The Practice of Public-Private Partnership -The Influence and Reflection of Quasi-Public Preschool Policies

Abstract

<p>為因應少子女化，我國於2018年開始實施少子化對策計畫，並以擴展平價教保服務及減輕家長負擔為政策重點，而準公共幼兒園為當中相當重要的政策工具。該政策目標除了要讓家長免於負擔沉重托育與教育費用之壓力，並擴展平價教保服務，更有確保教保品質的意圖。不過該政策效果如何？目前成果相當有限。因此，本研究以地方政府主管科人員、巡輔員、幼兒園主管與教保服務人員為對象，運用訪談進行文本資料的蒐集與探究。研究顯示準公共幼兒園政策使整體教保服務提供的量能明顯擴增，價格平實，可充分滿足家庭需求，教保服務人員待遇有被合理保障，也對減緩師資流動稍具效果。惟此政策仍有侷限，包括部份私幼業者仍對該政策的信任不足而影響參與意願；而管控與評鑑標準略為於寬鬆，教保品質也就良莠不齊；或是經營者理念不夠正派，教保服務人員對專業成長的配合度不高，教學補助未必善用於品質提升；最後，中央推動此政策，但所需經費由地方政府部份買單，或是要求地方政府在時限內達成一定績效，都讓地方政府承受不小的壓力。</p> <p> </p><p>A low national fertility rate brings various challenges to society, and many policies promoted by the Taiwan government in the past 20 years have focused on how to solve related social problems caused by declining rates. In response to the country’s low birth rate, Taiwan began to implement a plan of countermeasures for it since 2018. Among the policies focused on expanding affordable care and education services and reducing parental burdens, quasi-public preschools are one of the important policy tools. In addition to alleviating parents from the burden of heavy childcare and education costs and expanding affordable care and education services, this policy also aims to ensure the quality of care and education. However, the policy has so far achieved limited results. Therefore, this study conducted data collection and exploration by interviewing local government officials responsible for this area, auxiliary patrol officers, preschool supervisors, and care and education service personnel. The findings show that the quasi-public preschool policy could significantly expand the capacity of the overall care and education services at reasonable prices, which could fully meet the needs of families. A reasonable guarantee for the remuneration of care and education service personnel also has a slight effect on slowing down the turnover of teachers. However, this policy still has some limitations. Some private preschool practitioners still have insufficient trust in this policy. Moreover, slightly lax control and evaluation standards have led to the uneven quality of care and education. If the operators have bad faith and the care and education service personnel show low coordination willingness in their professional growth, then the teaching subsidies may not be used in quality improvement. Finally, while the central government has promoted this policy, local governments have been under great pressure to locate financial sources to pay for it in part or to achieve certain performance goals within a limited time frame.</p> <p> </p>