Diploma thesis: Beliefs of actors in relation to preschool education at local level Author: Bc. Petra Kaplanová Abstract The aim of this thesis is to explore and compare beliefs of actors in relation with preschool education at local level and determine how they influence policy of preschool education. Used methodology is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The most significant used theory is a system of beliefs from Paul A. Sabatiera which is a part of theory of avocational coalitions. Four different beliefs were revealed. The first belief called "pro alternatives" did not show deep core beliefs of actors. However, it was obvious that these actors sympathize with alternative education principles. Second belief "traditional collective" is based on conviction that children should have the same conditions for the beginning of their lives. The state education is the best what is for children offered. In the third belief "not interested" are actors convicted not to participate in any level of politics. They believe it can cause either trouble or it will not have any effects. The last belief "traditional individualistic" is characterized with a belief that state form of education is the best what can be provided to children. On contrary with belief "traditional collective" these actors are...

The dissertation entitled Children's Musical Creativity in the Context of Pedagogical Creativity focuses on formal pre-primary music education. A part of this education is the development of children's musical creativity influenced by their teachers. Therefore, this research problem is viewed from a dual perspective; one of pre-school children and the other of pre-primary educators. A theoretical part of this thesis describes children's musical creativity in the music education context o in terms of historical, international, and national development. Similarly, this thesis deals with the research context and presents constructed tests of children's musical creativity. Subsequently, the terms of musical creativity, children's musical creativity, and pedagogical creativity are defined. The children's musical creativity is viewed from the perspective of internal and external influencing factors. Finally, the role of the pre-primary pedagogue and their creative pedagogical work in the development of children's musical creativity is characterized in more detail. A practical part of this thesis contains a description of a research project. The first part of the research is devoted to musically creative experimental teaching of pre-school children, which also includes musical creativity testing, musical...

This thesis deals with the diagnostics and development level of partial functions of preschool children, due to the necessity of the skills for acquiring basic school skills, ie. reading, writing and counting. Children with hearing disabilities are a specific group in this area due to the possible difficulties in obtaining information from the majority auditory society, and thus acquiring the necessary knowledge. One of the goals of the thesis presented here is to find out what diagnostic materials are suitable and evaluating for children with hearing disabilities in preschool age. Whether tests are primarily focused for this group of children or tests designed for hearing children can be used effectively. The second goal of this thesis is to determine if and to what extent there will be an improvement in test results in case of controlled activities took place with children in comparison with the period when similar activities were not carried out with them. A six-month research was conducted with selected children with hearing disabilities, during which they were repeatedly tested using two different diagnostic materials. In the second part of the research, intentional activities took place with selected children, which was contributing to the development of their partial functions. From the...

The subject of this thesis is introduction of interpersonal relationships theme to pre-school age children. The aims of this work are: a) To introduce books with interpersonal relationships themes intended for pre-school age children. b) To ascertain if and in what way is this theme used in pre-school setting and where the pre-school educators take inspiration from when choosing quality literature for children. c) To propose, realise and reflect on activities (connected to chosen books with interpersonal relationships themes introduced through a child hero) which develop the key competencies of pre-school children related to reading. The practical part was built on data collection through online questionnaire for teachers; the aim was to ascertain whether interpersonal relationships topics are used in practice when working with books in pre-school setting and where the educators find inspiration when searching for this type of literature intended for pre-school children. The second part contains suggestions and realization of activities connected to chosen books with the interpersonal relationships theme introduced through a child hero, which develop the key competencies of pre-school children related to reading according to Curriculum Framework for Pre-School Education and the reflection on these...

