A STUDY OF THE COMPETENCY COMPONENTS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS IN ORGANIZING LEARNING EXPERIENCES BASED ON THE HOLISTIC CHILD DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT UNDER THE OFFICE OF THE PRIVATE EDUCATION COMMISSION

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the components of early childhood teachers’ competencies in organizing learning experiences based on the holistic child development approach in private schools under the Office of the Private Education Commission. Although teacher competency has been widely discussed at the international level, few studies have validated a competency model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the context of Thai private schools. The sample consisted of 360 early childhood teachers selected through stratified random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and CFA with R and Jamovi software. The Early Childhood Teacher Competency Model (COMP) comprised six key components: Holistic child development (HD), Planning and organizing integrated learning experiences (IL), Designing diverse activities and using appropriate materials (AM), Creating a learning environment that promotes comprehensive development (SE), Authentic holistic developmental assessment (HA), and Building collaboration with families and communities (FC). The findings revealed that the components of early childhood teachers’ competencies in organizing learning experiences based on the holistic child development approach under the Office of the Private Education Commission consisted of: 1) Holistic child development, 2) Planning and organizing integrated learning experiences, 3) Designing diverse activities and using appropriate materials, 4) Creating a learning environment that promotes comprehensive development, 5) Authentic holistic developmental assessment, and 6) Building collaboration with families and communities. The CFA model demonstrated a good fit with the empirical data (χ²/df = 1.91, CFI = 0.986, TLI = 0.985, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04). All factor loadings were statistically significant and within acceptable criteria (0.70 - 0.97).