Yuwei Xu
Biographic Data
| ID | 3600455 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Yuwei Xu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Yuwei |
| FAMILY NAME | Xu |
| SIGNATURE | XU Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Nottingham |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4210-9963 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Doing ethics without a ‘Map’
Ethical awareness in research with children in China is neither derived from normative frameworks nor fully capturable by procedural adaptation. • Ethical awareness emerges through moments of dissonance, affective hesitation and relational complexity. • Rather than focusing on compliance or certainty, this paper advocates for an understanding of ethics as situated awareness, a mode of engagement shaped by moral ambiguity, affective entanglements …
Rethinking quality in Early Childhood Education ( ECE ) from Chinese children's perspectives
While the concept of ‘quality’ in Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been widely theorised, it remains largely shaped by adult‐centric perspectives and globalised frameworks that prioritise standardisation and developmental outcomes. This paper explores how Chinese children understand and experience quality in ECE. By inviting children to respond to the question ‘What is a good kindergarten?’, the study investigates how they interpret quality th…
At the margin and in the centre
Men remain underrepresented in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), comprising fewer than 4% of the workforce across OECD countries including the site of this study, Australia. Despite global efforts to increase male participation, men are often the solo male educator and face both stigma as deviants and valorisation as pioneers. The extent to which these binary framings inform men’s professional identity is not well understood. Using frame…
Chinese migrant children’s constructions of transnational childhood in Norway
Engaging with the lens of ‘children as been, being and becoming’, this paper analyses Chinese migrant children’s constructions of transnational childhood in Norway, particularly in family context. The study conducted semi-structured interviews with five Chinese families, including children aged 7–14 years old ( N = 5) and their parents ( N = 9). Findings reveal that Chinese migrant children actively produce meanings of childhood in the migration …
Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE)
Criticisms on the dominance of ‘Western’ mores and values in shaping early childhood education (ECE) curriculum frameworks in Asian contexts have led to arguments for culturally appropriate pedagogy that addresses conflict and fusion of Western and non-Western cultures. However, whether concerns about quality of practice in ECE relate to cultural differences or structural limitations is not empirically established in existing literature. There is…
VR sculpting as a therapeutic intervention for alleviating anxiety
As a non-pharmacological art therapy method, VR sculpting demonstrates a notably positive effect on reducing anxiety and improving mental well-being among university students. This study provides compelling evidence for using art therapy to address mental health issues in a college environment. Future research should consider longer intervention periods and more varied measures to further investigate the long-term effectiveness and broader applic…
Chinese and Turkish parents’ reflective parenting
Researching the Everyday Educational Lives of Low-Income Families
This paper highlights the importance of considering both researcher and participant contexts when exploring everyday educational lives. It emerges during a period of increasing and sustained social inequality in England, and against a backdrop of increasingly tight research timeframes and resources in higher education. Drawing on a project engaging low-income families in Greater London, the paper takes the everyday as its conceptual focus and que…
Engaging low-income families in education research
This comparative paper considers the similar challenges encountered in Beijing (China) and Greater London (England) when engaging low-income families in education research. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 parents/caregivers in Beijing and 13 parents in Greater London, we explored perceptions of the barriers to participation, the influence of identity on involvement, and ways to better enable their contribution to education research. We…
Educational research in the global north and south; reflections on the field and future directions
Editorial
Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of Covid ‐19 in global contexts
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study
(Re)Constructing equality, diversity, and inclusion in Chinese childhoods
Understanding secondary school students’ agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon
This article investigates students’ post-secondary education transition processes in Cameroon through the lens of agency. Situated in a country where the higher education participation rate is fairly low, our article explores how students agentically negotiate access to higher education within structural constraints of socio-economic status and gender. Semi-structured interviews with 25 students from two secondary schools in Yaoundé, Cameroon wer…
Me, my child and Covid‐19
Over the past 2 years, the world has been living through the unprecedented Covid‐19 pandemic. Children have had to adapt to online classrooms and lessons of some sort, and many parents have been forced to work from home while supervising their child's home learning activities. We used participatory visual methods to understand how children and their parents have coped during this time, engaging parents as co‐researchers to ask their child to phot…
When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism
This study employs a poststructuralist theoretical framework to explore parents' attitudes towards children's right to play in Shanghai, China. It adopted mixed methods of online questionnaires ( N = 880) and semi-structured interviews ( N = 11). The findings suggest that participants struggle with embracing and practising children's right to play as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), reflecting culturall…
