Preschool teachers can also work in hospital wards, where preschool education is provided as part of public preschool education. In addition to the Kindergarten Curriculum, they base their work on the Concept of Work in Hospital Wards. Preschool teachers must be very adaptable, as, compared to regular groups, they do not teach the same group of children, and children can have different medical conditions.
In this paper, I focused on work organisation in preschool hospital wards, preschool teachers’ care for children’s needs, role of preschool teachers in working with children in the absence of their parents, the extent to which the hospital can replace the preschool from the perspective of children who spend a lot of time in the hospital, children’s play in the hospital, and the way in which the coronavirus epidemic affected the work in hospital wards. The research was based on a descriptive as well as a causal and non-experimental research method. By using a qualitative method of collecting data (non-standardised interview), I included in the research six preschool teachers who work in different hospital wards across Slovenia. The results showed that preschool teachers find it hard to plan their work, and they emphasise the need for constant adaptation and later evaluation. In hospitals, they try to make sure that children return home as soon as possible, so inpatient stay is not long, and children are normally accompanied by their parents or guardian. Children’s play in hospitals adapts to their medical conditions to a large extent, and children can play whenever they do not have examinations or checks. Work in the hospital was severely affected by the coronavirus epidemic. The measures changed through the epidemic, some playrooms were closed, mask-wearing became obligatory, and toys and materials needed to be disinfected more meticulously.
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