Organization of the Educational Process in Chinese Preschool Institutions: Practices, Methodological Techniques and Teacher–Child Interaction

Abstract

This article provides a detailed analysis of specific pedagogical practices in the organisation of the educational process in Chinese preschool institutions, examining daily schedule structures, teacher–child interaction techniques, questioning strategies, the organisation of play and physical activity, and approaches to working with picture books and construction materials. Aim. To systematise and analytically describe specific practices of educational process organisation in Chinese preschool institutions on the basis of empirical research published between 2021 and 2025; to identify characteristic pedagogical techniques and their effectiveness; and to propose a structured account of daily practice suitable for comparative analysis. Methods. A critical synthesis of peer-reviewed empirical studies indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, and ERIC (2021–2025) was conducted, drawing on research that employed classroom observation, video recording, teacher and child interviews, and discourse analysis of instructional interaction. Results. The findings indicate that in the majority of Chinese kindergartens teachers produce significantly more utterances than children, with literal questions predominating (78.77%) and higher-order questions (per Bloom's taxonomy) used infrequently. Outdoor physical activity is chronically curtailed in favour of arts and literacy sessions. Construction play constitutes a rich context for spatial language development, yet teachers rarely support it in any deliberate or sustained way. The integration of picture books into play sessions enhances children's engagement and promotes emotional intelligence. Post-play reflective circle formats represent an effective tool for developing metacognitive skills, though they remain insufficiently widespread in practice. Conclusions. The quality of daily pedagogical practice in Chinese kindergartens is determined less by the availability of innovative methods than by the nature of micro-interactions: the type of questions teachers ask, the way play time is structured, and the capacity to sustain and extend children's initiative.