HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN CHINA (FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE PRESENT TIME)

Abstract

Preschool education is given much attention to in China, as the foundation built in childhood may and should become the necessary condition for successful development of the country in mid and short term. Contemporary system of preschool education in China is regulated by certain laws; there are different kinds of preschool institutions; there is a law regulation the work of kindergatrens, the system of staff training, schientific and methodological foundation, etc. However these components are the result of a long way of the genesis and development of preshool education in China. The analysis of history made it possible to single out five staged in the genesis of preschool education: 1949– 1965 - reproductive; 1966–1976 - autonomous; 1977–2000 - integrativecumulative; 2001- up to present – integrative-productive. The basis for these stages were the following: historical and political conditions in China; laws regulating educational system in general and kindergartens in particular; educational programs and teaching methods; teaching staff for educational establishments. It is obvious that in the first stage – propaedeutic – the abovementioned parametres and pahenomena are either absent or present in some simple forms, often temporal. The second stage is characterized by the adoption of the Sovit experience in education development, that is why this stage is called reproductive. The third stage, coinciding with the Cultural revolution in China, according to the law “negation of negation”, brought all the achievement of the previous stage to nought. However, the change of political situation in China after 1977, caused serious changes in the system of preschool education inspired by the achievements in this sphere abroad. Finally, in the XXI century there is a tendency to establish their own educational system in China, which adopts the best achievements of the past, but at the same time it preserves its national identy and specificity.