How parents became ‘involved’: family governance and the historical construction of parental involvement in Chinese Early Childhood Education

In early childhood education (ECE), parental involvement (PI) is routinely framed in policy as a mechanism for enhancing educational quality. Yet less attention has been paid to how PI itself becomes a governable policy object, particularly in non-Western contexts. Drawing on a genealogically informed historical discourse analysis of nationally influential Chinese ECE and family education policy texts, professional guidelines and parent-directed materials from the mid-twentieth century to 2025, this article examines how parents came to be recognised as ‘involved’ educational actors. The analysis shows that PI was historically constituted through shifting problematisations of collective upbringing, family responsibility, regulated cooperation and family education governance. Across these periods, parents were positioned as morally aligned supporters, responsible caregivers, professionally guided cooperative participants and self-improving educational subjects. While PI became increasingly visible and institutionalised, it did not necessarily redistribute educational authority to parents. Rather, it extended professional and policy-defined expectations into the family sphere.