An exploratory study on normative cohesiveness of high-quality preschool teacher education in urban north-western China

Abstract

ABSTRACT The normative cohesiveness idea in education, which constitutes a norm in thinking and practice that is inherently shared across the stakeholders, was adopted in order to understand and reflect on the existing issues of preschool teacher education programmes (PTEPs) in north-western China. The State, teacher trainers and preschool teachers’ perceptions regarding the latest government policies that regulate preschool education, and the practices of teacher trainers on quality preschool education were studied. Using the macro–meso–micro-level model as the basic analysis framework, results showed that: (1) all three ‘stakeholder communities’ had a minimal consensus on preschool education, thus undermining the normative cohesiveness of views in this context; (2) the dual role of PTEPs in this part of China had not been fully implemented, thus requiring a custom-made improvement; (3) disparities between the PTEPs and classroom practices could be attributed to the specific contextual features and ecological factors of classroom teaching. This article argues that while the government is expected to assume more responsibility to guide preschool education in China, the national Guideline alone is insufficient and various means of professional development could be adopted by the teacher trainers and in-service preschool teachers, in order to meet the challenges for change.