Nirmala Rao
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 3647774 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Nirmala Rao |
| PRENOMES | Nirmala |
| SOBRENOME | Rao |
| ASSINATURA | RAO N |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Hong Kong |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5695-3156 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 66 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 190 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 66 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1994 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
Documenting Socioeconomic Disparities in Early Development and Learning
This study examined the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and early child development in Hong Kong, where preschool attendance is universal for children aged 3 to 6. Participants were 114 Chinese preschoolers ( M age = 60.25 months, 54 girls) from nursery (K1), lower kindergarten (K2), and upper kindergarten (K3) classes across four kindergartens, along with their teachers and caregivers. Children’s development was assessed using the Ho…
Socioeconomic Gradients in Early Chinese Language and Literacy and Numeracy
This study investigated socioeconomic differences in oral language, literacy, and numeracy, and examined child-level and home-level factors that may explain these differences. Participants included 688 Chinese preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years, who completed assessments of Chinese oral language and literacy, numeracy, and executive function (EF), including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Socioeconomic status (SES) was …
Early Achievement Gaps and Their Associations with Preschool Contexts and Parental Engagement in Hong Kong
Research Findings: Wide achievement gaps closely linked to socioeconomic status (SES) are evident from an early age and persist globally. This study examined family SES-related achievement gaps across different developmental domains among preschool children in Hong Kong and the role of preschool SES and quality and parental engagement in these gaps. The participants were 877 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years from 18 preschools in Hong Kong. Their ho…
Cohort variations in the relation between socioeconomic status and early achievement
Development and validation of the Chinese Home Learning Environment Scale for preschool-aged children
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2 underscores the importance of stimulating early learning experiences for child development. However, measuring home learning environments at the population level remains challenging. This study developed and validated a comprehensive and contextually appropriate measure of the home learning environment for children aged 3-5 years in China, the Chinese Home Learning Environment Scale . The…
Increasing Reading Motivation and Vocabulary of South Asian Children in Hong Kong
Research Findings: This study investigated the effectiveness of a home-based intervention in increasing the intrinsic reading motivation and Chinese oral vocabulary of minority South Asian children in Hong Kong. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 78 children (Mage = 51.54 months; control: 37 children, intervention: 41 children) and their parents. Intrinsic reading motivation was measured by parent report and oral vocabulary was measured by chi…
Concordance between direct assessment and adult report in assessing learning and developmental competencies of young children
Early childhood care and education and child development
School education for mothers
Home and preschool influences on early literacy and numeracy development in England, Estonia, and the United States
This study considered the influences of socioeconomic status (SES), home learning environment, and age of enrollment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on early literacy and numeracy development of 5-year-olds in England (N = 2,577), Estonia (N = 2,110), and the United States (N = 2,234) by leveraging data from the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop…
From Pre-Service Preparation to Professional Development
Research Findings: This study examined the associations between early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ pre-service education (PE), professional development (PD) experiences, ECE quality, and child development. The participants included 52 teachers and 706 children from 52 preschool classes in Shanghai and Guizhou. Teacher educational level was associated with classroom interaction quality. The frequency and diversity of PD activities that ECE …
Early‐life family and school impacts on adolescent conduct problems
Limited research has been conducted to examine the factors during early childhood that may contribute to conduct problems in later stages of life. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between family and school environments during early childhood and conduct problems in adolescence. In Wave 1 (W1), the study recruited 502 participants, aged 5–6 years, from Hong Kong local kindergartens, with 51.4% boys. One of their parents provided in…
Measuring Children’s Developmental Status in China Using the Ecdi2030
This study compared different approaches for monitoring progress towards Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2, which focuses on the proportion of children who are developmentally on track. UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030), a parent report measure, was compared with a corresponding direct assessment measure using a sample of children aged 3 and 5 ( N = 309; 154 girls) in China at two time points. In the second wave, th…
The double burden of malnutrition among young Chinese children
Extant studies have deployed variable-centered methods to examine predictors of children’s nutritional status, and few focus on the double burden of malnutrition among young Chinese children. This paper adopts a person-centered approach and leverages data from large samples of Chinese families (the China Health and Nutrition Survey, CHNS 2004–2015, and China Family Panel Studies, CFPS 2010–2018) to examine trends in the prevalence of stunting, ov…
Preschool experiences and home learning environments of migrant children in urban China
