University Kindergarten: The Story of a Little Big School

Abstract

Abstract The study is of empirical character. It presents a story of a kindergarten which is a private, a company and a university kindergarten. The establishing authority is a university that can preferentially accept children of its employees. The parents of the children financially contribute to running the kindergarten. The research was based on the strategy of a one-case study. This integrated quantitative and qualitative research approach. Data from two types of questionnaires were used in the study presenting interviews with parents, teachers, students in teacher training and members of the school board, as well as data from observations of the educational process and from the analyses of the available school documentation. The aim was to describe the kindergarten and the contexts in which it operates, explain its operation and clarify the mechanics, circumstances and subjects it is most influenced by. Three basic factors influencing the school’s operation and fulfilling its function emerged from the collected data: the relations with the establishing authority, the community of university-educated parents and the status of a faculty school providing space for practical training of the students in teacher training. The major conclusion that emerged from the study is: The kindergarten works in specific conditions with strong contextual conditioning linked to the university environment and the authority’s conditions.