Hong Kong’s early childhood education (ECE) sector has moved from a largely market-oriented system to one shaped by stronger government involvement, increased public investment, and formal quality assurance mechanisms such as School Self-Evaluation and Quality Reviews. Against this policy background, examining pre-service teachers’ conceptions of kindergarten quality can shed light on the professional understandings they are forming as they prepare to enter the field. This study examines how final-year pre-service ECE students in Hong Kong describe a high-performing kindergarten, interpret parental and government expectations, and judge the feasibility of different quality goals. The analysis draws on 234 valid responses to four open-ended survey questions. Findings suggest that participants were developing a child-centred and professionally grounded conception of quality, with whole-person development emerging as the most prominent theme in their own accounts, appearing in about half of the responses. Students also associated parents’ expectations with academic achievement, primary-school readiness, and reputation, and about half of them viewed parental expectations as different from their own ideals. Views of government expectations were more mixed, although policy and compliance concerns were prominent. Responses on feasibility further revealed a grounded awareness of practice conditions, with 30% mentioning constraints related to time, resources, staffing, or pressure. These findings suggest that pre-service teachers are entering the profession with a clear pedagogical vision while already anticipating tensions among child-centred ideals, stakeholder expectations, and the practical realities of implementation in Hong Kong kindergartens.

Authors:
Jessie Ming Sin Wong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Jessie Wong leads a range of Early Childhood Education programs at Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU).

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-ming-sin-wong/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jessie-Ming-Sin-Wong

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