Motivations and Barriers in Promoting Preschool Education

Abstract

AbstractThis study is designed to explore the reasons for sending and not sending preschool age children to preschools at an early age by exploring the motivations for and barriers towards promoting preschool education in Turkey. It aimed to determine various stakeholders' perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge related to preschool education in order to promote high-quality and comprehensive preschool education. The research was conducted with 224 participants in five cities in Turkey. Qualitative data was collected through individual and focus group interviews and interpreted by content analysis and descriptive analysis. The findings indicated that families put forward the following reasons for sending their children to preschool: preschool education prepares children for school and helps form the habit of attending school, teachers' efforts in convincing parents to send their children to preschool, providing the care for the children of working mothers with preschool teachers , and preschool helps children develop social behavior. The following factors were reasons families did not send their children to preschool: economic conditions, perceiving the child as too young, concerns over practices at school, perceptions about the mother's role, and distrust of the transportation system. The results will help decision makers develop policies and strategies to heighten the general public's awareness of the need for early education, as well as better provide early education opportunities.KeywordsPreschool education · Motivation · Barrier · Pre-schooling · Dissemination of preschool educationResearch is well established in showing that access to a high-quality early childhood education has a direct and permanent effect at every stage of human development (Avila & Baldwin, 2007; Barnett, 2008; Blau & Currie, 2005; Heckman & Masterov, 2007; Reynolds, 1992; Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple, 1995). For this reason, in order to provide early education policies, countries determine their equality in opportunity policies and form new strategies. Many countries regulate their early childhood education practices through the state legislature and as part of the education system according to the socio-political developments of the country. These legislative regulations determine basic core values in areas like curriculum, institutional process, teacher education, personnel requirement, monitoring and finance, and parent-teacher cooperation (Bankovic, 2014; Karila, 2008; Kuisma & Sandberg, 2008; Sheridan, Williams, Sandberg, & Vuorinen, 2011).Likewise, preschool education and the preschool teacher training system have been changed and developed in Turkey. Even though kindergartens opened before 1908, they became organized and widespread following the Temporary Preschool Law dated 23 September 1913. After two years, the Law Primary school bylaws were issued in 1915.Accordingly, kindergartens were opened, whether attached or unattached to primary schools, in order to provide education for children aged four to seven (Akyuz, 1989; Cicioglu, 1989). With the opening of kindergartens, the need for trained teachers in these schools arose. In the same year as the issuance of the bylaws, a kindergarten teacher education school providing one year of education was opened in Istanbul, but it was closed after four years of operation in 1919. In this period, 370 preschool teachers were educated (Oguzkan & Oral, 1987) and preschool education took its institutional place in the education process in real terms.However, for many years, the insufficient quality and quantity of early education, the changing position of women within the family and their active roles in real life due to rapid socio-cultural and economical changes, and, most importantly, the positive impact of early education on a child's development as proven by educational studies and brain surveys demonstrate the necessity to take certain measures in the early stages of care and education of children. …