and weaknesses of the specific areas of childcare services compared with findings from the international community. The results showed that the quality of centre-based care servicesfor infants and toddlers in Hong Kong was minimal. Compared to other countries, the health and safety practice in Hong Kong scored higher. However, the scores were especially low in space and furnishings, listening and talking, activities and programme structure. These results revealed that Hong Kong faced challenges with the quality of its centre-based care servicesin general. It was also surprising to find a negative correlation between the quality of the childcare centres and the teachers’ experience. The findings also indicated the importance of early childhood education training and continuous professional development. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

This study was to examine the impacts of staff-child ratio on the quality of care and education for toddler-age children through controlling the variables of demographic features and structural characteristics of the compared classrooms. Two toddler classrooms in Hong Kong adopting different staff-child ratios were selected for the comprehensive quality assessments by using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale - Revised (ITERS-R) approach. The findings indicated a negative association between the staff-child ratio and the global quality of centre-based care and education for toddlers. The quality related to the "Interaction" and "Personal Care Routines" was found to be significantly related to the ratio, while the quality associated with the "Space and Furnishings" and "Program Structure" was less affected. The results of the study demonstrate the applicability of the ITERS-R in a new cultural and linguistic environment, and provide information on how staff-child ratio affects various aspects of the quality of care and education for toddlers. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

This study examines the discrepancy between teachers' beliefs and practices in Hong Kong kindergartens and the factors that influence this discrepancy. Three kindergartens, considered by the Hong Kong Education Bureau to be of varying quality, were chosen from different areas of Hong Kong. Questionnaires about teaching beliefs were administered to 35 teachers from these kindergartens. These quantitative data were supplemented with qualitative data gathered during individual interviews with five of the teachers and the three principals. In addition, a focus group of five early childhood education specialists commented on the videotaped observations of the classroom practices of the five interviewed teachers. The findings showed that all of the teachers endorsed the advocated teaching beliefs, but there was a discrepancy between their beliefs and practices. The most significant factors contributing to the discrepancy were teachers' professional education and their attitudes towards personal teaching introspection. Teachers were also under pressure from parents' curriculum requests, demands on the children's academic abilities and expectations for a strong link to Primary One. Enhanced early childhood education training that helps teachers to be introspective about their own teaching practices and beliefs is recommended. Government support is also required to teach parents what constitutes a high-quality learning environment for young children.
[Copyright © 2016 Teacher Development.]