Projects

Consortium for Research on Early Childhood Development and Education (CORE)

Consultancy Study on the Effectiveness of the Provision of Quality Kindergarten Education in Hong Kong under the Kindergarten Education Policy​

Funding Source

Education Bureau, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Project Period

2017–2021

 

Team Members

Prof RAO, Nirmala 

Principal Investigator

Dr LAU, Carrie

Co-Principal Investigator

Prof BACON-SHONE, John

Social Sciences Research Centre, HKU

Prof IP, Patrick

Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, HKU

Dr CHAN, Stephanie

Dr RICHARDS, Ben

Dr LEE, Diana

Ms NG, Rita

Objectives

The study considers whether the quality of KG education has changed as a result of the implementation of the KG policy, and has 3 main objectives:

  • to examine the effectiveness of the provision of quality KG education in Hong Kong under the KG policy;
  • to identify good practices and areas for improvement for KGs; and
  • to investigate school factors that are conducive to the development of quality KG education.

Project Information

The Hong Kong Education Bureau implemented the new kindergarten education policy starting from the 2017/18 school year with the aim to enhancing kindergarten education in Hong Kong and providing good quality and highly affordable education for kindergarten children.

 

A multi-method, multi-informant design was employed:

  • We administered principal and teacher questionnaires in three phases: Wave 1: Jun 2018 to Sep 2018, Wave 2: Jun 2019 to Sep 2019, and Wave 3: Jun 2020 to Oct 2020 with 121 kindergartens
  • A sample of 25 KGs was drawn for intensive study.
    • To understand the general situation before the implementation of the KG policy, 15 K3 classes in these 25 KGs were observed in the Pre-policy phase. From Wave 1 to Wave 3, classroom observations were conducted in two class levels in 25 KGs during each Wave (Wave 1: 25 K1 and 25 K2 classes, Wave 2: 25 K1 and 25 K3 classes, Wave 3: 25 K2 and 19 K3 classes).

In the Prepolicy phase, principals from each of the 25 KGs completed a questionnaire and were interviewed. In each wave (from Wave 1 to Wave 3), individual interviews were conducted with the principals of these 25 KGs; 1 teacher from each class observed (50 interviews from 50 classes) and 1 parent from each class observed (50 interviews from 50 classes). Parents of children from classes that were observed completed questionnaires (Wave 1: 879 parents, Wave 2: 798 parents, Wave 3: 431 parents).

Publications and News​

Technical report

Executive summary