This paper reviews the Chinese government\'s efforts and progress towards ensuring equitable access to quality early childhood education (ECE). It begins with an overview of the Chinese context and analysing the reasons for a policy focus on ECE in recent decades. Thereafter, from a historical perspective, it critically reviews policies pertaining to enhancing access to and the quality of ECE in China since 2010. Nationally representative data are used to document policy implementation. Our analyses of national policies and representative data suggest that the state considers ECE a public good. This is evident from policy changes, efforts to bridge urban-rural disparities, fiscal allocations to the most economically disadvantaged groups, and strategies to enhance the quality of ECE.A significant focus on policy implementation with improved regulation and monitoring of services provided by both state and non-state actors was found. However, it is evident that gaps persist between urban and rural areas regarding infrastructure and resourcing, gross enrolment rates, and teacher-child ratios. That stated, the momentum that has driven policy change and the dramatic gains demonstrates the priority accorded to ECE.

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Motivation deficit in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has implications for teacher well-being and education outcomes. This study, utilizing the job demand resource (JD-R) theory, explores the role of teacher identity as a motivational resource that antecedes emotional labor strategies - deep acting and surface acting. We further examined the relationship between emotional labor strategies and teacher work withdrawals - presenteeism and lateness, and the intervening role of teacher emotional exhaustion. We tested our theoretical model using 574 preschool teachers in Ghana. We found that teacher identity relates positively to deep acting but negatively to surface acting. And that deep acting relates to work withdrawals negatively whilst surface acting is associated with them positively. Deep acting diminishes work withdrawals because of its capacity to prevent emotional exhaustion, but the mediation role of emotional exhaustion in surface acting and work withdrawal links was non-significant. Our study presents preliminary evidence from an emerging economy on the central role of teacher identity (motivation component) in emotion management in an attempt to reduce emotional strain, thereby lessening negative work behaviors.

Principals play a leading role in kindergarten quality improvement, and thus their needs for professional development (PD) should be understood and met. This national study adopted a mixed-methods approach to survey 3,065 kindergarten principals in China and interviewed 16 of them. First, the latent profile analysis of survey data yielded three profiles of PD needs: (1) low (7.5%), (2) medium (22.2%), and (3) high profiles (70.3%), indicating 70.3% of Chinese principals need PD badly. The high-profile group features \'inexperienced principals working at newly established private kindergartens\', the most disadvantaged among the three groups. Second, ANOVA tests revealed significant rural-urban and public-private differences in Chinese principals\' professional backgrounds and PD needs. In particular, significant public-private and rural-urban differences were observed in the principals\' \'current degree\' (Fs > 63, ps < 0.001) and \'desired degree\' (Fs > 39, ps < 0.001). The rural principals aspired more than their urban counterparts to obtain \'a higher degree\" or \'a certificate\' (ps < 0.05). Third, the follow-up interviews confirmed remarkable rural-urban and public-private gaps in PD needs, indicating a noticeable \'Matthew effect\': the poor got less, whereas the rich got more. The implications for future PD policy and program development are discussed.

Classroom walkthroughs are a widely used strategy for school improvement, varying over contexts and times. This study aims to explore the Chinese model of classroom walkthroughs in early childhood settings (ECS) during the COVID-19 lockdowns through a triangulated qualitative study. First, a group of ECS leaders (N = 15; Myear of teaching experience = 18.87, SD = 7.74, range = 6-33 years) and a group of teachers (N = 15; Myear of teaching experience = 8.40, SD = 3.96, range = 3-19 years) were interviewed in early 2022, and leaders\' observations notes were reviewed. The interview data were transcribed, recoded, and analyzed using an inductive approach, and the walkthrough documents were examined as a triangulation. Four themes and 13 subthemes emerged from the interview data: content, pedagogical skills, tasks, and challenges pertaining to classroom walk-throughs. Two major challenges against efficient classroom walkthroughs during the COVID-19 lockdowns were found: building community and feeding forward. Based on the results, a Chinese model of classroom walkthrough was proposed. Implications for quality improvement were also addressed.

The costs and benefits of preschool teachers\' emotional labor on the quality of education manifest in how emotional labor relates to well-being. Building on the theoretical foundation of conservation of resources theory (COR), this study explores the influence of emotional labor on burnout and the intervening roles of affective states (i.e., positive and negative affect). Our hypotheses were tested using cross-sectional data from 574 preschool teachers in Ghana. The results suggest that surface acting induces emotional exhaustion whilst diminishing personal accomplishment, but deep acting reduces depersonalization. Further, negative affect mediated surface acting and dimensions of burnout relationships. Also, positive affect mediated surface acting and deep acting, and personal accomplishment links. Theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for further research have been discussed.

