Comparison of Early Childhood Education Programs between Eastern and Western Countries

¹ Department of Elementary Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, 94132, America
^2* School of Education, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, 438000, China

^a carol.zhou1021@hotmail.com
^b luxue1026@sina.com

Abstract

With the rapid development of China’s economy and society, the core of national competitiveness has shifted from material elements to talents, systems, and innovation. Ultimately, it is a talent problem, that is, the problem of improving population quality. Only by striving to improve the quality of the population can we leverage our strong advantages in human resources and transform China from a populous country to a human capital powerhouse. Early childhood development and education are important ways and key links to improve population quality. This paper adopts literature research, empirical analysis, and quantitative analysis methods to conduct a comparative analysis of education programs in Eastern and Western countries around the topic of early childhood development education. The results indicate that the early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies and programs in Western countries have similar origins, both aimed at better protecting children, providing early education to children with special needs, and ensuring the social participation of mothers in the labor force. Although there are similarities in the formulation and implementation of program goals and policies, there are significant differences in other aspects. However, China’s early education faces problems such as insufficient local financial support, high costs, unequal access to opportunities, and significant differences in the quality of services. In the future, it is necessary to increase investment in early childhood development education, and the whole society should participate and carry out early childhood development education together.