Is puhui kindergarten a panacea for the ‘3A’ problems of early childhood education in China? Evidence from a national validation study

In 2010, China launched a national campaign to rapidly develop ‘puhui’ kindergartens (PhKs) as a panacea for the ‘3A’ problems (accessibility, accountability, and affordability) in early childhood education. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this top-down strategy from the perspectives of the stakeholders (i.e., parents, ECE teachers, and principals) using a newly developed and validated instrument, the Puhui Kindergarten Rating Scale (PKRS). Altogether, 28,732 parents, 4709 teachers, and 1365 principals from PhKs nationwide were randomly surveyed. First, the psychometric properties indicated that PKRS was a reliable and valid scale with five constructs: Allocation, Accessibility, Assorting, Administration, and All-inclusive. Second, descriptive statistics demonstrated that PhKs were rated relatively higher in Assorting and Administration but lower in Allocation and All-inclusive. This result indicated that the quality of PhKs was satisfactory even though there were equity problems. The implications for policymaking and practical improvement have also been addressed.