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Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 July 2023) | Viewed by 15036

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hui Li

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Guest Editor

1. Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
2. Honorary Professor, Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: developmental psycholinguistics; developmental neuropsychology; early literacy; curriculum and pedagogy; teacher education; education policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Weipeng Yang

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Guest Editor

Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: early childhood education; STEM/STEAM education; computational thinking
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zijia Li

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Guest Editor

National Institute for Early Education Research, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Interests: early education policy; measurement; psychometrics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to rethink the importance of early childhood education (ECE) and its contribution to the world's sustainable development. As the pandemic is coming to an end, a pressing question has emerged: whether and how to implement a sustainable ECE policy to promote sustainable development in the post-pandemic world. In Australia, for instance, the Scott Morrison government implemented a bold free ECE policy during lockdown before returning to normal in 2021. Accordingly, many childcare centers encountered a survival crisis as they were short of both staff and children. Therefore, the Albanese Labor Government will have to lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 percent to make life easier for working parents in the post-pandemic era. However, whether this new policy is sustainable and affordable to the new government is still unknown. Indeed, Australia is not alone. Ambitious Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care agreements have been signed to provide 250,000 childcare spaces and reduce the childcare fee to CAD 10 a day across Canada by March 2026. However, this courageous move means additional funding of at least CAD 2.9 billion per year in the following years. Thus, many operators have refused to join this scheme because they are concerned about its sustainability and affordability. Other countries might have already encountered or will be facing the same dilemma: how to subsidize ECE with a sustainable and affordable scheme.

Li and his colleagues (Li, Wang, & Fong,2014; Li, Park, & Chen, 2017) have developed and adopted the ‘3A2S’ framework to comprehensively evaluate ECE policies in more than 30 countries and areas in the Asia Pacific region. In particular, ‘accessibility’ means that every young child can have unimpeded access to ECE in a neighborhood. ‘Affordability' indicates that every family can easily afford the fees of the chosen ECE service, and some exemptions could be offered to needy families. ‘Accountability' refers to the situation in which the extra fiscal input should be accountable for improving education quality. ‘Sustainability’ means that the strong financial support for free ECE should be affordable to the government, and accordingly, the policy could be sustainable. ‘Social justice’ proposes that all young children have equal access to and fair treatment of ECE without discrimination against their gender, race, religion, age, belief, disability, geographical location, social class, and socioeconomic circumstances (Li, Wang, & Fong, 2014).

This Special Issue aims to extensively and empirically examine the sustainability and affordability of ECE policies worldwide by referencing the '3A2S' theoretical framework (Li, Wang, & Fong,2014; Li, Park, & Chen, 2017). It will provide an important contribution to the international community of ECE to generate new perspectives and evidence for understanding the sustainable development of ECE in contexts of varying backgrounds. Special attention will be paid to the influences of the surrounding sociocultural realities, such as policies responding to the demands of the workforce, curriculum reform, management and administration, family involvement, and leadership. This Special Issue welcomes contributions from various disciplines or with various methodologies, such as national surveys, policy studies, case studies, and program evaluation studies; evidence-informed reviews and opinion pieces; or other suggestions of your choice. In particular, we are interested in empirical studies which use cross-sectional (national survey) designs, longitudinal designs, and mixed methods.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. The research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

(1) The development and implementation of sustainable ECE policies;

(2) The implementation of quality assessment, assurance, and improvement programs at international, national, regional, and local levels;

(3) The sustainable development and supply of professional teachers;

(4) The sustainable development of young children in diverse contexts;

(5) Parent and family functioning for children’s sustainable development;

(6) The sustainable growth of early childhood industries in different societies.

References

Li, H., Park, E., & Chen, J. J. (2017). Early childhood education policies in Asia Pacific. Springer: Singapore.

Li, H., Wand, D., & Fong, R. W. (2014). Introduction: Sound bites won’t work: Case studies of 15-year free education in greater China. International Journal of Chinese Education, 3(2), 161-170.

