學前教育結構的限制－家長觀點之論述

我國幼兒教育因為非屬義務教育，故受政府管制少，機構種類多元，相對的，家長的選擇也較多。然而在政府投入資源較少，機構品質良莠不齊，幼教市場混亂的情形下，家長如何在幼教市場中選擇一理想的機構？又是否因結構性的限制而對選擇行為形成無法察覺的干擾或影響？此等都是值得研究與探討的問題。本研究「幼兒教育市場消費行為研究－以台中地區家長選擇幼兒教育機構的歷程為例」，即是由家長選擇機構的個人歷史經驗切入，探討家長對於幼教機構的偏好、選擇能力、品味區隔等現象，以及檢視家長所被賦予的權利、自由與能力等，是否因為幼教市場結構的限制而受到忽視與剝奪。本研究由經濟、社會、教育等理論，綜理為一整合性論述架構，以做為研究進行的指引、分析與解釋。研究方法採質化方法之「詮釋性互動論」(interpretive interactionism)為設計，進行問題的規劃、解構、捕捉、括號、建構以及脈絡化。研究樣本以台中縣市四個公私立幼托機構的家長為訪談對象，由訪談資料中補捉家長選擇幼托機構的經驗。最後本研究將蒐集到的田野資料重新建構、解釋，並賦予理論與現實上的意義。研究結果發現：（一）家長對於不同幼教機構的偏好並非天生的，而是依循個人過去的經驗以及人際網絡中的知識、信念與行為之脈絡而形成的；（二）在三種選擇技巧使用的分類上，公／私立機構的家長有明顯的差異；（三）差異點的社會性意涵－「必需的」V.S.「自由的」兩種品味；（四）家長雖各具不同品味，但從市場結構的許多限制而言，所有家長被賦予的權利(entitlement)是不足的，公／私立機構家長權利集合也是不一的；（五）私立機構價值主導幼教市場價值，政府不僅未能適時回應此現象，政策制定的過程也無法保證並促進更充分的公共討論。本研究認為，選擇行為受到個人過去經驗與人際網絡性質的影響，從而可以區隔出家長的選擇能力類型與對於機構的品味，且家長選擇的歷程確是受到社會結構的限制，導致家長被賦予的權利、自由與能力有不足的現象。因此本研究主張，對於幼教市場結構的調節，無論是由國家介入或由市場機制主導，家長、機構、國家三者幼兒教育價值觀的整合，應是健全幼教市場結構的前提，也是討論、解決幼教問題的首要之務。

關鍵字

幼兒教育；消費行為；偏好；品味；權利

並列摘要

Since the early child education is not compulsory in Taiwan, the governmental control on it is limited and its overall environment is chaotic. Under this situation, some issues are worth of discussing and investigating, for example (1) how can parents choose an ideal educational environment for their kids? (2) When parents are making choices, which influence them most? Their preference or their abilities on making choices? (3) Is it possible that parents decisions may be misled or disturbed because of the social limitations? These issues are carefully discussed in this research. The research is conducted under the theories of Economics, Sociology and Education, and the method used in the research is designed based on ”interpretive interactionism” to framing, deconstructing capturing, bracketing, constructing, and contextualizating the research question. Samples chosen in the research are parents from four national or private early child educational institutions in Taichung City and County. Through the interviews, parents, experiences on choosing schools for their little kids are gathered and recorded, and the gathered field information is finally reconstructed, explained and identified, both theoretically and practically. The results of the research are: (1) parents' preferences toward early child educational institution is not innate, but based on personal experiences and interpersonal influences. (2) There is an obvious difference between national and private institutions' parents on using the three different skills of selection. (3) The social meaning of the difference-”the taste of liberty” V.S. ”the taste of necessity.” (4) Although parents have different tastes, their entitlements are dissatisfied because of the social limitation. Also, the entitlements of parents in national institutions are different from those of parents in private ones. (5) The market value of early child education is led by private institutions and the government cannot fix the problem. These results lead a conclusion that the main task of solving the early child educational problems is to integrate parents', educational institutions' and the government's values in order to regularize the early child educational market.