Men in early childhood education and care
Globally, the underrepresentation of men in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce is ongoing and has been largely attributed to the construction of ECEC as ‘women’s work’. Men’s involvement in ECEC can help to deconstruct the feminisation of work and the gender binaries through which occupations are structured. Further to this, there is a need to dismantle reinforced gendered ideologies that work towards interrogating rather tha…
Understanding international postgraduate students’ educational mobility to China
International educational mobility is often perceived as westward mobility for non-English speaking learners. This study explores an increasing trend of mobility from developed countries to mainland China from ecological systematic perspectives. Drawing on interviews with fourteen students from developed countries, the study explores the factors key to their choice to study postgraduate programmes in China and subsequent experiences. It reveals t…
Men times ten
Retention rates for men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are low. Exit is associated with experience of feeling ‘other’ perpetuated by judgements of men’s sexuality, motives, and ability. In this paper, we take the unique circumstance of many men working together in ECEC to ask whether more men on staff improves experiences of inclusion. We analyse interviews with 10 men working in two Australian ECEC centres in which male educators c…
Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (Ecec)
At the global level, prominent narratives about improving the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) promote the recruitment of men into the profession. However, comparing across different policy and practice settings demonstrates contrasting expressions and experiences of how men contribute to ECEC. This article presents findings from a study in Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. The study explored how male and female practiti…
Policy decoupling in strategic response to the double world-class project
Engaging diversities in a changing world
We are very pleased to have this opportunity to introduce ourselves as the new editorial team, and to share with you our vision for the journal over the coming years. We would like to begin by thanking the outgoing editorial team, comprising Janet Boddy, Sara Bragg, Wendy Sims-Schouten and Rachael Stryker, for their highly skilled leadership in growing and developing the journal and its audience over the last 4 years. We particularly note their w…
Parents and children during the Covid-19 quarantine process
This paper reports Turkish and Chinese parents’ experiences with their 3–6 year-old children during the COVID-19 quarantine process. Thirteen Turkish and 11 Chinese parents participated in a study that employed semi-structured interviews to examine participant self-perceived experiences. Findings show that the study revealed many commonalities in the experiences of Turkish and Chinese parents with their children during the COVID-19 quarantine pro…
Infantographies
Beliefs and attributions
Theoretical perspectives, and a large body of empirical research examining sex-segregated occupations, identify the attitudinal barriers of the majority as pivotal for both workplace well-being and the retention of minorities. Globally, where more than 90% of the early childhood education and care workforce is female, understanding the attitudes of the majority is critical in informing actions to sustain men’s participation. So too are female edu…
Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care? Perspectives from Scottish and Chinese young children
This paper responds to concerns over the assumed ‘feminisation’ of early childhood education and care (ECEC) and adds children's perspectives to debates on whether more men should work in ECEC. Pictorial conversations were conducted with 280 children aged 2–6 years old from the cities of Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Tianjin. Findings show that although children sometimes related practitioners to their gendered experiences in and outside ECEC, childre…
An exploratory study of gender and male teachers in early childhood education and care centres in China
This paper explores the impact of gender on the employment of men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres through the voices of male and female early childhood teachers (ECTs) working in China. Gender imbalance in the ECEC workforce is a global phenomenon, and there has been little research about it in countries such as China. This study was based on online interviews with 16 ECTs from three major cities in China. Findings indicated …
Infantographies
Parents and children during the Covid-19 quarantine process
This paper reports Turkish and Chinese parents’ experiences with their 3–6 year-old children during the COVID-19 quarantine process. Thirteen Turkish and 11 Chinese parents participated in a study that employed semi-structured interviews to examine participant self-perceived experiences. Findings show that the study revealed many commonalities in the experiences of Turkish and Chinese parents with their children during the COVID-19 quarantine pro…
Men times ten
Retention rates for men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are low. Exit is associated with experience of feeling ‘other’ perpetuated by judgements of men’s sexuality, motives, and ability. In this paper, we take the unique circumstance of many men working together in ECEC to ask whether more men on staff improves experiences of inclusion. We analyse interviews with 10 men working in two Australian ECEC centres in which male educators c…
Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (Ecec)
At the global level, prominent narratives about improving the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) promote the recruitment of men into the profession. However, comparing across different policy and practice settings demonstrates contrasting expressions and experiences of how men contribute to ECEC. This article presents findings from a study in Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. The study explored how male and female practiti…
