Research on the Dynamic Relationships among Taiwan’s Early Childhood Education and Its Stakeholders: The Systematic Dynamic Perspective

Abstract

In Taiwan, the low birth rate has become one of the most critical problems faced by the government and educational institutions at all levels. The enrolling student number of kindergartens perhaps is the most directly affected by such trend. The purpose of this study aims at constructing a system dynamics model to depict the relationships between the preschool children and their stakeholders for deducing the evolutionary trends of, and the interactions of, government-related policies and the operations of the early childhood education institutions. Through the interpretation of policies and simulation analysis of the twenty-year growth trend related to the child population in Taiwan, this study found that governmental policies and the promotion of education and care services have a positive effect on the growth of all levels of kindergarten classes. Besides, the relationship between the education and care service staff and the kindergarten play a causal balancing role in our proposed model. We suggest that the system dynamics model proposed by this study can help to observe the dynamic relationships formed by the stakeholders in preschool education and care system based on the "joint responsibility" of Taiwan's early childhood education.