Early Childhood Education and Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme

Survey Results Briefing

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) launched the
Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) in September 2007, a move which could markedly influence Early Childhood Education (ECE). Under this scheme, parents of children aged between 3 and 6 years are entitled to receive a voucher of $13,000 per child per annum. A part of the sum ($10,000) can be used to pay tuition fees in kindergartens (KGs) while the rest ($3000) must be used for professional development of teachers in the child’s kindergarten. However, the voucher cannot be used to meet tuition costs in all kindergartens and it can only be used in those which meet the following criteria:

(1) They should be non-profit making
(2) They should have tuition fees under $24 000 and $48 000 per student, per annum, for half-day and full-day programmes, respectively
(3) They must attain the Education Bureau’s benchmarks for pre-primary school quality within 5 years
(4) They should make their accounts open for inspection
(5) They should not be bound by a rigid pay scale for teachers

Stakeholders have expressed some concern about the imposition of restrictions on the use of the PEVS and this has led to a lively exchange among those concerned with early childhood education.

Against this background, Assistant Professor Dr. Hui Li, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong conducted a large-scale survey, to tap stakeholders’ perceptions of the PEVS. There are over 1000 KGs and 10% of them (103 KGs) were randomly selected. A total of 553 questionnaires were sent to the principals, teachers, and parents of the selected preschools. Three hundred and eighty
of them were completed and returned, representing a response rate of 69 %.
Preliminary results indicate that:

1. Support for the PEVS. Over half (52%) of the kindergarten principals, teachers and parents believed that the PEVS was a fair policy and that it could play an important role in promoting excellence in ECE. Respondents rated their overall satisfaction with the PEVS on a scale of 0 to 100. The scheme received an average score of 65 out of 100 indicating that the principals, teachers and parents surveyed were basically satisfied with it.

2. Benefits of the PEVS. Most respondents felt that the PEVS has had positive influences on both preschools and the family. This is because it (i) eased the financial burden on parents; (ii) increased schools’ accountability; and (iii) would improve the quality of teaching in kindergartens by improving and teachers’ qualifications. Parents felt that the implementation of the PEVS had led to
three major changes in local preschools: amount of school fees (63%), more highly qualified teachers (63%), and improved resources and facilities (58%). Parents felt that the PVES had brought positive changes to the family because (i) they had more money to spend for their children’s extra-curricular activities (39%), (ii) they had decreased their expenditure on education (23%), and (iii) the quality of education and educational resources available to their children would be improved (23%).

3. Concern about the PEVS. Though the majority of respondents (86%) clearly understood and agreed with the requirements of PEVS, some were concerned about the five restrictions associated with it, that is, kindergartens (1) should be non-profit making (23%); (2) should have tuition fees under $24 000 and $48 000 per student, per annum, for half-day and full-day programmes, respectively (17%); (3) must attain the Education Bureau’s benchmarks for pre-primary school quality within 5 years (34%); (4) should make their accounts open for inspection (29%); and (5) should not be bound by a rigid pay scale for teachers (54%, with 26% of
parents opposing this criterion).

4. PVES and Birth rate. Furthermore, the PEVS appeared to have little effect on increasing birth rate. Most (88%) of the parents expressed that they would not consider bearing another child even with the voucher. They mostly concerned about the high childcare expenses (44%) and limited parenting time (27%).

5. Future of the PVES. All in all, 21% of the respondents hoped that the voucher scheme would benefit all children (not just the ones attending certain kindergartens) in the future or that the Government would provide free ECE in the long run (94%). Some (15%) of the respondents also suggested more preparation, time, and resources to be put into the implementation of PVES by the Government.

The launch of the PEVS signals the Government’s commitment to and investment in the
well-being of young children in Hong Kong. The effectiveness of the scheme in promoting high quality early education as well as stakeholders’ views about it should be regularly assessed.

For media enquiries, please contact: HKU Faculty of Education, Development and
Communications Officer, Ms. Queenie Wong (Tel: 2219 4270 / 9220 5840 / E-mail: qlpwong@hku.hk)
Note: All numbers are rounded off to the nearest integers.
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Source:
Yahoo Search "Education Voucher System"

Link:
http://web.edu.hku.hk/outreach/media/docs/media/080124_Early_Childhood_R_E.pdf

Questions for Thinking:
1.What are the effects of Education Voucher System on both profit and non-profit making kindergartens?
2.Do you know why the implementation of Education Voucher System increases the burden of low-income families?