ISSN: 2308-0876
NOTE: THIS JOURNAL IS SHIFTED TO NEW
WEBSITE (www.kwpublications.com)
Open access
The present study attempts to clarify the opinions of preschool education students on the quality of education in kindergartens. The survey was conducted in kindergarten Florina Municipality and it aimed to explore the views of kindergarten children on the education they receive. The sample consisted of 12 students and for the survey, we used the semi-structured individual interviews as a research tool with set questions while the processing of the results took into account the responses and the way the students answered. The themes which were introduced by the researcher were associated with the preferences of children for kindergarten, children's views about the learning environment, the views of children about playing at nursery school, independence and participation of children in everyday choices, participation of children in the planning and implementation of activities, children's views on the interaction and acceptance by peers and finally, the interaction with the teacher. Upon completion of the analysis of the results, it became obvious that preschool children showed a clear satisfaction with their education and learning environment in kindergarten and seemed to sympathize with the kindergarten and the methods used.
Abbott-Shim, Lambert, and McCarty. (2000), Structural Model of Head Start Classroom, Quality Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15, No. 1, 115–134
Duigan, B. ( 2005), Talking about quality; report of a consultation process on quality in early childhood care and education in Ireland , Child Care in Practice, vol. 11, no 2, pp. 211–30
Einarsdottir, J., Dockett, S., & Perry, B. (2009), Making meaning: Children’s perspectives expressed through drawings, Early Child Development and Care: Special Issue. 179(2), 217- 232
Harms, T., & Clifford, R. M. (1983), Assessing preschool environments with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. in B. Spodek (Ed),Studies in educational evaluation, special issue: Evaluation in early childhood education(Vol. 8, Chap. 3, pp. 261-269)
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. (1990), Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale, New York: Teachers College Press
Mathers, S., Linskey, F., Seddon, J., Sylva, K. (2009) , Using quality rating scales for professional development, Bradford Early Years and Childcare Service, International Journal of Early Years Education, Bradford Metropolitan District
McCrea, N., & Piscitelli, B. (1990), Handbook of high quality criteria for early childhood programs, Brisbane: College of Advanced Education
Mitchell, L. (2002), Differences between community owned and privately owned early childhood centres: A review of evidence. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, www.nzcer.org.nz
Moss, P. (2006), Listening to young children-beyond rights to ethics. ??? Learning and Teaching Scotland (2006), Let’s talk about listening to children: towards a shared understanding for early years education in Scotland.
Moss, P. (2007), European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, Bringing politics into the nursery: early childhood education as a democratic practice. Institute of Education University of London, UK
Perlman, M., Zellman, G., Le, V. (2004), Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Examining the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood. ?? 398–412
Phillips, D., Mekos, D., Scarr, S., McCartney, K., & Abott-Shim, M. (2000), Within and beyond the classroom door: Assessing quality in child care centers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(4), 475–496
Phillips, D., Howes, C. (1987), Indicators of quality in child care: Review of the research. In D. Phillips (Ed.), Quality in child care: What does the research tell us? (pp. 1-19). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children
Phillipsen, L. C., Burchinal, M. R., Howes, C., & Cryer, D. (1997), The prediction of process quality from structural features of child care. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 281–303
Prince, D., and Howard, E. (2002) , Children and Their Basic Needs, Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1
Rimm-Kaufman, S., Ponitz, C. (2009), Introduction to the Special Issue on Data-Based Investigations of the Quality of Preschool and Early Child Care Environments. Early Education & Development. Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia
Sheridan S. (2007), Dimensions of pedagogical quality in preschool, International Journal of Early Years Education Vol. 15, No. 2, June 2007, pp. 197–217
Whitebook, M., Howes, C., & Phillips, D. (1990), Who cares? Child care teachers and the quality of care in America. Final report: National Child Care Staffing Study. Oakland, CA: Child Care Employee Project
Woodhead, M. (1998), 'Quality' in Early Childhood Programmes — a contextually appropriate approach. International Journal of Early Years Education the Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
In-Text Citation: (Dimitra, 2014)
To Cite this Article: Dimitra, T. (2014). The Views of Preschool Students on the Issue of Quality of Education in Kindergartens: A Survey of "Infant Voices”. Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 2(2), 53–74.
Copyright: © 2014 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode