A comparative study on the preschool physical education curriculum in Zhuhai (China) and Macau government kindergartens

At present, there are four government kindergartens in Zhuhai, while those in Macau are five. The kindergartens come under the jurisdiction of the Education Department/ Education Commission of the cities. In the preschool curriculum of Zhuhai and Macau, physical education (RE.) / physical plays are the compulsory unit. Daily physical plays are organized in kindergartens. However, structured RE. is usually conducted by qualified teachers once a week about 20-30 minutes a period with stress on the teaching of fundamental and manipulative movement skills. The purposes of this descriptive study were two-fold to examine and compare the existing preschool RE. curriculum in the government kindergartens of Zhuhai and Macau; and to make recommendations on the reform of preschool RE. curriculum in the two said cities. In the study data were collected by observations, unstructured interviews and questionnaire. In according to the findings, some major similarities were discovered in the public kindergartens of the two cities. It was obvious that well-trained preschool teachers, who were diploma holders in ECE, were employed in the public kindergartens. Besides, the main P.E. teaching units covered the areas of fundamental and manipulative movement skills, rhythmic exercises and games, as well as large apparatus exercises. Also, games day and mini sports day were organized yearly in kindergartens. In addition, directed teaching method was employed by teachers. Furthermore, first-aid equipment was sufficient and in general, the safety precautions were appropriate. On the other hand, the results revealed that in comparison with the public kindergartens in Zhuhai and Macau, those in Macau encountered the following major constraints that had seriously hindered the implementation of RE., namely; the examination-oriented curriculum, the non-unified RE. curriculum and syllabus among public kindergartens, the limited outdoor and indoor playgrounds, the inadequate P.E. equipment, particularly in large apparatus, the lack of P.E. teaching resources, the high teacher to pupil ratio ( average - 1:25 )in teaching, and the loose implementation of structured P.E. lessons. In Zhuhai, the major weaknesses in the implementation of P.E. curriculum were found to be the lack of inappropriate maintenance in P.E. facilities and equipment, the inadequate number of structured P.E. periods in the weekly time table, and the insufficient supervision on the P.E. teaching in kindergartens. In fact, the study has provided illuminating and relevant background information on the implementation of preschool P.E. curriculum in the public kindergartens of Zhuhai and Macau. Considering the analyzed findings, constructive recommendations on the reform of preschool P.E. curriculum in the two regions were made in the final part of the paper.