Embracing the New Two-Child Policy Era: Challenge and Countermeasures of Early Care and Education in China

Description

Crafted from a research project that lasted for three years, this book examines the impacts of China's universal two-child policy under the lens of education and focuses specifically on early childhood. This book not only provides number projection, but also the prediction and judgment of the supply and demand of service resources in early childhood education. It attempts to reveal the attitudes and views of families and stakeholders on the universal two-child policy and present the public's policy requirements for the quality of early childhood education. In addition, it analyses possible problems and challenges in current kindergarten layouts and resources allocation. Lastly, it aims to provide references and bases for formulating the plan that adapts to changes of Chinese preschoolers, supply guarantee of future early childhood education and the construction of public service system. Offering rich insights into the current and future status of education in China, this text will be of interest to students, scholars, and researchers of sociology, early childhood education, contemporary China studies, East Asian educational practices and policy. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Introduction Chapter 1: From restriction to encouragement: China’s birth revolution and policy choice Section 1 The tortuous development of China ’ s birth policy 1 Choice from blind reference to independence 2 A transition from strict one-child to gradual two-child policy Section 2 Analysis of the causes for the birth policy reform 1 The impact of social development 1.1 General improvement of women ’ s social status 1.2 Perfecting of the social security system 2 The restriction of economic level 3 Infiltration of the new fertility culture Section 3 Discussion and possible challenges to the current birth policy 1 Discussion and response to the universal two-child policy 1.1 Voice of academic circles: an empirical study on the adjustment of the universal two-child policy in the era of low birth rate 1.2 Social demand: the universal two-child policy, a major measure for population balanced development and social harmony 1.3 Public ’ s response: national reproductive rights are not ignored 2 Possible problems and challenges to the universal two-child policy 2.1 Guard against the universal two-child policy being in the cold again 2.2 Challenges from the second-child bearing peak to supporting policies or systems References Chapter 2: Give birth or not in the second-child era: Fertility willingness and its influencing factors Section 1 Research design 1 Measurement index 2 Research methods and data sources Section 2 General population’s second-child fertility willingness and its influencing factors 1 Second-child fertility willingness of the general population 1.1 Ideal child number and gender 1.2 Fertility willingness 1.3 Fertility planning 2 Influencing factors of second child fertility willingness in general population 2.1 Reasons for wanting a second child 2.2 Dilemma and worry about not wanting to have a second child Section 3 Only-child families’ second-child fertility willingness and its influencing factors 1 Second-child fertility willingness of single-child parent families 1.1 Ideal child number and gender 1.2 Fertility willingness 1.3 Fertility planning 2 Influencing factors of single-child parent families’ second-child fertility willingness 2.1 Fertility concept, the most important factor affecting single-child parent families’ fertility willingness and planning 2.2 Influences of mothers’ age and education level on single-child parent families’ fertility willingness and planning 2.3 Certain effects of birth cost on the fertility willingness and planning of single-child parent families, but some differences in the specific effect level Section 4 Second-child fertility willingness and its influencing factors for the families where husband and wife are non-only child families 1 Second-child fertility willingness of families where husband and wife both are non-only child 1.1 Overall fertility willingness at a low level 1.2 Ideal child number and gender 1.3 Fertility willingness 1.4 Fertility planning 2 Influencing factors of second-child fertility willingness of the families where husband and wife both are a non-only child 2.1 Motives for having a second child 2.2 Dilemma and worries of families not wanting to have a second child Section 5 Second-child fertility willingness and its influencing factors of highly educated young women 1 Second-child fertility willingness of highly educated young women 1.1 High fertility expectation in the ideal state 1.2 Low fertility tendency after realistic considerations 2 Influencing factors of high educated young women’s second-child fertility willingness 2.1 Child care, the most important factor hindering the second-child bearing of highly educated young women 2.2 An invisible influence of the family only-child attribute on highly educated young women’s choice of the second child bearing 2.3 Rational second-child fertility of highly educated young women with changes of modern fertility concepts Section 6 Challenges and countermeasures in second-child fertility willingness under the universal two-child policy 1 Challenge in the