Teaching Competencies for Arabic Schools Kindergarten Teachers in China

Due to the importance and special nature of kindergarten stage on children's cognitive, social, emotional and psychological growth, this study aimed at identifying the main teaching competencies required for kindergarten teachers in China. To achieve this objective, an observation card was applied on a group of 41 teachers from different kindergartens. The findings of the study suggested, firstly, that the levels of teaching competencies might be divided into five levels. This classification might be attributed to the variables of the study; namely, specialization, qualification and teaching years of experience. Secondly, the findings also revealed that, on the one hand, there were statistically significant differences according to the variable of specialization and the years of experience. On the other hand, no significant differences were found due to the variable of academic qualification. On the basis of these findings, a group of recommendations were put forward.


Introduction
Teacher occupies a central position in the educational system as one of its main pillars and a major factor at any reform or educational development (Bird, 2017). He is the one who makes the learning environment effective and designs educational situations that make the student involved in the educational process (Araujo et al., 2016).
The kindergarten teachers play an important role in the life of the child. It is ranked second after the parents and the work done in kindergarten is not just an educational act, but also a constant guide to the child's presence in the kindergarten, (Kindergarten Funding Guide, 2016;Wigfield et al., 1998). This guidance positively or negatively affects the child's skills, ideas, values, personal tendencies and behavior as teachers become role models for students (Abdul-Haq, 2014;Germino-Hausken et al., 2004).
Most of the teachers who work in kindergartens are not specialized in raising children. In this sense, the problem of this research was reflected on the degree of ownership of kindergartens for some teaching competencies and to know the performance of kindergarten teachers in Arabic schools kindergartens in China.

Background
Pre-school childhood is considered as one of the most significant stages of individuals life and the most influential one in his or her future life. At this stage, children's abilities are developed and their talents are nurtured. In addition, children at this stage get introduced to many morals, social values and attitudes and they acquire numerous behavioral skills and habits needed for the development of their personalities. Furthermore, children start acquiring at this stage proper adaptations for the environment and comprehend proper social relationships as well as how to practice them (D'Onise et al., 2010;Howse et al., 2003).

Importance of kindergarten
Kindergarten is considered as one of the most fruitful stages of education that helps in the development and molding of children personalities as it is a secondary stage in which education takes place automatically and which paves the way for the educational process in the future (Griffin and Morrison, 1997;Hammer et al., 2017). In addition, it is a crucial stage in the formation of the personality fundamentals and in the course of its physical, motor, sensory, mental, cognitive, linguistic, social, moral, emotional, spiritual and skillful growth due to the fact that kindergarten includes purposeful physical and cognitive activities, active cognitive characteristics and stimuli, language opportunities in the art of speaking, quiet psychological atmosphere, and effective humane social situations (Bronson et al., 1995;Flückiger et al., 2018;Smith, 2010).

Teaching Competencies and Kindergarten Teacher
As a result, the success of kindergarten in terms of the teacher performance depends on the good selection of the teacher as he/she is the person who leads the educational process within the kindergarten, guides children, provides them with the environmental stimuli (Cappelloni, 2011;Gullo and Hughes, 2011) and educational means designated to stimulate children energies, enhance children abilities, help children to learn about the world around them, encourage them towards good behavior both inside and outside the kindergarten, help them to develop their intelligence and imagination (Krieg et al., 2015;Ohi, 2014). Kindergarten teacher by his/her multidimensional character, has an obvious impact on children psyche, as he/she is able to affect them directly or indirectly through inspiration, confrontation, identification and role model (Lundberg, 2014;Theodore, 2010). The kindergarten teacher also can instill in children the spirit of responsibility and perseverance as well as he/she can make them use their imagination and develop it through playing a role model and providing the necessary psychological environment (Harris, 1998;Kayani et al., 2011).
Among the factors which influence the quality of education, the competencies of teachers are undoubtedly the most significant ones (Pratibha, 2017). To have an eligible teachers this requires them to be prepared for a wide variety of roles and to develop related competencies (Bawane and Spector, 2009) such as interacting with children while playing in which playing is a vital activity for children; it is to ensure social and emotional development of children (Koster, 2015). Teacher's interventions during play take on many possibilities like assisting with problem solving, questioning, redirecting undesired behaviors, and enticing children into playing themes (The kindergarten program, 2016); (McAfee et al., 2015). The kindergarten teacher should have the ability to create stimulating environments and to interact with children through exchanging ideas and answering their questions as well (Underwood et al., 2016).
It can be claimed that the achievement of the kindergarten goals depends on the kindergarten teachers competencies. Teachers can be considered as the real key to the pre-school education in which they are responsible for the development of children personalities compatible with heritage and with the community (Harris and Sass, 2007).
The kindergarten teachers must identify the problems that the child suffers from and cooperate with the psychological counselor to treat these problems and take preventive measures befor the the emergence of any other psychological problems such as the development of self-confidence (Griffin and Morrison, 1997;Howse et al., 2003;Pang and Leng, 2011). George (1993), believes that the early years of children are the years of consolidation for psychological and social concepts due to their significance in shaping children personalities, as they recognize themselves and their relationships with others outside the family. Besides, the crucial consolidation of their emotions about themselves will affect the formation of their behavior in the future of their lives. Bronson et al. (1995), on their study investigated the relations between teachers and classroom activities and the behaviors of 586 children. Results confirmed the importance of focusing on activities and interaction with children. Whitebook (2003), reviewed the researches on pre-kindergarten teacher quality and highlight teachers with bachelor's degrees and their direct link to quality in early education. Among the findings of the studies reviewed teachers with four-year degrees in early childhood education rated higher than those without these credentials. These studies also strongly show the importance of the requirement of a bachelor's degree and the experience in early childhood teaching Another related review, Abdul-Haq (2014) investigated the degree of availability of the general basic educational skills in kindergarten teachers in Jordan. The study sample consisted of (185) teachers from (65) Kindergartens. A questionnaire of (58) items was developed, divided into two domains; personal and social skills, and educational skills. The results showed that all the educational skills are required for kindergarten teachers from the standpoint of the teachers, and there are statistically significant differences (α ≤ 0,05) due to teachers' major (educational/otherwise) in favor of the educational majors. Rajapaksha and Chathurika (2015), attempted to find out the problems faced by the preschool teachers in Sri Lanka when using teaching aids. The study revealed that the teachers face problems such as lack of training on using electronic teaching aids, lack of knowledge on relating teaching aids. Wathu (2016), investigated the impact of whether the presence of the teacher in children's play affects children's social and emotional development of preschoolers in Kenya. The study sample included 20 teachers and 250 children. The researcher found a strong positive correlation between the presence of the teacher while children are playing and their social and emotional skills and concluded that teachers should always be near the children during playing to motivate them.