When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism
This study employs a poststructuralist theoretical framework to explore parents' attitudes towards children's right to play in Shanghai, China. It adopted mixed methods of online questionnaires ( N = 880) and semi-structured interviews ( N = 11). The findings suggest that participants struggle with embracing and practising children's right to play as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), reflecting culturall…
Me, my child and Covid‐19
Over the past 2 years, the world has been living through the unprecedented Covid‐19 pandemic. Children have had to adapt to online classrooms and lessons of some sort, and many parents have been forced to work from home while supervising their child's home learning activities. We used participatory visual methods to understand how children and their parents have coped during this time, engaging parents as co‐researchers to ask their child to phot…
Educational research in the global north and south; reflections on the field and future directions
Editorial
(Re)Constructing equality, diversity, and inclusion in Chinese childhoods
Urbanisation and the geographic concentration of industrial SO 2 emissions in China
This paper studies the mechanisms linking urbanisation and industrial SO 2 emissions using panel data that enable us to trace the environmental impact of the urban transformation of China’s economy from a rural to a largely urban society. We provide evidence of stylised facts on spatial patterns and temporal changes of industrial SO 2 emissions in China. Over time, industrial SO 2 emissions show increasing levels in small and medium-sized cities …
An exploratory study of gender and male teachers in early childhood education and care centres in China
This paper explores the impact of gender on the employment of men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres through the voices of male and female early childhood teachers (ECTs) working in China. Gender imbalance in the ECEC workforce is a global phenomenon, and there has been little research about it in countries such as China. This study was based on online interviews with 16 ECTs from three major cities in China. Findings indicated …
Urbanisation and the geographic concentration of industrial SO 2 emissions in China
This paper studies the mechanisms linking urbanisation and industrial SO 2 emissions using panel data that enable us to trace the environmental impact of the urban transformation of China’s economy from a rural to a largely urban society. We provide evidence of stylised facts on spatial patterns and temporal changes of industrial SO 2 emissions in China. Over time, industrial SO 2 emissions show increasing levels in small and medium-sized cities …
Beliefs and attributions
Theoretical perspectives, and a large body of empirical research examining sex-segregated occupations, identify the attitudinal barriers of the majority as pivotal for both workplace well-being and the retention of minorities. Globally, where more than 90% of the early childhood education and care workforce is female, understanding the attitudes of the majority is critical in informing actions to sustain men’s participation. So too are female edu…
Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care? Perspectives from Scottish and Chinese young children
This paper responds to concerns over the assumed ‘feminisation’ of early childhood education and care (ECEC) and adds children's perspectives to debates on whether more men should work in ECEC. Pictorial conversations were conducted with 280 children aged 2–6 years old from the cities of Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Tianjin. Findings show that although children sometimes related practitioners to their gendered experiences in and outside ECEC, childre…
Policy decoupling in strategic response to the double world-class project
Engaging diversities in a changing world
We are very pleased to have this opportunity to introduce ourselves as the new editorial team, and to share with you our vision for the journal over the coming years. We would like to begin by thanking the outgoing editorial team, comprising Janet Boddy, Sara Bragg, Wendy Sims-Schouten and Rachael Stryker, for their highly skilled leadership in growing and developing the journal and its audience over the last 4 years. We particularly note their w…
Parents and children during the Covid-19 quarantine process
This paper reports Turkish and Chinese parents’ experiences with their 3–6 year-old children during the COVID-19 quarantine process. Thirteen Turkish and 11 Chinese parents participated in a study that employed semi-structured interviews to examine participant self-perceived experiences. Findings show that the study revealed many commonalities in the experiences of Turkish and Chinese parents with their children during the COVID-19 quarantine pro…
Infantographies
Men in early childhood education and care
Globally, the underrepresentation of men in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce is ongoing and has been largely attributed to the construction of ECEC as ‘women’s work’. Men’s involvement in ECEC can help to deconstruct the feminisation of work and the gender binaries through which occupations are structured. Further to this, there is a need to dismantle reinforced gendered ideologies that work towards interrogating rather tha…
Understanding international postgraduate students’ educational mobility to China
International educational mobility is often perceived as westward mobility for non-English speaking learners. This study explores an increasing trend of mobility from developed countries to mainland China from ecological systematic perspectives. Drawing on interviews with fourteen students from developed countries, the study explores the factors key to their choice to study postgraduate programmes in China and subsequent experiences. It reveals t…
Men times ten
