ABSTRACT
Based on the analyses of school-based curriculum (SBC) development (SBCD) in Chapter 5, this chapter further explores the unique Chinese approaches to implementing early childhood curriculum (ECC) in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Altogether, 20 principals and teachers were interviewed, and transcripts were analysed and cross-checked through document analysis and classroom observation. The cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) was used to analyse the contradictions lying behind Chinese educators’ motives in curriculum implementation. It was found that such kinds of cultural analysis could further answer how Chinese culture has influenced teachers’ ECC implementation. In the process of curriculum development, principals and teachers have adopted or created a variety of strategies to promote curriculum change and to achieve the establishment and implementation of the individual learning curriculum. How to choose between and coordinate institutional curriculum philosophy and parents’ educational beliefs (and demands) within a specific social and realistic context as well as how to integrate and balance diverse notions and approaches are the key questions that remain to be addressed in promoting curriculum development in Chinese kindergartens.
