Critical Analysis of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Hong Kong

This report critically analyzes the early childhood education and care policy in Hong Kong, its impact on children, and the theories supporting early childhood studies. It examines the challenges and improvements in the education and care system, and discusses the postcolonial perspectives, social construction of childhood, and Bronfenbrenner's eco systems theory.

Critical analysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Theoretical approach for the analysis.....................................................................................1
Critical analysis of the practices in Hong Kong ....................................................................2
Impact of ECEC policy..........................................................................................................3
Theories supporting early childhood studies in Hong Kong..................................................4
Postcolonial perspectives........................................................................................................4
Social construction of childhood............................................................................................4
Bronfenbrenner’s eco systems theory....................................................................................5
Implementing policy cycle.....................................................................................................5
Social policy...........................................................................................................................6
Foucault theory.......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Early childhood education and care policy has become the priority area for the
government. This policy considers on emerging issues, it works for providing education, well-
being to those children those who belong to disadvantage backgrounds. There has been observed
some vital elements lacking in the early education system and care policy. So, for that various
government initiatives have been taken place in order to provide some sort of support to these
children (Yelland and Wai Man Vivienne, 2018). Providing support to these children is
important as well because there have been a variety of challenges that were acting as a barrier in
all the effective changes that were meant for bringing some positive changes. The report is about
analysing critically about the early childhood care along with the care policies. The present study
will critically analyse early childhood education and care policy in context to Hong King. It will
explain impact of ECEC policy on children. Furthermore, amassment will cover theories
supporting early childhood studies in Hong Kong.
Theoretical approach for the analysis
Early childhood education (ECE) is the major policy related with ECEC, this policy
covers centre based activities. This works for the social, emotional development of children. It
provides childhood services to the children in early age of three years.
Early childhood care (ECC) is the policy which monitors working of nurseries, day care
centres and ensure that they provide quality care.
There has been developed and implemented various theoretical approaches by the
government of Hong Kong in order to decrease the rate of issues regarding education and care
policies to the children in Hong Kong. With the help of government initiated committees,
kindergarten school facility has also been started that can help in providing the early education
and care to the children. Although there are some paid committees, but the ones that have been
initiated by the government for educating every child is quite affordable so that every single
parent can afford it and educate their child. Although a huge discussion has already taken place
for this because in order to provide proper education to the children, the process must require the
essential factors for it such as proper teaching staff, furniture etc. It is because teachers play the
most important role in this. So, the discussion was about the fact that in the process of organising
a means of teaching the children, there are various other factors as well that will be required as
well such as teachers, their income etc.
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So, the government of Hong Kong although provided a huge amount of support by
providing the funding (Gonzalez-Mena, 2016). Providing early education to the children is very
essential because empowering students the difference between right and wrong is very necessary.
So, the process helped in providing an efficient amount of education to the children. In
contradiction to this, the most important element was missing in this phenomenon which is fun.
The teachers tried to engage the students in academics and learning to a huge extent. However, it
can be evaluated that along with learning etc., it is very important to relax for a while and
involve some fun stuff in between that can help the children to get relaxed as well.
It is important as well because some activities in between can actually help in providing
some sort of relaxation and that can further help in maintaining the focus on the studies in an
efficient and appropriate way (Cheung, Keung and Cheung, 2018). Although these initiated
programs have been developed so that every child can get educated. So, after getting involved in
the same, there were some cases who are performing very well but as per some cases, some
children were not able to focus. There can be various reasons because of which this happens with
them such as family issues, lack of concentration etc. However, it can be analysed that the
teachers should also include some fun activities as well so that the children don't get bored with
it. Some sort of sessions or activities etc. can actually help in a structured way of living the life
because along with work and learning, some sort of relaxation is required as well. It helps in
maintaining the balance between things. Also, there should be some programs in which there
must be some people who can help them in guiding the objectives better so that the students that
are facing issues and difficulties can be able to discuss with them the root causes of the issues.
These issues can be lack of concentration to the studies, less amount of focus etc. This can help
in a better decision making between the children and the guidance providers so that they can be
able to found some way that the children can involve for making solutions. It will help the
children to analyse where they lack, so that they can be able to evaluate what they should involve
etc. so that they can also be able to achieve the objectives and targets.
