Preschool Teachers' Understanding of Children and Childhood: Rights, Responsibilities and Working with Children

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate preschool teachers' understanding of childhood. The study group of this qualitative case study consisted of 51 preschool teachers working in the central districts of Ankara, who were reached by using the convenient sampling technique from the purposeful sampling method. Semi-structured interview questions were used as data collection tools. The interview questions included preschool teachers' perspectives on children and childhood, what they think about children's rights and basic requirements, their views on the advantages and difficulties of working with children, and their responsibilities towards children. The interview questions were analyzed using a content analysis approach. As a result, it is thought that preschool teachers who participated in the study have a generally positive perspective towards children and childhood. According to preschool teachers' understanding of rights and requirements, it is seen that children requirement love the most, have the right to be protected and safe, and the most important right is the right to have a mother and father. Regarding the right to participation, it was determined that children's opinions should be consulted at home, at school and in society, that children's opinions were taken into consideration in the selection of activities at school and that children's opinions were more effective in the decisions taken. According to preschool teachers' understanding of working with children, the biggest advantage of working with children is that children are natural and innocent, and the most difficult aspect is the communication problem with parents. In addition, it was determined that preschool teachers' professional responsibilities towards children are to raise children as good individuals, they feel conscientious responsibility towards children and as an adult they feel the responsibility to help all children in requirement and in difficult situations.