This book is among the first to comprehensively examine the far-reaching impact of China’s new fertility policies on early education and development. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has entered a period of declining fertility rate and aging population, which poses a serious threat to its sustainable development. To address this crisis, China has radically revised its fertility policy through the state’s guidance for regulating couples’ reproductive choices, abandoning its iconic one-child policy, and adopting the selective two-child (2013), universal two-child (2016), and then the three-child (2021) policy. Drawing on empirical evidence obtained through various research methods, this book offers multidisciplinary perspectives on the far-reaching impact of these policies. Part I summarizes the lessons learned from new fertility policies and identifies important directions for future research. Focusing on two major microsystems, part II presents research assessing families’ fertility desire for an additional child and projecting the demand for preschool education. Part III attends to family dynamics and their relation to early learning and development for both only and non-only children. Part IV addresses the importance of expanding access to affordable and high-quality early childhood education and care for children from birth through age 6. The Impact of New Fertility Policies on Early Education and Development in China contributes to policy development and practical improvement and serves as a catalyst to stimulate future studies on the topic. It will be a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners of early childhood education and care, as well as for families of young children. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Early Education and Development.

This book reports on the findings of a series of studies on the development of zero-to-three-year-old Chinese children supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The studies were conducted by a research group at the Institute of Early Childhood Education, Beijing Normal University. In the first part of the book, findings concerning the developmental trajectory are presented, including physical and motor development, cognitive development, language development, social and emotional development. The focus of the second part is on the effect of family environment and practices. Specifically, the authors provide empirical evidence allowing readers to better understand how the home environment and educational practice in the family impact the psychological development of children in their early years. In the last part, culture-specific issues like the new universal two-child policy in China are discussed. Most of the parts are based on large-scale investigations and analysis of the status quo, complemented by small-sample studies and case studies. The findings presented here will promote theory building and public understanding of early care and education in China. Moreover, the behavior observation scales and assessment tools developed by the research group are cultural appropriate and may serve as a foundation for further studies on early care and education in the Chinese cultural context.

Crafted from a research project that lasted for three years, this book examines the impacts of China's universal two-child policy under the lens of education and focuses specifically on early childhood. This book not only provides number projection, but also the prediction and judgment of the supply and demand of service resources in early childhood education. It attempts to reveal the attitudes and views of families and stakeholders on the universal two-child policy and present the public's policy requirements for the quality of early childhood education. In addition, it analyses possible problems and challenges in current kindergarten layouts and resources allocation. Lastly, it aims to provide references and bases for formulating the plan that adapts to changes of Chinese preschoolers, supply guarantee of future early childhood education and the construction of public service system. Offering rich insights into the current and future status of education in China, this text will be of interest to students, scholars, and researchers of sociology, early childhood education, contemporary China studies, East Asian educational practices and policy.