Development of the Chinese Kindergarten Quality Rating Scale: A Pilot Study in Shenzhen, China

• In Event: Early Educational Environments

Abstract

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has drastically expanded Early Childhood Education (ECE) provision in recent years. To promote high quality ECE, quality assurance is a key focus. This paper presents the development of a new quality assessment tool—the Chinese Kindergarten Quality Rating Scale (CKQRS), which is aligned with new national guidelines and takes reference of international benchmarks. Using the Delphi Method, a panel of 18 Chinese ECE experts was invited to review the CKQRS and their views were solicited in two rounds, before the scale was piloted in a sample of 40 randomly selected Shenzhen kindergartens, alongside the ECERS-R. Findings suggest that the CKQRS has good psychometric properties for evaluating the quality of kindergartens in PRC urban areas.

Authors

• Ye Zhang
  Presenting Author

• Cathy On-Ying Hung, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education
  Presenting Author

• Ruoyu WEN, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education
  Presenting Author

• Dandan Zhang
  Non-Presenting Author

• HAO HAN
  Non-Presenting Author