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Asia Pacific Journal of Education
ISSN: 0218-8791 (Print) 1742-6855 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cape20
Contemporary issues and challenge in early
childhood education in the Asia-Pacific Region
Hui Li
To cite this article: Hui Li (2019) Contemporary issues and challenge in early childhood
education in the Asia-Pacific Region, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 39:2, 267-269, DOI:
10.1080/02188791.2019.1620994
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2019.1620994
Published online: 08 Jul 2019.
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Contemporary issues and challenge in early childhood education in the Asia-Pacific
Region, edited by Minyi Li, Jillian L. Fox, and Susan Grieshaber, Springer Science +
Business Media Singapore, 2017, 308 pp., Hardcover: €109,99 ISBN 978-981-10-2207-4
The Asia-Pacific Region occupies a far more important place today in the world than it did only
a decade ago, as the centre of gravity of global economy has been shifted to it. As the home to
about half of the world’s population, its changes and developments will have profound and far-
reaching impact on global development. In the past decade, early childhood education (ECE) has
been greatly improved in the Region and accordingly the Region itself has caught great attention
of researchers. Many studies have been conducted to understand the recent developments of ECE,
and this book is a timely and inclusively collection of those academic works. As the editor of
another book (Li, Park, & Chen, 2017) about the advances in ECE policies in Asia Pacific, I do believe
that this collection is also timely, comprehensive, and useful.
This edited book is very timely, as it has covered the current issues and major challenges facing
some representative countries and territories in the Region. These major countries and territories
include Australia, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), India, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vanuatu. This edited book is very comprehensive as its
coverage and diversity is adequate and appropriate. And it is very useful because most of the
cases have been strategically organized into the three interesting and meaningful themes/parts:
reconceptualizing early childhood education and care (Part I), re-examining standards (Part II), and
redefining professionalism (Part III). Most of the countries in the world would inevitably face the
same challenges and difficulties. Therefore, this book will be of great interest to an international
rather than regional readership.
Part I: reconceptualization of early childhood education
Part I of this book has six chapters that have historically reviewed a wide range of ECE matters and
issues in the Region, including development strategies,ECEstatus,socialand cultural traditions,
cultures, and languages, etc. Neo-liberalism and human capital theory are employed to investigate
how the political, economic and social changes have influenced policy changes, how policy changes
have affected the provision of ECE, and what has resulted for young children, families and early
childhood professionals in the Region. Chapter 2, for example, reviews the two major strategies that
Singapore government has employed to develop ECE in the country: marketization and corporatization.
“Corporatization”, led by the government, is the unique phenomenon in Singapore and deserves further
studies, and other countries in the Region can also consider this strategy. In addition, this chapter has
also highlighted some challenges facing the for-profit centres listed on the stock market. Although
lacking of any empirical evidence, this chapter has successfully drawn on international references to
identify and discuss the consequences of adopting a market approach based on Neo-liberalism.
Chapter 5 reviews the development of ECE policies in India from a postcolonial perspective. The
transplanting of western ideas and pedagogies such as developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)
has been challenged, as India has completely different historical, geographical, climatic, linguistic,
faith, and economic circumstances, and thus cannot adopt American models. Chapter 7 reviews
early childhood curriculum (ECC) reform in China and analyses the developed hybrid model of ECC,
which encompasses traditional communist ways as well as adopts western play-based theories of
learning. The difficulties and disconnections between policies and practices have also been
analysed, and Chinese scholars are rethinking and reconceptualizing ECC in light of complex
Chinese sociocultural contexts, while reflecting, doubting and challenging the act of transplanting
western ideas and pedagogies.
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 267
Part II: re-examination of early childhood standards
Part II has four chapters that widely explore the topics of early achievement and stronger
accountability, which is one of the most significant developments in the field of ECE in the
Region. Accountability has been significantly improved in the past decade in many countries and
territories through those accountability movements initiated by international organizations.
Accordingly, ECE standards have been developed and improved to articulate exactly what young
children are expected to learn and how to improve early learning and teaching. In this section, the
contributors from Australia, China, Indonesia, and New Zealand have investigated the changes in
early childhood standards and curriculum, the influential factors of these changes, and the
corresponding mechanisms.