Research questions
A. What are the levels of teaching competencies among kindergarten teachers in Arabic Schools? B. Are there differences of statistical significance in some teaching competencies among kindergarten teachers according to specialization, scientific qualification and years of experience variables?

Method
As the study focus on identifying the levels of teaching competencies for kindergarten teachers the study employed quantitative method by using observation card to attain objective of current study.

Research Tools
The current study depended on observation of teaching competencies necessary for kindergarten teachers by looking at educational literature and previous studies on the subject such as the study of Abdul-Haq (2014) and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (1999) to measure the performance of kindergarten teachers for each teaching efficiency and to detect differences if found among the study variables and it was presented to a panel referees consisting of specialists and experts in the field. It was considered appropriate to prepare the items of the observation card in a five-point Likert format, one point was given to answers "Not applicable at all", two points were given to answers "Seldom applicable", three points were given to answers "Sometimes applicable", four points were given to answers "Almost applicable", and five points were given to answers "Always applicable". The researchers applied the observation card at five different times for 41 teachers who represent the total number of kindergarten teachers in the Arabic schools, the first time was to verify its validity and reliability. The second, third, fourth and fifth times were to find out the total observation score by calculating the mean of the whole observations. The observation card include three dimensions, the first dimension "Competency in using playing tools" consist of 15 items, second dimension "Competencies in using teaching aids" consist of 8 items and the third dimension "Competency in performance enhancement and interaction with children" consist of 19 items. In order to determine the reliability, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was employed to assess the reliability of each dimension and the observation tool, the values are as follows: 0.79 ** , 0.77 ** , 0.81 ** and 0.83 ** , for the first, second and third dimensions and for whole observation card respectively, which indicate a substantial reliability for the observation card. The squire root of α used to determine the validity (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The validity for each dimension and the observation tool, are as follows: 0.88 ** , 0.87 ** , 0.90 ** and 0.91 ** for the first, second and third dimensions and for whole observation card respectively.

Findings Concerning the Level of Teaching Competencies
The level of each competency for kindergarten teachers in Arabic schools has been determined by calculating the range after calculating arithmetic observations mean for five times.

Range = maximum(x i )minimum(x i )
Where (xi) represents the set of values 195-79 = 116 It is worth mentioning that the observation card contains five options. The range has been divided by five to determine the length of the category (L) =116/ 5 = 23 Table (2) indicates the levels of teaching competencies, 4 teachers out of 41 teachers 9.5% with a very high level of teaching competencies, 13 teachers 32% a have high level, 4 teachers 9.5% have a moderate level, 6 teachers 15% have a low level and 14 teachers 34% have a very low level of teaching competencies. The percent 32% of the teachers in a high level of teaching competencies may be attributed to having an educational qualification distinguished from others who have other specializations due to the educational qualification they received during the study. Besides, 34 %of the teachers are at a very low level of teaching competencies which may refer to some obstacles faced by kindergarten teachers. The most prominent of these obstacles are that the teachers need to be trained to master all the teaching skills as well as to be motivated to work at kindergartens. Improving teachers' performance should take the form of a continuous chain, through acquiring the skills for enhancing the educational process and then working on renewing skills and in different aspects of the educational process.

