Child learning and development: concerns and perceptions of Chinese urban mothers

Child development is deservedly dominant in the discourses on education. In populated communities such as China’s, awareness of the prevalent ideas about child development within families is particularly important. Drawing on a series of conversations between parents and teachers through synchronous online text chat, this paper investigated the perceptions and concerns of Chinese urban parents on child development. The participants were mothers of three to six year old children from Changchun, China. Results were presented in terms of the nature of the questions the mothers raised and what they talked about when discussing their questions. Analyses of the mothers’ texts revealed their concerns on those elements of child development which challenged their roles in parenting, such as inappropriate social behaviours or regulated emotions. Data from the study provided insights into key characteristics of contemporary Chinese preschool children’s learning and development within families that might identify issues and trends of early childhood education on a larger contextual scope.