Parental Involvement in early childhood education and care: exploring parents’ perspectives in rural China

Over the past few decades, scholars have paid attention to how PI (parental involvement) impacts children’s performance at school. Hence, PI is often reduced to school-centric involvement. Moreover, several studies have shown social class differences in PI, but relatively little attention has been paid to social class differences in culturally diverse contexts. In this article, we contribute to this discussion by reflecting upon how parents conceptualize preschool and their involvement and exploring class differences in the culturally diverse context of rural China. Drawing on data from eight focus group interviews, this article explores rural parents’ perceptions of the relationships with teachers, hereby asking what is good for their children and the utilization of guanxi (a specific form of social capital). The findings indicate parents are anxious about their child’s education, particularly their early learning. Furthermore, parents want to build good relations with teachers, and they emphasize tinghua (children to be unconditionally respectful, compliant, and obedient) and the strategic use of guanxi for their child's education. We conclude with a discussion of the findings and reflection on the inequality in rural China.