Research On Undergraduate Talent Cultivation Of Preschool Education In Colleges And Universities From The Perspective Of Stakeholder Theory

The training of undergraduates in the preschool education program is facing a series of challenges along with increasingly societal paradigm shift, educational reform moving forward at the full scale, and ever improving quality of preschool education for young children. It is faced up with the difficulties in how to deal with the distribution of interests among various entities, regarding either interactions between all parties concerned within universities or that between the universities and external factors.From the perspective of Stakeholder Theory, this research tries to address the core issues with regard to the stakeholders and the presentation and realization of their interest demands involved in the training of undergraduates studying the preschool education major. It is of great help not only in describing and explaining the questions of conflicts among multiple parties and interests distribution in the training of potential professionals in preschool education, but also in solving some practical problems that also exist in that process. In the meantime, it is instrumental in the enrichment and expansion of the Stakeholder Theory frame. The main content of this study is as follows.In the beginning, the key concepts are technically defined. The stakeholders in the training of undergraduates majoring preschool education are individuals or groups have certain amount of investments in education, however take some risks, in the hope that they would get benefits out of it, which has impact on the attainment of objectives in the training of undergraduates in preschool education programs. Along this line, the stakeholders involved in this research are faculties, university students, the administrations, teaching support staffs, departments in charge of teaching at universities/colleges, parents of university students, professional organizations,employers, alumni/alumnae, relevant interest groups and parents of kids who receive preschool education.Secondly, the study analyzes the attributes and characteristics of stakeholders.Based on previous research, it proposes the hypothesis on the categorization of stakeholders as follows, a) there exists significant differences among different stakeholders regarding the legitimacy, power and urgency; b) university students,faculties, university administrators, the executive departments of education and employers are definitive stakeholders in the process of training the paraprofessionals in preschool education. Confirmatory study finds that the university students believe that faculties and students are definitive stakeholders, while the faculties think that students,faculties and employers are definitive stakeholders, and the university administrators otherwise hold that faculties, employers are definitive stakeholders, however the employers think the university students, faculties and employers to be the definitive stakeholders. However these results are not totally in accord with the hypothesis, which not only mirrors the general characteristics of the training of university students, but also shows the attributes of stakeholders. On one hand, the results show that the colleges/universities have practiced the concept of open education, meanwhile it brings up the hope from the four concerning groups that the administrator-centered tendency can be altered. On the other hand, the analysis of legitimacy dimension implies the fact that the position of the undergraduates training is marginalized, the analysis of power dimension shows the imbalance in the power structure of the training, and the analysis of urgency dimension implies the customer-oriented outlook of the university students and employers on the paraprofessional training.Thirdly, the distribution of interest demands among the stakeholders and its causes are discussed. The results show that students are eager to acquire professional development abilities, also look forward to a good employment prospect and their competitiveness in employment. Therefore, they believe that the judgment of the rationale for interest demands should be employment-based personal development.Faculties and the university administrators have the same type of interests,simultaneously they pay attention to the faculties, the educational media and the students with them being prioritized differentially that faculties more focusing on the implementation of the training program, the administrators more on the planning of the training program. But both the faculties and administrators believe that the judgment of the rationale for interest demands should be profession-based student development.While the employers expect that the prospective preschool teachers can be kept in the profession, and they believe that the practicability should be the highest priority in the judgment of the rationale for interest demands. Thus it can be seen that there exist the distinctions among the stakeholders' interest demands and logic of their rationality.Positively, it is helpful for the reformation in university education. However, we should be aware that some logic rationality are unreasonably undermining the foundation of professional personnel training in preschool education, and the risk of the weakening of the professional basis is expanding, which can be seen in the educational consumerism and the failure in the marketing mechanism of preschool education professional training. The research suggests the three reasons why there exists the differentiation among the interest demands, the logic rationality, which are the unequal power structure, the asymmetry in access to information, and the lacking of the mechanism of professional training.Fourthly, the challenges and the prerequisites that interest demands can be realized are deeply analyzed. Research suggests that the realization of interest demands faces three challenges, which are the development of colleges and universities depends on a variety of resources, the uncertainty in the developmental value of the professional education to the students, the lacking and excess of the marketization of higher education. Under the present situation of power structure, it is a necessary premise to form a symmetric power structure. By taking advantage of the opportunities such as the formation of democracy in university management, the confirmation and promotion of the faculties' and students' power,and also the formalization and guidance of employers' power, research suggests that we should actively facilitate a symmetric power structure.Finally, the study analyzes the model of stakeholder governance involved in the training of potential professionals in the preschool education field and its adaptability/generality, also puts forward some strategic suggestions on how to carry out the model. On one hand, a symmetric power structure should be facilitated; a symmetric power structure should be facilitated, namely changing the asymmetrical quadrilateral power mechanism into a balanceable two-triangle mode. On the other hand, the standard-based stakeholder governance should be implemented to promote the balance of interest demands in the interactions, ultimately the goal of the training of students in preschool education program can be achieved.