Measuring early childhood teachers’ social-emotional competence in Vietnam: Adaptation and validation of the MATSEC
Measuring early childhood teachers’ social-emotional competence in Vietnam: Adaptation and validation of the MATSEC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1243/z48xt919Keywords:
Social-emotional competence, Preschool teachers, Measurement validation, Confirmatory factor analysis, VietnamAbstract
Teacher social-emotional competence (SEC) plays a critical role in classroom quality, teacher well-being, and children's developmental outcomes; however, culturally validated measurement tools for early childhood educators in Vietnam remain limited. This study aimed to adapt and psychometrically evaluate the Multidimensional Assessment of Teacher Social-Emotional Competence (MATSEC) for use with Vietnamese preschool teachers. A sample of 924 teachers across three regions completed the translated instrument following standardized forward-back translation and expert review procedures. A series of confirmatory factor analyses was conducted to examine structural validity, followed by tests of measurement invariance and reliability. Results supported a six-factor correlated model with 25 retained items (CFI = .939; RMSEA = .067; SRMR = .023), demonstrating strong internal consistency (α = .93-.98) and invariance across age and geographic subgroups. All SEC components significantly predicted life satisfaction (p < .001), with Self-Management emerging as the strongest predictor. The findings provide preliminary evidence that MATSEC-VN is a satisfactorily reliable and valid tool for assessing SEC in Vietnamese early childhood educators. Specifically, this instrument can now serve as a valuable resource for future research on teacher well-being and the evaluation of social-emotional learning interventions in the Vietnamese context.
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