second-child fertility willingness under the universal two-child policy 1.1 Restrictions of multiple factors to the second-child fertility willingness 1.2 Possible fertility phenomenon: rapid population accumulation first and then policy out in the cold 2 Countermeasures and suggestions 2.1 Further strengthen the birth culture publicity from diverse perspectives 2.2 Pay attention to the reproductive health of older parturient women to reduce their reproductive risk 2.3 Improve the birth compensation system as soon as possible to relieve the economic pressure of second-child birth 2.4 Make top-level supporting two-child policies, and provide sufficient public education service resources References Chapter 3: The second-child views from the children’s perspective Section 1 Research design 1 Origin of research 2 Research objects and methods 2.1 Research objects 2.2 Research methods 2.3 Research tools 2.4 Data collection and analysis Section 2 Children’s second-child view 1 About 30% of children still don’t want to have a second child while most of them want to 2 Most children are willing to take care of their second child, but still, some are not 3 Acceptable that parents take care of their second child, but worrying about their mother being taken away 4 Believe mom and dad still love them, but still 1/3 children are worried about parents’ love being grabbed 5 Most children know how to be modest, and worried about toys being grabbed Section 3 Different comparison of children’s second-child view 1 The children with younger brother and sister are more likely to need the company of the second child 2 Children with younger brothers and sisters have a stronger desire for possession in terms of sharing Section 4 The factors influencing children’s second-child view 1 Do you have any brothers or sisters 2 Material, human, and mental resources Section 5 Impact and response to the children after the coming of the second-child population 1 Impacts to children with the coming of the second-child population 1.1 The coming of the second-child brings a huge impact on children 1.2 Children have the same problems in the coming of a second child, with unique characteristics in China 2 Countermeasures and suggestions 2.1 Children as the stakeholders of the universal two—child policy should be studied and referred to urgently 2.2 Children’s psychological needs and expectations should be of concern in the second-child issue 2.3 Families that are about to give birth to the second child should pay attention to the preparation of mental resources and improve the acceptance of children 2.4 Families who have bred a second child should allocate human and material resources reasonably to improve the degree of sharing of children References Chapter 4: Studies on parents’ conundrums and social support in the second-child’s education Section 1 Study design 1 Research objects and methods 2 Data analysis Section 2 Parents’ puzzles in two-child education 1 The families’ puzzles with the coming of the second child 1.1 Lack of time and energy and economic pressure constitute the biggest challenges 1.2 Most women return to their families for realistic reasons 1.3 Mothers’ ability to regulate emotions becomes weak 2 Puzzles of two-child family in children education 2.1 The coming of the second child leads to the behavior degradation of most first children 2.2 Erbao’s parenting style is different from that of Dabao 2.3 There is often a scramble between Dabao and Erbao (two children) 2.4 Personalized education of two children becomes a puzzle for most families 2.5 Underestimation of parenting difficulties Section 3 Analyses on the current situation of social support for two child families 1 Social supports gained by two-child families 1.1 Main family supports by two child families 1.2 Only a very small number of two child families receives educational support 1.3 There is little financial or medical support 2 Social support expected by two-child families 2.1 The highest expectations for educational support 2.2 Parents’ expectations of birth subsidy economic support 2.3 Expectation to increase pediatric outpatient service in medical support Section 4 Thoughts and suggestions on improving social support policies and the two-child care 1 Fathers should take the initiative to participate in parenting to relieve the pressure of the mothers with two children 2 Guarantee women’s employment right and concern about the mental health of mothers with two children 3 Integrate various resources and increase scientific parenting guidance for two-child families 4 Improve the two-child supporting public service policies as soon as possible to meet the needs of two-child families References Chapter 5: Studies on the second child from the eyes of teachers and for preparations of kindergartens Section 1 Research design 1 Research object 2 Research methods 2.1 Interview method 2.2 Questionnaire Section 2 Characteristics of children from two-child families in the perspective of teachers 1 Dabao generally shows stronger self-care ability 2 Dabao is more prone to anxiety and more dependent on adults 3 Children from two-child families showed stronger peer interaction than those from one-child ones 4 Children from two-child families show more sharing behaviors than those from one-child families Section 3 Responses to needs of kindergartens in the