In the early years, kindergarten admission once became a "big problem" in the hearts of parents, expensive to enter the kindergarten, difficult to enter the kindergarten, once became a thorn in the hearts of parents. In order to be able to grab the kindergarten places of their choice, parents show their talents. However, now, some public kindergartens have begun to "grab students", and a large number of private kindergartens are facing the dilemma of closure. On January 12, 2024, Xuhui District Private Tiyi Kindergarten issued a public announcement stating that it will stop operating kindergartens and will no longer enroll children from March 1, 2024. Even private kindergartens located in economically developed areas are still unable to escape the "curse" of kindergarten closure, it is conceivable that a large number of private kindergartens and even public kindergartens will face a severe survival situation in the future.
As early as 2008, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on the Deepening Reform and Standardized Development of Preschool Education", emphasizing the construction of a kindergarten system with inclusive resources as the main body, vigorously developing public kindergartens, and gradually increasing the proportion of children in public kindergartens, reaching 50% in principle by 2020 At the same time, actively support private kindergartens to provide inclusive services, standardize the development of for-profit private kindergartens, so that the structure and resource supply of kindergartens not only meet the people's strong desire for inclusive preschool education, but also meet the diverse selective needs of some parents.
Since 2008, a large number of private kindergartens have been converted into inclusive kindergartens, accelerating the construction of public kindergartens, and the number of kindergartens has maintained a steady growth. But starting in 2022, the number of kindergartens showed negative growth for the first time, with 5,610 fewer kindergartens.
In 2023, there will be 274,400 kindergartens in the country, 14,800 fewer than the 289,200 in 2022, plus the decrease of 5,610 in 2022, a total decrease of 20,400 in the two years. This is the first time since 2008 that the number of kindergartens has experienced negative growth, and this trend is expected to continue for a long time.
The "wave of closures" in kindergartens is directly due to the continuous decline in the birth rate and the decrease in the number of school-age children. As a result of the declining birth rate, the number of kindergarten children will decrease by about 10 to 15 percent per year. This will inevitably lead to the closure of a certain percentage of kindergartens, although this proportion is expected to be lower than the proportion of children declining.
In addition to the declining birth rate, national policies and urbanization are also important factors. The extent of state support for public kindergartens and policy differences in different regions, especially in the densely populated Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Central China and Southwest China, will have an impact on the distribution and number of kindergartens. In China, the number of rural kindergartens is very large, and the proportion of private kindergartens in rural kindergartens is very high. Therefore, the process of urbanization, especially the migration of population from rural to urban areas, will lead to the closure of a large number of rural private kindergartens, further exacerbating the trend of kindergarten closures.
The "wave of closures" of kindergartens will have various impacts, starting with the waste of resources caused by vacant kindergarten sites. After the closure of a large number of kindergartens, these vacated sites cannot be arranged in time in a short period of time, which will lead to a waste of land resources on the one hand, and potential safety hazards on the other hand. Once a fire and other safety accidents occur in unattended kindergartens, it is easy to endanger the lives and property of surrounding residents.
Secondly, the "wave of closures" of kindergartens is just the beginning, and there may be a "wave of closures" in elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and even universities in the future. Zhang Yi, President of the Institute of Strategic Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, mentioned in "The New Characteristics of China's Youth Population: An Analysis Based on the Data of the Seventh National Population Census" that "the decade between the Seventh National Population Census and the Eighth National Population Census will experience a process of decreasing the number of junior high schools and ordinary senior high schools due to the decline in the proportion of school-age population at the junior and senior secondary levels. In the process of youth demographic transition, the source of college and undergraduate students will also be affected to a certain extent. If certain measures are not taken to improve this trend, the "wave of university closures" in the future will be even more tragic than the current "wave of kindergarten closures".
In addition, the reduction in the demand for kindergarten teachers caused by the closure of kindergartens will lead to the problem of surplus kindergarten teachers and the loss of high-quality teacher resources. A large number of kindergarten teachers are facing layoffs and re-employment, and students who are currently studying kindergarten teachers may also face the problem of "unemployment upon graduation". After some excellent kindergarten teachers with rich teaching experience and advanced teaching methods lose their jobs, the overall teaching quality of the kindergarten will also decline. In the long run, this will have a negative impact on the quality of preschool education in the mainland.
At the same time, the "wave of closures" of kindergartens has made the competition among kindergartens increasingly fierce, which may lead to the development of kindergarten curriculum in the direction of excessive and advanced. In her 2004 paper "The Continuation and Change of Japanese Kindergartens", Mayumi Karazawa, a professor of comparative psychology at Tokyo Women's University in Japan, pointed out that one of the main effects of the declining birth rate on kindergartens is the distortion of the curriculum, and in order to cater to the academic demands of ambitious and nervous parents, kindergartens will add some "trendy courses" such as English, computers, tennis and swimming to attract them. The enrollment method of kindergarten is not so much to attract children to enroll, but to attract parents to join. Once the kindergarten curriculum meets the needs of parents as the goal of running a school, it will inevitably lead to a decrease in the attention to the real needs of children, and long-term development is not conducive to the healthy growth of children.