Early childhood is a critical period during which patterns of movement behaviors are formed. The World Health Organization had endorsed guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep over a 24-h time period, which had been adopted by the Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong. This paper reports on stakeholder engagements that were conducted to inform the design of strategies to disseminate the guidelines in early childhood education (ECE) settings.
Using a mixed-methods study design, we sought to (a) assess the stakeholders\' levels of awareness and knowledge of the Hong Kong movement guidelines for young children and (b) identify the factors that influence the uptake of the said guidelines. We conducted an online survey of early childhood education teachers (N =314), twelve focus groups involving teachers (N = 18) and parents (N = 18), and individual interviews of key informants (N = 7) and domestic workers who provide care for preschool-aged children (N = 7). Descriptive statistics were used for the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data using an inductive and semantic approach following a realist framework.
Our findings show that teachers were aware of the movement guidelines for young children, but their knowledge of the specific guidelines was deficient; parents and domestic workers had limited awareness and knowledge of the guidelines. Uptake of the movement guidelines is enabled by parent engagement, activities in the ECE centers, home-school cooperation, and community activities for children. The challenges include the time poverty of parents, local curriculum requirements, limited physical spaces, social values, and pandemic-related restrictions.
We recommend that dissemination strategies in the ECE context should deliver knowledge content and support stakeholders in mitigating the challenges associated with time, space, and social conditions.

Enhancing teacher leadership is not only one of the approaches to improving teaching and learning, but it is also essential to the success of education reform. Based on leader-member exchange theory, 294 preschool teachers in China were surveyed, and a structural equation model was established to explore the relationship between the participating teachers\' principal leadership style, teacher leadership and psychological capital. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between transformational and transactional leadership styles and preschool teacher leadership. The laissez-faire leadership style had no correlation with preschool teacher leadership. The transformational leadership style and transactional leadership style were significantly and positively correlated with psychological capital, while the laissez-faire leadership style was significantly and negatively correlated with psychological capital. The transformational leadership style can positively influence preschool teacher leadership directly and indirectly through psychological capital; and the transactional leadership style can only positively influence preschool teacher leadership indirectly through the mediating role of psychological capital. Preschool teachers\' leadership can neither be directly influenced by a laissez-faire leadership style nor be indirectly influenced through the mediating role of psychological capital.

Teachers\' professional learning community, as an effective path to promote teachers\' professional development and elevate teaching quality, has been widely used in school contexts. In preschools, the practice of teachers\' professional learning community mainly focuses on the curriculum in early childhood education. The revision and adaptation of the scale of the professional learning community for preschool teachers in the Chinese cultural context are of great significance for understanding the current situation of the professional learning community for preschool teachers and improving the quality of collaboration within the community. Teachers\' Professional Learning Community scale was revised into the Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Community scale according to the characteristics of the curriculum in early childhood education in the Chinese context. Based on the data from a sample of 2,823 teachers, the study conducted an item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on participants from sample A (N = 1,410) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) on participants from sample B (N = 1, 413). Short-form Teacher Self-Efficacy scale was used as the criteria-related validity instrument. Sample A and sample B were used to explore the relationship between various dimensions of teachers\' professional learning community and teachers\' teaching efficacy. The results showed that instead of the five-factor structure of the original PLC scale, the Chinese version of the CBPLC scale consists of four factors: Shared Sense of Purpose, Collective Focus on Children Learning and Development, Collaborative and Reflective Activity, and Deprivatized Practice. The revised scale has high reliability and validity and can be used as an effective tool to measure the curriculum-based professional learning community of preschool teachers in China. The results of CFA indicated that the four-factor CFA model fit the data well, and the CBPLC significantly and positively predicted teachers\' self-efficacy including instructional strategies, students\' engagement, and classroom management.

Looking through the lens of ecological system theory, this paper used a mixed-method approach, based on 20 interviews and 208 Early Childhood Education (ECE) teacher questionnaires, to elaborate the position of ECE in Pakistan. The study indicates that ECE is between a rock and a hard place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The findings further show that ECE is provided by less qualified and inexperienced teachers, who give less attention to the physical and psychological needs of the students. The classrooms are overcrowded and lack relevant teaching-learning materials. Moreover, the single-teacher policy and overcrowded classrooms hinder students\' motivation, the delivery of quality education and the development of good behaviors. These challenges are also the main causes of students\' dropouts. This paper increases people\'s understanding of ECE and its challenges in Pakistan. For ECE development, the paper recommends separating ECE from primary schools and giving it a budget to purchase adequate and relevant resources.