engleski

The Culture of Relations - a Challenge in the Research of Educational Practice in Early Education Institutions

The theoretical part of the paper explains the complexity of the culture of early education institution, the role of the preschool teacher, the specificity of official documents (the Croatian National Curriculum for Early and Pre- School Education, the Slovenian Curriculum for Kindergarden, the Serbian General Principles of Preschool Program). The aim of the research was to gain insight into the preschool teachers’ assessment of the relationship between people in early education institutions as one of the dimensions of the institutional culture, considering the country in which they live and work (Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia). For data collection, we used the Questionnaire for the assessment of the culture of the educational institution designed for the needs of the scientific research project Culture of the educational institution as a factor of co- constructing knowledge, conducted by the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, Croatia. Based on the research results, statistically significant difference was found between the preschool teachers’ assessments of the relationship between the members of the staff in the institutions of early education considering the country in which they live and work. As the weakest segment of relations in institutions, Croatian, Serbian and Slovene preschool teachers estimated giving and receiving constructive criticism without anger and harm, and respecting other (different) opinions. From this it is evident that it is not enough to state in the official documents reflective practice, action research and the culture of relations

culture of relations, culture of institution of early education, official curriculum, reflexive practice

The theoretical part of the paper explains the complexity of the culture of early education institution, the role of the preschool teacher, the specificity of official documents (the Croatian National Curriculum for Early and Pre- School Education, the Slovenian Curriculum for Kindergarden, the Serbian General Principles of Preschool Program). The aim of the research was to gain insight into the preschool teachers’ assessment of the relationship between people in early education institutions as one of the dimensions of the institutional culture, considering the country in which they live and work (Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia). For data collection, we used the Questionnaire for the assessment of the culture of the educational institution designed for the needs of the scientific research project Culture of the educational institution as a factor of co- constructing knowledge, conducted by the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, Croatia. Based on the research results, statistically significant difference was found between the preschool teachers’ assessments of the relationship between the members of the staff in the institutions of early education considering the