The influence of the low birthrate on Taiwan’s preschool enrollment and strategies implemented to cope with this influence

Abstract

This study explored the influence of the low birthrate in Taiwan on preschool enrollment and the preschools’ strategies for coping with this influence. The researchers developed a questionnaire: Influence of Taiwan’s declining birthrate on preschool enrollment. This questionnaire was administered along with the coping orientation to problems experienced scale to randomly sampled preschool teachers. The findings revealed that (1) the low birthrate has considerably affected Taiwanese preschool enrollment.  Most preschools face insufficient enrollment, enrollment difficulties, increased marketing costs and (2) the influence of the low birthrate. Taiwanese preschools should increase their investment in improving their learning environments and equipment, software and hardware facilities and teaching quality and should establish characteristics specific to the preschool to improve recruitment. The findings of this study indicate that preschools should (1) increase their income and reduce their expenditures.  (2)  Strengthen their integrated marketing and focus on brand and word-of-mouth marketing.  (3) Conduct internal and external evaluations of their service quality.  (4) Consistently improve the professional quality of their teachers and childcare personnel, implement curriculum innovation and (5) improve their competitiveness in the market. This study presents this overview to clarify the necessity of this study and how this study can contribute to the academic understanding of this topic.