No description available.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration, University of Zululand, 1989. / The inadequacy of pre-schools in the Umlazi area poses a big problem for teachers and parents in the community. The writer being involved with a large number of schools, felt that the work of the teacher, especially in Sub-A, would be much easier if most of the children attended pre-schools before entering formal classes. A pre-scholar gets to primary school wide awake with a lot of experiences which contribute a great deal to primary school education. Since the researcher is convinced about the need of more pre-schools at Umlazi, an investigation on the study was done. Firstly, it was to find out about the performance of pre-scholars from the teachers concerned, in the lower primary schools. Secondly, the study had to involve parents in finding out whether they were in favour of pre-schools and what the reasons were. Thirdly, an observation was made of the existing few pre-schools, and the personnel were interviewed and response recorded in this study. One hundred and fifty (150) teachers were used as a sample. These were Sub-A, S.S.B., Standard 1 and Standard 2 teachers. Another population of 100 parents comprising various careers or professions was used. Two types of questionnaires were administered, one to the teachers and the other to the parents to determine the need and effects of pre-school education on children. Five pre-schools were personally observed. Principals and teachers were verbally interviewed. Data was collected and analysed manually by the researcher. The analysis of the results reflected that, over 50% of teachers stated that a pre-scholar was easily taught in class, and would prefer admitting more of such children. Most parents were eager to send their children who were under 5 years to pre-school, but these institutions were very few. They recommended that, the number of these be increased and be spread out in the Umlazi area for every child to be admitted in a nearby pre-school. The principals of the existing pre-schools stated that they were working under difficult conditions. There was overcrowding of children, the problem of unqualified teachers, and very low salary scales. The present situation could only improve if the government or the Department of Education and Culture (Kwa-Zulu) would register and subsidise the institutions. Finally, this investigation proved that there is a need for pre-schools in the Umlazi area. A number of suggestions are given with the hope that, if implemented, the Umlazi community will benefit thereby.

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education, in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, 1998. / This study investigates junior primary school teachers' perceptions of pre¬school education. The aim was to find out if these teachers perceive a positive relationship between pre-school education and learners' performance at junior primary school level. The second aim was to establish the relationship, if any, between junior primary school teachers' age and perception of influence of pre-school education. The third aim was to establish the relationship between junior primary school teachers' experience and perception of influence of pre-school education. The fourth aim was to establish the relationship between junior primary school teachers' qualifications and perception of influence of pre-school education. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of junior primary school teachers at Eshowe District of education. The present study revealed that junior primary school teachers agree that pre-school education has positive influence on learners' performance at junior primary school. Children who have attended pre-school before admission to junior primary school often do better. There is a relationship between teachers' age and perception of influence of pre-school education. There is relationship between teachers' experience and perception of influence of pre-school education. Findings revealed that teachers who are better qualified, younger and less experienced show support for pre-school education. Less qualified, older and more experienced teachers do not favour pre-school education.

No description available.

The purpose of this study has been to examine what approach and experience pedagogues at pre-schools, with a limited amount of nationalities, have regarding cultural promoting work in pre-schools. The concept ”cultural promoting” mainly regards the children's cultural backgrounds. The first question formulation focussed on the what the concepts ”cultural promoting” and ”cultural diversity” meant to the pedagogues. The second question focussed on the interpretation and knowledge of what the syllabus says about cultural promoting work.Earlier research has shown that there exists an insecurity among the pedagogues regarding how they should work in a culturally promoting way, however, Swedish research in this area is very limited. The method used in this study has been qualitative interviews and a total of six pedagogues from four different pre-schools have been interviewed. The result gave a varied view regarding what can be looked upon as cultural promoting work. All the pedagogues agreed that working with other native languages than Swedish was considered cultural promoting. The knowledge about the contents of the syllabus varied greatly among the pedagogues.The conclusion shows a positive attitude among the pedagogues towards cultural promoting work, however, they were insecure about how to shape, develop and perform the actual work, which can be linked back to their amount of knowledge about the syllabus.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psycholinguistic abilities which the disadvantaged child brings with him to the preschool setting, and the growth in language development made during his participation in the program.

