Factors determing children's decision-making in Slovene pre-schools

Turnšek, Nada (author)

Children’s participation – their involvement in creating their life in kindergarten and making decisions about things that concern them – is a key principle of democratic early childhood education. The Slovene early childhood curriculum (Kurikulum za vrtce, 1999), adopted within the context of an independent state and democratic political system, strongly emphasises the ‘philosophy’ of making choices and respecting differences. The study conducted in Slovene and Finnish kindergartens (Turnšek, 2005) aimed to investigate the level of decision-making among children, and the factors related to it. A total of 422 Slovene and 32 Finnish teachers assessed the level of children’s infl uence on a Likart scale from ‘no infl uence’ to ‘crucial infl uence’. The data processing involved descriptive statistics, analyses of variance (t-test, F-test) and a multiple regression analysis. According to the teachers’ assessments, the children’s participation in decision-making in Slovene kindergartens is mostly low. In three of fi ve areas of decision-making, the percentage of those having no infl uence or little infl uence is about 85% or more. The children’s decisionmaking is higher in issues concerning curriculum planning. The size of a particular pre-school setting and the length of teachers’ pedagogical practice are the two most important predictors of children’s decision-making. The teachers’ assessments from the two countries differ signifi cantly.

• Language: Unknown
• Keywords: predšolska vzgoja
• Work type: Not categorized
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publisher: Učiteljski fakultet Zagreb
• Year: 2008
• Number of pages: 23-38
• Numbering: 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-68327
• ISSN: 1846-1204
• Publication date in RUL: 10.07.2015

Secondary language

• Language: Unknown
• Keywords: pre-school education