A study of a pre-school teacher professionalism in order to improve the quality of educational work

Abstract

The problem and the aim of the study. High quality early childhood education (ECE) enables children to enjoy the experience and have nurturing environment that promotes holistic development. The teachers quality have been predicted to produce desirable outcomes. However, the challenge is to identify the predictors that can quantify the definition of a quality teacher. This study was formulated to identify the best practice of quality pre-school teachers. Research methods. This study applied a quantitative approach involving survey to answer the research questions. The quantitative approach with a descriptive analysis. This study uses questionnaire to assess individual perceptions and views on quality of early childhood pre-school education. The sample size was 1817 teachers from four types of pre-school or TADIKA (kindergartens). The surveys were conducted in Malaysia starting with random sampling of groups to select representatives of the statewide zones. Each identified zone then underwent a stratified sampling method to ensure that all critical groups of informants were included Results. The study's findings revealed that the gap analysis related to the upgrading of professionalism of pre-school teachers based on in-service course and teaching and learning course attended beyond the standard 7 days a year except MOE pre-school. Second, all pre-school agencies in Malaysia have not reached the best quality benchmarks. However, more than half of MOE pre-school teachers have a bachelor’s degree. The result shown differences between the ratio of teacher from the agencies. The gap ratio of children to teachers between private kindergartens with best practice benchmarks is 2.0 times, while 2.1 times for pre-schools MOE 2.6 times for KEMAS kindergartens, and 3.3 times for JPNIN kindergartens. Conclusion. In conclusion, these findings are important to be given attention and remedial action in order the improvement and quality of teacher achieve the minimum standard especially in participating in adequate professional development programs.