English

Abstract

This research focuses on synthesizing concepts and needs for the development of teachers' competencies and studying the performance in accordance with the development model of competencies for teachers of the Early Childhood Development Center with application of empowerment evaluation. The research was divided into 3 stages. In the first stage, the needs for the developments of teachers’ competencies were investigated. The informants were 274 teachers and 10 educators and directors of Division of Education Religious and Culture. The research instruments were questionnaire and interview form. In the second stage, the development model which was verified by 5 experts. In the third stage, the evaluation of performance in accordance with the development model of 30 teachers and 5 supporters and researchers was conducted. The research instruments were test, observation form, questionnaire, and interview form. The quantitative research used statistics to analyze for mean, standard deviation, t-test, and Modified Priority Need Index while the qualitative research used content analysis approach. The research findings revealed that teachers’ needs for functional competency development showing its priority need index from 0.336 to 0.416. In addition, the educators and the directors of Division of Education Religious and Culture showed their needs to develop teachers’ functional competencies. Moreover, the development model of competencies for teachers consisted of 6 components: Basic concepts and principles, objectives, expected outcomes, training activity content, training activity process, and evaluation. The teachers’ mean scores of post-training were higher than pre-training at statistical significance level of 0.01. Key words: Early Childhood Development Center, local administrative organization, competencies, empowerment.