In Chapter 9, two contributors have argued whether digital technologies are considered
apart from or a part of everyday life in early childhood classrooms. The mandated Australian
learning framework for children 0–5 years has been compared against the Technology and
Young Children position statement developed by the National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC) in the USA. Document analysis was conducted to examine the
Australian research evidence relating to digital technology in the early years. Although digital
devices have been an integral part of many children’s everyday lives, they are yet to become
part of the typical prior-to-school experience. This chapter has successfully collected the
empirical evidence that could be used to guide early childhood educators in supporting early
IT literacy.
Chapter 10 provides insights to the emerging realities of early learning standards in New
Zealand. It introduces the learning standards in the primary context and resistance to the blanket
imposition of standards in ECE. Some important issues are also addressed, i.e., the narrowing of
early childhood curriculum, parental anxiety about children’s future academic performance, and
concerns about teachers’stress when coping with the challenges caused by the new rigorous
national standards testing. TeWhāriki, the renowned early childhood curriculum policy statement, is
also reviewed with a comparison against the early learning standards. TeWhāriki focuses on the
provision of play-based learning environments and experiences that are regarded as conducive to
positive learning and human development. However, there might be a tension between TeWhāriki
and the rigorous learning standards, which will inevitably bring up challenges to the early child-
hood educators in New Zealand.
Part III: redefinition of the profession and professionalism
Part III has six chapters, which jointly present the generally upward trajectory of the profession of
early childhood educator in the Region while highlighting the various developing paths and
speeds and even different starting points among those countries. The current challenges in early
childhood teacher education are also discussed, including the initial preparation of educators,
raising qualification levels, in-service training and professional learning, and the quality of the
workforce in both the public and private sectors. It seems that teacher and teacher education has
caught increasing attention from the countries in this Region.
Chapter 13 presents a case study of India, a country that has a long history of education and
teacher education. First, it depicts the image of Guru, a highly respected and revered teacher since
ancient India, and then analyses the classic texts about the role of the teacher, the qualities and
dispositions of good teachers, effective pedagogies, and appropriate codes of teacher conduct.
Next, it reviews the current challenges facing teacher professionalization and professionalism in
contemporary societies. The policies of early childhood teacher preparation and the associated
tensions are also reviewed. Last, it provides some recommendations for the re conceptualization
and restructuring of ECE in India, with an aim to empower teachers with confidence and skills in all
dimensions.
268 BOOK REVIEWS
Chapter 15 presents a case study of China, a country that also has a long history of education
and teacher education. This chapter, however, focuses on the contemporary issues and challenges
since 2010 and suggests some strategies to meet the challenges of rapid expansion of ECE. This is
because the central government of China has set up the ultimate goal of universalizing ECE by
2020, which accordingly requires one million new kindergarten teachers. This is almost an impos-
sible mission to the country. Therefore, this chapter takes the data of one province to substantialize
the challenges in Chinese teacher education and to explore the possible solutions.
In the past decade, Asia-Pacific Region has seen significant advances in the accessibility,
affordability, and accountability of ECE and teacher education (Li et al., 2017). With considerable
diversity in socio-economic, cultural, educational, and geopolitical environments, and very different
historical backgrounds, most of the countries (if not all of them) tend to share the same develop-
mental trend: developing ECE and promoting the profession and teacher education. This trend is
also observed in other Regions. Same trend might not necessarily follow the same path. Therefore,
those contemporary issues and challenges reported in this book might not be evident in other
regions. However, the ample experiences and important lessons in Asia-Pacific Region could be
a valuable reference for other regions. Therefore, I strongly recommend this book to all the
scholars, policymakers, teacher educators, and even teachers who care about the development
and education of our young children, the hope of our future.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
References
Li, H., Park, E.H., & Chen, J.J. (2017). Early childhood education policies in Asia Pacific: Advances in theory and practice.
Singapore: Springer.
Hui Li
Professor in Early Childhood, Macquarie University
philip.li@mq.edu.au Sydney Australia
© 2019 Hui Li
https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2019.1620994
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 269