The tide of kindergarten closures has been an irreversible fact, and how to adapt to this situation and seek a path of development is a problem that the government and practitioners urgently need to think about.
Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, wrote an article proposing that the construction standards of kindergartens can be improved, the construction of "small kindergartens and small classes" can be promoted, the teacher-to-child ratio can be improved, and the integration of childcare for children aged 2 to 3 will be included in kindergartens, which will help expand and optimize the allocation of existing preschool education resources. Small class sizes are common in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, but they are not widespread in mainland China. According to the regulations of mainland countries, the number of kindergarten students is limited to 25-35 students, and most kindergartens implement large class teaching. This is closely related to the large population of the mainland and the lack of resources per capita, but with the continuous decline of the population, small class size may become an inevitable trend in the development of kindergartens. However, this requires increasing government investment in pre-school education and supporting more private kindergartens to transform to small class sizes.
In recent years, kindergartens with integrated childcare have also developed rapidly. Liu Ru, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of Beijing Beihai Kindergarten, said that supporting qualified kindergartens to extend the provision of childcare services by using their own resource advantages is a common demand of the childcare market and the kindergarten market, and it is also a forward-looking measure to optimize and adjust the layout of resources and promote the sustainable development of preschool education.
On the one hand, the kindergarten development model of integrated childcare can make up for the shortcomings of 0-3-year-old infant childcare, and on the other hand, it can make up for the source of kindergarten students. In the face of the sharp decline in the number of kindergarten-age children, it is a feasible way for kindergartens to develop infant and toddler care and expand the service objects. However, kindergartens are developing in the direction of integrated childcare, which needs to be equipped with professional teachers and equipment to train kindergarten teachers in corresponding parenting knowledge. At the same time, it is necessary to set strict management standards and training systems to take into account the different educational needs of children aged 0-3 and 3-6 years old, which can also be extended to the preschool teacher training system of colleges and universities. The government should also do a good job in allocating resources and increase financial support and subsidies.
China's elderly population is rising, while the birth rate of newborns is declining year by year, and the two ends of the age spectrum are intertwined. Nowadays, the model of co-parenting of the old and young has gradually entered the public eye.
Developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan have many activities related to the care of the old and the young, especially in Japan, the joint planning of nursing homes and kindergartens has developed maturely, and a number of elderly care facilities and kindergartens have been opened in one of the elderly care institutions.
Relatively speaking, in China, the co-parenting model is still in the development stage, and most of them are based on the community to promote the construction of child-friendly communities and age-friendly communities. According to media reports, Wuhan Tongxinyuan is one of the first institutions in China to try the model of co-care for the elderly and children, which is composed of Wuchang Road Kindergarten and Tongxinyuan Elderly Apartment in Fuxing Road Community of Wuchang District. However, there are also many problems in the development process, such as the large difference in the needs of the elderly and children, so new requirements are placed on the service standards of staff, which increases the burden of personnel training. In addition, the co-care model of the old and the young in the Children's Heart Garden is more of a resource reset, rather than a real realization of the elderly and children to accompany each other, to achieve the effect of "the old have companionship and the young have support".
On the one hand, the elderly and young children are relatively fragile in terms of physiology and immune systems, which may pose a threat to the health of the elderly and young children during the flu season. On the other hand, there are great differences between the elderly and young children in terms of physical activity ability, hobbies, learning receptivity, etc., and the design of activity content and rhythm suitable for all participants requires careful planning and adjustment. This requires a lot of manpower and material investment, which invisibly increases the burden of the old and young care institutions, and is not conducive to the sustainable development of the old and young care institutions. From this point of view, there is still a long way to go for the development of the old and young co-care model in China.
The closure of kindergartens is an inevitable trend, but the government and practitioners can also reduce its negative impact through resource reorganization, policy support and model innovation. For kindergartens, the first thing to do is to accept the fact that structural changes are taking place in the industry. Kindergartens need to consider their survival strategies through factors such as location, competitiveness, and policy environment, rather than just seeking short-term solutions. Some of the current kindergarten transformation models are mostly ineffective from a macro perspective, because they cannot change the fundamental challenges facing the industry.
Kindergartens should start from the demand side and consider how to truly meet the needs of families and children, including but not limited to providing high-quality childcare services. The "closure wave" of kindergartens has not only brought problems, but also forced the reform of preschool education to a large extent, and only by constantly adjusting policies and innovative development models to adapt to the development of the times, can education develop more smoothly and sustainably.
Article Reference:
Xiong Bingqi "Facing the Controversy of Kindergarten Students"
Yang Xueyan "Exploring the Collaborative Governance of "One Old and One Young" Community Home Service
"A large number of kindergartens are facing closure and vacancy, will they become nursing homes in the future?", etc