ducation evaluation is an important part of the construction of a high-quality education system, informing the development direction of education systems reform. Formulating scientific and effective quality assessment standards has become agreed-upon best practice for countries around the world. National and regional governments are increasingly exploring strategies to better monitor the quality of early education and care.
The scale of preschool education in China is the largest in the world, with 294,800 kindergartens nationwide according to 2021 data. There are 48,052,100 children in kindergartens, with a gross enrollment rate of 88.1%. China is in a critical period of transition from high-speed development to high-quality development. How to promote the quality of kindergartens while increasing the quantity?
In order to build a system for scientifically assessing the quality of kindergarten education, the Ministry of Education in China issued the Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education in February, 2022. The guide is intended to promote the physical and mental health of children and improve the quality of the kindergarten education process. Fifteen key indicators and 48 key points were identified in five areas: guidance, childcare and security, educational process, education environment, and teaching staff. This provides a scientific implementation guide and clear action basis for preschool education.
- Guidance: Guidance for the kindergarten aims to promote the vision, moral enlightenment, and educational philosophy of preschool education. This guidance includes 3 key indicators and 7 examination points. It aims to help make China a leader in preschool education, bring kindergarten education in line with national education policy, and ensure the direction of socialist kindergarten.
- Childcare and Security: In terms of childcare and security, the Quality Assessment Guide identified 3 key indicators and 11 key points focused on healthcare, living care, and safety. The aim here is to help kindergartens to better promote the health, safety, and physical and mental wellbeing of students.
- Education Process: This thematic area includes 3 key indicators and 17 key points focused on activities, teacher-child interaction, and cooperation between the kindergarten and families. The aim is to promote educational games, effective teacher-child interaction, create mechanisms for kindergarten-family co-education, and promote the physical and mental development of children.
- Education Environment: This thematic area includes 2 key indicators and 4 key points focused on facilities and play materials. The aim is to help kindergartens to create an educational environment which is rich and suitable—catering to the interests of children while effectively supporting learning and exploration.
- Teaching Staff: In terms of the teaching staff, the Quality Assessment Guide identified 4 key indicators and 9 key points focused on teachers' ethics, staffing, professional development, and incentive mechanisms. The aim is to strengthen the construction of teachers' team and take effective measures to encourage teachers to love their jobs and devote themselves to education.
The Quality Assessment Guide includes three evaluation methods. The first emphasizes the education process, assessing the process from three lenses: activity organization, teacher-child interaction, and kindergarten and family cooperation. This is consistent with the international evaluation of preschool education processes. Second, kindergartens are encouraged to carry out self-assessments as a standard means of improving teachers’ professional ability. This promotes self-diagnosis, reflection, and the improvement of kindergartens. The third assessment method is direct observation of the classroom. The duration of classroom observation should not be less than half a day of continuous natural observation, and the coverage of observation should not be less than one-third of the total number of classes at all ages, so as to ensure comprehensive, objective, and true evaluation.
In terms of implementation, the government requires local education administrative departments to organize special expert teams to carry out the evaluation. These evaluations should be conducted at least once every 3-5 years to ensure the quality of kindergarten education.
For a long time, there have been problems in the quality of China’s kindergarten education evaluation. These problems include an emphasis on results but ignoring processes, emphasizing hardware while ignoring connotation, and emphasizing external evaluations but ignoring self-evaluation. The Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education will be a significant and powerful tool for helping kindergartens to establish scientific evaluation orientation and implement scientific education practice.
As an important part of education evaluation in the construction of a high-quality education system in China, "the Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education" will play an important role in promoting the development of kindergartens, which has brought a wave of learning and practicing in the whole country.
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China Builds a System to Evaluate, Improve Early Education
Photo by Jerry Wang via Unsplash.
September 10, 2022
For a long time, there have been problems in the quality of China’s kindergarten education evaluation. However, China’s Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education will play an important role in improving the quality of the kindergarten education process, writes Henan Wang.
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ducation evaluation is an important part of the construction of a high-quality education system, informing the development direction of education systems reform. Formulating scientific and effective quality assessment standards has become agreed-upon best practice for countries around the world. National and regional governments are increasingly exploring strategies to better monitor the quality of early education and care.
The scale of preschool education in China is the largest in the world, with 294,800 kindergartens nationwide according to 2021 data. There are 48,052,100 children in kindergartens, with a gross enrollment rate of 88.1%. China is in a critical period of transition from high-speed development to high-quality development. How to promote the quality of kindergartens while increasing the quantity?
In order to build a system for scientifically assessing the quality of kindergarten education, the Ministry of Education in China issued the Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education in February, 2022. The guide is intended to promote the physical and mental health of children and improve the quality of the kindergarten education process. Fifteen key indicators and 48 key points were identified in five areas: guidance, childcare and security, educational process, education environment, and teaching staff. This provides a scientific implementation guide and clear action basis for preschool education.
- Guidance: Guidance for the kindergarten aims to promote the vision, moral enlightenment, and educational philosophy of preschool education. This guidance includes 3 key indicators and 7 examination points. It aims to help make China a leader in preschool education, bring kindergarten education in line with national education policy, and ensure the direction of socialist kindergarten.
- Childcare and Security: In terms of childcare and security, the Quality Assessment Guide identified 3 key indicators and 11 key points focused on healthcare, living care, and safety. The aim here is to help kindergartens to better promote the health, safety, and physical and mental wellbeing of students.
- Education Process: This thematic area includes 3 key indicators and 17 key points focused on activities, teacher-child interaction, and cooperation between the kindergarten and families. The aim is to promote educational games, effective teacher-child interaction, create mechanisms for kindergarten-family co-education, and promote the physical and mental development of children.
- Education Environment: This thematic area includes 2 key indicators and 4 key points focused on facilities and play materials. The aim is to help kindergartens to create an educational environment which is rich and suitable—catering to the interests of children while effectively supporting learning and exploration.
- Teaching Staff: In terms of the teaching staff, the Quality Assessment Guide identified 4 key indicators and 9 key points focused on teachers' ethics, staffing, professional development, and incentive mechanisms. The aim is to strengthen the construction of teachers' team and take effective measures to encourage teachers to love their jobs and devote themselves to education.
The Quality Assessment Guide includes three evaluation methods. The first emphasizes the education process, assessing the process from three lenses: activity organization, teacher-child interaction, and kindergarten and family cooperation. This is consistent with the international evaluation of preschool education processes. Second, kindergartens are encouraged to carry out self-assessments as a standard means of improving teachers’ professional ability. This promotes self-diagnosis, reflection, and the improvement of kindergartens. The third assessment method is direct observation of the classroom. The duration of classroom observation should not be less than half a day of continuous natural observation, and the coverage of observation should not be less than one-third of the total number of classes at all ages, so as to ensure comprehensive, objective, and true evaluation.
In terms of implementation, the government requires local education administrative departments to organize special expert teams to carry out the evaluation. These evaluations should be conducted at least once every 3-5 years to ensure the quality of kindergarten education.
For a long time, there have been problems in the quality of China’s kindergarten education evaluation. These problems include an emphasis on results but ignoring processes, emphasizing hardware while ignoring connotation, and emphasizing external evaluations but ignoring self-evaluation. The Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education will be a significant and powerful tool for helping kindergartens to establish scientific evaluation orientation and implement scientific education practice.
As an important part of education evaluation in the construction of a high-quality education system in China, "the Quality Assessment Guide for Kindergarten Education" will play an important role in promoting the development of kindergartens, which has brought a wave of learning and practicing in the whole country.