Findings Concerning the Descriptive Values of Teaching Competencies
The degree of teaching competencies was dissimilar as indicated in Table 3. The degrees of achievement of teaching competencies are as follows: The scores for the first dimension "Competency in using playing tools" (M=46.2195, SD= 3.58129, percentage= 62%), for the second dimension "Competencies in using teaching aids" (M= 25.5610, SD= 2.82886, percentage= 64%) and for the third dimension "Competency in performance enhancement and interaction with children" (M= 62.9024, SD= 3.71352, percentage= 66%). The overall degree of teaching competencies (M= 134.6829, SD= 6.47085, percentage= 64%).

Competencies in Using Playing Tools
According to the first dimension, teachers to some extent have aware about the importance of playing for children at this stage. Wathu (2016), argues that teacher's support is seen as a necessary component of developmentally appropriate practice.

Competencies in Using Teaching Aids
With regard to the competencies of using teaching aids it was revealed that the teachers have perception of teaching aids and its functions. However, they face problems such as lack of ability while using the suitable teaching aids which achieve the goals. A study by Rajapaksha and Chathurika (2015) revealed that kindergarten teachers face problems such as lack of training on using teaching aids and lack of knowledge on relating teaching aids to the lesson in the teaching process.

Competencies in Performance Enhancement and Interaction with Children
From the previous results, teachers are aware to teach playing skills to children who have difficulty entering into a playing scenario, so they have highly competency in performance enhancement and interaction with children. Bronson et al. (1995), confirms that interaction with children promote child's social development by encouraging them to play games that require taking turns, sharing and cooperating. Pratibha (2017), clarifies that every child comes to school with a unique personality and learning style. To reach each child and teach each child effectively, teachers must respect these differences and work with each child's style, rather than to try to force the child to adapt to another style. The kindergarten teachers must adopt lessons to individual learning styles and must be willing to change plans and ideas as needed. Table 4. Shows the arithmetic mean and standard deviations for specialization variable (Educational -Noneducational). By using independent t-test to compare the mean of two independent groups (educational -noneducational), results indicated that there are statistically significant differences in the availability of teaching competencies among kindergarten teachers according to specialization variable in favor of educational majors (M= 150.63,SD= 27.17). The availability of teaching competencies was higher for teachers with educational majors, indicating that a qualified teacher has to be specialized and this certainly is beneficial in possessing the required skills for kindergartens teaching, besides providing them with many of the teaching strategies which are useful for kindergarten teaching. The study of Abdul-Haq (2014) confirmed this result and emphasized the importance of having an educational specialization for the kindergarten teachers. Table 5 below shows the mean scores and standard deviations of the teachers according to the academic qualification variable in which teachers with diploma degree scored (M= 135.882,SD= 6.421), teachers with bachelor degree scored (M= 135.056,SD= 5.461) and teachers with Master degree scored (M= 130.167,SD= 8.472). The results of ANOVA analysis are shown in Table 6 below and reveals that there were no statistically significant differences in teaching competencies among kindergarten teachers according to the academic qualifications variable with the F-value 1.866, ρ = 0.176. This result can be accepted because the academic qualification does not meet the requirements of appointment as kindergarten teacher. In general, teachers should have an experience relevant to the educational work in kindergartens. Whitebook (2003), found that the academic qualification could be considered as the criteria for success of a teacher and an indicator to teacher effectiveness.  Table 7 shows the difference in the arithmetic mean on the years of experience in which teachers with more than 15 years scored the highest arithmetic mean (M=133.60,SD= 36.26), while teachers with (less than 5 years) of experience scored the lowest arithmetic mean (M=118.29, SD= 23.98). Reverting to the analysis of ANOVA in Table 8 and Figure 1, it is revealed that there are statistically significant differences in the availability of teaching competencies among kindergarten teachers according to the years of experience.  (2017) and Araujo et al. (2016), highlighted a positive relationship between kindergarten teacher effectiveness and length of teaching experiences. Qualified and experienced teachers have a better performance more than teachers with only an academic qualification without any proven experience. This can be demonstrated by the initiative which had been introduced to improve the quality of Early Childhood education for children in Australia in 2007. It was primarily a program designed for Early Childhood Teacher Education and being taught by teachers with experience for four years (Ohi, 2014). The Ontario's Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK), program clarified that Early Childhood Educators should complete at least 2-years college diploma in Early Childhood Education which include child-focused programming and principles of children development (Underwood et al., 2016). From the above it is noted that teachers with high levels of teaching competencies have educational specialties and experience for more than ten years.

Conclusion
Kindergarten teacher's support is seen as a necessary component for developmentally appropriate practice, but a gap has been found between the teaching competencies and practices among kindergarten teachers. So, they need to be trained by specialists in this field.
It has been noted that there is a convergence between the dimensions of the study through the degree of observation of those dimensions and this indicates the consistency between the teaching competencies included in the observation tool of the current study based on the averages and standard deviations and percentages of each efficiency. Five levels of teaching competencies for kindergarten teachers have been classified accordingly. Beside, this study has also found that the specialization and years of experience influence teacher's competencies.