Development Guidelines for the Preschool Child Development Centers in Nakum Sub-District, Srimuangmai District, Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

The objectives of this mixed-method research were: 1) to study the context of the preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district, Srimuangmai district, UbonRatchathani province; 2) to study the management prototype of Khemarat Municipality’s Preschool Child Development Center in Khemarat district, UbonRatchathani province; and 3) to provide the development guidelines for the preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district. 375 sets of questionnaires were distributed to collect the data for the quantitative study and the basic statistics were applied to analyze the quantitative data. For the qualitative study, data were collected through interview and observation forms and the collected data were analyzed using a content analysis technique. The development guidelines have developed through a focused-group discussion with 13 experts. The study found that: The preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district are a child development center to prepare children before entering kindergarten. There are 5 of preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district including: 1) Ban Fa-Huan Preschool Child Development Center; 2) Ban Nong-Hang Preschool Child Development Center; 3) Ban Kham-Toei Preschool Child Development Center; 4) Ban Mai-Dong-Somrong Preschool Child Development Center; and 5) Nakum Sub-District Administrative Organization’s Preschool Child Development Center. The preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district needs to be developed for basic infrastructure and utilities such as the environment, school building, bathrooms, playgrounds and teaching and learning media. Currently, the ratio of teachers to the number of young children is not enough. Further, with the need to increase the capacity of the personnel of the child development centers to create the spirit of a teacher, it is necessary to provide standardized teaching and learning management by studying and developing courses and participating in quality assurance in accordance with the standards of the Ministry of Education. According to the study about the management prototype of Khemarat Municipality’s Preschool Child Development Center, the study showed that, in general, 32.27% of the respondents are male and 67.73% of the respondents are female. According to the management prototype, most respondents revealed that the most important aspect to be developed is a systematic administration ( = 4.29, S.D. = 0.73) followed by a network establishment ( = 4.18, S.D. = 0.83), a sanitation and environment management ( = 3.94, S.D. = 0.82), a resource management ( = 3.93, S.D. = 0.87), and a safety standard ( = 3.76, S.D. = 0.94), respectively. According to a content analysis and a focused-group discussion with experts to provide the development guidelines for preschool child development centers in Nakum sub-district, the guidelines for the development of preschool child development centers can be summarized as followings. The 1st development guideline – a systematic administration by planning to set systematic objectives for the management of the child center and for the understanding in the same direction. The 2nd development guideline – a network establishment by organizing learning exchange activities such as organizing academic activities with other child development centers. The 3rd development guideline – a sanitation and environment management by providing an environment that is orderly and safe, clean, ventilated along with healthy and hygienic foods, clean and safe toilets enough for the number of children, and a variety of playground equipment. The 4th development guideline – a resource management by specifying that the personnel of the child development center must be completed a bachelor's degree or have been trained directly in early childhood courses. The 5th development guideline – a safety standard by providing a strong building with security systems or alarm systems and checking for potential hazards both the building and the general environment.