THE REAL SITUATION OF MANAGING STEAM EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT PRESCHOOLS IN VIETNAM

ABSTRACT

The study aims to evaluate the current situation of managing STEAM educational activities for children at preschools in Vietnam. The research uses the theoretical research method based on the literature synthesis, the survey method using questionnaires, and the quantitative data processing method using the SPSS software. The sample to research the actual situation of management of STEAM education at preschools was randomly composed of 288 preschool managerial staff and teachers from many Vietnamese preschools. The results show the reliability of the indicators based on the indicators of X̅, Pearson Correlation, and Sig. The result sig=.000 proves that the built model is suitable for the collected data set, and the included variables are statistically significant at the 5% significance level (equivalent to 95% confidence).

АННОТАЦИЯ

Целью исследования является оценка текущей ситуации с регулированием образовательной деятельности научно-технических дисциплин и гуманитарных наук для детей в дошкольных учреждениях Вьетнама. В исследовании используется теоретический метод исследования, основанный на обобщении литературы, метод опроса с использованием анкет и метод количественной обработки данных с использованием программного обеспечения SPSS. Выборка для исследования реальной ситуации с регулированием образовательной деятельности научно-технических дисциплин и гуманитарных наук в дошкольных учреждениях была случайным образом составлена из 288 руководителей и учителей вьетнамских дошкольных учреждений. Результаты показывают надежность показателей, основанных на показателях X, корреляции Пирсона и Sig. Результат sig=.000 доказывает, что построенная модель подходит для собранного набора данных, а включенные переменные статистически значимы на уровне значимости 5% (что эквивалентно 95% достоверности).

Keywords: Educational management, STEAM education, current situation, preschool.

Ключевые слова: Образовательный менеджмент; научно-технические дисциплины и гуманитарные науки; текущая ситуация; дошкольное учреждение.

1. Introduction

The VUCA world is mentioned more after the significant global upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There, people must learn to adapt to a “multipolar” world full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It sets a goal for education: to shape individuals who are dynamic, creative, and capable of identifying and solving unfamiliar problems with a resilient mindset and a high sense of community.

The great impacts of climate change globally after human exploitation and destruction have brought humanity to a shared goal of joining hands in protecting the environment. This is vital for countries with large sea areas strongly affected by climate negative impacts. Therefore, it requires the connection of all sectors, countries with different strengths, people, and specific organizations to achieve a shared goal for all humanity. This goal and strategy are clearly expressed in the spirit of STEAM education, so many scholars believe that “STEAM education is the education of the future.” [2, p. 7].

Vietnam is significantly affected by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (artificial intelligence, big data, internet of things, and cloud computing) and new innovative products such as robots, smart agriculture, biotechnology, digital transformation, virtual currency, ChatGPT, etc. Besides, Vietnam faces climate change, epidemics, security, and war challenges. This creates huge societal changes, leading to many occupations disappearing and creating many new ones. Reality has shown that human resources in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will be a critical factor in forming Vietnam’s competitiveness on the global stage.

Therefore, Vietnamese education faces the following question:

How to create a STEM workforce in both quality and quantity, promote and attract students to be passionate about and choose STEM majors [1].

How to innovate curriculum content that includes STEM subjects and develop content by integrating subjects associated with solving practical problems.

How to apply new teaching methods so students develop their abilities and qualities through orienting and enhancing actions and experiences in learning [3].

2. The real situation of managing STEAM educational activities at preschools in Vietnam

To evaluate the current situation of managing STEAM educational activities for preschool children, the author surveyed 288 subjects, including 18 managerial staff at preschools, 270 preschool teachers at 7 schools in provinces in South Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, and Dong Nai.

The survey content focused on managers’ and preschool teachers’ assessment of the status of managing STEAM educational activities at preschools, including managing goals, managing content and programs, managing methods and organizing forms, managing human resources, managing facilities, and testing and evaluating.

Firstly, the author used a 5-point scale. Each question was measured with 5 levels, increasing from 1 point to 5 points with the following convention:

Table 1.

 Conventions on scales of measurement

Next, the author determined the question format with 5 scales to rate the average values as follows:

Table 2.