This research study focused on the factors that influence the disciplining of pre-school children during the divorce process. Divorce is an escalating phenomenon and more pre-school children are being exposed to divorce. A pre-school child’s development limits his abstract thinking processes which keep him to fully comprehending concepts like divorce. The verbal capacity of pre-school children is still limited and therefore they are not always able to communicate what they experience and observe. They are also not always able to express their emotions. The pre-school child communicates through behaviour and play. Divorce is not only the legal termination of the marriage for adults, but in fact entails more responsibilities, challenges, losses and adaptations. More pressure is placed on the parents and they tend to be emotional overwhelmed, physical exhausted and emotionally drained. This causes that the parents to not see their way open to care for and especially discipline their pre-school child. Discipline in general is left aside and is not followed through consistently. The purpose of this study is of ‘n explorative nature. It aims to explore the factors that have an impact on the disciplining of the pre-school child, prior to, during and after the divorce process. A quantitative research approach has been followed with this study and a questionnaire has been used for gathering information. A non-probability sampling method was used and the respondents were selected through a purposive sample. The respondents were selected from the Pretoria East region. The organisations that assisted the researcher in selecting the respondents were the Counselling centre of the Dutch Reformed Church of Moreletapark and the Child Trauma Clinic. For this study 19 respondents were selected. The questionnaires was given out by hand and collected by hand. The children of the respondents who participated in the study were all pre-school children when going through the divorce. It has been concluded from this study that the factors impacting the discipline of pre-school children during the divorce process, is of an emotional nature. A factor that played an important role in the disciplining of pre-school children is the guilt feelings that the respondents experienced for exposing their children to a divorce. Physical tiredness, emotional exhaustion, conflict between parents during and after the divorce and the number of times that one of the parents leaved the house, are factors that according to the respondents, influenced the disciplining of their pre-school children. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / MSD / unrestricted

A subject didactic analysis of the development of the spatial knowledge of young children through a problem-centred approach to mathematics teaching and learning Researchers and educators are in agreement that it is very important that the spatial knowledge of the young child should be developed from the first years of school. In order to develop these skills the appropriate materials and activities need to be designed. This can only be realised through proper research methods that not only acknowledge the cognitive abilities of the young child, but also the social and cultural backgrounds of the children. This implies that due attention should be given to language, beliefs, cognitive skills, socio-economic background, schooling and teaching systems. The immediate worlds of the children should be used in developing the spatial skills of these children. The work that is described in this document is an effort to describe the complexity of such a research endeavour. The development of the spatial skills of young children were investigated through three different instructional/executional media namely language, drawing/writing and physical constructions. The three major variables that were described as influencing the spatial development in the different media were the task that was given to the children, the objects that the children worked with and the dimension and viewpoints of the objects and situations. It was clear from the research that in the development of the spatial skills of children, attention should. be given to: the real-world of the children, hands-on-experiences of the children, the cultural background, the language of instruction, the socio-economic background the classroom culture, the media of instruction and the cognitive skills of the children. / Proefskrif (PhD (Didaktiese Opvoedkunde))--PU vir CHO, 1997

A subject didactic analysis of the development of the spatial knowledge of young children through a problem-centred approach to mathematics teaching and learning Researchers and educators are in agreement that it is very important that the spatial knowledge of the young child should be developed from the first years of school. In order to develop these skills the appropriate materials and activities need to be designed. This can only be realised through proper research methods that not only acknowledge the cognitive abilities of the young child, but also the social and cultural backgrounds of the children. This implies that due attention should be given to language, beliefs, cognitive skills, socio-economic background, schooling and teaching systems. The immediate worlds of the children should be used in developing the spatial skills of these children. The work that is described in this document is an effort to describe the complexity of such a research endeavour. The development of the spatial skills of young children were investigated through three different instructional/executional media namely language, drawing/writing and physical constructions. The three major variables that were described as influencing the spatial development in the different media were the task that was given to the children, the objects that the children worked with and the dimension and viewpoints of the objects and situations. It was clear from the research that in the development of the spatial skills of children, attention should. be given to: the real-world of the children, hands-on-experiences of the children, the cultural background, the language of instruction, the socio-economic background the classroom culture, the media of instruction and the cognitive skills of the children. / Proefskrif (PhD (Didaktiese Opvoedkunde))--PU vir CHO, 1997