Critical analysis of the practices in Hong Kong
Ng, Sun and Rao, (2017) stated that ECEC policy is working for the welfare of the
children those who are unable to live healthy life. There are many sub-policies such as education
and care policies that ensure that children get quality care in the early age. On other hand
Chow, McKenzie and Louie, (2015) ECEC policy is facing many issues, implementation of these
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polices are not so easy because of financial resource limitations. It requires more innovative
approach in order to meet with the objective.
As per the view of Gonzalez-Mena, (2016) ECEC provision is for the welfare of 0-3 year
children b. It focuses on their learning and education. But Spodek and Saracho, (2014) stated that
there are less provisions for the 4-5 year old kids, it impacts negative on their playful.
There is still a very huge requirement for the improvement in early childhood care and
care policies in Hong Kong because still there are various areas where the process still lacks. For
this, the government of Hong Kong has also released various policies. The actual basis of these
policies is to make sure that a balance is maintained between different processes and operations
that are being used for providing education and care to the children. By the means of
improvements in the professional competence and various mechanisms of the quality assurance,
a new proposal can be developed as well (Ng, Sun and Rao, 2017). In contradiction to this, there
has been enormous lacking factors as well that acted as a barrier or challenges that resulted in
negative outcomes and a greater range of illiteracy as well there. However, it can be evaluated
that teaching them what they can understand and what is required at the present phase is
important. It is important to maintain because if the pre school children will be taught something
of the higher standards, it will be difficult for them to understand that and also, they will feel
burdened enough as well because of that. It is obvious that one can be able to learn as per their
capability, so burdening them with extra and high level of matter can actually prove as a torture
to them. So, it is better to teach them as per the requirement and according to their capacity. It
will help in an effective and appropriate education and care policy in the children.
Impact of ECEC policy
The early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been considered as one of the major
factors that has been kept on priority. The government of Hong Kong involved a variety of
factors that can make some improvements in the process of providing education and care to the
children at an early stage. For making improvements in this, various other factors have also been
improved such as upgrading the qualifications for teachers, a framework for quality assurance
etc. It is because it is obvious that when there will be requiring some improvement in the skills
for guiding the children and providing them an efficient amount of care, there must be requiring
an appropriate of teaching facilities as well. For this, there has been made various advancements
in the qualifications of the teacher as more teachers have been employed so that every single
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school and child can get an appropriate care and education so that their life can also stay
balanced (Chow, McKenzie and Louie, 2015). Voucher amounts have been initiated as well for
different procedures.
An amount of subsidiary is being provided by the government of Hong Kong in order to
manage all these processes in an efficient way. It is because for teaching the students and making
them aware about all essential features, it is important to analyse all the essential factors that are
required for completing the specified objectives. Although there are enormous number of schools
already in different areas but still various other public and private schools have been developed
as well so that every single child can get admission into them and do not stay illiterate. This
initiative was started in order to make every single child literate , so that the country may not
have to face any sort of unemployment. The voucher system included the factor of providing an
open choice to the parents of the child whether they want to exchange the school of the child
from government to private etc. This can be concluded an efficient option in which the parents
can chose the school as per their own choice.
Although the scheme by the government of Hong Kong has been developed in order to
ease the process for the parents and make it simpler for children as well. But a fact that is to be
ensured here is that as it has some positive points, it has some negative factors as well. So, in
contradiction to this, there has been a huge competition in the market and because of that, it can
actually put some pressure on these schools. So, it can further affect the rate of processing of the
operations and services of the schools (Spodek and Saracho, 2014). However, it can be evaluated
that while implementing these schemes, it is very important to keep in mind all the possible
measures that can be involved so that a balance can be maintained at that time. As it is obvious
that school fees is usually the main source of continuing the processing of the operations, but
there were various areas where the population was not able to afford. So, for such areas, the
government of Hong Kong has provided various means of funding so that there can also be
involved proper facilities and procedures for providing early childhood care and education. This
can actually help in improving the procedures for providing care and education, thus the children
in Hong Kong can get an efficient amount of education and care that can further help in
improving the status of their lives as well.
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Theories supporting early childhood studies in Hong Kong
Postcolonial perspectives
Post colonial perspectives is also considered as post colonial theory that is wide and
expanded enough to provide different ways that can be included in order to provide proper
education and care, policies to the children in their early childhood in Hong Kong. It involves a
variety of factors because it has included various factors and operations that have dealt with the
colonisation. So, now this theory is considered as an effective option that can help in providing a
wide range of processes that can further help in providing education and policy care to the
children of Hong Kong in their early childhood (Ng, Sun and Rao, 2017). It makes it possible
because it deals with various types of issues, whether it is about the cultural differences or the
interests of people. There are various other factors involved with this theory such as legal,
political, social etc. It also involves the fact that the children are being guided by some ways so
that they can be able to manage multiple factors. Whether it is about bullying at school or
managing education, a child should be capable enough to deal with all these issues. Also, they
should be guided about managing such responsibilities because they should also ensure to keep
their actions efficient enough.
