Perspectives of Children, Parents and Teachers on School Readiness and School Transitions in Mainland China: A Narrative Literature Review

This paper presents a review of the literature on the perspectives on school readiness and the transition to school process of children, parents, kindergarten- and primary teachers in Mainland China. In addition, the ways in which parents and teachers support child transitions from kindergarten to primary school are examined. Forty-seven publications from three English databases and one Chinese database were included. On measures of cognitive and socio-emotional development, urban children were reported to outperform their rural counterparts, and girls outperformed boys. Compared with children of ethnic minority backgrounds, Han children demonstrated higher levels of cognitive and socio-emotional development than their peers. Children with special educational needs scored lower than typically developing children on assessments of school readiness. Kindergarten and primary teachers acknowledged the importance of socio-emotional development and approaches to learning, but differed on expectations relating to academic achievement and behavior. Family socioeconomic status (SES) and the extent to which parents prioritized academic skills were associated with parents’ beliefs, practices, and children’s school readiness. Authoritative parenting contributed to children’s socio-emotional, cognitive and language development on measures of school readiness. Research implications and future directions regarding the perceptions and practices involved in children’s transition to school are proposed.