The Quality of Puhui Early Education Services in Chinese Teachers’ Perspectives: Evidence from a National Validation Study

Abstract

In this study, we examined the quality of Puhui early education services perceived by Chinese teachers with evidence from a national validation study. Firstly, using a stratified cluster sampling method, the Puhui Early Education Service Quality Scale (PEESQ) was developed and validated with 994 Chinese teachers. Secondly, the psychometric properties indicated that PEESQ is a reliable and valid scale with three dimensions: service adequacy, service balance, and public service welfare. Thirdly, descriptive statistics found that Chinese teachers generally appreciated the quality of Puhui services, ranking the construct of “public welfare” the highest and “service balance” the lowest. Finally, hierarchical regression analysis found that urbanicity positively predicted teacher evaluations after controlling for demographic and kindergarten factors. The findings imply that more funding support and policy attention should be provided to help enhance the quality of Puhui early education services (EES). Moreover, this study extends the framework of research on teacher evaluation of EES and provides useful tools to evaluate universal EES in China and beyond.