Background

Internationally, the radical social changes have put forward the higher requests for human capital and education. In recent two decades since the 21st century, the globalization and internationalization of the economy and the rapid revolution of information communications technology (ICT) have promoted human beings entering into the knowledge society, in which the human capital has become the core competitiveness for the major member economies or countries. In addition, it emphasizes the lifelong learning and advocates that the professionals such as teachers are supposed to continuously develop their professional competences in response to the change. All the aforementioned reality appeals for further development of education and teacher research.

Moreover, as the critical and foundational stage of education as well as one of the most effective way to cultivate a productive workforce, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been highlighted internationally and domestically. Although both academic research and practices indicate that teacher is the key factor to the quality of ECEC, how to better support the professional development of teachers in ECEC context is still a controversial topic in both contemporary China and beyond. Nowadays, the Chinese economy is entering the more sustainable and inclusive era of “new normal”, which appeal for in-depth educational reform to expand the stock and raise the quality of human capital, so as to embrace a more prosperous future (Yao, 2014; Wang, 2014). In China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is one of the most advanced and modern regions with rich educational resources, while the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is at the frontline of Chinese economic and educational reform. As the advancement and huge amount (about 2 hundred million) of population in these two regions, conducting study on the professional development of ECEC teachers in YRD and PRD can be representative and referential for both developing or developed countries (China National Bureau of Statistics, 2018; Zhang & Zhang, 2009).

Research questions and aims

In order to comprehensively foster the professional development of teachers in ECEC context among different regional economic forms, this study take the huge differences between the various ECEC auspices (public or private settings) which differ in the financial input and management system into consideration. And come up with the following research questions:

(1) What is the current situation and influential factors of the professional development of ECEC teachers in public and private settings in YRD and PRD?

(2) What is the professional development need of ECEC teachers in public and private settings in YRD and PRD?

(3) What is the policy recommendation to promote the ECEC teachers in public and private settings in YRD and PRD?

Theoretical framework

Based on the ecological systems theory proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner in 1979, which also called development in context or human ecology theory, this study believes that the professional development of teachers in ECEC context is not only influenced by their individual characteristics (e.g., the age, the teaching experience, the educational background), but also profoundly affected by ECEC system (e.g., the auspices and quality level of the institutions they are employed, the national, provincial and local ECEC policies and regulations, the qualification standards of ECEC teacher workforce) and social context (e.g., the current situations and future trends of the political system, development stages of national and local economy, features or tradition of culture and religion, population) (Song, 2009; Ren, 2010).

Therefore, this study conducted a questionnaire survey by recruiting 2,872 kindergarten teachers in YRD and 3,444 kindergarten teachers in PRD, to analyze the current situation and influential factors of professional development of kindergarten teachers in different ECEC auspices among different regional economic forms.

Sampling This study applied convenient sampling method and collected data from ECEC teachers in YRD region involves 5 cities in Jiangsu Province (namely, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Changzhou and Suqian) and 3 cities in Zhejiang Province (namely, Hangzhou, Wenzhou and Lishui), in the meantime, 6 cities in PRD region were participated in (including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan and Huizhou in Guangdong Province). Considering the representativeness of sampling, it covered teachers with diverse backgrounds. With support of the local government, through the network platform, this study conducted a questionnaire survey named “professional development status of teachers in ECEC context” from 2,891 kindergarten teachers in the YRD and 3,482 kindergarten teachers in the PRD. After cleaning up the data including eliminating the invalid questionnaires, 6316 kindergarten teachers (2872 from YRD and 3444 from PRD) were left and became the object of this study. The effective questionnaire recovery ratio was 99.3% in YRD and 98.9% in PRD. Specifically, Research methods This study uses multiple linear regression model, take the status of teachers' professional development as the result variable, and take the teachers’ demographical, institutional and regional variables as the predictors, carry out stepwise multiple regression analysis, so as to construct the regression equation of the influencing factors of teachers' professional development in ECEC context. To further explore the influence of different dimensions professionalism, this study also model the structural equation. Research tool This study based on the former survey of teachers’ professional status and other relevant literature, revised according to the social context and research needs, finally formed the questionnaire on “the professional development status of teachers in ECEC context” (Rao, 2003; Zhu & Li, 2011). This questionnaire consists of two parts: 1) the 1st part investigate the background information of teachers and institutions, 2) the 2nd part is about the current status of the professional development of teachers, this part use the Likert 5-point scale, in which teachers self-evaluate their degree of professional development and choose the representative scores (specifically, 1- strongly disagree, 2- disagree, 3- neutral, 4-agree, and 5-strongly agree). The scale had 4 constructs: (1) professional commitment, (2) professional knowledge, (3) professional abilities, and (4) general knowledge. After item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the 51-item scale was modified into 40-items scale. With test of reliability, Cronbach’s alpha of the whole scale was .933, while each construct was .698, .816, .904, and .910 respectively.

Conclusions The study results indicate that: 1) The majority of YRD kindergarten teachers are from public kindergartens, senior, better educated and qualified with higher honorary title, while the PRD sample are mainly from private kindergartens, younger, less educated and poor qualified with weaker honorary title. Meanwhile, the YRD sample self-reports higher degree of professional development in professional commitment, professional knowledge, professional abilities and general knowledge than those of the PRD sample. 2) the institution-level variables (auspice and quality level) and features of teacher (age, work experience, education, qualification, and the honorary title) have significant differences in the professional development of kindergarten teachers as a whole. 3) three indicators (the region and quality level of institution, teachers’ professional title) are positive predictors on the professional development of kindergarten teachers. Policy recommendations Accordingly, this study put forward the following policy recommendations in different aspects:1) In national-policy level, the traditional role definition of kindergarten teachers as “alternative mothers” should be replaced with “professionals”. 2) In local-government level, which is in charge of the ECEC governance, is supposed to promote the professional development of kindergarten teachers based on the characteristics of different ECEC auspices. 3) To raise the entry threshold and professional competences of kindergarten teachers, to shift from “occupation” to “profession”. 4) To use the strategy of “Internet +” to establish the ecological education and training mode, which aims to promote the professional development of kindergarten teachers (Moss, 2006; Liu, 2012; Ministry of Education, 2014; Liu, 2008).

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