Abstract:
The objectives of this research were 1) to study the policy of early childhood educational management in four provinces of the Lower Central Region comprising Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, 2) to study the effectiveness of policy implementation of early childhood educational management in four provinces of the Lower Central Region comprising Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani and 3) to propose the guidelines for developing the effectiveness of early childhood educational management in four provinces of the Lower Central Region. This research employed the mixed methods research composed of both the qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative research was conducted by interviewing 162 key informants who were selected by purposive sampling from 81 principals and 81 teachers by employing semi-structured interview tool and data were analyzed by analytic induction. The quantitative research was conducted by studying the samples of 409 respondents selected by multistage sampling method. The sample size derived from Taro Yamanes formula from the population of 1,227 people who were the Chief Executives of the Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO), Chief Administrators of the SAO and Chief of the Education Divisions. The tool for data collection was a questionnaire. Statistics used to analyze data were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and multiple regression analysis.The research finding were as follows:1) The policy on early childhood educational management in four provinces of the Lower Central Region comprising Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani was as follows (1) the development of early childhood educational management had proceeded effectively and sustainably and (2) the development of capacity in early childhood educational management had determined the structure of transferring, allocation of managerial resources, training the officers to be equipped with knowledge and ability of personnel, management of buildings and budgeting management.2) The effectiveness of early childhood educational management in four provinces found that the administrators (1) the aspect of administration, the executives had a leadership for promotion and build up the peoples participation in developing early childhood development centers continually (2) the aspect of academic and curriculum activities, the evaluation results were the children had a good development in physical body, emotion, social and intelligence maturity (3) the aspect of facilities, the local administrative organizations had ready in all aspects (4) the 6 independent variables composed of the administrative capacity, the government policy, the organization structure, the administrative resources, the personnel capacity, the personnel administration system and the building administration could explained the effectiveness of early childhood educational management at 75.90 percent with adjusted R2 was 0.759.3) The recommendations to develop the effectiveness of early childhood educational management in four provinces of the Lower Central Region were as follows. (1) The clear planning for the budget utility must be made in every year. (2) The annual budget must be allocated for the operation of the projects relate to the promotion and support the early childhood educational management. (3) The early childhood educational development centers must be provided with the opportunity to request for the adequate budget support on the management of personnel, safety buildings, academics and activities. (4) The public participation must be encouraged to promote the development of early childhood educational development centers in all the provinces.