Employing Exploratory and Pooled-Confirmatory Factor-Analysis for the Reliability and the Validity of a Peer-Led Fun-Inspired Inquisitive Scale

Abstract

This study focuses on pre-school teachers’ initiative to lead their peers in fun-inspired instructions that suit the current educational ecosystem. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to determine the reliability and the validity of the newly developed Peer-Led Fun-Inspired Inquisitive (PeLFII) scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to test the scale. A total of 857 pre-school teachers from 3433 pre-schools in Malaysia completed the survey. The analysis yielded a four-factor PeLFII scale, namely, ‘Leading through the Appreciation of Fun-Inspired Inquiry’ (AFI), ‘Leading, through Sharing Knowledge and Ideas of Fun-Inspired Inquiry’ (SKI), ‘Leading through Engaging and Fun-Inspired Inquiry’ (EFI), and ‘Leading through Short-Term Innovation Goals for Fun-Inspired Inquiry’ (SIG), with a total of 25 items loaded, ranging from 0.54 to 0.87 for each item. The reliability of the Cronbach-Alpha coefficient for Factor 1 (AFI) and Factor 2 (SKI) is 0.92 respectively, 0.87 for Factor 3 (EFI), and 0.97 for Factor 4 (SIG). The findings show that the PeLFII Scale with 25 items offers a promising new measure for examining PeLFII. The results also show that it is significant to shift the paradigm from isolation to collaboration among pre-school teachers. It is also significant to mobilize the peer-leadership of fun-inspired inquisitive pedagogical strategies online or vice versa. The PeLFII model also inspired teacher-parent connection through the PeLFII Digi-Community, thereby paving the way towards Education 4.0 in Malaysia.