Physical Facilities Management in Child Care Centers

Abstract

The study entitled “Physical Facilities Management in Child Care Centers” is a study carried out for the fulfillment of the requirements for Master’s degree in Educational Planning and Management.Montessori Education is based on the understanding that each of us grows intellectually in a deeply innate and organic way. The researcher carried out the study based on the Montessori schools and the physical facilities management carried out in those institutions.Choosing 10 samples Montessori schools located around Chitwan district,from the schools, 10 administrators, 10 teachers, and 30 parents were selected as sample respondents purposively. Descriptive as well as Exploratory research design was applied based on the primary data collected by applying an interview schedule or questionnaire as well as a check list was also developed for the study. This study consists of five chapters. Chapter one is Introduction and consists of Background, Statement of the problem, Objectives of the study, Implication of the Study, Research questions or Hypothesis and Limitations of the study.Chapter two includes Review of related literature and Theoretical/ conceptual framework of related literature. Chapter three deals with Methods and procedures of the study which covers Selection of study area, Research design,Population and sample, Sources of data, Tools and Instruments of data collection, Data Analysis and Interpretation Process applied to conduct the research. The judgmental sampling procedure and random sampling procedure were used for choosing sample population. Questionnaires and observations were the major tools of data collection.Chapter four deals with Data analysis and Interpretation. The responses provided by the teachers, students, parents and administrators were analyzed with the help of tables, pie-charts, bar-graphs and Para orthographic form. The fifth chapter deals with Summary and Conclusions and of the study. References and Appendices have been included in the final section of thesis.

From the study it is noticed that only 30 percent of the classrooms were found to be good while half of them were just satisfactory, the entire classroom did not include child-sized tables and chairs which make students odd to get adjust.The overall facilitation of the furniture was found to be good. Although the availability of sport materials was good, the use of musical instruments was found poor in the sampled schools. Teachers were also found trained and different teaching techniques based on Montessori learning Parents used to periodically visit the schools and also complain on the physical infrastructure maintained. Most of the complaints were reformed by the management which reflects ‘listening to the parents’ behavior of the management. Although the complaints were listened still more than half of the respondent parents were not satisfied. The development of the Montessori schools in Chitwan has taken place in a rapid process so the physical infrastructures the schools are providing are pretty good. But still, a long mile has to cover by the institutions to provide a quality and fully Montessori based education and the support by the planners is must in this process. Summing up it is hoped that research study will help the administrators,parents, concerned centers and other policy makers of the Montessori schools to identify the essential physical facility management. So it will be easy for them to run the Montessori schools effectively. This study makes a way to other researchers for the researching physical management as well.