COMPETITIVIDAD EN LOGÍSTICA EMPRESA CM GAP G/CM

According to Edwards (2001), qualitative early childhood researchers usually select the site with a particular purpose in relation to their research aims and questions, and / or with a consideration of convenience such as having easy access or feeling comfortable with the site environment. My consideration of my ethnographic study site first took into account practical factors such as easy access within a large city. Therefore, I initially considered undertaking my fieldwork at the kindergarten where I previously worked. This would allow the study to become a reality (Coffey, 1999). Knowing the headteacher (the gatekeeper) and most of the staff there was likely to be facilitative in gaining access to the site. This is particularly important in China, a society where social networks play a significant and sometimes a vital role. Since there is not a tradition of qualitative research in early years settings, especially in private kindergartens, my ethnographic research quickly attracted the interest of kindergarten staff. Moreover, it is also important to have a positive working relationship between the researcher and the participants at the research site from the beginning, which helps the researcher to undertake the fieldwork

Dong, 2010).

However, I did not simply select the most convenient kindergarten where I could obtain access most easily but took careful consideration of other relevant research factors in selecting the site. In fact, I targeted three optional sites in my initial research proposal. All of them were private kindergartens delivering the MI curriculum. There is an increasing trend to use such programmes in a context where many Chinese kindergartens are looking to Western approaches due to the increasing influence of globalisation. My initially targeted kindergarten where I was an ex-employee, as explained above, had a mixed curriculum and pedagogy based on MI theory but also drew on other Western educational theories and principles. The second optional kindergarten had only one kindergarten (not a chain) and mainly served a community composed of Chinese residents. The third one was part of a nationwide kindergarten chain, which was important as outlined below. The chain applied MI theory and the MI programme exclusively. This was potentially valuable in terms of using ethnographic methods and approaches to gain in-depth insights into one particular kindergarten programme based on a specific Western theory. As discussed previously in Section 2.2.3.2, one of the distinctive aspects of private kindergartens is that they often adopt programmes from Western countries. However, the chain should not be seen as a representative sample of Chinese private kindergartens in that "it does not represent the wider population" (Cohen, Manion and Morrison. 2000, p102). However, importantly, the third kindergarten enrolled children from both Chinese families and those of other cultural backgrounds. In a context where China is opening up internationally, the selection of such a setting would allow me to capture a range of different

perspectives from participants with diverse family backgrounds, particularly in terms of children and parents' perspectives. This was one of the key criteria in my choice of kindergarten. For these reasons, the third kindergarten was selected as the research site.

As with most ethnographers, I wanted to provide more meaningful details and information in order to draw a full picture of the contextual background of the kindergarten. This is to give a "thick description", in Geertz's words (1994, p6). Although it is not possible to select "everything” needed for readers to understand what is happening, a thick ethnographic description enables readers to establish an in-depth understanding about how the participants live and work(ibid), as well as what they think within the specific cultural context (Geertz, 1994; Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007;Green, Skukauskaite and Baker, 2012). As discussed previously (see Section 3.1.1), qualitative research strategies, including ethnography, do not focus on generalising findings in a broad way (Sliverman, 2010; Gray, 2014); nonetheless, Delamont and Atkinson (1995) argue that good ethnography, driven by its interpretative nature, should not be limited by "thick description" (Geertz 1994, p6) and should aim to develop context-bound generalisations. I accordingly planned to adopt this argument and attempted to offer elaborate accounts of the more meaningful details of contextual information. The following content provides more detailed contextualised information about the sampled kindergarten and the reasons for selecting it as my research site.

3.1.3.1 The city

kindergartens in a big city in Northern China. Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been significant growth in individuals and private enterprises investing in developing private kindergartens as business (Cai, 2005; Wang, Ji and Wang, 2009; Cai, 2011). Therefore, the establishment and development of private kindergartens has been expanding rapidly across the country. According to Lü (2009), the number of private kindergartens in this city was over 25% higher than the national average. Therefore, it was important to address the issues relating to private kindergartens in this city.

