Regional Differences and Temporal-Spatial Pattern of Preschool Education Development in China

Preschool education is essential for people’s livelihood field related to the development of children, family happiness, and the future of the country, which has significance and value in promoting the fairness of social resources and welfare and maintaining the stability of social order. In order to guarantee the equality and accessibility of preschool education, the government has committed to narrowing both regional and urban-rural preschool education gap for a long time. Based on related data from the China Education Statistics Yearbook (2000～2020) and China Population & Employment Statistics Yearbook (2019), this paper analyzes the evolution trend of preschool education at national, regional, and provincial level, respectively. The results show that the gross enrollment rate for three-year preschool education has dramatically enhanced in the past two decades, especially in the central and western regions. The distribution disparity of the gross enrollment rate has decreased, which is mainly attributable to intra-regional differences. During 2000～2015, the gross enrollment rate showed a significantly positive spatial aggregation pattern. During 2016～2019, the spatial aggregation pattern disappeared over time. The findings reveal that the level of preschool education has made remarkable progress in quantitative and balanced development. In the end, this paper provides some suggestions for the balanced development of preschool education.