Investigating Preschool Educators’ Performance on Professional Competencies – An Example from Miaoli County, Taiwan

In response to the integration of kindergartens and nursery schools, kindergarten organizaitons and staffs have experienced significant changes. How to make each other work together smoothly, the re-definition of kindergarten’s role, dividion of specialization, and construction of professional competency indicators become very important. This study was designed to investigate preschool educators’ performance on professional competencies. It was proceeded with a questionnaire survey and its targeted participants were preschool educators in Miaoli County. This study adopted “The professional competency indicators of kindergarten teachers” (Lin, 2012) as a research tool. The survey sampling consisted of 267 people, and the valid sampling was 250 people. The data collected from the survey was analyzed with these statistical methods: Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way analysis of variance. According to the analysis results, the conclusions of this study are stated as follows: 1.The preschool educators from Miaoli County in the present study were in general agreement that they were well equipped with professional competence in the field. 2.The preschool educators from Miaoli County in the present study performed best in teaching attitude. 3.The preschool educators’ performance on professional competencies differed in the year of teaching experience, position of job, and education level. There were no performance differences in the eductors’ attributes and location of the preschool. Based upon the research resluts, relevant findings were discussed, and some suggestions were proposed to current educational administrative organizations, preschools, preschool teachers, and future researchers.[[abstract]]In response to the integration of kindergartens and nursery schools, kindergarten organizaitons and staffs have experienced significant changes. How to make each other work together smoothly, the re-definition of kindergarten’s role, dividion of specialization, and construction of professional competency indicators become very important. This study was designed to investigate preschool educators’ performance on professional competencies. It was proceeded with a questionnaire survey and its targeted participants were preschool educators in Miaoli County. This study adopted “The professional competency indicators of kindergarten teachers” (Lin, 2012) as a research tool. The survey sampling consisted of 267 people, and the valid sampling was 250 people. The data collected from the survey was analyzed with these statistical methods: Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way analysis of variance. According to the analysis results, the conclusions of this study are stated as follows: 1.The preschool educators from Miaoli County in the present study were in general agreement that they were well equipped with professional competence in the field. 2.The preschool educators from Miaoli County in the present study performed best in teaching attitude. 3.The preschool educators’ performance on professional competencies differed in the year of teaching experience, position of job, and education level. There were no performance differences in the eductors’ attributes and location of the preschool. Based upon the research resluts, relevant findings were discussed, and some suggestions were proposed to current educational administrative organizations, preschools, preschool teachers, and future researchers