perspective of teachers 1 Kindergartens need to deal with the impact of the two-child policy in advance 1.1 Kindergartens need to address multiple challenges brought by the two-child policy 1.2 Kindergartens are in urgent need of increasing seating and teachers 2 Kindergartens need to address the development of children from two-child families in advance 2.1 Kindergartens need to adjust the content of existing education and teaching activities 2.2 Kindergartens need to design targeted educational activities 2.3 Kindergartens need to organize training for second child education Section 4 Challenges and countermeasures of kindergartens with the coming of the two-child era 1 Challenges to kindergarten education with the coming of the two-child era 1.1 The coming of the two-child tide likely makes the “difficulty in entering the kindergarten” more serious 1.2 The new characteristics of children from two-child families need to be of concern, emphasized, and studied urgently 2 Countermeasures and suggestions 2.1 Strengthen the attention and research on the new characteristics of children from two-child families 2.2 Innovate various ways to improve the kindergartens responses to the two-child education 2.3 Take multiple measures to alleviate the impact of the two-child policy on kindergarten seating and teachers References Chapter 6: The children in the two-child era: Prediction of zero to six-year-old population based on the two-child policy Section 1 Research design 1 Research objects 2 Research methods Section 2 The low-level scheme for prediction of population aged zero to six in Beijing under the universal two-child policy 1 Population aged zero to six: rapidly increasing in a small scale in 2016–2022, and then the new-born population will continually shrink 2 Population aged three to six: rapidly growing in a small scale in 2019–2023 or 2024, and then lower than that of 2019 in 2028 Section 3 The medium-level scheme of the zero to six-year-old population prediction under the two-child policy in Beijing 1 Population aged zero to six: rapidly increasing in a medium size from 2016 to 2022, and the new-born population beginning to decline from 2023 2 Population aged three to six: more and faster growing in 2019–2024, and lower level in 2029 than in 2019 Section 4 The high-level scheme of the zero to six-year-old population prediction in Beijing under the universal two-child policy 1 Population aged zero to six: rapidly growing in large scale from 2016 to 2023, and the new-born population gradually decreases 2 Population aged three to six: rapidly increasing in a large number in 2019–2024, then steadily falling but still higher than the level of 2019 Section 5 Comparative analysis of prediction of Beijing population aged zero to six under the universal two-child policy 1 Population aged zero to six: rapidly growing and then gradually decreasing, with the more significant growth and reduction with levels of three schemes from low to high 2 Population aged three to six: increasing with the level of the schemes from low to high, and the peak year delaying accordingly Section 6 Discussion on the prediction of Beijing population aged zero to six under the universal two-child policy 1 Three possibilities of changes of population aged zero to six in Beijing under the universal two-child policy 2 The general trend of Beijing population aged zero to six under the universal two-child policy Section 7 Challenges with the growing population aged zero to six in Beijing under the universal two-child policy and its countermeasures 1 Challenges with the growth of population aged zero to six in Beijing under the universal two-child policy 1.1 New-born population: a small birth peak to come under any prediction scheme 1.2 Population aged zero to six: the soaring numbers of children entering kindergartens in the future short term, causing pressure on kindergarten services 2 Countermeasures and suggestions 2.1 Plan and implement future population measurement in advance, and update relevant information of policy beneficiaries in real time 2.2 Build a population monitoring system for population aged zero to six, and establish a population early warning mechanism for early childhood education services References Chapter 7: Relationship between the two-child population and education: Research on demands for early childhood education Section 1 Research design 1 Research objects 1.1 Demand for early childhood education resources 1.2 Families with two-child bearing willingness 2 Research methods 2.1 Predication methods of the demand for early childhood education resources 2.2 Survey methods for early childhood education demands of families with two-child bearing willingness Section 2 Research on early childhood education demands based on population prediction 1 Low-level scheme of predicted early childhood education resource demand in Beijing 1.1 Prediction of demand for material resources 1.2 Prediction of demand for early childhood education human resources 1.3 Prediction of demand for early childhood education financial resources 2 The medium-level scheme of early childhood education resource demand prediction in Beijing 2.1 Prediction of demand for early childhood education material resources 2.2 Prediction of demand for early childhood education human resources 2.3 Prediction of demand for early childhood education