The Development and Effect of a Learning Cycle-Based Teacher Education Program for Childcare Teacher-Parent Cooperation Promotion

The purpose of this study is to develop a circular learning-based teacher education program aimed at promoting cooperation between childcare teachers and parents, and to examine its effectiveness. The experimental group comprised 20 childcare teachers from daycare centers in Ward B of A city, while the comparative group included 20 teachers from similar socio-economic backgrounds in the same region. The teacher education program was conducted over 8 weeks, consisting of 16 sessions that focused on building trust with parents, enhancing communication and participation, and clarifying authority and responsibility in relationships with parents. This was achieved by integrating the 5E Learning Cycle model and team-based learning strategies. To assess the effectiveness of the teacher education program, the childcare teacher-parent cooperation scale was utilized, and data analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0. The reliability of the scale was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha. Statistical analyses included an independent samples t-test for group homogeneity and a paired samples t-test to evaluate the differences between pre- and post-test scores of each group. The results showed that the experimental group demonstrated improved cooperation between childcare teachers and parents. This indicates that the teacher education program was effective in addressing issues related to building trust, enhancing communication, and clarifying authority and responsibility in parent-teacher relationships. This study will provide foundational data to address challenges in forming teacher-parent relationships in childcare settings and will support future follow-up research on the development of teacher education programs focused on daycare centers.