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 TRANSITION FROM HOME to early childhood education can be stressful for both children and parents. How parents cope with this potentially stressful event affects both the children's adaptation and the parents' lives during the preschooler stage of the family lifecycle. This paper examines how parents respond to their children's adjustment difficulties, particularly a reluctance to attend school, by examining the coping strategies of 29 Hong Kong parents. The parents expressed different kinds of negative emotions regarding their children's reluctance to go to school due to various adjustment difficulties. Parents' coping strategies can be classified as planful coping, seeking social support, accepting responsibilities, distancing, self-controlling and positive reappraisal according to Folkman and Lazarus's Ways of Coping (WOC) framework. The implications of these strategies for how early childhood professionals can support parents are discussed.
[Copyright © 2014 Early Childhood Australia Inc.]

This article discusses how school management can facilitate effective learning in schools for young children. First, it briefly reviews the concepts of curriculum, pedagogy and effective learning. Then, the current state of early childhood education in Hong Kong is examined. With reference to schools for young children in Hong Kong, the article then explores how school management can improve and maintain effective learning through curriculum and pedagogy.
[Copyright © 2001 Alberta Teachers' Association.]

Transition from home to kindergarten is the first and major ecological transition in children's educational lives in Hong Kong. In this transition, children cross a cultural boundary from home to kindergarten and start to learn about 'school' as a place to learn and about themselves as 'pupils' in kindergarten. The conceptual framework of this paper is developed from sociocultural theory and select literature on rites of passage and pupil career. Descriptive data were mainly collected from participant observations, semi-structured interviews, photovoice and review of documents. Utilising the conceptual framework, this paper describes and analyses the story of a three-year-old girl's playing and learning experiences, strategic actions and adaptation outcomes during the transition from home to kindergarten in Hong Kong. Her pattern of strategic actions fell into the dimensions of non-conformity, redefinition and adaptation, but most often fell into the dimension of non-conformity, that is, being independent with respect to formal school expectations. Her preferred strategic actions included watching, being slow to respond, ignoring, withdrawal, gentle refusal, operating in alternative ways, negotiating and following the practice and expectation of the class.
[Copyright of European Early Childhood Education Research Journal is the property of Routledge . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930802689095]