Research on the Training Path of "Integrated Childcare and Early Childhood Education" Professionals in Inner Mongolia —Based on Practical Exploration of Universities in Hohhot

Abstract

Against the background of the Preschool Education Law of the People's Republic of China, which explicitly encourages qualified kindergartens to open nursery classes and promote the integration of childcare and early childhood education (hereafter ICECE), the training of ICECE professionals in Inner Mongolia's universities faces new opportunities and challenges. This study adopts an exploratory qualitative multiple-case design. Five universities in Hohhot offering early childhood care or preschool education programs were purposively sampled; data were collected through document analysis of talent-training plans and curricula, semi-structured interviews with 23 participants (program directors, faculty, practicum supervisors, institutional mentors, and graduating students), and a review of practicum records, and were analyzed using two-stage thematic coding. The study identifies problems in training objectives, curriculum systems, practical teaching, faculty teams, and collaborative mechanisms. It proposes pathways including clarifying training objectives, reconstructing an age-continuous curriculum, strengthening a three-stage practice chain with tiered feasibility strategies, promoting cross-disciplinary faculty development, building a "government–university–kindergarten–community" collaborative supply mechanism with defined responsibilities, and improving a "literacy + ability" evaluation system. The paper contributes a regionally differentiated model that reflects Inner Mongolia's multi-ethnic, pastoral, and urban–rural fringe contexts, and it specifies implementation and evaluation arrangements for each pathway.