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This study examined the interconnections among preschool teachers’ self-efficacy, classroom process quality and children’s social skill development based on a randomly selected sample of 5628 preschool children in a Chinese preschool context. Given the nested data structure, multilevel mediation modeling was utilized to investigate whether teachers’ self-efficacy, specifically teachers’ self-efficacy for instructional strategies (EIS), classroom management (ECM) and student engagement (ESE), exerted indirect effects on children’s social skills through the mediation of classroom process quality measured by Pianta, Hamre and LaParo’s (2008) Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) in three domains—emotional support (ES), classroom organization (CO) and instructional support (IS). Findings showed that CO is the only robust mediating mechanism between teachers’ self-efficacy and children’s social skills, indicating the importance of teachers’ CO in developing Chinese children’s social skills. Specifically, teachers’ CO acts as a positive mediator between teachers’ ECM and children’s social skills, but a negative mediator between teachers’ ESE and children’s social skills. This interesting negative mediation of teachers’ CO between teachers’ ESE and children’s social skills offers insights into Chinese preschool classroom dynamics and child development. Findings and their implications are discussed in light of Chinese sociocultural features.

Using a longitudinal sample of 508 Chinese preschool children, this study examined how family socioeconomic status (SES) was related to preschool children's social skills development through family processes using multilevel latent growth curve modeling. After controlling for the effects of personal characteristics, a significant indirect effect of family SES on initial levels of children's social skills and growth was observed and mediated through maternal depressive symptoms, marital relationships, and parenting practices. Maternal depressive symptoms from family SES was linked to poorer marital relationships and parenting practices, which were linked to children's social skills. Authoritative parenting was related to increased growth in children's social skills. In addition, authoritative parenting mediated the effects of marital relationship quality on both initial levels and growth in social skills. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigated the association between parents’ perceptions of home-school partnership and parental satisfaction with preschool services using data collected from 532 preschoolers’ parents in Guangdong Province, China. We explored the moderating role of parents’ childrearing beliefs as an important factor exerting influence on parental satisfaction with preschools. The hierarchical linear regression results revealed that home-school partnership positively predicted parental satisfaction with preschool services in four subscales: Views about administration, Quality of learning environments, Teacher qualifications, and Child-appropriate learning. In particular, parents’ progressive childrearing beliefs exerted a positive moderating role on the relationship between high-level home-school partnership and parental satisfaction with administration and environment quality of preschools. Moreover, childrearing beliefs also exerted a positive moderating role on the relationship between low-level home-school partnership and parental satisfaction; parents with authoritarian childrearing beliefs tended to be more satisfied with preschool teacher qualifications. Findings are discussed in light of previous literature and the Chinese sociocultural context, followed by recommendations for improving preschool services.

Organized extracurricular activities (EAs) are prevalent among Chinese preschoolers, yet their role in children's development is poorly understood. This study investigated the relations between EA participation and Chinese preschoolers' school readiness (N = 343; Mage = 55.14 months) among a predominantly middle-class sample. EA breadth had positive linear relations with children's early math and social skills, while attendance intensity demonstrated nonlinear associations, partially supporting the overscheduling hypothesis. EA breadth had stronger associations with early reading and math skills among lower socioeconomic status children, as well as greater benefits for math skills in children with less exposure to home learning activities, indicating a compensatory role of EAs. The findings highlight the interplay between EA and family contexts in relation to child development.

We examined early trajectories for academic and social skills among four groups of rural, preschool-attending, children in the Guangdong province of China: Village children (N = 176) who remained in a rural village and lived with both parents, Migrant children (N = 79) who migrated with their work-seeking parents to live in an urban area, Partially-left-behind children (N = 63) who lived with one parent in a rural village while the other parent migrated to the city for work, and Completely-left-behind children (N = 57) who stayed in a rural village with relatives while both parents migrated to the city for work. Children (n = 375) were individually assessed for social skills, vocabulary, executive functioning, Chinese character reading, and math at four time points over their last two years before formal schooling. For all academic outcomes at exit of preschool, completely-left-behind children showed the lowest performance compared to other groups. Children who remained at home with their parents did better than completely-leftbehind children on all outcomes at the final time point except for vocabulary. Migrant children generally performed better than other groups. Partially-left-behind children showed strong growth and final performance in executive functioning compared to other groups. In sum, while migration to the city appears to be associated with enhanced early academic learning for rural children, completely-left-behind children appeared to be at greatest risk. Results are interpreted in terms of current policies in China aimed at improving early childhood services in rural areas.

This study explores how classroom teaching quality and preschoolers' attitudes toward reading contribute to their literacy achievement in the Chinese context. A moderated mediation model is hypothesized where teacher-child interaction quality predicts children's literacy outcomes via their reading attitudes, but the strength of this whole mediation process is moderated by the level of teacher-child interaction quality. A sample of 567 Chinese kindergarteners from 29 classrooms was recruited to test the hypothesized model using a longitudinal design. The results support our assumptions: teacher's emotional support had a positive effect on children's reading attitudes, which in turn had a positive effect on their reading and vocabulary learning outcomes. Three domains of teacher-child interaction quality at the baseline together were associated with children's Chinese reading through later classroom organization. Moreover, children with better reading attitudes benefited more from higher instructional support and then gained more vocabulary learning achievement. Implication for preschool teaching training and professional development are included.

This study explores the screen-time behavior of Chinese parents and the effects on their children's screen viewing time, cognitive skills and social development. Participants were 558 preschool children and their parents in Guangdong, China. Results indicated that the link between parents' screen preference and their children's screen viewing time was mediated by parental screen viewing time and their children's screen preference. Specifically, computer-based screen time of Chinese children was strongly affected by their mothers and less so by fathers. Furthermore, parental restrictions on TV viewing and computer use were positively associated with their children's cognitive and social development. As for content recommendations, cartoons and generic programming did not contribute to the development of social and cognitive skills in children, but educational programs and well-defined, kid-friendly content did. Parents who restrict their children's computer viewing time support the development of improved social skills in children, but these efforts are undermined when children watch cartoons or view non-educational content.

This study examined structural and process predictors of Chinese parental satisfaction toward early childhood education (ECE) services in the Chinese sociocultural context. The two-level hierarchical linear model was used to investigate the structural and process predictors of parents' satisfaction toward ECE services among 532 parents coming from 48 kindergarten classrooms in a southern China province. Findings indicated that educational level and annual income on parent-level were positively related to their satisfaction. Although classroom-level variables altogether explained a large percentage of parental satisfaction, only the structural quality predictors of teachers' teaching experiences and class size, as well as the process quality predictor of the emotional support, were identified to be significant predictors of parental satisfaction toward multiple dimensions of ECE services. Implications for ECE service providers, policymakers, and professionals are discussed.

The intent of this paper is to make sense of and share with a broader community of teachers and teacher educators a professional development phenomenon that is peculiar to the Chinese elementary and secondary school context. This practice, known as the Open Class, has at least three forms: intra-school, inter-school, and competitive. These forms are defined and delineated at the outset of the paper with particular attention to the distinguishing characteristics of each. This conceptual groundwork paves the way for a detailed historical accounting of this phenomenon over the past 65 years. What we learn is that the Open Class, as a professional development strategy, has waxed and waned based on the political and educational emphases of the day but nonetheless is alive and well in modern-day China. Indeed, it is so commonplace that it has become a norm in Chinese schools. While there remains much to be learned about the Open Class, four lessons learned as a result of the exposition offered in this p...