<p>SAMMANFATTNING</p><p>Anette Eriksson</p><p>Barns delaktighet i förskolan – är den villkorad av de vuxna?</p><p>- Förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolans vardag.</p><p>Vårterminen 2007 Antal sidor 59</p><p>Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka, analysera och beskriva hur förskollärare uppfattar delaktighet i förskolans vardag. En litteratursökning visade att det fanns få studier avseende förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolan. Studien är kvalitativ med en innehållsanalys och har en metodtriangulerad design. Studien inleds med en undersökning av en öppen forskningsfråga, vidare har 20 intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare. Resultaten i den öppna frågan visade att förskolepersonal har två perspektiv på barns delaktighet, ett barnperspektiv och ett verksamhetsperspektiv. Resultaten i intervjuerna på visade att förskollärare definierar delaktighet som beslutsprocesser och att vara med att välja och bestämma. Resultaten visar vidare att en djup medvetenhet om vad som främjar barns delaktighet i förskolan finns hos förskollärare, ytterligare visar resultaten att denna medvetenhet inte alltid leder till att delaktigheten för barnen ökas. Resultaten visar att förskollärare även har en kunskap om vad det är som hindrar en ökning av barns delaktighet i förskolan. Dessa hinder består av förskolans struktur och informella strukturer som förskollärarna anser sig styrda av i arbetet i barngrupp och arbetslaget.</p><p>Nyckelord: Delaktighet, förskola, förskollärare, förskolebarn, bestämma.</p> / <p>Abstract</p><p>Anette Eriksson</p><p>Children’s participation in the pre-school –on conditions of the adults?</p><p>- Pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools everyday life.</p><p>2007 Pages 22</p><p>The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyze and describe pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools every day life. A literature study showed that there were few studies, in the exiting literature, concerning pre-school teachers conceptions of children’s participation in the pre-school daily life. The study is a qualitative inquiry containing a content analysis and has a methods triangulation design. The initial step of the inquiry was an open research question, furthermore has 20 interviews been conducted with pre-school teachers. The results of the open research question showed that pre-school teachers has two perspectives of how they view children’s participation, one child-perspective and one pre-school activities-perspective. Results from the interviews shows that pre-school teachers define participation as decision-making processes and to have the opportunity to choose as well as a prospect of taking decisions.</p><p>The results further shows that pre-school teachers has a deep awareness of what supports participation in pre-schools, further more the results show that this awareness does not always lead to increased participation on the children’s behalf. The results additionally show that pre-school teachers also have an understanding of what prevents participation in the pre-school. The obstacles consist of the pre-school structure and informal structures. Pre-schools teachers consider themselves as being ruled by these obstacles both in the work with the children and in the teacher team.</p><p>Keywords: Partcipation, Pre-school, Pre-school teacher, Pre-school children, Decision-making.</p>

SAMMANFATTNING Anette Eriksson Barns delaktighet i förskolan – är den villkorad av de vuxna? - Förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolans vardag. Vårterminen 2007 Antal sidor 59 Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka, analysera och beskriva hur förskollärare uppfattar delaktighet i förskolans vardag. En litteratursökning visade att det fanns få studier avseende förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolan. Studien är kvalitativ med en innehållsanalys och har en metodtriangulerad design. Studien inleds med en undersökning av en öppen forskningsfråga, vidare har 20 intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare. Resultaten i den öppna frågan visade att förskolepersonal har två perspektiv på barns delaktighet, ett barnperspektiv och ett verksamhetsperspektiv. Resultaten i intervjuerna på visade att förskollärare definierar delaktighet som beslutsprocesser och att vara med att välja och bestämma. Resultaten visar vidare att en djup medvetenhet om vad som främjar barns delaktighet i förskolan finns hos förskollärare, ytterligare visar resultaten att denna medvetenhet inte alltid leder till att delaktigheten för barnen ökas. Resultaten visar att förskollärare även har en kunskap om vad det är som hindrar en ökning av barns delaktighet i förskolan. Dessa hinder består av förskolans struktur och informella strukturer som förskollärarna anser sig styrda av i arbetet i barngrupp och arbetslaget. Nyckelord: Delaktighet, förskola, förskollärare, förskolebarn, bestämma. / Abstract Anette Eriksson Children’s participation in the pre-school –on conditions of the adults? - Pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools everyday life. 2007 Pages 22 The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyze and describe pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools every day life. A literature study showed that there were few studies, in the exiting literature, concerning pre-school teachers conceptions of children’s participation in the pre-school daily life. The study is a qualitative inquiry containing a content analysis and has a methods triangulation design. The initial step of the inquiry was an open research question, furthermore has 20 interviews been conducted with pre-school teachers. The results of the open research question showed that pre-school teachers has two perspectives of how they view children’s participation, one child-perspective and one pre-school activities-perspective. Results from the interviews shows that pre-school teachers define participation as decision-making processes and to have the opportunity to choose as well as a prospect of taking decisions. The results further shows that pre-school teachers has a deep awareness of what supports participation in pre-schools, further more the results show that this awareness does not always lead to increased participation on the children’s behalf. The results additionally show that pre-school teachers also have an understanding of what prevents participation in the pre-school. The obstacles consist of the pre-school structure and informal structures. Pre-schools teachers consider themselves as being ruled by these obstacles both in the work with the children and in the teacher team. Keywords: Partcipation, Pre-school, Pre-school teacher, Pre-school children, Decision-making.