In this essay, we have used scientific methodology as means to correlate our reflections to scientific literature and theory. The purpose of the essay is to examine the three-day parent active introduction method and its influence on children, parents and teachers. We have interviewed four teachers from different pre-schools in Stockholm in order to gain more knowledge from other teachers point of view on our research. The essay starts with two different firsthand scenarios where we describe three-day parent active introduction. In one of the two scenarios the children are introduced in a group and in the other the children are introduced individually. Throughout the writing of the essay it has brought thought to our minds about the length of the introduction and how that length effects the childrens attachment. Since we want to gain deeper understanding of the childrens attachment to the teachers we have based the essay upon John Bowlby's attachment theory. We have also taken in to consideration other views by other psychologists and theorists, who argue that children need time to build the relationship with the teachers during the introduction and that parents should not leave their children too early in pre-school. We believe that it is one of the most important moments for the childrens continued development to establish emotional bonds with the person who takes care of the child. In our essay we leverage the importance of the attachment theory has in relation to the moment when the children are being seperated from their parents for the first time. Then we examine the pre-school curriculum, if it in any way advocates the three-day parent active introduction. We also want to clarify what three-day parent active introduction is about. In addition we also are interested in finding out why threeday parent active introduction increased so much in popularity. We believe that the introduction has to start from the individual child and that the child needs time to build relationships. / Vi skriver denna uppsats i vetenskaplig essäform, där våra reflektioner kopplas till vetenskaplig litteratur och teori. Syftet med denna essä är att undersöka tredagars föräldraaktiv inskolning och dess påverkan på barn, föräldrar och pedagoger. För att få in andra pedagogers perspektiv i vår undersökning har vi intervjuat fyra pedagoger från olika förskolor i Stockholmsregionen. Essän inleds med två olika egenupplevda berättelser där vi beskriver tredagars föräldraaktiv inskolning. I den ena berättelsen skolas barnen in i grupp och i den andra skolas de in enskilt. När vi skriver våra berättelser väcks tankar kring inskolningsmetodens längd och hur längden påverkar barnens anknytning. Då vi vill nå djupare förståelse för barnens anknytning till pedagogerna, har vi i essän utgått ifrån psykoanalytikern John Bowlbys anknytningsteoretiska perspektiv. Samtidigt utgår vi även ifrån andra psykologer och teoretiker, som menar att barnen behöver tid på sig att bygga relation med pedagogerna under inskolningen och att föräldrarna inte bör lämna barnen för tidigt i förskolan. Vi tror att detta att knyta känslomässiga band med den närmaste omvårdnadspersonen är ett av de viktigaste momenten i barnens fortsatta utveckling. I vår essä lyfter vi frågan om anknytningens betydelse i separationsögonblicket den stunden då barnen skiljs från sina föräldrar för första gången. Därefter undersöker vi förskolans läroplan om den på något sätt förespråkar tredagars föräldraaktiv inskolning. Vi vill även tydliggöra vad tredagars föräldraaktiv inskolning går ut på. Vi vill också försöka ta reda på varför tredagars föräldraaktiv inskolning blivit så populärt. Vi menar att inskolningen måste utgå utifrån det individuella barnet och att barnet behöver tid på sig att skapa relationer.

