Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge, Understanding and Practice towards Higher Order Thinking Skills

Abstract

Malaysian education system is striving to produce a creative, innovative and intelligent generation to face the competition in the global market. Among the skills that are prioritized to produce this generation is Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). All curricula including the Preschool Curriculum have undergone a transformation due to the HOTS agenda. As an effort to inculcate HOTS among children, preschool teachers have the key trust. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the level of readiness of preschool teachers towards HOTS in terms of knowledge, understanding and implementation. A quantitative approach with survey study design was used in the study. A total of 367 preschool teachers in Malaysia were selected as study respondents through simple random sampling. The instrument used was a questionnaire adapted from another study. The data obtained were analysed descriptively through SPSS Version 26. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the mean score, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. The findings showed that the level of knowledge (mean = 4.08) of preschool teachers about HOTS, the level of understanding (mean = 3.98) of preschool teachers about HOTS and the level of implementation (mean = 3.96) of HOTS in preschool learning and facilitation were at high level. The results of the study proved that preschool teachers have high level of readiness for the implementation of HOTS. This study can increase the positive perception of HOTS among other preschool teachers and encourage them to demonstrate high commitment in implementing HOTS in learning and facilitation.