Home numeracy environment encompasses both home provision of numeracy activities for preschool children as well as parental attitudes toward mathematics. The present study investigated the mediating role of home numeracy activities in the relationship between parental academic expectations for their children and children's spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON). A total of 176 parent-child dyads from Hong Kong participated in the study where children were tested on their SFON tendency, while parents completed a questionnaire on home numeracy environment which included measures on both home numeracy activities and parental expectations for their children on numeracy performance. Our results revealed, for the first time, a mediating role of home numeracy activities-specifically operational activities-in the relationship between parental expectations for their children on numeracy performance and their children's SFON tendency. The present findings highlight the importance of a nurturing home numeracy environment on preschoolers' SFON tendency, which has potentially far-reaching significance on children's math achievement in later years. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier.

Despite the importance of socioemotional competence, few social and emotional learning programs have been developed for and evaluated with non -Western communities. The Early Prevention, Early Identification, and Early Intervention Program is a tiered, school-based program targeting the socioemotional skills of all secondyear kindergarten students in Chinese communities with the Little Garden Curriculum and providing additional training to third-year kindergarten students with socioemotional difficulties with the Little Greenhouse Curriculum. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, this study examined the impacts of the program on 999 children (mean age in the pretest = 4.25 years; 48 % were girls) from 18 kindergartens from Hong Kong, China. Using kindergartens as clusters, children were randomly assigned to undertake the Little Garden Curriculum (n = 624) or join the wait-list control group (n = 375). Furthermore, children who had completed the Little Garden Curriculum but still showed socioemotional difficulties were randomly assigned to undertake the Little Greenhouse Curriculum (n = 87) or join the wait-list control group (n = 50). In other words, the intervention kindergartens used for the evaluation of the Little Garden Curriculum were randomly assigned into a new intervention group or a new wait-list control group for the evaluation of the Little Greenhouse Curriculum. In pre- and posttests, teachers rated children's socioemotional competence and behavioral adjustment, and children completed reading and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that-controlling for child age, gender, and prior scores-children who had completed the Little Garden Curriculum showed better socioemotional competence, behavioral adjustment, and pre-academic skills (ten out of 12 outcome variables). Moreover, children who had completed the Little Greenhouse Curriculum showed higher scores on six out of 12 outcome measures. Findings highlighted the utility of using culturally relevant

Turnover intention of kindergarten teachers is a concerning issue. This issue is particularly salient for novice teachers who, although employed, are still actively exploring their career choices. Scant research has examined what factors during the pre-service period can predict newly appointed kindergarten teachers’ turnover intention and the underlying mechanisms. To fill these gaps, we examined a possible, yet understudied, idea that kindergarten teachers’ employability during the pre-service period would shape their work adjustment after being employed (i.e., how well newcomers adjust to the job demands, work group, and organizational culture), and poor work adjustment would further elicit turnover intention. We tested this idea with a longitudinal, school-to-work transition study among 117 novice kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. Participants reported their employability at the last semester of a pre-service teacher training program (T1). One to two months after the fall semester began, participants employed as in-service teachers reported their adjustment at work (T2). Then, they reported turnover intention at the beginning of the spring semester (T3). The results showed that T1 employability positively predicted T2 task and group adjustment but not organizational adjustment. More importantly, the indirect effect of T2 group adjustment was significant in the link between T1 employability and T3 turnover intention, but the indirect effects of task and organizational adjustment were insignificant. These findings illuminate the group adjustment mechanism behind the association between novice kindergarten teachers’ employability during the pre-service period and later turnover intention at work, contributing to the socialization process and professional development for novice teachers in the kindergarten context. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This study investigated the conceptualization of children's socioemotional competence among parents and teachers of preschool children in Hong Kong, China. Focus groups were conducted with 16 parents and 18 teachers from three preschools. Thematic content analysis revealed that, reflecting the cultural as well as contextual characteristics of Hong Kong, parents and teachers expected socioemotionally competent children to master skills in emotion understanding, emotion expressivity, emotion regulation, relationship building, conflict management, and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. There was diversity within parents' and teachers' interpretations of the characteristics of emotionally regulated and socially skilled children. Findings highlighted the ecosystemic nature of societal ideas about children's developmental competence, demonstrated the utility of qualitative research in exploring these ideas in culturally sensitive manners, and called for the mobilization of parents and teachers as research-informed scaffolders of holistic development of children. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.