The purpose of my study is to study pre-school teacher’s conceptions of free play. This study focuses teacher’s view of free play, its possibilities and obstacles as well as the environmental effects and a teacher’s views of their own effects, on free play. My study was done with the help of qualitative semi-structured interviews. This method was chosen as ameans to achieve a deeper and more elaborated response from the interviewee and to create space to pose follow-up questions during the interviews. The paper is split up into different sections to reflect that structure as well as to keep the paper cohesive and clear (Dysthe, Hertzberg & Løkensgard Hoel, 2014).   The results showed that while free play is in fact something which is given a high priority within the organization, it is not always as free as one would think. This is due in part to the fact that free play is rarely problematized or discussed. The consensus among teachers is that there are obstacles which block genuine free play and that free play is an important factor for development, learning and cooperation. A conclusion reached was that teacher’s would like to create an environment which encourages the development of a child’s play skills and to find the balance between freedom and rules. / Syftet med min undersökning är att ta reda på vad pedagoger i förskolan har för tankar om den fria leken. Min studie handlar om hur pedagogerna ser på fri lek, vad de ser för möjligheter och hinder samt hur deras egen roll och miljön påverkar. Undersökning genomfördes med hjälp av kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Metoden användes för att få djupare svar och för att ge utrymme till att ställa följdfrågor under intervjuerna. Arbetet indelas i olika rubriker för att ge det struktur samt att det blir mer överskådligt och entydigt (Dysthe, Hertzberg & Løkensgard Hoel, 2014). Resultatet av studien blev att den fria leken är något som ges stor plats i verksamheten men att den inte alltid är så fri som man tänker sig då den sällan diskuteras eller problematiseras. Samtliga pedagoger menar att det finns hinder för att leken ska bli just fri, som till exempel miljön men de var enade om den fria lekens betydelse för både utveckling, lärande och samspel. En slutsats blev att pedagogerna gärna vill skapa lekskickliga barn men att det är svårt att finna balansen mellan frihet och regler.

<p>Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur några förskollärare och grundskollärare värderar leken inom förskoleklassen och årskurs 1. De frågeställningar som studien utgår ifrån är följande: Vad uppfattar dessa pedagoger som det viktiga i leken?  Hur uppfattar dessa pedagoger att leken kan användas som en resurs i lärandesituationer inom förskoleklassen och årskurs 1? samt Hur uppfattar dessa pedagoger att möjligheten till lek förändras i årskurs 1 i förhållande till förskoleklass?</p><p>Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats enligt fenomenografiskt analyssätt. I studien har sex pedagoger intervjuats, dessa pedagoger har vi valt ut från tre olika skolor, det vill säga en förskollärare och en grundskollärare från respektive skola. Intervjupersonerna är även utvalda utifrån att de har minst tio års yrkeserfarenhet. Av insamlat datamaterial har åtta kategorier utformats.</p><p>Resultatet visar att de två verksamheterna, förskoleklass och årskurs 1, värderar leken ganska lika. Det viktiga i leken är framför allt att utveckla den sociala kompetensen Förskollärarna anser att allt lärande kan rymmas i leken, medan grundskollärarna anser att inlärning sker genom den pedagogiska leken och den fria leken är en paus för barnen för att återhämta sig. Fastän de båda yrkeskategorierna är medvetna om att leken ska vara en del även av verksamheten i årskurs 1, så får inte förstaklassarna alltid möjlighet till det.</p> / <p> </p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe how playing is estimated by some pre-school teachers and primary school teachers within a pre-school class and a primary school form 1. The issues which this study is based on are as follows: What is important in playing? How can games and playing be used as a resource in situations of teaching and learning in a pre-school class and a primary school form 1? and What is the possibility of changes in playing between pre-school compared to primary school form 1?</p><p>The study has been effected with a qualitatively high effort according to a phenomenographic way of analysis. In this study six pedagogues (teachers) have been interviewed, chosen from three different schools, one pre-school teacher and one primary school teacher from each school. They were also chosen by the duration of their  professional experience which is at least 10 years. From collected facts eight categories have been worked out.</p><p>The result shows that the two activities, pre-school class and primary school form 1 estimate playing almost in the same way. The important thing in playing is above all to develop social ability. Pre-school teachers think that all learning can be contained in playing, while primary school teachers think that learning takes place only through educational games, and that free playing serves only as a break for children to relax and recover. Although both professional categories are aware of the fact that free playing is supposed to be part of the activity in primary school form 1, it won't  normally be possible for these children to practice it.</p>