Paper One: An investigation of the social competence of pre-school children within three pre-school settings Abstract This paper is the first of two that investigates the concept of social competence in pre-school children within their pre-school and as they move onto their first year at school. Research has identified the development of social and emotional skills as key to a child’s future well being. Using a social constructionist perspective (Vygotsky, 1978; Rogoff, 1990), this project aimed to identify how pre-schools develop children’s social competence. Twenty-one children were observed in their free choice time at pre-school. Systematic observations recorded child-to-child activity and naturalistic observations recorded the children’s interactions with the adults present. Semi-structured interviews took place with the managers of the pre-schools. There were distinct beliefs amongst the pre-schools about how children’s social competence should be promoted. The observations revealed that the pre-school children were ‘sociable’ either by attaching to an adult or a peer. Adults were also communicative with the children within the ‘free choice’ periods but this was characterised by brief interactions with a broad content of making a request, ensuring a health and safety criteria was met rather than in sustained communication about play. It was concluded that pre-school practitioners may benefit from better targeted training to develop their skills in facilitating children’s social competence within play and that parental input could play a part in developing this. Paper 2 A case study of four children’s social competence during their transition from pre-school to Primary school Abstract This study undertook an examination of four children’s social competences during a period of 18 months while they experienced the transition from pre-school to Primary school. Transition has been described as a time of ‘discontinuity’ (Margetts, 2002). Using Bronfennbrenner’s (1979) ecological framework, there was a focus on the interactions of the child during transition as well as on the school level of influence. The data was explored using a case study approach; the play experiences of four children were recorded using two types of observation (both systematic and naturalistic), semi-structured interviews with pre-school and school staff were conducted and questionnaire data using the Social Competence Behaviour Evaluation, Pre-school edition (LaFreniere and Dumas, 2003) was taken from parents and teachers. In this study, schools had differing approaches to transition and there were found to be gaps in the transition process for children who had had no prior contact with the school. Social competence did not change over transition, except for a dramatic decrease in parent scores for two children. It was argued that children may benefit from more individualised approaches during transition and also better communication between pre-school settings and Primary schools.

Forecast of the pre-school education needs in Astana until 2030 Abstract This thesis aims to analyze future preschool education needs in Astana city. The low coverage of children by preschool education (a small number of preschool education institutions) initially lays the foundation of inequality elements and contradicts with the basic principles of the State education policy aimed at accessibility of education for the citizens of the country. As a consequence of insufficient governmental financing, the cost of children maintenance increased and it became the reason of unavailability of kindergarten service for separate groups of people. Consequently, the future preschool needs in Astana until 2030 is of particular interest. The thesis addresses issue of future population development dynamics in new capital city. This aim achieved with the help of forecasting techniques applied for Astana population until 2030. The thesis aimed to present the picture of how the trends (mortality, fertility and migration) are developing and how they will affect on the preschool needs in the future. Keywords: Astana, Kazakhstan, preschool needs, probability of dying, contributions to changes in life expectancy at birth, age specific fertility rate, gross reproduction rate, net reproduction rate, forecasting, cohort-component...