Media

The question of whether a longer kindergarten day can improve child outcomes has been debated in the West since the 1970s, yet the research findings on this issue are still inconclusive. The mixed findings caused the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (the HKSARG) reluctant to promote the whole-day kindergarten programme, albeit the public pressure to fully subsidise the whole-day kindergarten programme since 2012. Despite the growing demand for the whole-day programme due to women’s increasing involvement in the workforce and evolving family and societal dynamics, the HKSARG still insisted that the half-day programme was more appropriate for young children and launched the Free Quality Kindergarten Education Scheme for half-day programmes in 2017. This policy, however, has left the whole-day programme under-subsidised and has been challenged by local stakeholders, policymakers, and scholars, who believe that an additional dosage of daily kindergarten instruction will have a greater positive impact on children’s development.

To address this complicated social-educational problem and the urgent need to scientifically examine the whole-day versus half-day kindergarten impact, starting from 2015, a research team lead by Dr Hui Li at the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has conducted a 2-year territory-wide longitudinal study of The Effects of Half-Day versus Whole-Day Kindergarten Programmes on Hong Kong Children’s Development. The study is funded by the Research Grants Council under the General Research Fund. Media representatives are cordially invited to attend a press conference on the study at the HKU. The details are as follows:

Date: August 1, 2018 (Wednesday)
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: Rooms 401 – 402, 4/F, Meng Wah Complex, HKU (click here for map)
Speaker: Dr Hui Li, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, HKU

At the press conference, Dr Li and his team will share the research findings on the following questions:
1. Which programme (whole-day or half-day) would produce greater outcomes in children’s language, cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development?
2. What are the benefits and disadvantages of the whole-day kindergarten programme as perceived by parents in Hong Kong?
3. What are the benefits and disadvantages of the whole-day kindergarten programme as perceived by kindergarten educators in Hong Kong?
4. In the opinion of Hong Kong educators, what type of families should send their children to the whole-day and half-day programmes?

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Emily Cheung, Senior Manager (Development and Communications), Faculty of Education, HKU (Tel: 3917 4270 / email: emchy@hku.hk).