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This study aims to examine issues, challenges, and solutions concerning the current practices of teachers and operators of early childhood education teachers and operators of both public and private sectors in Malaysia. This research was based on a qualitative method involving a series of interviews, which were carried out at the Department of National Unity and Integration (Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Integrasi Nasional, JPNIN), the Department of Social Welfare (Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, JKM), the Community Development Department (Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat, KEMAS), and several public and private preschools (for children aged 5-6 years) and childcare centers (for children aged 1 – 4 years). The sample of the study consisted of xxx practitioners, namely teachers, supervisors, operators, trainees, and officers, who were selected from several TASKA and TADIKA centers in Malaysia. In this study, Malaysia’s provisional Early Childhood Career Educator (ECCE) National Quality Framework (NQF) was analyzed, which helped highlight four critical standards relating to leadership, organization and management, children’s experiences, and learning opportunities, which have become a major concern among practitioners. Through the interviews, the researchers were able to record and interpret ECCE teachers’ perceptions of the need for a policy that emphasizes their professional and career development. As revealed in this study, practitioners had to face a host of challenges and issues relating to leadership, organization and management, children’s experiences, and learning opportunities, which could adversely affect their current practices. In tandem, several solutions were identified to help them overcome such problems. In summation, the findings suggest that teaching children with special learning needs can be extremely challenging that entails all concerned to take appropriate measures, with each party having to focus on its role to help provide equal access to education to all children. Surely, through concerted efforts, special needs education in Malaysia can be further improved to help children with learning disabilities to learn as efficacious as their mainstream counterparts.

This study aims to identify the validity and reliability between constructs from peer-to-peer perspective regarding the quality of early childhood care and education in Malaysia. Following the process of modification and fining, this questionnaire consists of four constructs with 60 items. The findings evidently showed that this study is significant in exploring children’s early development which influences human behaviors and practices as they reach adulthood. Therefore, the findings of this study aspire to help the stakeholders involved in early childhood education to investigate the appropriate methods, approaches or techniques to elevate the early childhood education in Malaysia. It is hoped that the moral values vastly shared on social media are put into practice and fathomed by the society to be able to curb and control the social problems among Malaysian societies.

This paper examines and verifies the reliability of a survey instrument on the long term impact of early childhood and childcare education (ECCE) toward human capital development. The survey consists of separate questionnaires based on four perspectives; Individual Success, Peers, Parents and Employer perspective. This study highlights the reliability of item constructs from the employer perspective questionnaire distributed in the pilot study. This instrument was developed based on 56 items, and was further categorised into three sub-constructs; 1) individual character, 2) soft skills; and 3) good citizenship. Rasch Measurement Model analysis supported by Winsteps software version 3.73 was utilised to examine reliability of item and person, polarity of item and suitability of item. Findings from analysis of reliability of item indicated that Individual Character subconstruct showed a good level of reliability, whilst Soft Skills and Good Citizenship subconstructs showed reliability below par. Further analysis on polarity of item indicated all items scored positive values to measure the construct. While analysis on item fit revealed that a total of 6 items from the three subconstructs were discarded as they did not meet the criteria specified in the Rasch Model.

This study aims to determine the level of competency of operators for private early childhood care and education (ECCE) across Malaysia, towards the development of carer-educator professional framework. The levels of competency included in this study are disposition, knowledge, skills and practices. In this study, quantitative research was conducted and 551 operators were randomly selected from various private ECCE across Malaysia. The ECCE includes children nursery (TASKA) and children preschool (TADIKA). Descriptive and inferential statistics based on one single t-test were applied to the survey data collected in order to answer the research objectives. In general, the study shows that all private ECCE operators have high level of competency in terms of disposition, knowledge, skills and practices except for operators of TASKA and operators that manage both TASKA and TADIKA. This study is important as early childhood education such as TASKA and TADIKA are the places where the foundation of a child’s development and the first formal education for children begins. Future research will investigate the relationship between the level of competency and years of service and Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) professional qualification of the operators.