financial resources 3 High-level scheme of early childhood education resource demand prediction in Beijing 3.1 Prediction of demand for early childhood education material resources 3.1.1 Demand for kindergarten land and building area 3.1.2 Demand for kindergarten building area 3.2 Prediction of demand for early childhood education human resources 3.3 Prediction of demand for early childhood education financial resources 4 Comparative analysis of the early childhood education resource allocation in Beijing 4.1 Analysis of the pre-measured amount of early childhood education material resource allocation 4.2 Analysis of the pre-measured amount of early childhood education human resource allocation 4.3 Analysis of the pre-measured amount of early childhood education financial resource allocation 4.4 Comparative analysis of the pre-measured amount and stock of early childhood education resource allocation Section 3 Research on early childhood education demand of families with two-child fertility willingness 1 Early childhood education demand in the diversified education service mode and the education service quality 1.1 Families’ demand for early education services 1.1.1 Families’ demand for early education service form 1.1.2 Families’ demand for the mode, time, and frequency of early education services 1.1.3 Families’ demand for the fee of early education services 1.2 Families’ demand for kindergarten education services 1.2.1 Considerations for families to select kindergartens 1.2.2 Families’ demands for the type and form of kindergartens 1.2.3 Families’ demand for the fee of kindergarten education services 1.2.4 Families’ demand for the content and form of kindergarten education services 1.2.4.1 First, demands in the content and form of services for children 1.2.4.2 Second, demands in the content and form of services for parents 1.3 Families’ demand for early childhood education services provided by social forces 1.3.1 Families’ demand for early childhood education services by communities 1.3.1.1 First, families’ demand for educational facilities and services by communities 1.3.1.2 Second, families’ demand for the early childhood education service form by communities 1.3.2 Families’ demand for early childhood education services by parent groups 1.4 Families’ demand for early childhood education services by the government 1.4.1 Families’ demand for free early education services by the government 1.4.2 Families’ demands for the government to play a leading role in early childhood education 2 Supporting measures for increasing the nursery number, improving teaching quality, and reducing education expenses 2.1 Increase the number of nurseries, set up early education care institutions and more education facilities 2.2 Diversify the education service mode, improve the quality of education services, and keep up education software 2.3 Reduce education service expense, and provide certain preferential subsidies 3 Increasing medical supporting measures for obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics, and reducing medical expenses 3.1 Increase obstetrics and gynecology departments in hospitals for better related medical services 3.2 Increase pediatrics in eligible hospitals, reduce medical expenses for infants and young children, and facilitate medical treatment thereof 4 Supporting measures for extending female maternity leave and improving the maternity leave system 4.1 Extend maternity leave for women 4.2 Improve the maternity leave system to guarantee work and life during maternity leave 5 Improving the social security system, and providing preferential housing and other supporting measures 5.1 Improve the social security system and old-age welfare, and increase the public service facilities for mothers and infants 5.2 Provide housing preference to meet the housing demand brought by the second child Section 4 Challenges and countermeasures for early childhood education demand under the universal two-child policy 1 Challenges from early childhood education demand under the universal two-child policy 1.1 Limited and unbalanced early childhood education resources, difficult to meet the demand of new-born population in the future 1.1.1 Not promising in early childhood education resource allocation, and more and more obvious insufficient stock 1.1.2 An increasing demand with adjustment of population policy, aggravating the contradiction between supply and demand of resources 1.2 Challenge by population growth to other aspects of society 2 Countermeasures to early childhood education and social related services under the universal two-child Policy 2.1 Establish both demand prediction system and timely adjustment mechanism to flexibly allocate early childhood education resources 2.1.1 Establish an information interaction platform for early childhood education resources, and predict the new demand in the future with scientific methods 2.1.2 Adjust the total quantity and quality of early childhood education resources by the demand variable of the future three to six-year-old population 2.2 Carefully consider the appeals of policy beneficiary families, formulate and improve supporting policies 2.2.1 Formulate and deepen supporting policies for the development of early childhood education 2.2.2 Formulate and improve supporting policies for other aspects of the society References Index