Internal migration and urban expansion, hallmarks of rapid urbanization in China, have led to an increasing number of children with diverse backgrounds in cities. Cities now include migrants from rural and urban areas, and children from “urban villages” in addition to “urban locals”. Parents of young children who migrate from rural to urban areas leave their children behind in rural areas (“left-behind” children) or take them along with them. In …
Digital Technology Use and Adolescent Mental Health Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic
This study examined whether Internet addiction (IA) and digital competence (DC) mediated the association between digital technology use and mental health problems in adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital device use increased dramatically. Repeated cross-sectional data from a 3-year cross-cohort study adopting stratified random sampling were analyzed. In 2019, 569 adolescents (female = 312) from 14 secondary schools com…
Measuring indicators of Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2.1
Promoting Equity in Access to Quality Early Childhood Education in China
This paper reviews the Chinese government's efforts and progress towards ensuring equitable access to quality early childhood education (ECE). It begins with an overview of the Chinese context and analysing the reasons for a policy focus on ECE in recent decades. Thereafter, from a historical perspective, it critically reviews policies pertaining to enhancing access to and the quality of ECE in China since 2010. Nationally representative data are…
Hygiene Practices and Early Childhood Development in the East Asia-Pacific Region
Poor hygiene might be a risk factor for early childhood development (ECD). This study investigated the associations of three hygiene practices ('wash hands before a meal,' 'wash hands after going to the toilet,' and 'brush teeth'), separately and combined, with ECD. Six thousand six hundred ninety-seven children (4 [0.8] years) from the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales validation study were included in this cross-sectional analysi…
Reliability and Validity of the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales
This study examined the test-retest reliability and predictive validity of the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS) Short Form. In China, preschools typically provide children with educational activities in age-segregated classrooms - Kindergarten Level 1 (K1) (3 to 4 years), Kindergarten Level 2 (K2) (4 to 5 years), and Kindergarten Level 3 (K3) (5 to 6 years). A total of 709 children in K2 (M age = 57.85 months, SD = 4.77…
Inequality in access to early childhood care and education programs among 3- to 4-year-olds
The status, pathways and discourses of professionalism for early childhood education teachers in Chinese policies
Digital Technology Use and Cyberbullying Among Primary School Children
Cyberbullying has become a critical issue in many parts of the world. Children affected by bullying in cyberspace may also experience various other problems in their daily lives, such as emotional and behavioral issues. Despite the well-documented positive correlation between digital technology use and cyberbullying experiences in adolescents, a paucity of research has explored the association between digital technology use and cyberbullying, and…
Measuring Being “Developmentally on Track”
Assessment of progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires measurement of the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months developmentally on track in health, learning, and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1). UNICEF’s methodological work culminated with the development of the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030) to measure on track status. To compare direct assessment and caregiver report of early child developmen…
What do Chinese students say about their academic motivational goals—reasons underlying academic strivings
Although differences in academic motivation may exist across cultures, research on academic motivational goals has been Western-focused and relied on Western originated questionnaire. There is a dearth of studies adopting bottom-up, emic, and in-depth approaches to explore East Asian students’ academic motivation. This study describes Chinese students’ academic motivational goals in their own words. Participants were 28 11th-grade students (Mage …
Representation in Local Politics
The concept of ‘representation’, and the tensions within it, have exercised writers throughout the history of political theory. There is little consensus beyond the agreement that the meaning of representation should be made clear, and consistency sought, in any particular application. This paper takes as its starting point some key components of the concept of representation, and in the light of them examines the changing attitudes of both repre…
Early achievement in rural China
Parental Beliefs about School Learning and Children's Educational Attainment
This study investigated Chinese parents' beliefs about school learning and how they were reflected in rural family settings. Participants were 13 families, with eight high- and five low-achieving children enrolled in Primary 3. Home observations and interviews were conducted on three separate occasions. Findings indicated that all parents focused on the pragmatic value of school learning and equated schooling with language and literacy acquisitio…
Factors related to parents’ engagement in cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving in developing countries
Socioeconomic gradients in school readiness of Chinese preschool children
The representation of women in local politics
English The under-representation of women in local politics has been debated for many years. While there is evidence to suggest that more women are now being elected to local authorities, they continue to face barriers to their entry and to their subsequent progression. Based on 1,014 responses to a national survey of women councillors, this article presents evidence on women's representation and explores the tensions they face in reconciling the…
Gender Socialization in Chinese Kindergartens
