THE SOFT SKILLS OF PRE-SERVICE EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS IN BANGKOK

Abstract

This survey research aimed to study the soft skills levels of pre-service early childhood teachers in Bangkok across seven dimensions: leadership skills, communication skills, collaboration skills, problem-solving skills, management and planning skills, emotional intelligence skills, and cultural awareness skills. The sample consisted of 205 undergraduate students from eight public and autonomous higher education institutions in Bangkok, who were enrolled in Bachelor of Education programs in early childhood education and completing their teaching internship during the first semester of the academic year 2023. This represented a response rate of 58.91% from a total population of 348 students. The research instrument was a 42-item questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale, validated by three experts with an Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) of 0.87. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the overall soft skills of pre-service early childhood teachers were at the highest level (M = 4.54, S.D. = 0.48). When examining individual dimensions, five aspects scored at the highest level (4.54 ≤ M ≤ 4.67), ranked from highest to lowest as follows: cultural awareness skills (M = 4.67, S.D. = 0.49), problem-solving skills (M = 4.59, S.D. = 0.51), management and planning skills (M = 4.58, S.D. = 0.52), emotional intelligence skills (M = 4.58, S.D. = 0.52), and communication skills (M = 4.54, S.D. = 0.54). The remaining two dimensions were at a high level (4.33 ≤ M ≤ 4.45): leadership skills (M = 4.45, S.D. = 0.56) and collaboration skills (M = 4.34, S.D. = 0.67), respectively. These findings indicate that pre-service early childhood teachers perceived their soft skills capabilities at a high level, particularly in cultural awareness and problem-solving. However, leadership and collaboration skills demonstrated relatively lower mean scores, suggesting these areas warrant further development in curriculum design and field experience programs.