Nourishing Environments for Children's Development: Impacts of Classroom Quality, Family Educational Resources and Their Interaction in China--for the symposium entitled "Leadership and Quality of Early Childhood Education in China"

Classroom and family are two essential niches in the eco-system in which young children live. Taking an ecological approach, the current study investigates the impacts of classroom quality and family educational resources on... [ view full abstract ]

Classroom and family are two essential niches in the eco-system in which young children live. Taking an ecological approach, the current study investigates the impacts of classroom quality and family educational resources on children’s development and how they interact with each other. A sample of 1125 children from 95 kindergarten classes from Beijing and Shanxi province are assessed in social development, cognitive development, language and early literacy, and motor development. The qualities of the teacher-child interactions in these children’s classes are assessed observationally using CLASS. Information of their families’ educational resources including their parents’ socio-economic status, the educational investments and family learning and/or leisure activities is collected through questionnaires. The result shows that classroom quality and family educational resources have significant impacts on children’s development both in a unilateral and interactive way.