Chinese young children’s work education under the impact of the global pandemic and digitalization

ABSTRACTWork education constitutes a unique element of early childhood education for Chinese young children. The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated school closures have forced children to study online, making work education almost impossible. This study aimed to examine the status quo and the profiles of early work education done by Chinese parents. 1564 Chinese parents with young children (aged 3–6 years) completed an online survey. Nine parents were interviewed. Findings indicated that: (1) parents scored the highest on resilience education, followed by responsibility and creativity; (2) three profiles of work education emerged: the least level, the medium level, the highest level; (3) there were significant effects of regions, household income, and educational levels; (4) the pandemic and digitalization rendered work education more intelligent, while also reducing children’s work practice in the outdoor; and (5) parents raised concerns about early digital addiction. Implications for early childhood education are also discussed.KEYWORDS: Early childhood work educationwork habits and characterdouble impact of the global pandemic and digitalizationdigital divide Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by National Social Science Fund of China: [Grant Number 22CSH039].Notes on contributorsCong WeiCong Wei is a lecturer at Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Her research interests include early work education, early digital education, digital child, rural education and policy.Xinji LiaoXinji Liao is a postgraduate at Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Her research interests include early work education and policy.Zhiyi LiZhiyi Li is a postgraduate at Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Her research interests include early work education, rural education and policy.Yanzhen YuYanzhen Yu is a lecturer at Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Her research interests include early digital education, teacher education and lifelong education.Luyao LiangLuyao Liang is sessional teaching staff at Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Australia. His research interests include early bi/multilingual education, early language teacher education, health and wellbeing in early childhood.