Addressing a New Issue about Early Childhood Education in China via Parent Education

With the economic development and rapid internationalization in China, there are tremendous changes in parenting beliefs and practices of many Chinese young parents, particularly in recent 10 years. They believe that there is... [ view full abstract ]

With the economic development and rapid internationalization in China, there are tremendous changes in parenting beliefs and practices of many Chinese young parents, particularly in recent 10 years. They believe that there is much to learn from Western developed countries in regard to early childhood education, which is significantly different from that of Chinese traditional education. However, most of them lack correct knowledge about Western parenting skills. Their understanding is primarily based on information from the Internet and popular books or magazines, which is often fragmented, unreliable, and even contradictory. It confuses the parents and even misleads them about appropriate practices, which in turn causes challenges for many Chinese early childhood education institutions. In order to address this emerging phenomenon, the author and her team launched a program called PESP (Parent Education and Support Program) in EyasKids Learning Academy in Wuhan, China. The program offers parents systematic training in a variety of forms for improving their parenting skills and personalizes the guidance via continuous monitoring and assessment of each child’s development in important domains and one-on-one consultation to address children's behavioral problems. The parents in the program have made significant improvements in their knowledge of child development, effective parenting practices, nurturing parent-child relationships, and early detection of developmental delays.

Key Words: parenting beliefs, early childhood education, parent education, child development assessment, parent-child relationships