Rating scale of average values

Finally, the author distributed questionnaires, guided to answer questions, collected questionnaires, removed invalid ones, collected, stored data, and analyzed data using SPSS software.

2.1. Evaluating the actual state of managing the implementation of goals of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 3.

Indicators to evaluate the real situation of managing the implementation of goals of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 3. shows indicators evaluating the management and implementation of STEAM educational goals at preschools. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation indices indicate the importance of managing goals. Implementing educational activities to achieve established goals reaches the highest mean, which is 4.15. Evaluating the level of achievement of goals has the lowest mean, which is 4.03. All management objectives are crucial, but more attention should be paid to implementing educational activities and evaluating the level of achievement so that STEAM educational activities for preschool children can be carried out effectively.

2.2. Evaluating the actual state of managing content and programs of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 4.

Indicators to evaluate the real situation of managing content and programs of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 4 reveals the actual state of managing content and programs of STEAM educational activities at preschools. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation metrics indicate the importance of content management. “Designing lesson plans and program content to organize STEAM educational activities” reaches the highest mean of 4.25 and is considered very important. “Implementing program content of STEAM educational activities” is also considered very important, with a mean of 4.24. “Evaluating the effectiveness of program content of STEAM educational activities” is considered important but has the lowest mean, which is 3.87. These data manifest that it is essential to improve evaluation and build a program framework to enhance the quality of STEAM educational activities for preschool children.

2.3 Evaluating the actual state of managing the efficiency of STEAM educational activities and programs at preschools

Table 5.

 Indicators to evaluate the actual state of managing the efficiency of STEAM educational activities and programs at preschools

The actual state of managing the efficiency of STEAM educational programs and activities at preschools is shown in Table 3.12. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation indicators show the importance of managing efficiency.

“The program is age-appropriate and closely follows school practice” reaches the highest mean, 4.33, and is considered very important. “Appropriateness and clarity of program goals,” “The capacity of teachers implementing the program,” and “Conditions of facilities and equipment to implement the program” are all considered very important with a high mean, respectively 4.25, 4.31, and 4.22.

However, “the measure to evaluate the output standards for the program is clear, specific, and accurate” gets the lowest mean, which is 3.99. This emphasizes the need to focus on boosting the quality of metrics to ensure program effectiveness. It is critical to pay more attention to flexibility in time and form of organizing activities besides carefully preparing reference sources to help teachers search for information when needed.

2.4. Evaluating the actual state of managing the process of organizing STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 6.

Indicators to evaluate the actual state of managing the process of organizing STEAM educational activities at preschools

The actual state of managing the process of organizing STEAM educational activities at preschools is presented in Table 6. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation indices express the importance of managing the process.

“Identifying the problem,” “Mobilizing experience or background knowledge,” “Proposing solutions or designs,” “Sharing and discussing,” and “Learning from experience or adjusting the designs or solutions” are considered important with means from 3.90 to 4.15. “Choosing solutions or designs,” “Building models,” and “Testing and evaluating models” are considered very important, with means from 4.25 to 4.35.

All management processes are rated as important or very important, but the emphasis should be on identifying the problem, sharing and discussing, and adjusting the designs to enhance the effectiveness of the process of organizing STEAM educational activities for preschool children.

2.5. Evaluating the actual state of managing organizational forms of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 7.

 Indicators to evaluate the actual state of managing organizational forms of STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 7 signifies the actual state of managing organizational forms of STEAM educational activities at preschools. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation indicators show the importance of managing organizational forms of STEAM education. In which, managing STEAM activities in the classroom is rated highest, with a mean of 4.20.

All items in managing types of STEAM education is considered important, with the means from 4.09 to 4.20, showing consistency in managing STEAM activities in the classroom, in-field experiences, projects, outdoors, field trips, and extracurriculars. Thus, management in all forms is vital and must be ensured to maintain the quality of STEAM educational activities at preschools. However, more attention should be paid to managing outdoor, picnic, and extracurricular activities.

2.6. Evaluating the actual state of managing facilities and equipment to organize STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 8.

Indicators to evaluate the actual state of managing facilities and equipment to organize STEAM educational activities at preschools

Table 8 conveys the actual state of managing facilities and equipment to organize STEAM educational activities at preschools. The frequency, mean, and standard deviation indices show the importance of managing facilities and equipment to organize STEAM educational activities.

