The quality of early learning environments and early child development: Observations from diverse Asian contexts

Abstract

This paper will consider the influences of the quality of early childhood education centres, family characteristics and home learning environments on early childhood development.

It will provide an overview of findings from single jurisdiction and multi-country studies conducted in Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland as well as several countries in the East-Asia Pacific and South Asia. The paper will illustrate some of the conceptual and methodological challenges associated with (i) developing contextually sensitive measures of the quality of early childhood education; (ii) evaluating multiple domains of early development and learning; (iii) measuring family background; and (iv) assessing home learning environments. It will also highlight the importance of processes to ensure data are reliable, valid and comparable in studies with young children in diverse contexts. Findings from empirical studies that document the influence of family background, gender, urbanicity, ethnicity, and the quality of early learning environments on early child development have implications for policies and practices to enhance children’s early development, learning and psychosocial well-being.