The development of a community participation model in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers: an application of confirmatory factor analysis and action research
Abstract:
The research on the development of a community participation model in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers: an application of confirmatory factor analysis and action research applied the mixed method research comprising of quantitative and qualitative methods. The aims of the research were to; 1) identify the indicators and factors of community participation in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers; 2) examine the appropriate integration of indicators and confirmatory factors of community participation in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers which the researcher had developed the theory from the empirical data; 3) develop a community participation model in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers; and 4) propose the policy recommendations on community participation in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers. The results were as follow: 1. Community participation in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers consisted of 5 factors and 15 indicators including 1) Planning: the indicators comprised of (1.1) Participation in determining the policy, (1.2) Participation in planning or proposing implementation guideline, (1.3) Participation in determining the curriculum, activity or project, (1.4) Participation in problem analysis and proposing the needs, (1.5) Participation in the need assessment, and (1.6) Participation in seeking or appointing committee or personnel of sub-district non-formal education centers; 2) Implementing: the indicators comprised of; (2.1) Participation in implanting the work plan and organizing learning activities and projects, (2.2) Participation in providing and supporting the fund, venue and labour, and (2.3) Participation in monitoring the implementation; 3) Public relations and networking: the indicators comprised of; (3.1) Participation in promoting the learning activities and project with the public, and (3.2) Participation in coordinating or seeking for the network for organizing education; 4) Monitoring and evaluation: the indicators comprised of; (4.1) Participation in providing orientation and monitoring the education organizing, and (4.2) Participation in evaluating the education organizing, and 5) Sharing benefits: the indicators comprised of; (5.1) Participation in getting benefit from the education which was organized in community, and (5.2) Participation in getting benefit from organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers. 2. The results of examination the appropriate integration of indicators and confirmatory factors of community participation in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers which the researcher had developed the theory from the empirical data were in accordance with the data ( /df = 145.75, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.04, NFI = 0.93, GFI = 0.93, PGFI = 0.57). The weighting value of those 15 indicators were review as positive (between the range of 0.69 to 0.91). 3. The development of a community participation model in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers defined as the participation of community members in organizing non-formal and informal education for sub-district non-formal education centers based on the 5 factors. The supporting factors included personality of the sub-district non-formal education centers leader, motivation of participants, and support from the networks. The conditional factors were the realization of the importance of non-formal education, public relations, adequate of academic support, and the concise plans/guidelines for community members participation. 4. Policy recommendations were proposed to 4 different sectors; 6 were to the public sectors, 3 were to the private sectors, 2 were to the civil society sectors, and 3 were to general public sectors with appropriate scores (mean ( ) between 3.92 to 4.08) and probability scores (mean ( ) between 4.00 to 4.31) in the implementation.