Prof. Dr. Hui Li
Dr. Weipeng Yang
Dr. Zijia Li
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

early childhood education
sustainable development
sustainable society
post-pandemic world

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 233 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Immigrant Parents’ Perspective on Their Children’s School and Education in the Era of COVID-19: A Case of Vietnamese Mothers in South Korea

by Younghan Kim

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9458; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129458 - 12 Jun 2023

Viewed by 987

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in South Korea were forced to shift from the traditional way of teaching and learning, face-to-face, to online learning. The purpose of this study was to explore how Vietnamese immigrant mothers in South Korea felt about their children’s schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, the qualitative data collection method, qualitative research interview (QRI), was applied. Six Vietnamese immigrant mothers who had children attending elementary school were interviewed, and Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method (DPM) was used to analyze their stories. The results indicate that the Vietnamese mothers had mixed feelings regarding how schools responded during the pandemic. There did not seem to be technological barriers to their children’s online learning, but the mothers did not indicate that they were satisfied with the online learning provided by their children’s school during the pandemic. They seemed to have low expectations for the online learning environment itself and thought that their children were not getting enough attention from their teachers in the distance-learning environment. In addition, the immigrant mothers did not have enough access to information about their children’s education. They were strongly concerned about the reduction in opportunities to socialize caused by distance learning. These findings imply that establishing a trusting and meaningful relationships to create a healthy school community is more important to Vietnamese immigrant mothers than academic achievement or developing efficient online learning content. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

23 pages, 3215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Social Media Analysis of the Experiences of Chinese Early Childhood Educators and Families with Young Children during COVID-19

by Wenwei Luo, Ilene R. Berson and Michael J. Berson

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2560; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032560 - 31 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2052

Abstract

This study used a small stories research narrative paradigm to examine social media posts that focused on efforts to sustain the delivery of early childhood education during COVID. Inductive and deductive content analysis focused on 1303 posts from 177 government officials and 1126 individual users (including preschools, kindergartens, teachers, and parents). The results include an analysis of conversational data that document implementation of the national policy to promote continuity of young children’s learning, including digital resources used, learning content, and teaching approaches. Actor-centric contextual factors determined the success of delivering instruction remotely; however, other contextual components created the conditions that necessitated adaptation of instruction. The COVID outbreak (chrono-level) led to shifts in education delivery and informed national policy (macro-level), influenced the teachers’ and parents’ work contexts (exo-level), enhanced home-school collaboration (meso-level), and required implementation of technological solutions to support children’s learning (micro-level). Contributions to theory, methodology, and practice are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

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17 pages, 310 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards the Sustainable Development of Young Children: Impact of After-School Tutoring on Chinese Preschoolers’ Social Behavior

by Jin Shi, Yaping Yue, Weiping Zhao and Qiaoqiao Huang

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010181 - 22 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1372

Abstract

This study aimed to examine whether participation in more types of after-school tutoring for 3- to 6-year-old preschool children is more beneficial to their social behavior. The study was based on survey data collected from 823 children aged between 3 and 6 years in Beijing City, the Guangdong Province and the Jiangxi province, China. Binary logistic regression and hierarchical multiple regression results revealed that: (1) gender, age, and family socioeconomic status were important factors that affected whether preschool children participated in after-school tutoring; (2) in terms of the types of after-school tutoring, participation in the arts and health-related activities was beneficial to the development of children’s social skills, participation in arts and science ameliorated children’s problem behavior, but participation in arts, science, and health-related activities simultaneously posed a negative impact on children’s problem behavior; (3) in terms of the breadth of participation, children’s social skills were weakly strengthened if the participation breadth is greater, but this, however, did not reduce problem behavior; (4) parental involvement and individual factors were important in determining children’s social behavior. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that parents should carefully consider the impact of after-school tutoring on preschool children’s social behavior and choose after-school tutoring appropriately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

14 pages, 809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Development Mechanism in Rural Kindergartens: The Relationships among Enabling Organizational Structure, Kindergarten Directors’ Leadership and Early Childhood Teachers’ Well-Being

by Zhonglian Yan, Ziqing Wang, Qingling Meng, Yujie Wang and Yunfei Liu

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14414; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114414 - 03 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1390

