Policy and Practice in the Quality Evaluation of Kindergarten Education

Abstract

Abstract There is a growing emphasis on accountability in the management of preschool education across the world. It has become common practice in many countries to evaluate kindergartens to monitor and ensure their quality. The Chinese government has been implementing the policy of evaluating kindergartens for 30 years. It mainly involves assessing “model (high-quality) kindergartens” and evaluating the grade of kindergartens, both of which originated in a certain historical context and perform specific functions. Changing trends may be seen in the developments of recent years: as for defining the goal of the evaluation, there has been an emphasis on evaluation as a means to improve quality; as for the management of evaluation, there has been a move from decentralization toward integration; as for the object of evaluation, there has been a move from evaluating only certain types of kindergarten to all; and evaluation has become increasingly high-stake. The analysis of 23 sets of evaluation standards issued by 18 provinces (municipalities and regions) reveals that across China the content of evaluation indicators is fairly comprehensive, the data are mainly collected at the kindergarten level rather than at individual classes, and evaluation methods are diverse and integrated. In the future, the quality evaluation of China’s kindergartens needs to become more multifaceted, accommodate more diverse subjects for evaluation, and, about the objects of evaluation, the evaluation content, and evaluation methods, it should adopt more targeted and differentiated approaches.