In addition, the model of 'brand chain' management and operation was a key feature of some private kindergartens in big cities of this kind. In fact, such

‘branded' private kindergarten chains have become increasingly prevalent and reputable nationwide in China in recent years, and so it was considered important to include this aspect in the selection of a site, but it was not representative of private kindergartens in China.

3.1.3.2 The chain

The sample kindergarten chain is one of such branded kindergarten chains, which is anonymously named as 'Newton' educational group in this study. The setting's design, staff management and training, kindergarten administration as well as curriculum and pedagogy were standardized in all the kindergartens in the chain. The headquarters and the first kindergarten were established in the city in 2001. Over a decade, the kindergarten chain had rapidly developed and expanded. By 2012, there were 28 kindergartens nationwide with approximately 700 employees and 3,300 children aged between two to six years.

The kindergarten chain offered a kindergarten-based curriculum and pedagogy underpinned by MI theory (Gardner, 1993). In fact, it is common for private kindergartens to adopt international models of curriculum and pedagogy, such as Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and Steiner approaches (Cai, 2011; Huang, 2014). Therefore, it was important to sample this kind of approach, blending an international approach with Chinese traditions. Accordingly, while this kindergarten chain accepted, to a certain extent, the national framework of kindergarten curriculum, the Guidance outline on Kindergarten Education (China, Ministry of Education, 2001), MI theory was also applied according to the national framework.

There were three types of programmes within the Newton kindergarten chain: international kindergartens (with a pure English language environment), bilingual kindergartens (with an immersive English-Chinese bilingual environment with full time English and Chinese lead teachers in every class) and Chinese kindergartens (with a bilingual but Chinese-focused environment).

There were 12 kindergartens of the chain including three Chinese kindergartens in the city. By 2011, 8 out of the 12 kindergartens had been assessed as ‘model

kindergartens’ (top–ranked kindergartens in the assessment and evaluation by the local education bureau authority). My fieldwork was conducted in one of the Chinese kindergartens.

3.1.3.3 The kindergarten

The sample kindergarten was located in a community in the central Business District of the city. According to Wang’s (2009) report, there were approximately

3000 enterprises, companies and agencies in this area. 500 of them were multinational corporations, such as Motorola, Ford and Samsung, and these included enterprises among 160 of the world’s Top 500 enterprises. Also, there were 570 representative offices of transcontinental companies, 150 foreign capital banks in this district and its surrounding area. The residents of the community were partly from the middle-class4 _{including foreigners and overseas}

returnees who worked and lived in the community. In order to meet the educational requirement of these parents and children, a number of private, international kindergartens with claims to better facilities and reputation were established in this district. The sample kindergarten was one of them.

As introduced in Section 3.1.3.2, after the first kindergarten in the chain was established in 2001, the sample kindergarten was established in 2009 as a relatively new branch providing a bilingual but Chinese-focused MI programme. By 2012, there were eight classes in this kindergarten, including one senior class (anonymysed as Galaxy in this study) with 15 children aged five to six years; three intermediate classes with 62 children aged four to five years; three junior classes with 47 children aged three to four years; and one nursery class with 13 children aged two to three years. There was only one Galaxy (senior) class of five to six years old children because the kindergarten was just established three years ago. As a relatively new kindergarten, there were only 13 children aged two and half to three years enrolled in the first year. This class was extended to a group of 15 children after three years and upgraded to be a Galaxy (senior) class with the eldest children at kindergarten. Meanwhile, the recruitment to other age groups expanded rapidly.

I was acquainted with the kindergarten through my professional social network. An ex-colleague of mine, who had good relationship with the headteacher (gatekeeper), introduced me. Thus, it was relatively easy for me to gain access to this kindergarten. Even though this kindergarten was unable to reflect the whole picture of China's private preschool education, it was one of the branches of a relatively large-scale private kindergarten chain which had provided preschool education and care for over ten years and it was similar in some key respects to other private kindergartens. Whichever Western educational theory and approaches were adopted and applied, private kindergartens faced similar problems, including educational and cultural differences between China and the West, for example, in terms of the design and creation of the curriculum and

pedagogy, teacher’s training and development, as well as the recruitment of children. Therefore, this kindergarten had commonalities with other private kindergartens in China.