Challenges faced by preschool teachers in central China when fostering children’s critical thinking through storytelling practices

This qualitative case study engaged 13 preschool teachers from urban kindergartens in central China. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. This study is grounded in Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, and the findings revealed challenges across four ecological levels. At the microsystem level, teachers lacked specialised knowledge and pedagogical skills for critical thinking instruction, and large class sizes restricted interactive dialogue. At the mesosystem level, kindergarten support for critical thinking teaching was insufficient, and parental expectations prioritised knowledge transmission over thinking-oriented learning. At the exosystem level, China's exam-oriented culture exerted indirect effects on thinking pedagogies. At the macrosystem-level, Confucian values emphasising respect for authoritative knowledge fundamentally suppressed the questioning spirit central to critical thinking. The study concludes that sustainable development of critical thinking education in preschool education requires integrated ecological transformation. This involves enhancing teachers’ professional competence while strengthening family-school partnerships and reconstructing educational cultural concepts.