Preparing financial and human resources to implement, design, and build facilities and equipment is considered very important, with values from 4.29 to 4.31, revealing the importance of preparing human and material resources to meet the requirements of STEAM educational activities. Checking the conditions and effectiveness of using facilities and equipment to organize STEAM educational activities gets the lowest mean, which is 3.93, although it is generally considered important. Thus, paying more attention to inspection and evaluation after implementation and use is momentous. At the same time, it is essential to have a clear and detailed plan before carrying out and using facilities and equipment effectively, which will promote all its values in STEAM educational activities at preschools.

3. Correlation matrix assessing the management situation of preschool managerial staff and teachers regarding STEAM education at preschools

Table 9.

Correlation matrix assessing the management situation of preschool managerial staff and teachers regarding STEAM education at preschools

The correlation matrix assessing the management status of preschool managerial staff and teachers regarding STEAM educational activities at preschools shows several significant correlations:

There is a positive correlation, statistically significant at the 0.01 level of significance, between the current state of managing goals and the current state of managing content, with a correlation coefficient of 0.333. This manifests that managing goals greatly influences the status of managing content in managing STEAM education.

The status of managing content also has a positive correlation and is statistically significant at the 0.01 level of significance, with the status of managing the efficiency and testing frequency, with correlation coefficients of 0.320 and 0.262, respectively. This indicates that managing content strongly affects the efficiency and testing frequency in STEAM educational management activities.

Next, the status of managing the efficiency has a positive correlation and is statistically significant at the 0.01 level with the testing frequency, with a correlation coefficient of 0.409. This discloses that managing efficiency significantly affects the testing frequency in managing STEAM education. At the same time, the status of managing the efficiency is also affected by the status of managing content and the status of managing the process with correlation coefficients of 0.320 and 0.267, respectively. Thus, managing the effectiveness of STEAM educational programs and activities at preschools depends on managing the quality of content, programs, and organizational processes of STEAM activities and the frequency of testing and evaluation. From there, researchers can know the methods that impact the effectiveness of quality management.

4. Testing the difference between managerial staff and teachers with characteristics of STEAM educational management at preschools

Table 10.

 Testing the difference between 02 groups of subjects

The Independent-Samples Test reveals that there is no difference between managerial staff and teachers with the characteristics of STEAM educational management at preschools. However, the testing frequency differs when the P value (Sig.), corresponding to P**= 0.00, is less than 0.05 (95% confidence).

 The Levene’s test results indicate that the majority of the Sig. values are at a 95% confidence level. The results of the ANOVA analysis demonstrate that there is a statistically significant difference. Specifically, there is a difference between the actual state of managing goals (sig= .00), the actual state of managing efficiency (sig= .01), the actual state of managing the process (sig= .00), the actual state of managing the organizing form (sig= .00), the actual state of managing the facilities (sig= .00), the actual state of managing coordination (sig= .00) and testing frequency (sig= .00) with the school. The result sig=.000 proves that the built model is suitable for the collected data set, and the included variables are all statistically significant at the 5% significance level (equivalent to 95% confidence level). Most of the variables that the study proposed to evaluate impact on the effectiveness of implementing STEAM educational programs at preschools. At the same time, these variables are significant in the model and have the same impact on the management of the STEAM educational programs because the regression coefficients all have positive signs.

5. Conclusion

Most managerial staff, teachers, and parents understand the importance of determining goals, developing programs and content, using effective teaching methods, organizing diverse forms of education based on careful preparation of facilities, educational equipment, and a team of qualified teachers in managing and developing STEAM education at Vietnamese preschools. From there, some solutions can be proposed to boost the effectiveness of managing STEAM educational activities at Vietnamese preschools in the future.

References:

1. Nguyen Thanh Hai (2019), Stem/ Steam Education: From Hands-on Experience to Creative Thinking, Tre Publishing House.
2. Ministry of Education and Training (2019), Training materials for designing and organizing STEAM education topics at high schools.
3. Ministry of Education and Training (2018), Circular No. 26/2018/TT-BGDDT regulating professional standards for preschool teachers.