Retention rates for men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are low. Exit is associated with experience of feeling ‘other’ perpetuated by judgements of men’s sexuality, motives, and ability. In this paper, we take the unique circumstance of many men working together in ECEC to ask whether more men on staff improves experiences of inclusion. We analyse interviews with 10 men working in two Australian ECEC centres in which male educators c…
Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (Ecec)
At the global level, prominent narratives about improving the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) promote the recruitment of men into the profession. However, comparing across different policy and practice settings demonstrates contrasting expressions and experiences of how men contribute to ECEC. This article presents findings from a study in Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. The study explored how male and female practiti…
Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of Covid ‐19 in global contexts
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study
(Re)Constructing equality, diversity, and inclusion in Chinese childhoods
Understanding secondary school students’ agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon
This article investigates students’ post-secondary education transition processes in Cameroon through the lens of agency. Situated in a country where the higher education participation rate is fairly low, our article explores how students agentically negotiate access to higher education within structural constraints of socio-economic status and gender. Semi-structured interviews with 25 students from two secondary schools in Yaoundé, Cameroon wer…
Me, my child and Covid‐19
Over the past 2 years, the world has been living through the unprecedented Covid‐19 pandemic. Children have had to adapt to online classrooms and lessons of some sort, and many parents have been forced to work from home while supervising their child's home learning activities. We used participatory visual methods to understand how children and their parents have coped during this time, engaging parents as co‐researchers to ask their child to phot…
When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism
This study employs a poststructuralist theoretical framework to explore parents' attitudes towards children's right to play in Shanghai, China. It adopted mixed methods of online questionnaires ( N = 880) and semi-structured interviews ( N = 11). The findings suggest that participants struggle with embracing and practising children's right to play as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), reflecting culturall…
Engaging low-income families in education research
This comparative paper considers the similar challenges encountered in Beijing (China) and Greater London (England) when engaging low-income families in education research. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 parents/caregivers in Beijing and 13 parents in Greater London, we explored perceptions of the barriers to participation, the influence of identity on involvement, and ways to better enable their contribution to education research. We…
Educational research in the global north and south; reflections on the field and future directions
Editorial
Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE)
Criticisms on the dominance of ‘Western’ mores and values in shaping early childhood education (ECE) curriculum frameworks in Asian contexts have led to arguments for culturally appropriate pedagogy that addresses conflict and fusion of Western and non-Western cultures. However, whether concerns about quality of practice in ECE relate to cultural differences or structural limitations is not empirically established in existing literature. There is…
VR sculpting as a therapeutic intervention for alleviating anxiety
As a non-pharmacological art therapy method, VR sculpting demonstrates a notably positive effect on reducing anxiety and improving mental well-being among university students. This study provides compelling evidence for using art therapy to address mental health issues in a college environment. Future research should consider longer intervention periods and more varied measures to further investigate the long-term effectiveness and broader applic…
Chinese and Turkish parents’ reflective parenting
Researching the Everyday Educational Lives of Low-Income Families
This paper highlights the importance of considering both researcher and participant contexts when exploring everyday educational lives. It emerges during a period of increasing and sustained social inequality in England, and against a backdrop of increasingly tight research timeframes and resources in higher education. Drawing on a project engaging low-income families in Greater London, the paper takes the everyday as its conceptual focus and que…
Doing ethics without a ‘Map’
Ethical awareness in research with children in China is neither derived from normative frameworks nor fully capturable by procedural adaptation. • Ethical awareness emerges through moments of dissonance, affective hesitation and relational complexity. • Rather than focusing on compliance or certainty, this paper advocates for an understanding of ethics as situated awareness, a mode of engagement shaped by moral ambiguity, affective entanglements …
Rethinking quality in Early Childhood Education ( ECE ) from Chinese children's perspectives
While the concept of ‘quality’ in Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been widely theorised, it remains largely shaped by adult‐centric perspectives and globalised frameworks that prioritise standardisation and developmental outcomes. This paper explores how Chinese children understand and experience quality in ECE. By inviting children to respond to the question ‘What is a good kindergarten?’, the study investigates how they interpret quality th…
Sociology (18 works) · Political science (14 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Children's Rights and Participation (12 works) · China (11 works) · Early childhood education (9 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Gender Roles and Identity Studies (8 works)