Abstract

Kindergarten directors’ leadership, early childhood teachers’ well-being, and enabling organizational structure are important components of ecological development in kindergartens. To understand the relationships among the three, identification of the driving force for the sustainable development of kindergartens in rural China must occur. This study used the Kindergarten Care and Education Leadership Questionnaire, the Enabling Organizational Structure Scale, and the Teacher Well-being Scale as research instruments to explore these relationships in an online survey of rural early childhood teachers (N = 1958, 98.3% female, 23.5% unmarried, 76.5% married, 68.8% county, and 31.2% rural). The study found that the overall levels of rural early childhood teachers’ well-being, director leadership, and enabling organizational structure were all in the medium to high range. There is a two-way effect between director leadership and enabling organizational structure, with kindergarten directors’ leadership positively predicting early childhood teachers’ well-being, but this effect is mainly mediated through the enabling organization. Therefore, to achieve sustainable development in rural kindergartens, emphasis needs to be placed on building an enabling organizational structure based on early childhood teachers’ well-being and kindergarten directors’ leadership. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

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16 pages, 1200 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Li Kan, Sheila Degotardi and Hui Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14078; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114078 - 28 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1661

Abstract

COVID-19 lockdowns forced universities to deliver classes wholly online, resulting in various impacts on higher teacher education institutions (TEIs) that were differently prepared for such a change. However, few studies have explored the impact of the pandemic on the shift of early childhood teacher education programs to online delivery, especially from a cross-national comparative perspective. To address this gap, this study compared how early childhood teacher educators (ECTEs) in one Australian and one Chinese TEI viewed and coped with the challenges caused by online teaching during the lockdowns. A total of 14 ECTEs participated in this triangulated qualitative study: six from the Australian TEI and eight from the Chinese TEI. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the research data. The results indicated that the Australian ECTEs were better prepared for online education than their Chinese counterparts regarding proficiency and advance in using online teaching platforms, trying different kinds of teaching styles, and their online teaching skills, literacy, and competence. However, the coded data showed that the participant Australian and Chinese ECTEs shared similar views on the negative impact of the change, such as producing ineffective interaction, broken social-emotional connections, heavier workloads, and drained staff. The findings suggest that TEIs from Australia and China need to develop contextually appropriate strategies and innovative solutions to cope with the lockdown challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

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24 pages, 1027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preschool Federations as a Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Early Childhood Education in China

by Junjun Fang, Jun Zhang, Yingxin Bai, Hui Li and Sha Xie

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9991; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169991 - 12 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1399

Abstract

Teaming a strong preschool with less-developed, rural, or newly established preschools is an effective strategy to promote quality. Since 2015, Shanghai has sought to improve preschool education quality through collaboration. Guided by the “3A2S” theoretical framework, this study evaluated the development and effectiveness of preschool federations in the city using a mixed-methods approach. First, document analysis was conducted to depict features of preschool federations in Shanghai, which identified three main features. Next, a survey study including 702 stakeholders was conducted to assess the evaluations of preschool administrators, teachers, and parents of the effectiveness of preschool federations. Finally, an interview study including 15 stakeholders was conducted to triangulate the findings of the survey study. Results revealed that the stakeholders highly approbated the preschool federations, but parents’ evaluation was significantly lower than that of other stakeholders. Finally, the sustainability and affordability of the preschool federation policy are discussed herein. Implications for policy development and preschool management are also presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

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Review

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22 pages, 3350 KiB

Open AccessReview

STEM/STEAM in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS): A Systematic Review

by Jefferson Rodrigues-Silva and Ángel Alsina

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3721; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043721 - 17 Feb 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4211

Abstract

We sought to explore the intersection between interdisciplinary STEM/STEAM educational approaches and Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS). For that, we conducted a systematic review of Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, and Scielo databases from 2007 to 2022 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) commandments. The systematic search led to a list of 12 articles, and we analysed them through theoretical orientations, educational perspectives, and pictures of children’s nature. We found that most studies focus on sustainability’s environmental pillar and address the discipline of science more frequently. Additionally, the authors tend to assume a theoretical orientation on the need for connecting children to a sustainable issue and picture the Apollonian child—assuming children are essentially good and emerge with virtuous traits from this contact, such as environmental care. Accordingly, researchers usually propose experiential learning in environments or settings related to sustainability, while there is a lack of teaching STEM/STEAM knowledge and skills on sustainability or engaging children to act for sustainability. We verified that they frequently lose opportunities to explicitly discern STEM/STEAM knowledge areas and their intersections in moments that could benefit children’s learning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Early Childhood Education for the Sustainable Development of a Post-pandemic World)

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