Exploring early childhood education in China: background, development and current issues

China has put great efforts into developing early childhood education and care services. Since 2010 the \npolicy priority has been to develop early childhood education services for 3–6-year-old children before school \nentry. Evidence of the rapid development of early childhood education in China can be seen in the impressive \ndevelopment of policy, the increase in public investment and the boom in kindergarten participation rates. \nThe demand for qualified early childhood education practitioners is also increasing in China. Private \nkindergartens are playing a very important role in providing early childhood education services due to the \nlack of public services. Despite the great progress already made, the development of early childhood \neducation in China is unbalanced and inadequate in terms of its regional and social disparities. There is a \nhuge gap between advanced ideas and kindergarten practices. The consequences of the new two-child \npolicy present a big challenge to the development of early childhood education, and these should be \nprepared for in advance in terms of providing “sufficient” early childhood education services, as well as “highquality” services to young children and their families.