A synthesis of Research Relating to Problems and Ways of Developing Child Caregivers in Child Development Centers in Mahasarakham Province

Abstract

This study aimed 1) to synthesize fundamental data of research relating to
problems and ways of developing child caregivers in child care centers in Mahasarakham
Province 2) to synthesize details of the research and 3) to synthesize problems and
ways of developing child caregivers. Fourteen research used in this study were
published between 2001 and 2014. Research tool was a research detailed noting form.
Data analysis was used by both quantitative and qualitative syntheses.
The research findings as follows
1. All 14 studies were done in master degree and published by two
universities, namely, Mahasarakham University (MSU) and Rajabhat Mahasarakham
University (RMU)
2. Details of those studies were found that most of them had the same
tendency of process and the same results which divided into 2 parts: art I included 5
items, namely, (1) the most research objective was found to develop caregivers in
providing activities for young children; (2) the most research methodology used was
PAOR based on Kemmis and McTaggrat’s concept; (3) the most variable used was an
ability of producing a lesson plan for young children; (4) the 3 most tool used were an
interview form, a teaching observation form, and a supervising evaluation form/ a
lesson plan evaluation form respectively; (5) Data analysis showed that most of
statistics used were median percentage and standard deviation including description,
Part II contained 3 items, namely, (1) research findings were found that caregivers/
participants had higher scores, got more understanding, and had much more ability of
teaching young children; (2) suggestions for implementation were grouped into 4
sections: suggestions for caregivers, suggestions for administrators, suggestions for relating
institutions/organizations, and strategies and ways to develop; (3) suggestions for the
research in the future were presented in 5 issues, namely, suggestions for caregivers,
suggestions for developing caregivers, suggestions for administrators, suggestions for
relating institutions/ organizations, and other suggestions.
3. The fundamental problem was unrelated caregivers’ education on early
childhood program, lacked opportunity of getting more knowledge, and some
caregivers were not supervised. As a result, those who graduated from other field than early childhood education had less knowledge on early childhood education and
psychology, for example. This led to personality problems such as low confidence on
teaching/ doing activities with young children. The ways to develop caregivers were
shown that there was variety of developing as follows: 1) workshop by the expert/s
including supervision; 2) field trip on the model school; and 3) the following/ second
supervision provided if the first supervision was failed.