Social construction of childhood
Social construction of childhood means involving a set of activities in the routine of the
child so that by means of that, the child can be able to make well interactions with the people.
Socialization is very important, so the parents and guardians should ensure the fact to be
interactive enough with the people. This helps in an efficient construction of childhood. These
activities may involve making the child participating in various different activities. This will help
in making the child playful, cheerful and also, they can be able to interact with other ones also by
such means. Therefore, it can be concluded that organising or making the child getting involved
in such activities is considered as a very effective option that can help in making the life of the
child interactive as well as cheerful.
Bronfenbrenner’s eco systems theory
Bronfenbrenner’s eco systems theory is considered as a theory that has been made in a
way that the whole system of the environment can be classified in five different ways. This
theory has been developed by considering the fact that the development of the child gets affected
by what is going on in the surrounding environment. Whether it is related the love life or the
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personal matters, it somewhere throws an impact on the child. The five phases in which the
whole system has been developed into involves micro system, meso system, exo system, chrono
system and the macro system. The individual phase involves the age, health etc. factors of a
child. It is because these factors also have a huge influence on the child. Then, the micro system
involves the friends, family, school etc. In providing early care and education to the child, all
these play a very important role because it is the actual role of parents to provide every possible
feature to the child such as education etc., as it is considered as a one of the necessary needs that
can throw an impact on the whole future of the child (Opper, 2017). The meso system comes
after the micro system. The exo system makes involvement of the social services, mass media,
neighbours etc. because these all are involved in the surroundings of a person. So, it is obvious
enough that it will have an impact on the child itself. The macro system involves the behaviours
and attitudes of different persons. Although, all these stages are inter related but all these throw a
different impact on the early education and care policy of the child. In the chrono system, it also
includes the fact that the family members also have to take the preventive measures such as they
should also consider some important factors such as avoiding fighting, divorce etc. in front of
children because somewhere it affects negative on the mental stability of the child. So, when the
parents, guardians, friends of the child ensure to avoid some factors that can have a negative
influence on them, then it can actually help the children to keep their focus on studies.
Implementing policy cycle
The process of the policy is being divided in a set of stages and it is being done by the
means of a cycle. Therefore, a cycle plays a very important role in making divisions in the
processing of the different stages of the policy. It involves various phases in it such as
understanding of the problem, setting a proper agenda, implementing and developing a policy
that can help in resolving the problem, A proper implementation and at last, the evaluation of the
policy. So, the government can also take various initiatives in order to provide efficient care and
treatment along with education to the children of Hong Kong. For that, it is important that they
first analyse the reasons why many of the children are still illiterate and what are the root causes
of it. When the root causes will be understood, then they can ensure to find ways by which they
can be able enough to resolve the specified factors. When the issues will be understood, proper
strategies can be made and implemented in order to resolve the same. After analysing a range of
policies, the one suitable and relevant enough can be involved in order to resolve the specific
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issue. Then, the policy or strategy can be implemented in order to make some modifications and
improvements in the process. This is considered as a crucial step as when the policies are being
implemented in the processing, then, the specified poly is also being evaluated to check whether
it is affecting appropriate or not. So, when the checks have been made, then it is being analysed
that whether the strategy is working or not. In some few cases, the strategies does not work. So,
in such cases, one is free to make modifications and replacements to the new one that can act
suitable enough for providing the education and care to the children in Hong Kong. It is because
this has been observed that in Hong Kong, there are enormous number of children who are still
not literate and they even have to adjust in case of eating and in basic facilities as well. Although,
the government have included various initiatives for the children living there, but still, the
implementation lacks somewhere. That is the reason why there are still various cases who are not
being provided with proper care and education.
