Author/s:
Jang, Li-Fen*
Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Tzu-Chi University, Taiwan (lifen76209@mail.tcu.edu.tw)
Moore, Lin
Department of Family Sciences, Texas Woman’s University, USA (lmoore@twu.edu)
Lin, Yi-Man
Department of Child Care and Education, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan (marialin@gw.cgust.edu.tw)
Abstract:
Parents are important stakeholders when demanding quality child care services, and it is necessary to take parents’ perspectives on child care quality seriously. The purpose of this study was to investigate Taiwanese parents’ perceptions regarding the importance of quality, and satisfaction with preschools based on participants’ demographic characteristics, child’s ages, and types of schools. Convenience sampling was utilized in this study. Data were collected from 810 participants with at least one three- to five-year-old child enrolled in one of 20 preschools in Taiwan. The instrument identified parental perceptions of quality and satisfaction with child care programs were categorized into seven domains: Program Characteristics, Teacher Characteristics, Interactions, Curriculum, Safety and Health, Physical Environment, and Evaluation. Health and safety issues tended to be more important in determining parental ratings for quality and satisfaction when children were enrolled preschool programs. There were no significant differences on parental ratings of the importance of quality among parental demographic characteristics and child’s ages, and only significant difference by children’s types of schools. Overall, results showed parents were satisfied with their current preschool programs. The findings have implications for parents, practitioners, and policy makers; for example, parents’ education; Parent-Teacher partnerships; and effective communication for teacher-parent interactions. Recommendations for future research were addressed.
Keywords: early childhood education; quality; satisfaction; Taiwan; parents
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2014.888
*Corresponding Author