Conditions and Guidelines for Promoting the Implementation of Early Childhood Education Curriculum under Phitsanulok Primary Educational Service Area Office 2

Abstract

The purposes of this research article were to: 1) study the current conditions for implementing early childhood education curriculum; and 2) examine guidelines for promoting the implementation of early childhood education curriculum. The population consisted of 66 small schools offering early childhood education. The sample used in this research comprised 59 small schools offering early childhood education. The informants consisted of 59 school administrators selected through purposive sampling and 59 early childhood teachers selected through simple random sampling, for a total of 118 participants. The instrument used for data collection was a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. Statistics used for data analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

The research findings revealed that: 1) Regarding the current conditions for implementing early childhood education curriculum, the overall mean was at a high level ( = 4.46, S.D. = .44). When considering each aspect, the aspect with the highest mean was experience management ( = 4.50, S.D. = .46), followed by developmental assessment ( = 4.47, S.D. = .48), while the aspect with the lowest mean was managing environments, media, and learning resources to promote children's development and learning ( = 4.44, S.D. = .52). 2) Guidelines for promoting the implementation of early childhood education curriculum showed that: 1) for school curriculum development, a semi-formal exchange platform should be organized by inviting community stakeholders to a public forum to exchange ideas and improve the curriculum to meet the needs and align with the community context; 2) for experience plan formulation, guidelines or standards should be co-designed with teachers; 3) for experience management, special characteristics required for early childhood teachers should be defined, including recreational skills and works demonstrating abilities and aptitudes consistent with managing experiences for early childhood children; 4) for managing environments, media, and learning resources to promote children's development and learning, community participation should be promoted by providing opportunities for villagers, parents, and local sages to share knowledge, jointly create learning resources, and develop media and equipment from community materials; and 5) for developmental assessment, systematic supervision and monitoring cycles should be established and conducted by administrators and responsible personnel in cooperation with early childhood teachers.