Social policy
Social policy is considered as an interdisciplinary factor which involves various policies
and issues taken by the social welfare in order to provide a better well being to the person. Some
very well known and common examples includes minimizing the poverty, providing better
health care, protecting the child, providing an efficient level of social security, involving various
policy frameworks that can help in initiating the education and care to the children of Hong
Kong (Cheung, Keung and Cheung, 2018). So, it has been observed that there are various cases
in which the people are poor and cannot afford education and a proper diet as well. That is the
reason why people are not able to provide an efficient and appropriate education to the children
and then, they have to suffer because it is hard for such children to get jobs in the future. Also,
as they do not afford education, it is obvious that they do not afford a balanced diet as well. So,
their children searches food from various external means such as dustbins etc. This is considered
to act as a very unhealthy option as well because this can lead to various further diseases such as
obesity etc. So, preventive measures should be taken in order to control these factors so that the
children in Hong Kong can also achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Foucault theory
Foucault was a philosopher whose political ideas were having different opinions on
politics .Also known as disguised Marxist, as he was a secret, anti-Marxist and a new
conservative. His technology of power had a different definition as taking the prisoner's as the
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inspiration of the theory because they can be observed any time .Power for Foucault was the
ability to make a change in the society by influencing the behaviours of every individual thus
affecting the society as overall. Power is a concern of subject and the individuals are the objects
of this subject. It can be generated from anywhere which means it has multiple sources therefore
if power has many sources to emerge which leads to emerging of resistance through various
sources also. If one fails to manage this power is more on a tendency of threat of death of his
power or the continuity of his existence. As the Hong Kong government policy is not at all
supportive for the children as their future is all on risk due to the lack of concern by the
government on the education of the children of Hong Kong.
So power must be exercised with the use of ethics which illustrate the term 'self
practised'. The power should influence individual rather than dominating individual. The effect
of domination can lead to negative impact on the society of Hong Kong. It is easy to practice the
evil power on the society instead of knowing how avoiding can be implemented to keep away
from practising these evil. Power cannot act where the basis of the use of power is for fulfilling
the selfish aims. According to Foucault there are fur types of rules which governs the formation.
Which are rules for the object formation, rules for the concept formation, rules for the
specification of various procedures of intervention and rules for the strategies formation. Being
an autocratic kind of leadership of Hong Kong , the priority is given to the rules ,not the society
where rules only determines the systematic functioning of the society but not the welfare of the
society. The traditional approach of ruling which was top down should be replaced by the
horizontal one. So, power should not be practised with the negative aspects like coercion or
repressing , it should be used positively in a constructive manner ; for the welfare of the children
of the society as they build the future of the nation so government should focus on the upliftment
of citizen rather than repressing and upsetting them.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that there are various theories that can be involved in
order to provide an efficient set of education as well as care to the children in their early
childhood. Also, various government initiatives are also there that can help in providing support
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to the children and these ways can actually prove beneficial enough in providing support to the
children in Hong Kong to a huge extent.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Spodek, B. and Saracho, O. N., 2014. Handbook of research on the education of young children.
Routledge.
Chow, B. C., McKenzie, T. L. and Louie, L., 2015. Children’s physical activity and associated
variables during preschool physical education. Advances in Physical Education. 5(1).
p.39.
Ng, S. S. N., Sun, J. and Rao, N., 2017. Early Childhood Education in Hong Kong: Progress,
Challenges, and Opportunities. In Early Childhood Education in Chinese Societies (pp.
147-169). Springer, Dordrecht.
Yelland, N. J. and Wai Man Vivienne, L., 2018. Policy into practice in Hong Kong pre-primary
kindergartens: the impact of a reform agenda viewing early childhood as the foundation
for lifelong learning. Early Years. 38(1). pp.102-117.
Gonzalez-Mena, J., 2016. Child, family, and community: Family-centered early care and
education. Pearson.
Cheung, A. C. K., Keung, C. P. C. and Cheung, L. Y. S., 2018. Teachers’ perceptions of the
effect of selected leadership practices on pre-primary children’s learning in Hong
Kong. Early Child Development and Care. pp.1-19.
Lee, F. L. M., Yeung, A. S. and Barker, K., 2015. Inclusion of children with special needs in
early childhood education: What teacher characteristics matter. Topics in Early
Childhood Special Education, 35(2), pp.79-88.
Ng, S. S. N., Sun, J. and Rao, N., 2017. Early Childhood Education in Hong Kong: Progress,
Challenges, and Opportunities. In Early Childhood Education in Chinese Societies (pp.
147-169). Springer, Dordrecht.
Opper, S., 2017. Early childhood education in Hong Kong. Early Childhood Education in Asia
and the Pacific: A Source Book, 6.
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