Teacher-child interactions and peer exchanges were observed once a week for 10 months in four kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. A total of 206 anecdotes/scenes considered representative of the gender-related experiences of 109 4-year-old Chinese children in these kindergartens were analyzed. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded and recategorized and led to the identification of two major theme…
Early childhood education and child development in four countries in East Asia and the Pacific
Primary Schooling in China and India
Early reading and mathematics attainments of children of self-settled recently naturalized refugees in Tanzania
Pre-primary education in Tanzania
Options for Change
The concept of local authorities providing 'community leadership' lies at the heart of the Blair government's modernisation agenda. The Local Government Act, 2000 embodied three models of political leadership to support this new community leadership role. To date, a number of authorities have held referendums for mayoral or cabinet systems of local leadership, with some having gone on to elect a mayor. This paper reviews the new executive structu…
Cultural Influences on Sharer and Recipient Behavior
Seventy-two 4-year-old Chinese and Indian children were paired with a friend and with an acquaintance in their class. One child (sharer) was given 10 pieces each of his or her preferred and nonpreferred foods, whereas the partner (recipient) was given one piece of each of the same foods. Sharing incidents were classified to indicate whether they were initiated by the sharer (spontaneous sharing) or due to the recipients' behavior (elicited and pa…
Preschool quality and child development in China
Ensuring access, equity and quality in early childhood education in Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar
Socioeconomic status and early child development in East Asia and the Pacific
Scaffolding preschool children’s problem solving
This study compared Chinese mothers’ and teachers’ scaffolding of preschool children in different problem solving tasks. Participants were 57 children (including 29 girls) from seven kindergartens in Beijing, their mothers and teachers. Mothers varied in educational levels while all teachers were professionally qualified. Children solved four problems (supermarket, jigsaw puzzle, worksheet, and map) with their mothers and four comparable ones wit…
Early education policy in China
Representing the People? Testing Assumptions about Local Government Reform
The publication of a new report from the Audit Commission, coupled with the Labour government’s declared intention to modernize local authority decision making, marks the return to the policy agenda of long‐familiar questions. This paper tests some of the assumptions underlying the reform programme against recent research evidence. Moves to improve effectiveness through establishing a ‘cabinet’ system, or delegation to officers or ‘lead’ councill…
Place, Personal Characteristics and Councillor Roles
The government proposals on the structure and internal management of local government put forward in 1991 raise important questions for the representative and decision-making roles of councillors. A re-analysis of data collected for the Widdicombe committee in 1985 was conducted, using multiple regression. The findings suggest that the time councillors spend on different council activities is significantly affected by a number of locality variabl…
Inequality in access to early childhood care and education programs among 3- to 4-year-olds
Kindergarten children’s perceptions of the social unrest in Hong Kong
Hong Kong experienced a period of significant social unrest, marked by protests, from June 2019 to February 2020. Media coverage was pervasive. In July 2020, children aged from 5 to 6 years attending kindergartens in areas both directly and less directly impacted by the protests were asked to draw and talk about what had taken place during the social unrest. Thematic analysis of children’s drawings demonstrates the extent of their awareness and u…
The Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale
This paper reports on the development and validation of the Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale (HKECDS), a holistic measure of child development designed specifically for preschool children in Hong Kong. Scale development was an iterative process and the first version of the scale contained 190 items whereas the final version includes only 95. Children ranging in age from three to six years were administered trial versions of the HKECDS in S…
Predictors of preschool process quality in a Chinese context
Early learning opportunities of preschool children affected by migration in China
Place, Personal Characteristics and Councillor Roles
The government proposals on the structure and internal management of local government put forward in 1991 raise important questions for the representative and decision-making roles of councillors. A re-analysis of data collected for the Widdicombe committee in 1985 was conducted, using multiple regression. The findings suggest that the time councillors spend on different council activities is significantly affected by a number of locality variabl…
Representation in Local Politics
The concept of ‘representation’, and the tensions within it, have exercised writers throughout the history of political theory. There is little consensus beyond the agreement that the meaning of representation should be made clear, and consistency sought, in any particular application. This paper takes as its starting point some key components of the concept of representation, and in the light of them examines the changing attitudes of both repre…
The Recruitment of Representatives in British Local Government
English The classical model of political recruitment formulated in the United States is re-examined in the light of British evidence on the recruitment of local elected representatives. Drawing together survey evidence from the last 30 years, this article reviews the key components of motivations, resources and opportunities. A complementary focus on pathways and barriers to office highlights the importance of political party politics in the Brit…
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Chinese Version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the factor structure of a Chinese version of Pintrich and De Groot’s Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Data were gathered from a sample of 477 junior high and high school students, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years ( M = 15.4, SD = 1.84), in Hong Kong. Results indicated that a modified five-factor model had a better overall fit to the data than the five-factor model reported…
