Preschool Teachers' Views on Guidance and Psychological Counseling Services in Early Childhood Education

Mehmet Saglam,Ipek Ozbay Karlıdag,Rabia Betul Korkmaz

doi:10.31014/aior.1993.04.04.377

Abstract

This study aims to examine the opinions of preschool teachers on guidance and psychological counseling services. The method of the study is qualitative research design. The research data were collected via the interviews with the preschool teachers. The study group of the research consists of 24 preschool teachers working in Yozgat city in Turkey. Content analysis was made use of while forming the finding part. The results of the study display that the preschool teachers perceive guidance and psychological counseling services as "guiding," "informing," “assistance” and "cooperation" services. Also, parents and teachers also need the guidance teacher mostly in situations related to behavioral problems, special needs students, adaptation problems, and family-related problems. It was observed that preschool teachers perceived that guidance and psychological counseling services should be in preschool education institutions but that the guidance services they received were not sufficient.

Highlights

The positive effects of early intervention programs on later lives of young children have become clear as documented by the large scale Turkish (Kağıtçıbaşı, Sunar, Bekman, Baydar, & Cemalcılar, 2009) and international longitudinal studies (Schweinhart, Montie, Xiang, Barnett, Belfield, & Nores, 2005)
The National Statistics of Formal Education for the education period of 2009−2010 indicated that 27% of children at the ages of 3−5 years old and 39% of children at the ages of 4−5 years old received preschool education (MONE, 2010)
Counseling Services in Schools All of the participants in the study indicated that there were no professionals or school psychologists responsible for the counseling and guidance services in their schools; instead, the teachers were providing these services for children and families

Summary

D DAVID PUBLISHING

Counseling and Guidance Services in Early Childhood Education: The Case of Public Preschools in Malatya, Turkey. The purpose of this case study was to examine the counseling and guidance services in public preschools in Malatya, Turkey. Six public preschools in the city center of Malatya were purposefully selected and in-depth interviews were conducted with one in-service teacher participant from each preschool. Results indicated the need for school counselors/psychologists to work with parents, children, and teachers at those preschools. The problems associated with the current policies and applications were reviewed and further recommendations were provided in the study

Introduction

Method

Findings

Discussion