Understanding the child and his role is an important aspect, especially in the preschool period. Namely, it is of great importance how the child is understood within the educational concept and is accordingly placed into a certain role. Differences also appear within educational concepts and educational approaches; since different educational concepts and approaches state different rules, norms, etc. Predominantly differences appear in the conception of education and the expression of pedagogical philosophy.
In the thesis, the focus is on the child and his role in various educational concepts and educational approaches. In more detail, we covered the kindergarten curriculum Kurikulum za vrtce (1999), which frames the field of preschool education and represents a publicly valid program in the Republic of Slovenia, as well as three alternative educational concepts and approaches. Therefore, the educational concept of Maria Montessori, the Waldorf educational concept, and the Reggio Emilia educational approach. The thesis aims to present the role of the child in various educational concepts and approaches and to show the differences between them. A semi-structured interview was used to obtain data for the research. The interviews were conducted in four kindergartens, namely a Montessori kindergarten, a Waldorf kindergarten, a public kindergarten, and a kindergarten that operates according to a publicly valid program; but whose program is richly intertwined with elements of the Reggio Emilia educational approach. In each kindergarten, we interviewed two employed professionals – educators.
The existence of differences in the field of the conception of the child and his role, which appear between individual educational concepts and educational approaches, is indicated not only by the professional literature but also by the results of the conducted research. The results show that these differences occur and that the child's role in an individual educational concept is mainly influenced by the conception of the child and his abilities. In addition, different educational concepts and approaches emphasize the child's active role in different ways, and all of them, except for the Waldorf educational concept, have in common that it is important to them mainly because of the insight into the child's progress. In contrast to these views are the views of the Waldorf educational concept, which, as found, value the importance of the child's active role as important due to the feeling of self-confidence and self-sufficiency. We found that the child's role in certain cases is also related to the form of learning, which is emphasized by the individual educational concept or approach. Thus, in accordance with the conception of the child's role, there is also a connection with the chosen form of learning, which is highlighted by a certain educational concept. Through the research, we found that the child's active role brings important advantages that have a positive effect on the child and his life. The results also show the existence of peculiarities, which the educators do not define as absolute weaknesses and are solvable.
Based on the results obtained through the research, we conclude that the area of the child's role, especially the active role, is important, as it has a significant impact on the child and his development and progress.
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