Representing the People? Testing Assumptions about Local Government Reform
The publication of a new report from the Audit Commission, coupled with the Labour government’s declared intention to modernize local authority decision making, marks the return to the policy agenda of long‐familiar questions. This paper tests some of the assumptions underlying the reform programme against recent research evidence. Moves to improve effectiveness through establishing a ‘cabinet’ system, or delegation to officers or ‘lead’ councill…
Cultural Influences on Sharer and Recipient Behavior
Seventy-two 4-year-old Chinese and Indian children were paired with a friend and with an acquaintance in their class. One child (sharer) was given 10 pieces each of his or her preferred and nonpreferred foods, whereas the partner (recipient) was given one piece of each of the same foods. Sharing incidents were classified to indicate whether they were initiated by the sharer (spontaneous sharing) or due to the recipients' behavior (elicited and pa…
London
Predictors of preschool process quality in a Chinese context
Primary Schooling in China and India
Options for Change
The concept of local authorities providing 'community leadership' lies at the heart of the Blair government's modernisation agenda. The Local Government Act, 2000 embodied three models of political leadership to support this new community leadership role. To date, a number of authorities have held referendums for mayoral or cabinet systems of local leadership, with some having gone on to elect a mayor. This paper reviews the new executive structu…
Parental Beliefs about School Learning and Children's Educational Attainment
This study investigated Chinese parents' beliefs about school learning and how they were reflected in rural family settings. Participants were 13 families, with eight high- and five low-achieving children enrolled in Primary 3. Home observations and interviews were conducted on three separate occasions. Findings indicated that all parents focused on the pragmatic value of school learning and equated schooling with language and literacy acquisitio…
Growing Points for Coparenting Theory and Research
The representation of women in local politics
English The under-representation of women in local politics has been debated for many years. While there is evidence to suggest that more women are now being elected to local authorities, they continue to face barriers to their entry and to their subsequent progression. Based on 1,014 responses to a national survey of women councillors, this article presents evidence on women's representation and explores the tensions they face in reconciling the…
Introducing the New Government of London
l package of proposals before this special issue becomes available to the reader. -- Nevertheless, there is some value in looking across the range of London's services and their new institutional arrangements. That is what I invited the contributors to this volume to address. ....[Excerpt
Pre-primary education in Tanzania
Gender Socialization in Chinese Kindergartens
Teacher-child interactions and peer exchanges were observed once a week for 10 months in four kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. A total of 206 anecdotes/scenes considered representative of the gender-related experiences of 109 4-year-old Chinese children in these kindergartens were analyzed. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded and recategorized and led to the identification of two major theme…
Projections of Empire
This article describes how the British first tried to come to terms with India and to rationalise their role by postulating that Indians were at a different stage of the development trajectory. It then considers the development of the debate on good governance and the way in which the Imperial idea found expression in an “architecture of possession” both in India, (especially Lutyens’ Delhi) and in Britain itself. Lastly it assesses the way in wh…
Parental involvement and children's readiness for school in China
Background: The remarkable academic advancement of Asian students in cross-national studies has been attributed to numerous factors, including the value placed on education by Chinese parents. However, there is a dearth of research on how exactly Chinese parents are involved in children's early learning. Purpose: This study has two major research questions: (1) How are Chinese parents involved in young children's learning?; and (2) What is the re…
Scaffolding preschool children’s problem solving
This study compared Chinese mothers’ and teachers’ scaffolding of preschool children in different problem solving tasks. Participants were 57 children (including 29 girls) from seven kindergartens in Beijing, their mothers and teachers. Mothers varied in educational levels while all teachers were professionally qualified. Children solved four problems (supermarket, jigsaw puzzle, worksheet, and map) with their mothers and four comparable ones wit…
Early achievement in rural China
The Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale
This paper reports on the development and validation of the Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale (HKECDS), a holistic measure of child development designed specifically for preschool children in Hong Kong. Scale development was an iterative process and the first version of the scale contained 190 items whereas the final version includes only 95. Children ranging in age from three to six years were administered trial versions of the HKECDS in S…
Socioeconomic gradients in school readiness of Chinese preschool children
Factors related to parents’ engagement in cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving in developing countries
Nurturing care
Assessing Diversity in Early Childhood Development in the East Asia-Pacific
Psychology (45 obras) · Early Childhood Education and Development (42 obras) · Developmental psychology (31 obras) · Political science (31 obras) · Geography (21 obras) · Medicine (20 obras) · Child development (19 obras) · Sociology (19 obras) · China (18 obras) · Early childhood (17 obras)