ERIC Number: EJ1129464
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1855-9719
EISSN: N/A
A Croatian Study of Practitioners' and Kindergarten Teacher Students' Opinions of Their Role in Children's Lives
Miljevic-Ridicki, Renata; Pahic, Tea; Šaric, Marija
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, v3 n2 p51-69 2013
In the project "Methods and Models in the Education of Preschool Children in Kindergartens" conducted at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb, we were interested in practitioners' and kindergarten teacher students' opinions, motivation, satisfaction, expectations and attitudes with regard to their work. Two open-ended questions regarding the role of the kindergarten teacher in children's lives, were set as a separate mini-questionnaire. For the purposes of this particular study, practitioners (N = 69) and first-year university kindergarten teacher students (N = 65) had to complete two sentences: "Children are like…because …" and "Kindergarten teachers are like… because…." Their responses were content analysed and then compared. Analysis shows that both students and kindergarten teachers perceive children in a very positive way and evaluate their job as highly valuable. They also highly value their role in children's lives (as another parent, teacher, helper, model, safe haven, etc.). The most significant difference between practising teachers and students is their perception of working conditions, where students show a more idealistic approach.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Preschool Children, Kindergarten, Teacher Education, Teacher Educators, Preschool Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Motivation, Satisfaction, Expectation, Questionnaires, Teacher Role, Teaching Conditions
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education. University of Ljubljana Kardeljeva plošcad 16. Slovenia. Tel: +386-1-5892-344; e-mail: editors@cepsj.si; Web site: http://www.cepsj.si/doku.php?id=en:cepsj
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten; Primary Education; Early Childhood Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Croatia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A